Just out of curiosity… what if I promised you that I could teach you to become a better shooter, save you time and money, AND you can do this all from your home... I know you’re interested, so I’ll see you on the other side: chrissajnog.com/newrules/
A little insight from a former USN Gunner's Mate. The way I did this was to start with the hardest eye dominance task I could think of, the 60 power big eyes (binoculars) mounted on the bridge wing of my boat. I put my right eye on the left side of those big ass binos and focused and unfocused until I dialed a clear image with both eyes open. I did this whenever I had roving watch in port, partly to learn a new skill, partly to scan the harbor, and mostly because I was bored. So if you own a scope, spotting scope or some binoculars try using those as your practice for obtaining a clear sight picture with both eyes open. Carry on the good work.
Chris I am an ex naval eye tech. Completely understand about ocular dominance. Ive trained my eyes to focus on one picture. I did this using a pencil to focus on using the moving miles technique. The technique works well. Thanks for the info.
I already keep both eyes open for photography. Funny at first because one eye is through an optic and the other isn't, but you miss way less stuff. So in a dynamic shooting situation, I can only imagine that the same holds true.
Chris, I am working on this because I think it's really important. Every single person who has noticed or asked me what I was doing has been dismissive and told me rather dismissively "I've tried and YOU can't do it." "YOU will fail" or they've said "Only some people can do it. If you can't do it after a few tries, you aren't one of them." (All those people were men, by the way.) Just to let you know, I'm going to use your techniques AND I'M GOING TO SUCCEED.
Chris, I applied your techniques and had patience, and after an unspecified amount of time I am now able to shoot with both eyes open. Now I no longer miss seeing those pesky targets hiding on the left-hand side during IDPA and Action Pistol. THANK YOU!
Great explanation. I am extremely left eye dominate but right handed. Pistols are fine with me but my big problem is rifles. I can not keep both eyes open due to this cross dominance unless I shoot left handed.
Where you point your eyes and where you focus are two different things. Try this: lower your gun and look at the target with both eyes. Without moving your eyes, bring your gun up to eye level. Be aware of placing the sights between your dominant eye and the target. Now, change your focus to the front sight but still don't move your eyes. This takes concentration! You will see one out-of-focus image of the target (where both eyes are pointed) and a sharp image of the front sight (where your focus is). Since both eyes are pointed far away at the target, the ghost second image of the gun gets shifted off to the side and it's easier to tune out. It's natural to both focus and point your eyes at the thing you are looking at; it takes practice to learn to focus and point separately. As a training aid, you can temporarily put a piece of clear frosted tape on the lens of your shooting glasses on the non-dominant side. This blurs what that eye sees and makes it easier to tune that eye out. Once you develop the habit of aiming with your dominant eye and stop being confused by the other eye, you can remove the tape. If you learn to shoot with both eyes open, you not only have a larger field of view and more awareness of what it going on around you, you may also find long shooting sessions less tiring.
pixelpanache That actually makes a lot of sense to me and I'm trying it right now and it works. Thanks for taking the time to write. I've always guessed that in any kind of "battle situation", you want your eyes looking far-out, aware of your dynamic target and not cross-eyed looking at your front sight two feet in front of you, with the "battle-field" blurred beyond it. Gonna post another comment after testing it at the range. In the range's controlled conditions I get good results by shifting where I point my eyes between the target and the front sight, but I suspect that's because I know the range so well, but in a dynamic and dangerous situation I know I won't be able to stop pointing my eyes at my aggressor, so your method sounds a plausible compromise for self-defense shooting. Thnx again.
xithappens Yeah there's no doubt that in a real fight you'd want both eyes open and focused on the environment and the threat; it's what I do when shooting pistols or speed-shooting in general. Closing one eye and/or focusing totally on the front sight is definitely more appropriate for bullseye shooting or distance shooting.
+xithappens Thanks for the reply. I'm glad it made sense. I like what you wrote about looking far out, not looking cross-eyed at your front sight. That says what I was trying to describe very clearly. Before I figured this out, I knew I should shoot with both eyes open, but I had a hard time processing those two sets of double images and my eye would close itself anytime I paid attention to something other than forcing it to stay open.
