Although I generally try to shoot both eyes open with everything, I still find myself wanting to close my left eye when focusing in on iron sights on a carbine or pistol. (I always keep my eyes open with a red dot)
I have researched and have seen there is lots of inconsistency in when you should keep your eyes open or close. Some say that past 15 or so yards with pistol, it should be fine to close an eye to help focus, others say its not. Same goes with rifle, though for me its not as big as a deal under 100 yards to keep both eyes open while using iron sights on a carbine. Past that and I really need to close one eye.
So, do you always keep both eyes open, or close one once past a certain distance?
It depends on how precise I need to be with the amount of time I have.
So your basically saying that the point of having both eyes open is only a speed and situation awareness thing, and that if you have the ability and time, you would rather have one eye closed in most other shots?
I usually close one eye, especially when shooting past 15 yards. I’ve been trying to train myself to keep both eyes open.
GeorgiaBoy:
So your basically saying that the point of having both eyes open is only a speed and situation awareness thing, and that if you have the ability and time, you would rather have one eye closed in most other shots?
I thought I was more mystical than that
See what you need to see to get the hit.
Everything starts out with both eyes open, then attain the level of focus you need to get the hit. The more you practice, the better you will get at having both eyes open for lower percentage shots.
A lot of it comes to sight focus as well.
Surf
March 23, 2012, 6:10am
6
In short I agree with F2S.
I had this discussion recently and it is easier to post my replies. Here are my thoughts in more detail.
Surf:
Some misinformation or perhaps more correctly a lack of understanding eye dominance and related issues in shooters. Ideally a shooter should shoot 2 eyes open if they are physically able to do so. However there are eye conditions where focus (myopia or emmetropia) perhaps different for each eye may cause issues. Eye dominance, lack of dominance or shifting of dominance can very much affect the ability to shoot with 2 eyes open for many people also. Fatigue, age, eye strain, injury etc, etc can create issues. No one is the same and to try to give one blanket answer is incorrect and that mostly stems from ignorance of the issue itself.
I will also note that about 3-5% of the population is what is called “ambiocular” and I happen to be in that category. This basically means that there is clearly no dominant eye or that dominance can quickly shift between both eyes. What does this mean? There are some great advantages to being ambiocular but for shooting with 2 eyes open it isn’t so great. Often the eyes will fight with one another so much the 2 superimposed objects can quickly shift and I mean almost instantaneously back and forth. It is also very difficult as an example to get say a front sight focus with 2 eyes open. Both eyes battling for dominance can shift focus instantly causing issues. Now the latter front sight focus part may not be an issue in combat style shooting but when your muzzle superimposed over your target keeps shifting it can wreak havoc. On the plus side, shooting from either side for accuracy is simple as there really is no true dominant eye, so if you close one eye it doesn’t matter. Again this does not just go for ambiocular people, but for many people with varying eye or physical conditions. Age, injury and a host of other things can shift dominance throughout a shooting session. Having a solution to the problem is what is needed and not a suck it up and do it mentality. It is not a mental function but rather a physical one.
So what is the option? To either squint or close one eye to maintain dominance focus in the eye of your choice. At the moment we acquire sight picture is very very brief. The subconscious mind and the speed at which the eye reacts is blistering fast. So fast that for those microseconds in time where focus occurs means very very little in the realm of situational awareness. It is the same moments in time that a 2 eye open shooter will have their entire attention on the immediate threat. No difference. Many great combat style or competition shooters do just this. Now we aren’t running around with one eye shut or squinting all the time, but one may squint only enough to be able to “see what they need to see” in order to get the desired hits. Being closed minded on the topic of eye dominance its related issues and how they might apply to different people does little to no good in solving issues related to physical inabilities rather than addressing a skill related issue. Having a solution for a shooter is key, not to just tell them too bad do it. The problem being is that people who do not have such eye or physical related issues that may create such conditions generally have no clue what others may or may not be seeing.
