One Eye open or Two?

[spinmove_]

As Mr. White pointed out, Sean M's advice is very good. If you can make it work, do it.

I tried this, and though I really would love to shoot with both eyes open, I just get too much visual confusion with both eyes open. I have to close or partially close my right eye (I'm cross eye dominant as well) to see what I need to see.

Please don't get too hung up on what the internet says is proper and do what works for you. I wasted a lot of time with the vision stuff when I should have just shot the damn gun and let my eyes do what they needed to do to see what I needed to see. As MistWolf pointed out, please try to use your dominant eye and adapt according to your vision.

With vision there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Do what works for you.

Cross-dominant here as well (right handed, left eyed). What I posted above worked for me. Obviously YMMV.


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[Mr_White]

As Mr. White pointed out, Sean M's advice is very good. If you can make it work, do it.

I tried this, and though I really would love to shoot with both eyes open, I just get too much visual confusion with both eyes open. I have to close or partially close my right eye (I'm cross eye dominant as well) to see what I need to see.

Please don't get too hung up on what the internet says is proper and do what works for you. I wasted a lot of time with the vision stuff when I should have just shot the damn gun and let my eyes do what they needed to do to see what I needed to see. As MistWolf pointed out, please try to use your dominant eye and adapt according to your vision.

With vision there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Do what works for you.

Totally agree with this too.

I think both eyes open is considered ideal if you can make it work for you. But everything isn't ideal for everyone, and they get along just fine. I mean, there is a lot of squinting/closing going on at all levels, including at the top of USPSA for example. Closing/squinting persists because it solves a big problem - doubled targets coming along with a clear front sight, due to linked convergence and accommodation. That linkage is just the way it is for a lot of people. Some people can learn to unlink them and shoot with both eyes open and a clear front sight, and its worth giving the scotch tape thing a try. But a lot of people also just bang their head against the wall with it. If it's not happening, I would squint/close and not give it another thought, just practice.

[Totem Polar]

I have to close one eye. I am strongly right eye dominant, but that same eye shit the bed with a detached retina 16 minths ago. I have transferred sighting over to my non-dominant eye with reasonable results, but my dominant eye still tries to fight for control with both eyes open; absurd, because I can't even make out the sights with my dominant eye, but the brain wants what it wants.

[holmes168]

One thing I was thinking about- my vision is pretty awful. I've got 10 over 200 so while I don't my glasses to read- I can't see more than ten feet without my glasses. Ive seen that Gabe wears glasses so maybe it doesn't have anything to do with it.
I will keep working with two eyes open but won't be too upset if I can't figure it out.

Thanks for the responses.

[ER_STL]

I want to group-hug this thread and everyone in it. Despite trying desperately to make both eyes open work, it simply doesn't for me. I get too much input and I can't achieve a useful level of focus in my eyes; I end up pretty much blurry everywhere. As a side-note, I'm one of those who could never see the 3D pictures that were all the rage back in the 90s.

In 2015 when I spent a summer shooting IDPA at the local range I put a small sticker on the lense of my glasses over my non-dominant eye and TADA!....I could track my sights and the placement of my shots much better. When I removed it I regressed in my shooting but figured that one-eyed shooting was communist. Recently I went back to closing one eye and again noticed improvement.

[Mr_White]

One thing I was thinking about- my vision is pretty awful. I've got 10 over 200 so while I don't my glasses to read- I can't see more than ten feet without my glasses. Ive seen that Gabe wears glasses so maybe it doesn't have anything to do with it.
I will keep working with two eyes open but won't be too upset if I can't figure it out.

Thanks for the responses.

I am very nearsighted. My hand is clear out to six inches from my eyes or so and anything further is very blurry. I'm correctable to 20/20 with normal single vision lenses though so I don't think it matters for the purpose of those discussion.

[Lester Polfus]

I've really struggled with this. I thought I had it licked, then videotaped myself. Nope. Still closing one eye.

It's on the list of things to work on.

[Wondering Beard]

I'm cross dominant, can shoot handguns with both eyes open, but it's near impossible with long guns.

[Surf]

People put way too much thought into this topic, especially on the internet. Highly overrated topic IMO. If you do it great, if you can't don't sweat it. Most people with eye dominance or sight issues usually a small squint will help with the focus and still keep the vision available in your non-dominant eye, so you can keep that BS "situational awareness" 180* for that millisecond that you close your eye to shoot.

[Rex G]

Both eyes open used to work well for me. Gradually, it stopped working, in many lighting conditions, with most sights. Squinting with the non-dominant eye helps, sometimes, and sometimes, not. Closing one eye is becoming my norm. Things apparently change, over time.

Edited to add: Another thing that has changed, over time, is that I used to hate three-dot night sights. That has now changed, with three tritium dots becoming much more helpful..