Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Iron sights, both eyes open

I can do it if I concentrate, and I see the benefit of it no argument there. My point is if I need to draw a bead quickly to hit something I have to close non dominant eye. Anyone else in the same camp? It doesn't bother me, and I'll likely continue this way for the remainder of my life probably due to habit if nothing else. Just curious about others.

Depends on the distance. I shoot both eyes open to 50 yards - which is about the max distance I ever practice. I don't close one eye ever with pistol irons, but I do switch my primary focus to my dominant eye when I'm trying to be really precise.
When I switch to my dominant eye there is a slight shift to the right, which at ranges 50+ yards doesn't matter.

If trying to be as precise as possible I close my non-dominate eye, otherwise it is both eyes open. I close the weak eye due to my strong eye not being overly dominate. If my eyes get fatigued, I will most definitely suffer from changing eye dominance which is not conducive to good shooting.

I have shot irons with both eyes open for as long as I can remember..

Everything both eyes open, even scoped rifles.
But my dominant eye is quite dominant.
Just always done it that way, never knew different.
Both eyes excellent vision til after age 50.

I shoot rifles and shotguns with both eyes open but irons on pistols, I squint my non dominant eye pretty hard. I still want to have all the peripheral vision but I can’t focus on the front sight well enough with both eyes open.

Red dot or scoped pistol then both eyes open.

I use a steely eyed Clint Eastwood squint.

I use the Junior Samples halfway through a jug of shine gaze ; ]

I can shoot a rifle with both eyes open, no problem. I CANNOT do it with a pistol. I see two guns, and don't know which one to aim!

I think I use both eyes.


Was tasught to close one, was considered necessary.
Untaught myself over time, after I put a scope on a revolver.
It was the only way to pull up and find the target, LGS guy
suggested it. (Long gone, miss him.)

Honestly, not 100% certain what I do and when.

Unless shooting for precision I always shoot two eyes open. I can look through a scope with both eyes open but generally close my left eye because it gives me a little more eye relief.

I’m left handed but was lucky enough to naturally do some things right handed and shooting is one of them. I’m right eye dominate so it saved me a lot of grief in life. I’m 45 years old and have noticed over the last year or two that besides being near sighted for the past ten years that I can no longer see the front sight as well and can’t transition between the focal planes near as well as I used to.

I was never a great pistolero but in my hay day I could shoot well enough to mostly keep the front sight on target while shooting a pistol and watching the slide rack back in sort of slow motion while bringing the sight back down on target as it slid back forward. I used to shoot more and had great eyesight besides an astigmatism that didn’t effect me with irons. My vision seems to be going to hell in a hand basket. Speed hasn’t been effected but my precision has been past 10 yards for IDPA shooting and especially past 15 yards big time. Slowing down doesn’t help really because I can’t see the front sight as well regardless of time. Good fiber optic Sights help more than anything else. As far as two eyes open I can still do that easily… but everything is blurry and slower to transition.

I squint my left eye with pistols and shotgun

Keep both eyes open, acquire the target, squint, pull the trigger

Have shot many 25s on skeet and kill a lot of ducks that way

If I keep both eyes open, ducks and skeet targets are pretty damn safe.

And I am NOT cross eye dominant

I like to bird hunt and shoot a little bit of five stand but am the exact opposite. If I closed an eye or squinted my depth perception would be such a mess that I’d struggle to hit anything.

This is me...both eyes open with irons, red dots, and scopes, no matter the range.

Always both eyes opened. Only thing I dont do it on is high power scopes in the 20-30x range.