All my searches for shooting with both eyes open or one eye only seem to have pure pistol shooting covered but not precision rifle. What do you guys suggest for shooting precision rifle? One eye open or two? Thanks
Both eyes open?
- Thread starter zanderfever
- Start date
I personally shoot everything both eyes open....squinting/closing one eye causes muscle fatigue and trembling/twitching etc. Both eyes open is natural and balanced.
VooDoo
VooDoo
I shoot with my left eye shut - I am right handed and right eye dominant. I might be doing it wrong, but there you go 
You're liar!!?I shoot with my left eye shut - I am right handed and right eye dominant. I might be doing it wrong, but there you go
Its simply a matter of the brain using the eye that can see to focus. When you leave both eyes open the eye that is focusing gets most of the brains attention. I figured out early how to tell one eye to look one way and then tell the other eye to look around. It is a freaky thing to watch, and very stressful to the eyes but it can be done.
Not with everyone. I'm right handed and left eye dominant...I tried to convert/force right eye dominance and had all kinds of problems from migraines to loss of artistic abilities.
Some of us are eye dominant because of brain dominance...it's not a matter of eye focus. It's a matter of how yer brain works best. Eye dominance is not always arbitrary or training. Sometimes it's ordained by brain function. I shoot with both eyes open and run a right hand action left handed to get my left eye behind the optic. It's not optimal for running a precision rifle but it works well enough.
The plus is that in running handguns both hands/both eyes work just fine so I can shoot two pistols, one in each hand, with no problem. Both hands coordinate with my dominant eye.
VooDoo
I admire how you have overcome that. It should just motivate the rest of us to be better. I find that an open mind is better than an open eye.
Both eyes, especially when hunting. I get weird looks from the old times at deer camp when we zero check and target shoot lol.
Two eyes open is just as important with a rifle as it is with a shotgun or a pistol till you're on the target. It isn't to judge depth and distance, but when panning the rifle to find the target your eye chooses the one not behind the glass so you can come on target quickly, and once you settle your brain chooses the eye behind the scope. It happens naturally and you don't have to do a thing. People who shoot tactical rifle with two eyes open have a clear advantage finding targets faster over people who don't. Now, if it helps you to close your off eye once you're on target then that's just a preference.
as above guys have said, both eyes open absolutely. If you can do it, there are no downsides and lots of upsides. It might help if you slightly move your scope lens covers so they block out the view of the non-shooting eye... I have found this helps turn off the sight signal that eye is sending.
Best of luck and keep working at it even if it doesn't work the first time. Do it enough and your brain will learn.
Best of luck and keep working at it even if it doesn't work the first time. Do it enough and your brain will learn.
So I’m not great at it but I seemed to have good luck so far with my left eye a little closed, not all the way but enough it didn’t also try to see the target. It’s a baby step toward the right direction.
My personal opinion, especially when it comes to highly skilled things like precision shooting, mastering a martial art or playing a musical instrument is that there are usually more than one way to approach mastery - One size/Way will never fit everyone/all the time.
There are, however, details and techniques that will faithfully serve 99% of dedicate practitioners. I'd always strive for both eyes open until I proved to myself that I needed to find a better/different way as both eyes open is normal state for humans to operate.
VooDoo
There are, however, details and techniques that will faithfully serve 99% of dedicate practitioners. I'd always strive for both eyes open until I proved to myself that I needed to find a better/different way as both eyes open is normal state for humans to operate.
VooDoo
Both open...I do find, though, that when I'm dealing with a lot of mirage and straining to focus on the target I end up with left closed.
I use to shoot with 1 eye closed (left). after a few strings my right eye would get really out of focus and I'd have to take a break. been shooting both eyes open for a few years now. 1 trick I been doing is I used a old beat up pair of oakley's and the left eye piece I painted black.
It took me a couple of range trips to get used to it but after I got used to it, I much prefer to shoot with both open.
Both eyes. Works better with lower mag optics IME. You basically squint or blink in order to bring both into focus in a way that looks, well, natural.
I am right handed but left eye dominate too. I can shoot off both shoulders but usually go to left for my more precise shooting. I grew up being taught to close a eye and couldn’t close my right when I was a young daisy lever action marksman (the best way to learn Kentucky windage). Then when I got in the military they gave me a red dot reflex site for ccb and told me to keep both eyes open. It took a while to get used too, but now I do Both.
The only thing I shoot with one eye closed (or one eye blurred with tape on the eye protection) is shotgun. My right eye isn't dominant enough to prevent me from getting the two images confused when I'm looking at the target rather than at the sights directly. With pistol I use two eyes open since focusing on the front sight post lets me clearly separate the image from the right eye that I need to see, and with a scoped rifle the two images are different enough that it's impossible for me to get them mixed up in the first place.
Tricky subject with many variables and physiological aspects. But for PRS specifically I’d try both eyes open if you can manage it.
Faster target acquisition
Less fatigue
Better proprioception/coordination
Better balance when not prone
Honestly it probably won’t noticeably change your scores but there may come a day when one more impact would clench a match for you. Bottom line, PRS is more about basic skills and confidence. Do what gives you the most confidence.
Faster target acquisition
Less fatigue
Better proprioception/coordination
Better balance when not prone
Honestly it probably won’t noticeably change your scores but there may come a day when one more impact would clench a match for you. Bottom line, PRS is more about basic skills and confidence. Do what gives you the most confidence.
Is there such thing as barely dominant eye?? Im left handed but shoot right handed and seem to be right eye dominant. But when dry firing at home I try both eyes open and my left eye wants to grab and I lose my right eye in the scope. So I swapped to left handed position with my left eye looking through the scope and both eyes opened worked better that way.
There is, the strength of an eye's dominance can be weak or strong and can even change over time.
When I was a little kid I was strongly right eye dominant, in that it was hard for me to even see the picture from my left eye at times. Interestingly enough, studies have shown (and my experience reflects this) that in cases of nearsightedness (myopia) the more nearsighted eye often becomes the dominant eye. My right eye is still hyperopic (farsighted) like it was when I was little, but my left eye has become myopic and my eye dominance has weakened significantly. I still usually see out of my right eye, but I can see from my left eye (both eyes still open) with little effort.
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