Drills for 2-Eyed Shooting with an Occluded MRDS

[RJ]

Looking for suggestions on drills, live or dry, to run with an occluded MRDS (pistol) to develop both-eye shooting?

I've noticed recently I tend to close one eye when shooting. I want to transition to using both eyes, if possible, as I gather there are benefits in terms of more spatial awareness and better target focus. I’ve read here on p-f and elsewhere that I can work this by applying tape over the front of my MRDS, and then just index as per normal.

Are there any suggested drills for using an occluded MRDS, either dry practice or live fire, for both-eye shooting? Or can I just keep doing what I’m doing normally, and let my brain work things out as I go?

My primary MRDS are a HS507C+G34 for USPSA CO, and a P365X+407K for carry. I am left handed / left eye dominant, and wear bifocal prescription glasses. I have about 3,900 rounds downrange with dots since transitioning from irons in 2020. My most recent training was a two-day USPSA focused class with Tim Herron when I shot my other carry gun, a stock Glock 19+HS 507c. We didn't do anything specific in class, shooting the dot as opposed to iron sights, which after ruminating on for a while, prompted me to ask this question.

TIA

[GJM]

While taping the lens will force you to keep both eyes open, most tape to promote true target focus. Check out the Bindon aiming concept.

One caveat, is some people have trouble with the lens taped over — for example, I do when my eyes are tired. There is some controversy about taking this too far. I have seen people shoot matches with the lens taped over, and the counter point is you are giving up information and causing the optic and your eyes to work in a way they weren’t designed/evolved to.

Something else that might be helpful, is consciously “pressurizing” both eyes open when shooting. This is helpful for me with a dot and iron sights.

Back to your question, I would mess around some with it dry and live intermittently, but don’t get too hung up on specific drills.

[MVS]

May not be correct, but I dry fire with a taped over optic every session to some extent. I never mess with it live fire. I really only notice the tape now when shooting WHO. As far as special drills, I just do the things I normally do.

[Tokarev]

Shoot pretty much any drill you normally would. Or warm up with some slow fire on the range with a taped optic and then take the tape off and shoot some drills. Ideally whatever drill you run should involve reloads or target transition, etc. Something that takes your eye out of the optic and requires you to get the gun back into alignment with your eye and the target.

Really once you can keep both eyes open and maintain a target focus the tape has done its work. The other hard part is bringing the gun back to a consistent position during presentation to target, after reloads, etc. This stuff can be somewhat hard to work on when the front lens is taped since there's no way to get any visual reference with your shooting eye other than the dot itself.

So in essence warm up or work a few drills to remind yourself to keep both eyes open or whatever and then take tape off and shoot as you normally would.



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[Erick Gelhaus]

There are a percentage of people (<10%) who can't do the taped-over lens due to optical issues. I learned that from Blish, who picked it up while at Aimpoint. I've now seen it with students.

Aside from dry presentation work, I'll run a standard set of timed drills - say Gunsite 250 or 350 school drills, failure drills - that vary aiming points & distance. Taped over & then right after without the tape, once a day; just taped over a second time later in the day. That addition was based on student feedback about the benefit in their eyes (pun intended).

[Spartan1980]

I think this will relate to your post but there is some variation in that you are using a optic on a pistol and that whole target focus thing will mesh with this.

I struggled mightily trying to train myself to shoot irons with both eyes open. I tried taping my left glasses lense many times and felt like I was blind folded. I tried for what seemed like forever, read everything I could find on the subject, talked to GM level shooters and had basically given up on it.

Then I saw something at a 3 gun match. We had to shoot through a vertical port in wood barricade that was about 1.5 inches tall, completely occluding our irons or optic. So naturally all of us was shooting it with our rifles rolled over sideways. Then an experienced ex .mil rifleman shot it mostly normally with an Aimpoint optic. He cleaned the plate rack at 60 or so yards like there was no barricade at all while it was completely blocking his optic. He tilted his non dominant eye just enough to see through the port cleanly. A light bulb lit up in my head and when I got home a grabbed my Aimpoint equipped AR and did some playing with it in dry fire with the front lense cover closed. Sure enough I could clearly see that red dot centered right on my scaled dry fire target on the wall. Next day I went to the range and fired a not small number of rounds like this and was drilling the target.

An Aimpoint RDO on a rifle is what trained me to shoot both eyes open. So that’s what I always suggest because it just happens on its own, there’s no special technique or magic drill. It really does just come naturally with a little bit of practice and it mostly just happens on it’s own.


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[RJ]

Just to finish out on this thread, I finally got a chance to try this.

I covered the front of the optic using blue tape and just did the best I could, doing selected exercises out of the Refinement and Repetition book of the Steve Anderson series.

I experimented with covering / uncovering the sight for these drills, and kept both eyes open. Interesting to me that I perceived no real difference seeing the target picture with the sight occluded. I was like, woah. I definitely think this will help me learn to shoot with both eyes open.

Thanks all.

[HCM]

Just to finish out on this thread, I finally got a chance to try this.

I covered the front of the optic using blue tape and just did the best I could, doing selected exercises out of the Refinement and Repetition book of the Steve Anderson series.

I experimented with covering / uncovering the sight for these drills, and kept both eyes open. Interesting to me that I perceived no real difference seeing the target picture with the sight occluded. I was like, woah. I definitely think this will help me learn to shoot with both eyes open.

Thanks all.

Blue tape is ok but lighter colored tape will give better results.

If you don’t have the light tan, in my experience the bright green painters tape works better than the blue.