As an example I will squint one eye at the time of sight picture / sight alignment, whatever type of alignment I use, whether it is flash front sight, slide indexing whatever. However when I do a target transition as an example I am 2 eyes wide open for that split second or however long it takes, then when I am focused on the threat, my eye will slightly squint. How much depends on the type of focus that I need. It is not something that I need to think about it happens more quickly than my brain can make my fingers or body move.
Surf:
If it is just a dominance issue then yes most likely and it is often done especially for those of us who are ambiocular. Since both of my eyes are equally dominant I can force dominance to either eye by slightly squinting the opposite eye. How much I actually squint is really dependent on “what I need to see” to get the type of hits that I desire. Very up close, speed shooting with a forgiving sized hit zone and I need very little, almost unnoticed. A good bullseye hit from distance on a smallish target, I will completely close one eye. It really doesn’t take much of a squint for many shooters in a combat shooting situation or gaming situation to force dominance to one eye or another. Just enough to make one eye see more clearly and take over the dominant eye roll. Now if you have some type of vision issue in the opposite eye it may not be as effective.
Surf:
I don’t read SWAT magazine (go figure) but I am more than familiar with Mr. Awerbuck. Without trying to quote him (which would be a lesson in futility) I will note that he is huge into the science and an encyclopedia of medical and scientific facts in relationship to the bodies psychological and physiological response etc, in a high stress incident such as involving defensive shooting (not simply training but the real thing). Coming from a sciences background prior to my current employment, I can very much relate to this line of thinking.
Through my own personal training and practical experiences in training many tactical or combat style shooters I pretty much concur with Mr. Awerbuck on the one or two eyes open topic. Again without quoting him, I believe his stance is that if you can do it two eyes open, good for you. If not, so what. There are advantages and disadvantages to either one. I find it to be so much of a non-issue that I don’t stress either or, but foster either method in a shooter and don’t attempt to rigidly change them when it comes to this topic. I might have them try various methods, but in reality there are far far more important skills to be covered and this topic falls very low on a priority list. Almost non existent.
I also agree that all but the most highly trained individuals will have a very narrowing focus of their vision under high stress situations. The peripheral vision is narrowed so much that one eye or two eyes open is almost a non-factor especially when we are specifically threat focused, in other words we are actually viewing or tracking that threat. Our focus will narrow even more at the moment in time where we may need to pull the trigger. There are also some disadvantages to shooting two eyes open which can be exacerbated in an actual gunfight. Also as I mention above the amount of time that one may actually squint or close one eye is so small that the amount of peripheral vision or focus is not discernible for any practical purposes during those milliseconds in time.
So in other words the amount of time that a shooter may be squinting or closing one eye at the time they fire is for all practical purposes a non factor. All other times, two eyes are wide open. There are other better techniques to help someone get the blood flowing to their extremities and helping to train them to open up that tunnel vision and make us more aware of our surroundings and it is generally much more beneficial to spend time in these areas as opposed to worrying about two eyes open or not.
Again this is just my opinion and of course everyone’s MMV.
Surf:
Common sense fellas. See what we need to see to get the appropriate hits. 3-5 yards on a human torso and we very well understand how the body and most shooters react in regards to how they sight their weapon, or more correctly the lack of actual use of the sights so the two eyes vs one eye is a moot point. Of course we are talking about when more precision under certain circumstances is needed. Again if I am slide indexing at 5-7 yards on a human torso, I am not needing a perfect aligned sight picture and have no need to squint an eye. Now ask me to take a shot on a partially exposed head on say a hostage type shot where I need to “see more” to make the shot, then I will squint an eye. Common sense fellas, and “see what we need to see” to make the hit. Again people who don’t have these type of eye conditions have no clue what others might be dealing with in their vision and in reality the deficit is truly meaningless.
Level of attention needed. The further away the target and more precise the shot the more I squint. Left eye may default close at a certain point when shooting shoulder fired guns from the right side but I don’t purposely close it all the way.
Will close the right eye if shooting from the left shoulder however since the right eye tends to overpower the left pretty badly and the ghost images can cause a headache, nausea, or just simple lack of concentration.
