Keep Both Eyes Open When Shooting

[Abraham]

I just finished watching a Youtube video about the importance of keeping both eyes open when shooting.

The presenter does a great job of why it's important and how to go about it.

One thing he repeatedly mentioned is focusing on the front sight.

This is something I've heard many times before, but what's never mentioned is: If you're focusing on the front sight, I assume you are simultaneously lining up the rear sight with it? Or, do you use only the front and don't bother with lining up with the rear sight?

Too me, leaving out this information regarding the use/or non-use of the rear sight while focusing on the front is confusing.

I'm probably the only knuckle head here who doesn't know the answer to this question. As you may guess, I'm extremely literal...

So, anyone know?

[WildBill]

The times I've attempted aiming by the front sight only on my xdm the rear sight aligned itself naturally without any effort on my part.

It seems to me that if the rear sight isn't aligned properly you can't completely see or focus on the front sight.

A link to the youtube video would be helpful.

[Abraham]

This is where I watched it: " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Copy and paste and it'll be available.

One of the major points of interest for me was when you keep both eyes open when shooting, you're peripheral vision is much greater. Close one eye while in a self defense situation you've then blocked out about 1/3 of your peripheral vision. Not good to say the least, most especially if you're being attacked by multiple attackers.

For most of my shooting life, I closed my non-dominant eye when focusing on the target.

For the past year or so, I've been forcing myself out this bad approach to shooting.

[Beiruty]

I say it dependence on your eyes, I can have flat depth with my both eyes open, what happens, your weak eyes would shift up and left to align the image on the dead spot ( or blind spot ) of your eye's retina (where all your optics nerves are bundled together). And, I can see both the rear sight, front sight and the target all focused, it is as if you put your camera focus at infinity in high f-stop.

Note, I am one of those 7% who did not develop stereoscopic vision while growing up.




More info: http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/tech/dof.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Excaliber]

I just finished watching a Youtube video about the importance of keeping both eyes open when shooting.

The presenter does a great job of why it's important and how to go about it.

One thing he repeatedly mentioned is focusing on the front sight.

This is something I've heard many times before, but what's never mentioned is: If you're focusing on the front sight, I assume you are simultaneously lining up the rear sight with it? Or, do you use only the front and don't bother with lining up with the rear sight?

Too me, leaving out this information regarding the use/or non-use of the rear sight while focusing on the front is confusing.

I'm probably the only knuckle head here who doesn't know the answer to this question. As you may guess, I'm extremely literal...

So, anyone know?

What I've found is that by using a good, consistent grip and muscle memory and focusing on the front sight (which is quicker than trying to align both sights) the alignment is close enough to give you good (not perfect) hits out to around 5 - 7 yards. I've even found that aligning with the flat of the slide just below eye level also works within this distance, and I can "feel" the shot will go where I'm looking.

Edit: Flat of the slide is less accurate than focusing on the front sight, but it is faster than the other technique and allows much greater situational awareness.

Tenths of a second count when the target is shooting back.

[VMI77]

I just finished watching a Youtube video about the importance of keeping both eyes open when shooting.

The presenter does a great job of why it's important and how to go about it.

One thing he repeatedly mentioned is focusing on the front sight.

This is something I've heard many times before, but what's never mentioned is: If you're focusing on the front sight, I assume you are simultaneously lining up the rear sight with it? Or, do you use only the front and don't bother with lining up with the rear sight?

Too me, leaving out this information regarding the use/or non-use of the rear sight while focusing on the front is confusing.

I'm probably the only knuckle head here who doesn't know the answer to this question. As you may guess, I'm extremely literal...

So, anyone know?

What I've found is that by using a good, consistent grip and muscle memory and focusing on the front sight (which is quicker than trying to align both sights) the alignment is close enough to give you good (not perfect) hits out to around 5 - 7 yards. I've even found that aligning with the flat of the slide just below eye level also works within this distance, and I can "feel" the shot will go where I'm looking.

Edit: Flat of the slide is less accurate than focusing on the front sight, but it is faster than the other technique and allows much greater situational awareness.

Tenths of a second count when the target is shooting back.

This. If you're close enough to the target the alignment of the rear sight just doesn't matter that much for a center mass shot. However, the greater the distance the more critical the sight alignment.

[jimlongley]

Kind of outside the realm of the discussion but I was an active .22 target shooter for many years and the habits ingrained there, where shooting with both eyes open and focusing the the front sight were kind of at odds with each other, transferred over to handgun shooting and I have found myself closing my non-shooting eye despite my best efforts, even shooting IDPA.

My solution when target shooting was to wear a blinder on my non-shooting eye, which kind of does away with the peripheral vision issue.

As far as focusing on the front sight, the sights I was used to in target shooting were "Globe" sights with aperture rear sights. The effect was that, for bullseye shooting, you were looking through a circle, at a circle, around a circle. The human eye very naturally tries to align the circles, so focusing on the front sight gave you a sharp sight, surrounded by a fuzzy circle, around a fuzzy circle, with the eye's natural tendency to align the circles and leads to really good accuracy. This does not as readily transfer to IDPA, USPSA, and such, although front sight focus is still the best way to go.

[skeathley]

Peripheral vision means being able to "see" something (be aware of it) without actually focusing your vision on it. The concept of focusing on the front sight means to focus your vision on the front sight while "seeing" (being aware of) the rear sight in the proper alignment. Choosing not to worry about the rear sight becomes a type of "point-n-shoot", which can also work at close distances, but anything past 7 yards probably requires both sights be in play.

That is probably irrelevant to the topic at hand, but shooting with both eyes open also reduces tension in the face, and eliminates certain physiological changes to the open eye which you cannot control.

[drewtx]

I now shoot handguns with both eyes open after shooting with one eye for years. It does take some adjustment, but I viewed it as taking one step back to take two big steps forward. Now it comes naturally and the peripheral vision and depth perception are much better. Plus, as mentioned above, your face isn't twisted up trying to keep one eye closed. I also have to wonder whether someone who practices with one eye closed would keep both eyes open in a 'real shooting situation.' In that situation, you'd be shooting in a different manner than you practice, which can't be as accurate. Just my 0.02

[MechAg94]

I have found focusing on the front sight helps maintain good sight alignment on the target better than otherwise. I just shoot better.

[The Annoyed Man]

"I squeeze my eyes shut tightly, point the gun, and shoot. Hopefully, when I open my eyes, the gun was pointed in the direction of the target." .....said no Annoyed Man ever.

I figure that if I have to shut both eyes tight to block out the sight picture, then I have to open both eyes to see it well. However, as my eyes have worsened over the past year and I recently learned that I have cataracts, it becomes harder and harder for me to make both eyes focus on the same focal point, like the front sight, and I find it easier to focus on the target.

Of course lately, I've done more rifle shooting than handgun shooting because I find optics to be less annoying than blindness.

[WhoWouldGuess]

In real world shooting, where there may be innocent bystanders behind or near the BG (target), keeping both eyes open allows you to be more aware of other objects, as compared to closing the non-dominant eye, which allows you to ignore everything except the target.

Training is everything. Practice doing what you want to instinctively do.