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One or Two

  • One Eye

    Votes: 67 36.2%
  • Two Eyes

    Votes: 51 27.6%
  • I shoot both ways

    Votes: 68 36.8%

  • Total voters
    185
depends on how precise I need to be. different circumstances between a varmint at 50yds and a bad guy at 7yds. I try to practice both ways. to me, it's the difference between aiming and pointing, if that makes sense.
 
Started with just my dominant eye open; then I finally sucked it up and went with the more tactical "two eyes" approach. I didn't like it at first, but eventually it became a habit. Now I prefer it in most situations. It takes some getting used to, but you DO get used to it.
 
I shot competitively for years using the one eye approach....then one day I decided...I'm going to learn how to shoot with both eyes open (BEO). I knew at first that my scores were going to suck but eventually the switch would pay off (shooting BEO allows you to have a wider depth of field and I also believe results in more accurate shooting).

It took a while to learn this technique and I put in a LOT of dryfire time trying to reinforce it. Eventually my brain figured it all out. Depending on the difficulty of the shot, sometimes my brain will reduce or close the weak eye entirely....the rest of the time its open. This is the key to "seeing what you need to see" .... your mind takes care of it for you and you don't need to consciously thing "ok...I better close my weak eye for this one"....it just happens automatically.
 
Sweetbeard, I'm with ya. I'm working on it, but it's challenging for me to see the sight properly. Oddly enough, I've always shot my bow with both eyes open and never had an issue (short or long range).

My guess is that it's harder with pistols than with rifles or bows because of the location of the rear sight. With the pistol, it's centered between yours eyes. With rifle or bows, it's oriented towards your dominant eye and much closer to it as well.

Wichaca, any tips or pointers here?
 
I think a lot of those that have trouble with BEO (both eye's open) could be attributed to your stance and presentation. What I see a lot of non competitive shooters do is adopt a Weaver stance. Most every new shooter I take to the range naturally assume the weaver stance.

I shoot with an isosceles stance with a more neutral pistol index centered of my body, forward thumbs and canted wrist. Hips, head and shoulders square with my target focus. With my head more square with the target, BEO is much more natural and comfortable.

Here's a video of my stance and presentation. It's a video of my reload dry fire practice but it best illustrates my grip, posture and stance that allows me to shoot both eye's open more easily and effectively.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-am0OHbAA8isosceles stance
 
Two eyes If you switch off and shoot weak hand/strong hand, definate
advantage in speed and accuracy. You never know if/when you might
need to use a weak hand shoot. Much easier with a handgun than a
long arm for me, with only a slight difference in weak/dominate with a
handgun as with both eyes open it kind of evens out dominate/weak eye
problems also.:confused:
 
anyone who was taught correctly shoots with one eye closed unless you just like to spray lead, in that case leave the shooting to real men....:)

Every highly notable instructor I've ever heard of teach BEO, and some of the best shooters in the world shoot pistols both eye's open. Instructors like Matt Burkett, Phil Strader and Todd Jarrett.

Someone should tell Todd Jarrett, Mike Seeklander, Phil Stradr and Rob Leatham to quit spraying lead downrange. They have no business teaching this to law enforcement and military.
 
I used to have trouble shooting with both eyes, never being able to select the proper image quickly. I thought it was because I am very slightly "wall-eyed", especially when fatigued, kind of like John F. Kennedy.

Well, after decades of shooting left-handed and left-eyed, I finally discovered I am right-eye-dominant! Now that I can trust my right eye to do its job I can easily find the sights and shoot with both eyes open.

An old dog learned a new trick!........................elsullo :p
 

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