I'm right handed but left eye dominate. In the Army the drill instructors assumed since I was right handed I was also right eye dominate. I learned to shoot with my right eye. After I retired I learned I was left eye dominate and started shooting that way. Now I can shoot with both eyes open but I have to slightly tilt my head one way or the other. If I shoot right handed I turn my head to the left a little and it works. When I transition and shoot left handed, I turn my head a little to the right and it works.
Also right handed by left eye dominant. Rifles I do shoot left handed BUT its my duty/service pistol always had issues. Squinting does narrow the focus (and double targets) BUT does negatively reduce the peripheral which back in the day (was important) during my "threat/no threat" clear house drills and even more during an actual FugOps stack). Nowadays, might consider trying to going back to a few USPSA matches or similar for beyond my current occasional and more relaxed plickering at local range.
Easy way to learn is first line up your sights normally with one eye, then open the other eye and now your brain will keep the correct sight picture vivid in your mind and continue to keep sight in focus. Takes a split second to line up the sights then open the other eye to have better situational awareness and vision. Once you practice like this you will eventually be able to just keep both eyes open the whole time while bring your rifle or pistol up. The training is also very non invasive to your regular shooting since you are doing everything the exact same exempt opening both eyes once you're on target.
This is an excellent presentation on a topic that I, as a new shooter, have received conflicting recommendations about. Intuitively, I don't think I could close one eye when addressing a threat. It makes sense to keep both eyes open to be fully aware of one's surroundings. Chris, you've given us a plan on how to train to ignore the input from the non-dominant eye. Many thanks!
when I started out as a competition shooter I could not tell which eye was the dominant one (RH shooter) but after two years of using a blindfold patch over my left eye (mounted on glasses/shootingglasses) with both eyes open this has helped me making my right eye dominant so now I can shoot with both eyes open without a patch and getting a much better clear picture of the dominant eye sight picture. Although I'm not training without a patch this might help those who wish to do so.
Thanks. I've been struggling wit sight picture for a little while now as a new shooter and I've been watching a lot of videos. You finally said what no one else has. I am always going to have 2 sight pictures ad I just need to learn to focus on the one fro my dominate eye. Cross eye dominance isn't helping the whole deal but now that I know I'm seeing what I should be seeing I can work on the mechanics without having to question if my sight picture is correct.
+Chris Sajnog, Thank you for your videos. This video cleared up some confusion I have been having from your previous videos. This is the first video of yours that I have seen where you have an image showing exactly what someone with both eyes open should expect to see when aiming. I believe a large part of the confusion comes from the word "focus." There are at least two senses of the word focus: a) to focus an image, i.e. like a camera or looking with both eyes so that a particular point at some distance is perfectly sharp (in focus), and b) mental focus, i.e. concentration. When I initially heard you say to "focus on the front sight", I understood that to mean that I should be focusing my eyes like a camera on the front sight. This of course means that the target becomes blurry. In fact focusing on the front sight in that way makes it very hard to line up the rear sights at all. In this video I finally understood that my eyes should be visually focused on the target, but the front sight should be "focused" in the sense that it is the point at which I am looking and concentrating on. When I focus (like a camera) on the target, and then focus (as in concentrate) on the front sight, lining up the sights becomes easy, my target is clear (focused like a camera), and I do have a ghost image of the sights, like in the picture in this video. I am sharing because I have seen a few other comments with similar points of confusion. I know that you have trained many professional and novice marksmen in this way without issue. It may be possible that anyone learning from you in person gets past this point of confusion very quickly because they would also have the benefit of your corrections and seeing the methods displayed in person. Communicating with the internet at large is a different challenge and I hope that other people find this comment useful in understanding your lessons. Perhaps you might consider adding some extra language about what you mean by "focusing" with pictures like the ones in this video to help. The images in your video "Fix your eyes, Fix your focus" video I find a tad contradictory to the image in this video. In that video the front sight is perfectly in focus and the target is blurry. Please do correct me if I have misunderstood you. Thank you for your videos. I have a lot of respect for NAVY SEALs, particularly like yourself who continue to contribute to our society beyond their military service.
