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In field shooting, how high in magnification can you go before you cannot shoot with both eyes open?

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I cannot shoot with both eyes open with any type sight. My problem is that I don't have a dominant eye. I can shoot right or left handed with equal ease. With iron sights I have great difficulty shooting with both eyes open. Everything will work ok for a shot or two, then a wide miss because I am looking at the rear sight with one eye and the front sight with the other eye. It saves me much confusion to just close one eye.

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I have a couple weaver 1-3 power model v3 scopes set up on my brush guns. Ones a 308BAR and the other a 45/70.
I might think that everyones eyes are different but for me it is very comfortable using both eyes open up to about 2x power. After that it's a bit confusing pretending i have a shot at running game.
I love the scopes. They weigh about 9oz so they add very little wt. They track well and don't fail on these guns. At 100 yds on 3x power the crosshairs do cover the target some but I can still easily shoot 1.5" groups with either gun.
For our brushy whitetail hunting they are really really nice. And in a twilight comparison I found them as clear and bright as a previous leupold varix III. (I think it was a 1.5-5 but not sure..it did have a 20mm bell)

I always keep both eyes open but I've never used a scope with greater than 14x magnification. I am also very strongly left eye dominant.

Wow, JBLEDSOE!

I don't believe I have ever heard that one. I guess that would present a whole different dilemna to deal with.

Thankfully for me, unlike some, I am right handed AND right eye dominant.

Right, right for me and shoot everything both eyes open, including 16x off the bench

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Hey Jeffpg,

I shoot right handed, because guns are made that way.
I have trained myself to do most things as a right-hander because we live in a right-handed world.

Don't have anything over 10x, but I shoot them all with both open....can't say about running game as I've not tried to see how high I can go on it but I know 6x works with both eyes open and a coyote loping at about 125 yards.

I'm in the same boat, no dominant eye, so I have to at least partially close one.

scoutman,

I don't know what distinction you are making with stating "field" shooting, but I shoot at targets with both eyes open with 14x, and I don't remember for sure but I think I shot my deer this past season with both eyes open at 9x, the highest magnification on that scope (I practice both with both eyes open and with one eye closed, so both ways are comfortable for me).

If someone has trouble with their eyes crossing up the sight picture, it seems like low magnification would exacerbate the problem since the two images, one looking through the sights and the other to the side of the sights, would not be as distinctly different at 1x as they would be at 9x. I have more trouble with a "shifting" sight picture with both eyes open without magnification (e.g., with iron sights) than I do with substantial magnification (e.g., 9x). BTW - I shoot scoped rifles right handed even though my left eye is dominant, and the cross dominance doesn't seem to matter to me when looking through a scope at 9x.

Everything, including iron sights, are used with both eyes open.

I can't shoot with both open for the reasons stated previously.

most I have is 32X and its with both eyes open.

There may be an advantage to both eyes open, but I haven't found it yet. I can do so, but don't as I can concentrate on the cross-hairs with one eye and not be distracted by the other eye.

Someone here must have lizard eyes, where each eye focuses independently. I'd like to see that.

I tend to shoot with both eyes open, but am strongly right-eyed and right-handed, and do a lot of shotgunning as well as rifle shooting.

My wife is right-handed but her eye dominance is iffy, like JBLEDSOE's. In fact sometimes her left eye will even be dominant, other times it's the right. If she shoots with both eyes open it often screws things up. This is probably why she prefers at LEAST 8x for any kind of scoped-rifle shooting, even deer hunting at pretty close ranges.

Left eye almost always closed! If I am shooting from the bench or target shooting with iron sights, I can consciously keep both eyes open. If I am hunting and have a snap or even moderately quick shot to make, that left eye will slam shut as the stock hits my shoulder. This happens despite my trying to correct it.

About the only time they both consistently stay open is wing shooting with a shotgun. I guess it is just impossible to hit a bird with one eye open so the left eye is forced to cooperate.

That being said, I don't know if it has been much of a handicap. I have made a fair number of remarkable shots on running game with a low enough number of misses that I think doing it with one eye has not been a problem. All the 'experts' say that both eyes open is the proper method, so I have been working at doing it that way.

Hook: Most "experts" see things from their point of view. If you see no difference or improvement over what you have been doing, why change? Chris

Chris, I keep looking for the advantage of doing it that way, hoping that it would be an improvement. If it does eventually lead to better shots....great! If not, I'm no worse for the wear. To be honest, at age 62 I doubt that I'll be able to make the change even if it would be better.

I've tried to change to both eyes also and just haven't been able to discipline myself to make it stick.

I shoot both eyes open, unless shooting from the weak side at least. Magnification makes no difference to me.