鉄砲道 — teppoudo

There is a lot of debate as to whether to shoot with both eyes open, or just one. I thought the consensus was to use both eyes if you were capable of doing so. In fact some people have gone to the extent of obscuring the view of the non-dominant eye partially and keeping both eyes open.

Based on the above, I had been diligently training to use both eyes under all circumstances. I had good success with shorter distances, but was still having issues (target ghosting etc.) at distances > 25 yards.

Listening to a conversation between Angus Hobdell and Matt Burkett changed all that and opened the topic up again.

In Episode 2 of Practical Shooting Radio, Angus mentioned that he shot with both his eyes fully open only when shooting targets at less than 10 yards. In fact he mentioned the following for different ranges.

Angus was kind enough to respond to an email I sent him regarding that interview. The following quote is extracted from his email response.

Squinting the eye also helps to focus down on the sight, the more distance involved the more necessary the strong clear sight picture no focusing back and forward. Sharp sight blurred target.

— Angus

At shorter distances, the peripheral vision provided by the other eye helped with target acquisition etc.

Bruce Gray uses one eye for all his shooting and is not convinced that having both eyes open while breaking the shot (even up close), provides significant benefit. The following is a quote from Bruce.

I’m unconvinced that actually making shots with both eyes matters that much in practical shooting. Target acquisition and most other tasks that benefit from full, binocular vision can still be performed with both eyes; the final alignment of the sights for each discrete shot can be done with one or both equally quickly in my experience.

The issue of not seeing everything in combat is a valid one on it’s face, but I’m not convinced it’s a really persuasive argument in favor of imposing a two-eyed shooting technique for many people. This is for a somewhat subtle reason that I’ll try to explain.

It’s not like we’d possibly fight with one eye closed constantly in any event, right?

On the other hand, developing the crucially important kinesthetic relationship between the hands, sights and target is best accomplished with the clearest and most precise feedback from the sights, not the target. That suggests actually shooting with the best sight picture possible.

I’ve tried it both ways, plus with both eyes closed. Big Grin

I can tell you that most everyone I have ever worked or trained with shot more accurately and more consistently when the non-dominant view was obscured to some degree. That means they also developed an enhanced capability to hit even when they don’t see the sights at all for whatever reason, by relying upon that kinesthetic index skill that comes from a lot of precisely sighted shooting and dry firing.

Having said that, please remember that highly critical aiming is otherwise relatively unimportant to accurate shot placement in practical shooting, other than to cue a higher order of trigger control skill.

Ideally, we aim so that we will press the trigger in a subconsciously controlled manner when the sights appear on the target, per our training. (We obviously should also train ourselves to fire using other cues.) As long as you can see the aligned sights, go for it. I and most other shooters see the sights more clearly and with more contrast with my left eye partially closed, or with a bit of tape across the lens.

I hope this helps you!

— Bruce

Matt also mentioned that he closed his non-dominant eye completely for long distance precision shots and when using a shooting positions with narrow vertical ports.

The reason for closing the non-dominant eye when shooting through narrow vertical ports is to make sure that the gun is actually shooting through the port. If you’re not careful, you can end up in a position where the fusion between the images from the two eyes leads to the appearance of the sights on the target, when in fact the gun is not even pointed through the port.

I have noticed a benefit in shooting with both eyes open at close targets and will continue to train that way. For targets that require more precision, I will obstruct the view of my non-sighting eye based on the amount of precision needed for the shot.

It’s a relief to learn that I don’t need to worry about using both eyes at distances greater than 25 yards, where I currently have significant issues.