Shooting with both eyes open?

[BANG BANG]

so I got a question for all ....

When I shot my AR's with red dots at 50 or 100 yrds I shoot with both eyes open.

When I target shoot with my CZ 9mm handgun at 7-15 yrds I close my left eye to aim as I am right eye dominant and aim for the bullseye.

In a defensive situation with a pistol how do people aim at a threat? Just aim for center mass both eyes open? I've never taken a defensive pistol course but I am planning on taking pistol, carbine and shotgun courses in the future though and was wondering what the current thought or training is on this subject.

[thevic]

Point with thumb and shoot. Where ever you point is where the round sshould land.

With good handling and practice

[Hawkstp]

Aim your pistol like you do your AR. Both eyes open and focus on your front sight. Way quicker on target and will keep your situational awareness where it needs to be.

[JohnnyCrash]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say it is better form to shoot with some eyes open rather than none open.

[asme]

With enough practice, you can shoot with your sights with both eyes open. When I raise my gun to the target, rifle or pistol, iron sights or scope, I see one clear, consistent sight picture.

There are a few things you can do to "train your brain." First, when you're shooting, apply some scotch tape over your non-dominant eye safety glasses and shoot with both eyes open. You'll see one sight picture and won't be distracted by your other eye. After a while, you don't need the scotch tape any more and ka-pow!, you can shoot with both eyes open on any gun.

If that doesn't sound right to you, or you just want another way to practice shooting with both eyes open, there's another drill to do at home which works OK and is a little more "natural." First, pick up your gun and squint, but do not close your non-dominant eye and obtain a sight picture as you normally would. Then, slowly open your non-dominant eye to where it's not squinting. If all goes well, you should see one consistent sight picture. Repeating the "up-squint-open" technique is a good way to practice sight picture with both eyes open.

I used a combination of both methods to learn to shoot correctly. It's like learning to drive stick shift, once you know how, it's really easy.

[voiceoftheright]

I don't have any special "tricks", just a little thing called eye muzzle target. Also, someone said point with your thumb which is good, I was trained with M16s to point with your forward index finger (which would be your thumb when using a pistol) at your target. At under 10ft you should be able to hit your target fine with training. Focusing on sights in a true "defensive situation" at that distance will most likely get you killed. I am not saying don't aim, I am saying train so your eye muzzle target is as good as aiming at indoor distances with both eyes open. Also, practice your double-taps, because anything worth shooting once is worth shooting twice.

[Rob454]

Ive always shot with my eyes open. I just learned to ignore the sight picture coming out of the eye i do not aim with

[vta]

you need to train to acquire that sight picture with your dominant eye. Start by squinting your left eye and you will see that the sight picture will naturally appear. Eventually you will have both of your eyes wide open with no loss in peripheral vision.

[sevensix2x51]

if im shooting pistol for tiny groups at the range, to work on my trigger, and for fun, i wink at the sights. when i am practicing my defensive pistol shooting, i am both eyes open. i generally use a silhouette at 5-7yd, and i just point shoot. i use the silhouette of the weapon against the target, along with a whole lot of good ole' fashioned muscle memory, and hit center mass and the bottom half of the head without really even thinking about it. practice practice practice!!

[1JimMarch]

With the red dot sight you're doing target-focus - therefore, both eyes open is easy.

There's one handgun iron sight that I know of that works with a target-focus viewing plane and "feels" like a red dot, except there's no electronics or glass.

http://www.goshen-hexsite.com/index2.htm

http://www.goshen-hexsite.com/pdf/Handguns_2008June.pdf

[Massan]

Varies. I'm used to shooting with both eyes open with pistol and rifle though I do tend to shoot rifle using one eye when shooting for score/accuracy.

[OneSevenDeuce]

I keep both eyes open by focusing on the target. I don't know if that is text book, or recommended, but it always felt natural to me. I don't shoot too bad doing it that way.

[brianinca]

>>>

you need to train to acquire that sight picture with your dominant eye.
>>>

Except for folks who are REALLY one-eye dominant, this is very much a valid plan. I used a heavily modified Ruger 10/22 and 100 yard ammo (Wolf Target) to help me with rifles. I also used a Kimber 22LR upper conversion for my SA Inc 1911 to work on my pistol shooting.

22LR, even match grade, is FAR less expensive than any CF calibers. It will also teach you EVERYTHING you need to know to make this work, and in a reasonable amount of time.

Scotch tape of my my BARELEY non-dominant lense is very helpful.

For rifles with iron sights (e.g. NRA High Power Matches), you mitigate the tendency of the dominant eye to enlarge the pupil to get more light on the subject. This reduces your depth of field for that same eyee, making it even tougher to chase your groups on the 20 rd slow fire.

For rifles with glass, it makes up a lot for crummy Chinese scopes on 10/22's that are so dark you can't see the small crosshairs on your 100 yard "sighting in target." You will be amazed what 3-4 trips to the range over a couple of years will do toyour groups.

One of the best things that ever happened to my shotgun shooting was picking up on the "both eyes open" trendoid thing. I doubled my valley quail take the fall after I got my head around 22LR at 100 yards and <1 MOA groups.

Regards,
Brian in CA

[l8apex]

On shots that require extreme precision, I will close the non-dominant eye. Otherwise, both eyes open.

You question is pretty loaded as there are many factors i.e. distance, cover, point shooting, aimed fired - that may change your needs behind the trigger. Best thing is to get to a class and get a solid foundation.

[nazgulnarsil]

three dots gave me a hard time with both eyes open as I would occasionally switch eyes. bar dot and I'm instantly dominant eye and focused correctly every time. find what works for you.