Keep Both Eyes Open When Shooting

[Cedar Park Dad]

In defense of "one eyes" I have to shoot one eye at any range over 5 yards as my vision is, for lack of a more appropriate word "messed up." If I try to focus with both eyes open I'm going to get two pictures floating back and forth. Yar...

[VMI77]

In defense of "one eyes" I have to shoot one eye at any range over 5 yards as my vision is, for lack of a more appropriate word "messed up." If I try to focus with both eyes open I'm going to get two pictures floating back and forth. Yar...

Lasers can help with that.....then you can focus on the target instead of the sight.

[Canon1d4]

I shoot with both eyes open, but can't get over this bullseye-shooter insistence on "focus on the front sight".

Well, you are in disagreement with Jeff Cooper. When I was there he always stressed "In a fight ...front sight"

[AlaskanInTexas]

Here's a - roughly 2" - 5-shot 25 yd group, shot at Elm Fork through my 1911 while focused on the target:

I don't understand how y'all can have such a tight group at 25 yards with a handgun. When I aim at that distance, but front site covers an area about 2ft x 2ft and the whole thing is pretty blurry.

On a more related note, I have begun converting from a one-eye-open guy to a two-eye-open guy. What a frustrating mess that has been. But it is coming along.

[berettadave]

AndyC,

I am in the same boat as you. I always concentrate on seeing the target clearer than the front sight. I see you post now and then about shotgun shooting. I shoot a LOT of sporting clays in competition and practice. I know with a shotgun looking at the front bead is disaster when it comes to hitting targets. Sometimes I think this is why I shoot a pistol this way even though I have more awareness of the front site with a pistol than I ever do with a shotgun.

Dave

[Excaliber]

Thing is, Dave, focusing on the front sight works best for most folks when it comes to handgun accuracy, particularly for folks new to shooting a handgun or precision events such as Bullseye. Clays - yes, that's a difference beast and involves good shotgun fit to work properly, as you know.

Where I take exception to this "one size fits all" approach is that folks try to force what works on the range into actual combat. I've pointed a gun at enough folks for real to know that we naturally and instinctively focus our eyes on the threat - I defy anyone who gets mugged to takes their eyes off someone who's trying to kill them and actually refocus their eyeballs onto a tiny sliver of metal. Ain't happening but to maybe 1 man in 100,000 - and as long as I can still see my (unfocused) sights relative to the target, I can hit it just fine.

I agree that at short range it's nearly impossible to use true sight alignment as we speak of it on the range. Alignment based on an unfocused front sight or top of slide just below the line of vision is what works best and fastest at close range.

True sight alignment comes into its own (and becomes necessary for hits) somewhere between 7 and 10 yards for most folks. At those distances more options (cover, movement, etc) also have more weight in the mix.

[rentz]

i've tried it all. both eyes open, dominant eye, focus on front site, focus on target and i get fairly mixed bag of results.
My eye's just dont do well focusing with both eyes open in the darker light of an indoor range, everything get clearer when i go to dominant eye.
Yet when I practice dry fire at home i can focus easily with both eyes open.

Focus on the target makes a lot of sense and would be most practical in a real life situation, and since you should have your arm aligned well with the barrel in an aiming position anyway it would indicate that the front site focus would be at your point of aim with your arms (or near that) anyway