Does 2 eye open pistol shooting (like shot gunning) produce faster target sighting and thus faster shooting or does it make a difference?
i am a right eye shooter and am accurate but very slow.
Or start with 2 eyes open and then go to 1 eye after the gun is on target?
if you guys could share what works or what is the best way that i should start practicing that would be great \thanks
In the past I would shoot 1 eye open, but now I'm working on shooting both eyes open. I can't remember what turned the lightbulb on, but I'm glad it did.
Both eyes open improves your peripheral vision and lets more light into your dominant eye - closing one eye forces you to slightly close the other. For that reason alone, smallbore shooters will put tape over one lens of their glasses.
Here, accurate sighting isn't as much of an issue - but I believe leaving both eyes open leads to faster target acquisition and transition, and more awareness of what's going on around you.
Praise be to the LORD my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.
-Psalm 144:1
Always 2 eyes for pistol/rifle/shotgun shooting. I only slightly close my left eye when shooting open sights on a pistol if the shot has to be very precise and the distance is 25 yards or more. It reduces eye strain in addition to the other points made.
As a side, I've found that turning the head very slightly to the non-dominant side (i.e. putting your dominant eye on the sight) tends to help learn to shoot with both eyes open.
"We do not rise too the level of our expectations, rather we fall to the level of our training"
Archilochus, Greek Soldier
so here's a few questions for you guys.
when you look through the sights with 2 eyes do you see two front sights?
are they a little blurry at arms length?
is there a little bit of cross eyedness going on?
if i look at the sights at arms length and kind of offset my head a little bit , it looks clear but then am i really using the 2 eyed shooting method correctly?
or should i just try to get faster with my one eyed method and not frustrate myself with the 2 eye way, i shoot idpa once a month and am a marksman but i do want to improve.
This is me too. I used to worry I was not "good" because I was closing one eye. I finally had a good instructor tell me to do it however I needed to and not worry over it. Over time a lightbulb came on for me too and I realized one day I was actually shooting with both eyes open. I didn't even realize I was doing it either. It just happened.Originally Posted by Dropkick
On the distance to target grows or if I am working on real precision I will still close one eye.
I grew up learning both eyes open following the gurus of the Modern Technique and thought it was critical. Have since read pretty serious trainers like Pat Rogers say both is great, one is not the end of the world or that big a deal and I think he's probably right.
More or less, depends on what you focus on.
Front sight should never be blurry.
A little cross-eyedness. But both eyes open gives you a better picture of the target. You just have to train yourself to focus on the image from the dominant eye.
I'd say training yourself to shoot both-eyes-open is worth it. Takes practice, but you should have it down before too long. You can also practice it when you shoot rifle, with or without iron sights.
Praise be to the LORD my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.
-Psalm 144:1
Both eyes open for me
I'm a very inexperienced shooter in comparison to most here, but I found that once I committed to learning how to shoot with both eyes open my speed AND accuracy improved greatly. I think the improvements were a result of the ability to see the whole target in relation to my sight picture as well as not wasting time realigning my sight picture after closing my left eye.
Lots of dry fire at home helped immensely in adjusting to the slightly different sight picture. Once I got used to finding and focusing on that front sight with both eyes open it seemed really odd to go back. I find that if I focus on the target and bring the gun up from the holster I can place the front sight post over the point of aim and its very easy from that point to quickly shift my focus to the sight.
Give it a shot around the house, pick a light switch or doorknob and keep going it until it feels more natural. Then go try it on the range so you're not using all your time and ammo figuring out if it'll work for you or not. Good luck.
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