Thank you. I tried really hard to show what you see, but sill - this isn't exactly it. But it does give a better sense. To clear up some of your points: 1. You SHOULD focus "like a camera" on your front sight post. 2. The target and rear sights SHOULD be blurry. 3. Your eyes WILL naturally align the CRYSTAL CLEAR front sight post in the middle or your blurry target and rear sights. It works. It's not my "idea" or "method" - it's science. Hope that helps put this into FOCUS.
@@ChrisSajnogs does this mean that both eyes look at the front sight post? Causing you to have two target pictures? That is the part that confuses me is in the image there is one target that is blurry, two front sights one of which is clear, and two rear sights that are blurry. But I don't know how it is possible to have both eyes pointed at the target but focused on the front sight post.
I agree wit h a lot of the comments of he taught nothing,He just talked and did not show...I am no way trash talking this guy who is awesome and far better then I could dream of, I am just saying on this video, he taught nothing, just talked, again this guys knowledge is far greater then mine, he damn well knows what he is talking about I just wish if your going to do a "HOW TO VIDEO" then please ..show us HOW TO
another helpless toddler, i learned how to aim like that just grabbing random stuff as if it was a gun, instead of whining - do it, that's why you 'pendoses' (as we call you in Russia) will never defeat\enslave us, you just sukkkkk
Ok Chris, I was sold on your system until I watched this video. In the video you showed a graphic of what you see when you shoot with both eyes open(2:20) that's what I see too WHEN I FOCUS ON THE TARGET INSTEAD OF THE FRONT SIGHT (except the target is clear). In your other videos you speak at length about the importance of focusing on the front sight. If you shoot with both eyes open you will get a double image of either the front sight if you focus on the target or a double image of the target if you focus on the front sight. At least that's the way my eyes work.
+TUCOtheratt I got a bit confused at the end of what you were saying but the way i understand shooting with your eyes open is that you have to focus on the target. and then the double sight should appear easily
+Conservative Macro My point this. Pick up a pistol, make sure it's unloaded and pick out a target across the room. Have both eyes open and focus on the front sight with the target in the back ground. You will always have two target images not like in his graphic.
I only found out today that I'm cross-dominant. I've never looked at the sights, only the target. I guess it explains why Ive always felt that sights on pistols are a waste of time...partly
Its almost or maybe it is the same as instinctive shooting a recurve. I shoot instinctive and the more I practice my instinctive shooting my pistol shooting improves.
Whoa, glad I found the last two video. I just watch the vid about front sight post focus and this video. I'm cross-eyed dominant and while at work sitting at my desk I realized with better focus (not looking) and knowing which eye is my dominant eye. If I keep both eyes open I'll need to focus on the object on my left instead of my right. This should really help when I take this to the range. I can squint and that helps, but I'd rather keep both eyes open so I don't loose that bit of Peripheral vision I might need.
Same here, I am right handed and shoot with my right eye. When I use both eyes, I have to use the sight picture on the left which is more blurry. Is this the same case with you?
I’m right handed in everything,& a R/H shooter my entire life but I’m L/eye dominant.Look fwd to trying this out.Jerry M.& I we’re talking the other day and he helped a lot w/my grip and in using my L/eye.
Personally, it was just something I picked up completely naturally. Right eye is able to see the crosshair while my left hair is not, so it was pretty easy. Its much harder on ironsights though. Practice it with a red dot because its easier to tell which eye is seeing which picture.
I shoot a lot of high power match. I shoot with both eyes open but under some light conditions it at times doesn't focus quickly so here's what I do. I simply "wink" the other eye very quickly. Just that instant gets my brain to basically say "Hey...over there"...and it all comes back. Same thing if there's a lot of background "noise"...You'll see that when using both eyes your scores will improve and the fatigue at the end of a long day is greatly reduced.
I will have to work on this. My father was a long range competitive shooter for the Army in the 1950s )1000 yards). He taught me how to shoot and it was with one eye closed. This will be a hard habit to break.
