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Do you shoot with both eyes open or close one eye


Salopian
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One eye for shotguns with left eye closed when tracking for the shot. I am left eye dominant and cant shoot left handed to save my life as I shot rifles for years before shotguns so cant break the habit of shooting right handed. If I try and shoot both eyes open my left eye takes over and I see the side of the rib which doesn't help with hitting stuff. 

From my little group who shoot clays I hold my own and out on the birds so it seems to work

Edited by Zetter
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17 hours ago, Salopian said:

Trying to find out what the percentages are ?

Do you shoot with both eyes open or do you close , wink , or dim one eye ?

 

It's not clear from your brief whether you're interested in master eyes or just two or one eye shooting, to be pedantic it's not even clear whether you mean just shot guns or rifles included, surely to gain any sort of clear idea you need to set this up as a poll with clearly defined questions ?

I shoot shot guns with both eyes open all the way through the process from the right shoulder aiming with my right eye despite my left being my master eye.

I shoot rifles from the right shoulder using my weaker non dom eye too. 

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According to my optician I have a left master eye, which I’m prone to ignore and shoot both eyes open, but it may explain ( now I’ve thought about it ) why I’ve been missing some clays from left to right. Will try to remember to shut this eye on such targets and see how I fare. 

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1 hour ago, Hamster said:

 

I shoot shot guns with both eyes open all the way through the process from the right shoulder aiming with my right eye despite my left being my master eye.

 

Hamster, you are lucky that shooting right handed with both eyes open and with a master left eye works for you.

Not quite sure what you mean by 'aiming with my right eye' as surely this would mean dimming or shutting your left eye for the right eye to 'aim'. This is not a criticism, I'm genuinely intrigued.

I shoot left handed with a right master eye and have to shut my right eye just before taking the shot, otherwise I would shoot too far to the left.

OB

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2 minutes ago, Old Boggy said:

Hamster, you are lucky that shooting right handed with both eyes open and with a master left eye works for you.

Not quite sure what you mean by 'aiming with my right eye' as surely this would mean dimming or shutting your left eye for the right eye to 'aim'. This is not a criticism, I'm genuinely intrigued.

I shoot left handed with a right master eye and have to shut my right eye just before taking the shot, otherwise I would shoot too far to the left.

OB

"Aiming" in this context simply implies being aware that the barrel that the pellets leave from happens to be the one on the (left) and directly under my right eye. (When you address a target with the barrels held just under your eye line, you will be aware of two sets of barrels, the one on the right for me would be the wrong one to use as a reference when applying lead so I am conscious of not allowing it to take over)

It sounds complicated but isn't if you understand the concept of master eye, I have friends from past and present who do the same thing, some no doubt dim the left eye slightly on occasion but one or two I know for certain had taught themselves not to have to, as I have. The reason I know is because being interested in the subject I have asked them in great detail. 

My right eye is most definitely weaker (though not at all impaired in any way thankfully) so no surprise that the left is my master eye. The reason I taught myself to shoot this way is because in the early days glasses that were big enough to allow a dot to be applied were non existent and I hated shooting in glasses in any case and still do to some extent. I soon realised that the all round vision and advantages offered by two eyes being left open throughout the process was worth exploring avenues other than what the "conventional cures" offered at the time (and still do incidentally). Just another one of those shooting myths in many ways 😜😎, I am aware many including professional level coaches doubt the validity of what I say but will always be happy to be filmed from angles that prove I don't dim my left eye. 

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As someone else around here, I dim my left eye when shooting.

The argument that you NEED both eyes to judge distance is not enough. You brain judges distances using both eyes, true, but given the distance between your eyes and the resolution of your eyes, it can only use /that/ up to about 25 meters. After that, you need to use other 'clues' that your brain will integrate into your notion of speed and distances. Clues are (not exclusive, might be others) the position of the retina focus muscle, the expected size of the target, the respective size of the background etc.

Which means you can't say "can't judge distance with just one eye" -- the two eyes are only at their prime usefulness at close distance, after that, they just become another clue added to the rest, with less and less importance as the distance becomes greater.

The proof is that if you see a 2D still picture of a stand with a clay flying in the background, there's a fair chance you can judge it's distance with just that information, as long as it's not a trick mini or MIDI. Same with a youtube video, you can say, "wow that looks like a 40 yarder" even tho you don't have the binocular vision OR the focus 'clues' to help you.

Now the /field of vision/ is important, thus keeping your eyes open as long as you can is a good idea; thus the method of squinting your eye JUST as you start seeing the target, to force your (right) eye to take over. With that method, you will have had enough time to use both eyes as long as needed, after that, you still have the remaining other 'clues' to judge the target.

Also, people tend to forget that your eye dominance WILL change, wether if it's the light (sun to your right, it's likely your right eye will flinch and the left will take over) tiredness, or age. I don't make this one up, you can refer to Brisner's Shotgunning: The art and science where he describes change of eye dominance.

 

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5 hours ago, Scully said:

According to my optician I have a left master eye, which I’m prone to ignore and shoot both eyes open, but it may explain ( now I’ve thought about it ) why I’ve been missing some clays from left to right. Will try to remember to shut this eye on such targets and see how I fare. 

My optician told me I had central vision with a very slight favoured left eye. Im right handed and have tried to close my left eye with works when practicing my mount at home but when it comes to actually shooting at a target I instinctively keep both open. 

I have tried an eye patch and even blanking of the LH side of shooting glasses but this tends to give me a head ache after a while and I resort to keeping both eyes open.

Edited by Jbob
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Having shot like a **** on the previous syndicate day ( missing even the most perfect of presentations ) after hopefully correcting some faults which had crept in, and after I made a slight adjustment to the comb of my sporter , I was chomping at the bit to have birds over me yesterday. There wasn't a lot about unfortunately, but of the four birds I had over me, I killed for five shots, with both eyes open. This is significant for me as I have a left master eye and all were from the left to right. 

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On 09/01/2019 at 07:40, scolopax said:

I'm right handed with a left master eye.  I shoot off my right shoulder and with my left eye either dimmed or shut, I'm not quite sure. It kind of works for me, one thing for sure is that I wasting my time trying to shoot with both eyes open.

 

I'm exactly the same

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On 09/01/2019 at 07:40, scolopax said:

I'm right handed with a left master eye.  I shoot off my right shoulder and with my left eye either dimmed or shut, I'm not quite sure. It kind of works for me, one thing for sure is that I wasting my time trying to shoot with both eyes open.

 

This,

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  • 4 months later...

I’ve got central vision with slightly dominant left eye, I’m right handed so when I mounted I could see the left side of the rib. An instructor put a small translucent patch on my shooting glasses now I see over the rib 👍

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Both eyes open if you have the full use of both eyes. Why?  Periferal vision.  Losing one eye you lose 50% almost of your full ability, that's why they check it when you go for an eye test.

I have always shot both eyes open as that is the way I was taught from a young boy and it made my tactical pistol training so much easier as it is no good losing half your vision in a real search where you might have danger from two directions. To me it comes naturally BUT whatever floats your boat. If your hitting the targets then why mess about and worry about it.

When I shoot shotgun I am not aware of the barrel or rib or front sight, I watch the bird.

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