I can't shoot with both eyes open

[LowThudd]

3/4" dot stickers on the shooting glasses over eye you tend to close. That is the standard practice. that way light still gets to the eye, and you can become accustomed to it.

[Rcjackrabbit]

Don't. It is not necessary.

Handgun, shotgun, or rifle - keep both eyes open until you are ready to break the shot. Close one eye as you take the shot. Then, open the closed eye.

Done. Simple.

Two eyes open shooting has become a cult like mantra. If you have two eyes open, you will have double vision on either the front sight or the target. It is just how the human eyes work.

It is a cult. Do what works for you. The tape thing is stupid. "Hold on Mr. Bad Guy while I tape my glasses so I can shoot you."

[LowThudd]

Don't. It is not necessary.

Handgun, shotgun, or rifle - keep both eyes open until you are ready to break the shot. Close one eye as you take the shot. Then, open the closed eye.

Done. Simple.

Two eyes open shooting has become a cult like mantra. If you have two eyes open, you will have double vision on either the front sight or the target. It is just how the human eyes work.

It is a cult. Do what works for you.

If done correctly, both eyes open allows for better depth of field.

[liberty47]

I don't think I'd go so far as to say two eyes open is a cult thing.

It takes some practice but is better in the long run, IMO. I only close an eye if I'm shooting with a scope. That's my preference and it took some practice getting used to.

Happy shooting!

[Cool Custard]

ya probably cross eye dominate. this is common when ya aiming and you close your eye

This. Just keep shooting with both eyes open. Practice

[AFTII]

Handgun, shotgun, or rifle - keep both eyes open until you are ready to break the shot. Close one eye as you take the shot. Then, open the closed eye.

Done. Simple.

Spoken like someone who has never had to actually do it. Try that with Bell's Palsy. I couldn't close my L eye for about two months. You improvise, adapt and overcome.

Just prior to my bout with Bell's, I signed up for a non-refundable pheasant hunt. The night before the hunt and realized, oh s**t, I can't sight down the barrel of my shotgun.

A taped up lens saved my trip and I found I was hitting more birds than usual because I didn't have to close my dominant eye.

Again, does this have any application in a defensive situation? Probably not. But, I never claimed it did. It's just one way to combat the cross-dominance issue.

[Rcjackrabbit]

Did the OP say he had Bell's palsy? No he didn't. Don't be ridiculous.

Just because some people are amputee's, doesn't make shooting two handed invalid.

Use the way that works for you and practice that.

[Pipe Smoker]

Many folks are strongly right-eye dominate, and find shooting with both eyes open to be easy and natural. Others, including me, are strongly ambi-ocular, and find shooting with the off-eye closed to be easy and natural. Do what works best for you.

[Pipe Smoker]

P. S. – The classic eye-dominance test: Look at a distance object while holding a forefinger up, and position the forefinger on the distant object. Then close one eye. If your forefinger seems to jump, you closed your dominant eye. If it doesn't jump, you closed your off-eye.

But when ambi-ocular folks, such as me, do this exercise, we see two forefingers rather than one. Closing one eye causes one or the other of them to disappear.

[bsim]

Bullseye shooting with two eyes if a pain until mastered. But (as mentioned above) "combat" shooting an 8" steel plate with both eyes open is much easier.

Red dots help, because only one eye can see the dot. but if you're planning on mounting to a 357, you'll need to spend $$ on something that won't fall apart from the recoil.

[whipkiller]

Two eyes open shooting has become a cult like mantra. If you have two eyes open, you will have double vision on either the front sight or the target. It is just how the human eyes work.

It is a cult.

Don't be ridiculous.

Just because some people are amputee's, doesn't make shooting two handed invalid.

Oh man, thanks Jackrabbit... I needed a good laugh this morning.

OP just keep practicing, it's a matter of re-training your brain to process information a little differently than it normally does. It's not that hard, it just takes a little time. (Y'know, to be indoctrinated into the cult)

I'm right handed and left eye dominant so I had to work on this very thing to get comfortable with shooting both eyes open, but it's well worth it. I find it to be waaay faster, way easier and less eye strain/fatigue from squinting one eye al the time.

Once in a while my brain will cross up the info, but I close the non-dominant eye to get the sight picture back and then open it up.

The only time I close one eye now is shooting scopes when magnified. (I have a 1-4X on my AR and shoot it both eyes open at 1X)

***EDIT*** I just remembered that I can't yet get both eyes and brain to work together when shooting clays with a long shotgun barrel.

You can practice it anytime, you don't even need to use your gun. I sometimes do it at work sitting at my desk, holding a pen so that it sits in my shooting grip like a gun barrel. Tip of the pen is front sight, find a target and line them up.

You can do it, just gotta' put in the practice.

My new problem now is that my up close vision is getting worse so my eyes have trouble seeing my sights. Then again, maybe I don't need to... Maybe it's just a cult.

[Tom-ADC]

Always shot with both eyes open mainly clays, then I started having problems and missing, I went with opaque tape over the left eye and that helped, but at my next eye exam I found out I have problem with the left eye, the muscles that keep it in sync with the right eye. The fix was to have what they called a prism ground into my glasses and that corrected the problem. Now I'm a older guy 73 now but this happened in my early 60's. I shoot handgun when punching holes in paper with the left eye shut. Scoped rifles both eyes open.

[Lead Waster]

I squint when I shoot too. I had tried to break the habit ... I was practicing with an airsoft on the couch, etc. You can sort of get it, but I found I was automatically squinting when I'd go to a match. Didn't seem to affect my "situational awareness" as I found that I'd squint to aim at the target, but of course after hitting it, I'd open my other eye...I didn't notice any loss of situational awareness. However, it is a goal for me to shoot both eyes open.

[Lead Waster]

It took me a while to realize this, and I've never broken the habit but ... I am right handed but left eye dominant. So when I'd shoot, I'd close one eye ... but I'd close my right eye, since I figured "Well, I'm left eye dominant so I must use that eye, even if it means I have to turn my head to line the sights up".

Well...consider this ... my left eye is DOMINANT over my right eye. BUT that only matters if both eyes are open. IF you are going to close one eye anyway, then obviously that's the eye you use to shoot (duh!)...so ... even if I'm left eye dominant ... why don't I just close my left eye and shoot with my right eye and right hand?

This never occurred to me until my habit was to shoot with my right eye closed. It doesn't matter which eye is dominant IF YOU CLOSE ONE EYE. And if you decide to use only one eye then ... use the one that matches the hand you are shooting with!!!!!!

However, once you switch to both eyes open, you pretty much have to account for which eye is dominant.

[Gunxy]

I can do 4-5” groupings at 20 yards with .357 but sloooowly… no way I could do 8 rounds in 10 sec at my level. It is 10 sec or longer between two shots so it is probably not much skill in real life circumstances.

The recoil is not painful but still powerful enough that I did not learn how reset aim on the target within split of second after discharging firearm. The caliber .357 could be tough for some people. At least, I decreased the flipping of the wrist in anticipation of recoil, it was the problem at the beginning.

I read somewhere that in control studies, shooters increased they precision by about 22% after they started to use red dots on the guns. It looks like it is not gimmick and it is worth it to look at this option.

I will try the suggestion of shooting at the very close distance like 5 feet, both eyes open, then increase distance as long as my brain can tolerate it.