Idk I came looking for an explanation about it. I've herd about it and when I went through FMTB training when it came to the range portion I kept both eyes open. The best way i can explain what i was seeing and experiencing, imagine a split screen one side normal and the other zoomed in on target (I was shooting with an ACOG scope). On the normal side I could see a transparent rectile on the exact same spot the other eye was scoped in on. The benefit I saw from this was with my normal view eye I could use it and its peripheral views and use that transparent rectile to quickly put my sight on target. But I notice you have to have good firearm position disaplient, meaning when you shoulder the firearm it in the exact spot each time.
I too was looking for an explanation as to why this is the preferred method. From what you shared, I gather that having both eyes open allows you to use your non dominant eye to scan the periphery. Therefore gaining a tactical advantage over potential threats. Although not necessarily improving your shooting. Is that correct?
just open both your eyes and place your handgun aligned with your dominant eye. Do not close your non-dominant eye because, accordingly, it will lessen the visual acuity of your open eye. Besides, having your both eyes open give you a wider peripheral vision while firing. I think it is the Russians that started using shooting eye patch or covering, because one Russian Olympic shooting coach observed that the open eye will have some degree of less visual acuity of around 20% when the other eye is close, so the Russian Olympic shooting team started using eye covering when they compete. they cover their non-dominant eye which is open while the dominant eye is open during firing.
I've been looking for one sight picture. Man. I needed this. I've been able to actually consolidate the sight picture at times. I was under the impression that my brain would eventually do this after practice. I've been working on this daily for over a month and sometimes I can get one without the ghost, others I cannot. I know which is which, but I have been struggling for a consistent "no ghost". So, what I'm describing is normal? Yes?
I have a few question, or things I notice. 1) when look with both eye open if I focus on the gun sights (front sights) I see only one sight picture but I see two blurry targets, 2) if I shift my gaze towards the target, but not focusing on the target, but paying attention to the inside sight picture (I am right handed, so I pick the inside/left sight picture😃) , then I see two sight pictures but one blurry target, I find becoming aware of the left sight picture makes it clearer. 3) However, if I really focus both eyes on the front sight then I see two fuzzy targets and have to aim for the right fuzzy target. I am thinking #2 is the correct way, I just need some clarification, I am new to shooting (about 1.5 years) and I go with my 16y/o son and 13 y/o daughter, and trying to teach them the right way 😃. Any way great instructional videos Chris Sajnog and thanks for your service.
I've been a professional photographer for 26 years, and even before then I was a very avid student/hobbyist all the way back into my teens. After 30 years of looking through a camera's view finder I have developed a very formidable habit. Beyond that being that I am such a visual person I've taken eye dominance tests and even though I almost always look through the camera with my right eye (I also grew up shooting rifle) the tests are not affirmative. Actually when I shoot my camera I do keep both eyes open and depending on the situation I sometimes find myself using my left eye, BUT the camera body/hand blocks the vision of the other eye. I understand that in a self defense situation you don't want to close your eye, but every self defense video I've seen says the attacker will be within few yards and it will happen so fast you won't take time to aim, you will point and shoot. I've also heard that if you do shoot someone say around 20 yards away you are going to prison. But I don't have a CCW I just want to compete. Being a photographer and "shooting" action sports, combined with shooting iron sight rifle since I was 5 has honed my reaction, aim, and timing reflexes that when I picked up a pistol for the first time I shot tighter groups than my friend who is Mr. Glock, GSSF, tactical man. I grouped inside 12 inches from 20 yards by the end of my first session with a pistol and am now grouping inside 8 inches from 20 yards. (furthest distance at my range) Of course my GSSF friend said I wasn't shooting correct, but my way of shooting made tighter groups than what he did. At close range I can make out the sight like you show in the video and still see the target, but for long range (range that is way outside of self defense) either the target is blurred beyond recognition because I'm focusing on the front sight, or I lose the sight to see the target. I've been at this for several months now, practicing sighting with my gun unloaded and mag out at home and I've been going to the range about twice a week since the first of the year. I shot 400 rounds today (4 boxes of CCI mini mags, not 9mm) and was able to do what you explain at about 5 yards and I'm starting to shoot almost as well as I can with one eye at close range. But that's at 5 yards. 10 yards the target starts to get too blurred for me make a distinction of the ring edges, and 15-20 yards it's a blurry mess. I'm trying to aim at a fuzzy shape that has no definite edge. I am guessing at where the center is. I used a shooters eye patch and loved it. It was like shooting with my camera. If there's a way to bring the target into focus and keep the sight in focus with both eyes open at a distance I'd be interested in knowing how that can be done. Am I doing something wrong, not doing something, should I get a shooter's eye patch? I made quick progress to 5 yards, I'm closing in on 10 but the progress has slowed to an apparent stop. Any advice?
