Shotdown

I shoot both eyes open and I'm cross dominant. I'm right handed and I noticed I focus with my left eye but I only see one target.

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ccw9mm

I'm lefty, right-eye dominant, generally mod/Weaver stance. It's a natural movement now, but I simply tilt the pistol over about ~8-10* to the right and then tick the head to the left. While both eyes are open, the dominant (right) eye zeros in on the front sight easily. With isosceles stance, I simply turn the head a bit left to allow the dominant eye to line up.

As suggested above, though, when shooting quickly under a stressed situation, I find myself simply pointing at the target and shooting without really consciously adjusting the sighting.

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Bob The Great

My goal in this is to improve my point shooting. If I build in the muscle memory to raise my gun, automatically snap it into correct position, and bring my focus to it, I won't have to think about it if I ever have to do it for real. That's what point shooting is all about - reflexive action, but we have the opportunity to re-define the body's default actions through practice. I've done this many times in martial arts training, and it should work the same way with shooting.

Ok, I finally found another thread on this. This is the same issue I'm having.

Eyes, alternative sighting, defensive pistol [Archive] - THR

I think this might be what's going on for me. I am definitely right-eye dominant, but maybe not by a great degree, which makes it difficult to ignore the information coming from my left eye.

As for which target is "real", I think I figured that one out too. I was thinking about it this morning, and here's what I think is going on.



Method 1 is the standard one-eyed sight picture. Align and focus on the front sight with the dominant eye: 1 target, 1 sight, line 'em up, and that's it. If a person truly has no dominant eye or wants to shoot with the non-dominant eye, this seems like the only option.

Method 2 is what I think most people are doing. The dominant eye has the same sight picture and alignment as Method 1, and all information from the non-dominant eye is simply ignored, but the non-dominant eye is aligned with the front sight to aid in focusing on it. People learn to ignore the ghost target and let the dominant eye control what you actually "see" until the ghost target becomes essentially invisible. This method seems like it would be most suitable for people with a strongly dominant eye or who have trouble shifting their focus plane independantly of their eye alignment.

Method 3 is what I think I was doing. Both eyes are still aligned on the front sight, but the sight itself is centered between the eyes. This produces 2 ghost images, one from each eye, and the true target becomes invisible! To hit the true target, one must aim in between the two ghosts, which is clearly a poor option for accuracy.

Note that the change in gun alignment between Methods 2 and 3 is very slight. This is why I couldn't understand what was going on. I was unconsiously adjusting the gun and my head to a neutral position between my eyes where both eyes had equal dominance.

Method 4 is my work-around. Both eyes are aligned with the target, even though my focus plane is still pulled back to the front sight. The sight is aligned with the dominant eye, which creates a ghost gun image seen by the non-dominant eye. I have already learned to ignore this ghost gun over the years of focusing on the target.

This method is similar to the instinctive focus-on-the-target method of shooting, with the only difference being pulling the focus plane back to sharpen up the front sight. It seems like this might be more suitable for people like me, who (apparently) have only slight dominance in one eye, but it requires shifting the focus of your eyes without changing their alignment.

The question is: What functional difference is there between Methods 2 and 4? Both seem like they accomplish the goal of front-sight shooting, which is to minimize the uncertainty in the position of front sight, on the basis that a small variation in front sight position translates to a large variation in impact zone, and could go un-noticed if the sight is fuzzy. The disadvantage I see with Method 4 is the time it takes to adjust the focus plane, but this seems like something that could be overcome with enough practice. But aligning both eyes with the target is very instinctive and probably easier to do pumped full of adrenalin.

Does this make sense to anyone else? I think I could use the tape-over-the-glasses trick on my non-dominant eye to train myself using Method 2, but before I try to alter my eye dominance, I want to examine the feasability of Method 4 a bit, since it comes more naturally.

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Bob The Great

Well, I killed that thread.

I'm gonna do some more experimenting, but if anybody has any more feedback, let me know.

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"A well-educated electorate, being necessary to the continuance of a free state, the right of the people to keep and read books shall not be infringed."
Is this hard to understand? Then why does it get unintelligible to some people when 5 little words are changed?

WickedOne

I have essentialy the same problem. With both eyes open looking at the target I see two guns. If I focus on the front site I see two targets in the background. I shoot with one eye at the range because of this. When I practice SD situations the speed of the encounter doesn't give me the oportunity to get a great site picture and close one eye, therefore, I have learned that when focusing on the front site I need to aim at the target on the right.

Glad you brought this up. I always assumed it was normal and everyone who shoots with both eyes open had this issue. Guess I learn something new everyday. I'm very interested in knowing the outcome of your research, keep us up-to-date.

Ram Rod

I shoot with both eyes opened...always have. My focus isn't a 'fire-starter' focus...in other words...not a highly concentrated focus, but a 'soft' focus if you will. I only see one target, one gun, and one front sight. It's the same for me shooting strong hand or weak hand. Concentration is one thing, but nurturing your natural abilities is another. Practice alot. You won't even need your pistol or have to go to the range to do this. Just point your finger at the door knob or any other exercise. Your issue may affect more people than anyone has realized. The underlying causes I wouldn't know.

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Bob The Great

The more I think about it, the more it seems like a degree of eye dominance issue. Physiologically, it's impossible to see the same image of two objects at different distances with both eyes at once. The distance between our eyes simply does not allow it. This gives us binocular vision, but it's up to the brain to interpret which image to pay attention to. If it can't decide (neither eye dominant) it sees both. My vision has been this way for as long as I can remember, and it's not an impedement in every day life, since I seldom have to focus on a near object and a far object at once, except when I shoot.

I haven't done any more shooting since Friday, but I want to try these out now that I understand things a little better.

__________________
"A well-educated electorate, being necessary to the continuance of a free state, the right of the people to keep and read books shall not be infringed."
Is this hard to understand? Then why does it get unintelligible to some people when 5 little words are changed?