I always practice the opposite eye, so that if I ever get injured I am somewhat effective with both hands and eyes. better than good vison helps, but just found out I need my right shoulder replaced which is my normal main arm I use because I am right handed. funny thing is I always shoot better with my left.
I was shooting my brother’s AR recently with a red dot optic of some sort that we could shoot even with the dust cap on the front side still place because by keeping both eyes open, my right eye sees the red dot while my left eye sees the target down range and my brain puts the two together. I would guess this is basically what he’s talking about in this video. Our brains put the two images together.
Practicing the Front Sight Focus String will train the brain in controlling ocular focusing and control. 30 minutes a day for a week. Available at Front Mass or Amazon.
Eye Dominance is based on having stable muscle balance ,an imbalance can happen gradually if you are working on vdu all day , you have better 3d vision if both eyes are open and there is no muscle imbalance causing intermittent suppression missing target to right or left depending which extra occular muscle is effected
No disrespect intended, but I watched the video twice, you told us to "Teach your eye which picture you want to see", but gave no explanation or examples of how to do that, so how is the video supposed to improve my shooting?
When I first saw your comment I was thinking "oh I know the perfect way to explain",but it was sounding more complex than it needed to be. One thing that helps a lot is an illuminated sight/reticle because that will draw more focus to the eye aiming down sight,also if you can try following a targets movements I find that can help focus to your eye aiming down sight (it does for me at least). Besides that if you're from the states I'm certain there's tones of veterans you could get in touch with,maybe go hunting and they could help refine your skill (as long as their a trained rifleman,so maybe find a marine if you can). Also I don't think this is a terrible idea,in Canada lots of our vets enjoy hunting,and one great way to help our veterans is by being a friend and regular person with them. Many sacrificed too much,and having somebody to drink beer with,and bring back a piece of the military lifestyle for them seems to help a lot of them keep rolling (no pun or offense intended,I know some are literally rolling in a chair). Edit:Now it's totally possible that my brain is good at "bindon aiming" and I just gave you some nonsense about the moving target,but I know for certain illuminated sights will help. Specifically green or red (we're able to process more shades of those colours,and due to their shorter wavelength our eyes go to those two colours more than any other,or some nonsense along those lines).
He is an old trick buddy. Cover one eye with an eye patch or a piece of cardboard in a hat. Walk-around. After about an hour change to the other side. It's the way we used to teach people how to use pop up displays when they were helmet mounted. For me personally when I was using one ocular NVGS during night driving it came pretty natural. It basically teachers your brain to use one eye at a time. As long as you wearing safety glasses it's okay and it allows you to shoot with one eye and still keep your situational awareness through the periphery of the other. Bottom line it's a skill that used in a lot of parts of the military.
I have no problem shooting a pistol with both eyes open once I learned how to shoot as cross eyed dominant. I have problems shooting with a red dot on a rifle with both eyes open due to a lazy eye. Eye strain is also a bigger issue for people like me with a lazy eye. I am right handed, left eye dominant. I recently gave up on red dots and went to low powered variable optics with illuminated reticle. The Vortex Strike Eagle is a good choice to get started with. For pistols I use irons only.
Very interesting, I've not heard that before. Red dots are made to shot with both eyes open. I'll have to ask some of my eye doc friends about this one.
I had almost given up on this topic. I fell acorss it at work while eatting luch at my desk. Book marked! WIll watch with interest tonite as I foucus on sight and the destination target is slightly out of foucus ( to be expected) but I see 2 pistols and cannot seem to overcome this hurdle so I slightly close my left eye. But,...the process is ok for bulleye shooting but not for timed shooting. Be back.
Chris, I’m cross eye dominant. The drills on your associated app were immediately effective for helping me to keep both eyes open so thanks for that. I’m wondering about rifle optics. I am using my weak eye currently. Should I change something or try to adapt as is?
I had this same problem when I started shooting and it seemed hard to overcome. I just kept concentrating on the sights and training my eyes and the "second" sight picture simply disappeared. Now when I use any sight on any gun, I get a perfectly clear picture of one sight only. Just keep at it and one day it will just click.
I'm left handed and left eye dominant, but now I shoot right handed with my right eye because things in the world aren't designed to be left handed friendly, there was a time ages ago I would turn my head to look down the sights with my left, but that was just confusing especially I still end up having to use my right eye for any long guns anyway. I can reliably hit an IPSC metric sized steel target at 80 yards with a pistol with two eyes opened, target focused, as long as the blurred image of my sight picture has the target in the center, and there's equal light between the rear and the front... it works perfectly fine, and if I need to do more precise shots, I squint my left eye a little to go for front sight focus, but for most competitive shooting, handgun target distance rarely approach even 50 yards... All it took was picking a random object in the house, such as a light switch, then just repeatedly drawing and looking down sights, switching between squint front sight focus and two eyes open, target focus, to get my brain used to looking at the different plane with the non-dominant eye, and before long it becomes as natural as anything else..
I could never grasp the concept of closing an eye to shoot, funnily enough. Closing an eye to shoot is so obscenely uncomfortable that it would distract me, so I never bothered (probably why it's uncomfortable). When I moved into optics, I learned that it makes target acquisition lightning fast by using my right eye to see the reticle but focusing with my left, "ghosting" it into my frame of reference. I can pick up stars in the night sky on 9 power in under a second. When shooting, coming back on target is that much easier. However, if the parallax is incorrect, higher magnifications become very troublesome. Good things can come from two eyes open if you put your mind to it.
Q. Lawrence The downside is you loose a portion of you field of view. Especially peripheral vision. I have a problem of seeing two targets lol idk if this is the same as seeing two sight pictures.....
Thank you for explaining what you see with both eyes open. I shoot pistols with both eyes open but I turn my head to align my dominate eye to the sights and I see most other keep their head straight and it was really bugging the hell out of me cuz I'm seeing two sight pictures & thinking I should be seeing one.
Thank you for your video. For the longest time I shot traps with my left eye closed. I practiced looking at a target at home and now when I look at a target I can keep both eyes open. I will need to be practice at the trap field now.
amazing. I just came from the focus on the front sight video, not knowing you had posted this. I commented that I just learned how to do this. I see 2 targets and 1 front sight. is that right? it's like i'm turning stereo vision into mono left and right. now I have Foreigner "Double Vision" in my head. you are a sight picture jedi. thank you.
A friend an I would always shoot pistols at the range. He was always better than me. He noticed I was right handed but aiming with my left eye. I started shooting left handed an it made a world of difference. I’m 74 now an can remember when I was a child I would pick up thinks with my left hand and get slapped for it an told use my right hand. To this day things I wasn’t taught, I do left handed. Hopefully this helps someone.
Watching this video I have a question. Are you right handed and right eye dominant ? Or are you right handed and left eye dominant ? or left handed and....you get what I'm asking. The visual of the sight picture, and your hold on the firearm did not seem to match....Just curious..
You teach to focus on the front sight when shooting so why is your example photo showing two guns? Its two targets you see with both eyes on the front sight. Is this an old video before you started teaching front sight focus?? Very confusing!
A more scientific explanation is you are moving your horopter to the target in stead of your front post. This will create the effect that the front and rear sight are outside of Panums fusional area hence being double. Our eye can only fuse an image to be one clear singular target at one focal distance at a time. Everything in front or behind this area will come across as double vision. Closing one eye will negate this double vision effect however you loose your stereoscopic depth perception. He failed to mention everyone’s amount of double vision will be differnent depending on your eyes natural point of rest. Some people are more crossed or uncrossed then others. Perceived distances can change with monocularly Vs binocularly vision. Try pulling up to stop sign in your car with one eye (safely). It will feel like a longer distance than if you use two eyes.
I have bad eyes (I play video games a lot) so when I went with my dad to a shooting range I noticed seeing to figures of the Same target. I thought my eyes were really bad but this helped a lot.
Chris do you suffer from shoulder problems? I noticed the discrepancy in your shoulder levels. If you do I feel you brother , I am going through shoulder issues now. A day in gym will equal 3 days of discomfort. God bless brother
Wow! 6 years on YouYube and you're the first one to notice. I'm 100% disabled and have problems with pretty much every joint in my body. My right (your left) shoulder is lower than the other and have neck pain because of it. If you've got any cures I'm all ears!
Chris Sajnog I too have the unbelievable neck pain as well . I’ve tried just about everything. The doctor said it was over active upper body movements. Even so I have rotator cuff issues in both shoulders. I just use a heating pad when things get bad. Anyway.... I love you videos and keep up the good work. God bless!
Question, I have trained myself to look at the front without seeing the back sight doubled. But my target is doubled. I am right eye dominate. So I shoot at the right target because when I blink that's the one I am aiming at. Have you ever heard of this and what can I do to correct it.
My problem is that I have a hard time getting my eyes to find the front sight. They automatically lock on to the rear sights and the front sight is hard to acquire
I already aim with both eyes open when i am shooting right handed, but i also want to learn to use both eyes when shooting left handed, any tips for that?
I’m having trouble while aiming through a magnified optic. My left eye is dominant and I’m right handed. When I shoulder the rifle and look with my right eye I keep focusing on what my left eye is seeing. And even if I wanted to focus, I physically can not close my left eye without closing my right eye too
I am right eye dominant, shoot right hand dominant, shoot with both eyes open. My right eye has better vision that my left eye. I am learning to shoot with my non-dominant left hand, both eyes open, is there a technique I can use to allow me to switch to a temporary left eye dominance as I learn shooting with the left hand. Right now, I oscillate between seeing 2 sight pictures, and seeing with the dominant right eye sight picture. Having only one eye open limits field of vision. I am practicing injured shooter situations. Is my only choice closing my right eye in this situation
I have always known that I am left-eye dominant and right handed. Shooting a pistol with my left eye or both eyes open is natural. However, when shooting a rifle right handed, I have to use my right eye, so I have to get a good sight picture with my left eye closed and focus my brain to keep that same right-eyed sight picture when I open my left eye. Hard to do at first, but wihh practice, it gets a little easier. The challege is tricking your brain back and forth when moving between the pistol and rifle. Does anyone else shoot a rifle right handed but use their left eye? Seems nearly impossible to me.
I do. My dad only takes us out to shoot like once a year but I've gotten use to shooting a rifle right handed and using my right eye. When I shoot a handgun, I shoot right handed with my left eye(I'm left eye dominant).
Hello Chris, reading your book and i'm at the two eyes open part! This is a great read! Thanks for all of it! I'm always on a static site at 25 yards slowly for now, do you think i can still shoot accurate at that distance with both my eyes open? Thanks again from Montreal Canada!
I am guessing that training your eye's with a Brock String is intended for shooting with both eye's open. Am I wrong about that? It is funny because I shoot with both eye's open and I don't see two sight pictures, and, I don't see two targets. It looks the same as if I shut one eye.
I don't see two. Part of one side of the rear sight post disappeared until I put a little black dot in the center of my white front sight. Now I'm wondering if something is wrong with my eyes because nobody's talking about that.
I only see one gun with I aim down my sights. Back sights are blurred along with the im aiming at is also blurred. My front sights are clear and in focused, but I shoot too low and too far to the left according to my groupings.
My issue is, I'm semi ambidextrous.I write, throw, and bat lefty. But I use scissors, play bass and shoot firearm righty. The right is also predominantly my knife hand. Strangely enough I shoot archery lefty... long story longer, I've tried the thumb trick or making a "spade" with your hands and bring them to your face...well, my hands always end up on my nose while staying focused on the "object". Do you have any tips for that? The target is always in between the two images I see, no matter what I do and where I focus...unless I close an eye. I don't want to "guess the middle". Great video by the way!
Point at a small object in the distance with one finger, both eyes open. Close one eye. If you're still pointing at the object, the eye that is open is your dominant eye.
Thank you! That was extremely helpful for a person in my situation of being ambidextrous. Turns out I naturally point leaving the object between my two fingers, leaving neither finger still pointing at it. That being said, it is MUCH easier to start training myself to 'sight' on the left object using (my right eye), it seems too unnatural to sight in on the right object (my left). This happened while using BOTH hands as well. This is strange being that my left hand is dominant, but makes sense as my trigger finger is my right hand. It leaves me with more questions as to why I'm a left hand archer, but that's a different story I guess. Then I tried it a little bit differently, I focused on an object in the distance, closed my eyes, and instantly attempted to point at it as soon as I closed them. To my surprise I noticed that BOTH LEFT AND RIGHT hand naturally pointed to the object seen from my right eye more times than it being in the middle of the two fingers. Seems as if that finalizes it. Thank you again for this tip! I've never been able to find which one is more dominant than the other. This will SURELY IMPROVE my aim!
Just out of curiosity… what if I promised you that I could teach you to become a better shooter, save you time and money, AND you can do this all from your home...
I know you’re interested, so I’ll see you on the other side: chrissajnog.com/newrules/
But sir.. youve just watched the video
You got this!
A little insight from a former USN Gunner's Mate. The way I did this was to start with the hardest eye dominance task I could think of, the 60 power big eyes (binoculars) mounted on the bridge wing of my boat. I put my right eye on the left side of those big ass binos and focused and unfocused until I dialed a clear image with both eyes open. I did this whenever I had roving watch in port, partly to learn a new skill, partly to scan the harbor, and mostly because I was bored. So if you own a scope, spotting scope or some binoculars try using those as your practice for obtaining a clear sight picture with both eyes open. Carry on the good work.
Chris I am an ex naval eye tech. Completely understand about ocular dominance. Ive trained my eyes to focus on one picture. I did this using a pencil to focus on using the moving miles technique. The technique works well. Thanks for the info.
I already keep both eyes open for photography. Funny at first because one eye is through an optic and the other isn't, but you miss way less stuff. So in a dynamic shooting situation, I can only imagine that the same holds true.
Chris, I am working on this because I think it's really important. Every single person who has noticed or asked me what I was doing has been dismissive and told me rather dismissively "I've tried and YOU can't do it." "YOU will fail" or they've said "Only some people can do it. If you can't do it after a few tries, you aren't one of them." (All those people were men, by the way.) Just to let you know, I'm going to use your techniques AND I'M GOING TO SUCCEED.
Chris, I applied your techniques and had patience, and after an unspecified amount of time I am now able to shoot with both eyes open. Now I no longer miss seeing those pesky targets hiding on the left-hand side during IDPA and Action Pistol. THANK YOU!
Anything worthwhile takes time and effort. Way to get it done!
Great explanation. I am extremely left eye dominate but right handed. Pistols are fine with me but my big problem is rifles. I can not keep both eyes open due to this cross dominance unless I shoot left handed.
I have the same issue
Chris is one of the very few I follow. I find that my best shooting is with both eyes open.
Man this guy was on point when i open both my eyes and seen the double i paid attention to the dominate one hit the target everytime
My problem is not seeing two sight pictures, but two targets, when focusing on the front sight.
+xithappens Same here.
Where you point your eyes and where you focus are two different things. Try this: lower your gun and look at the target with both eyes. Without moving your eyes, bring your gun up to eye level. Be aware of placing the sights between your dominant eye and the target. Now, change your focus to the front sight but still don't move your eyes. This takes concentration! You will see one out-of-focus image of the target (where both eyes are pointed) and a sharp image of the front sight (where your focus is). Since both eyes are pointed far away at the target, the ghost second image of the gun gets shifted off to the side and it's easier to tune out.
It's natural to both focus and point your eyes at the thing you are looking at; it takes practice to learn to focus and point separately.
As a training aid, you can temporarily put a piece of clear frosted tape on the lens of your shooting glasses on the non-dominant side. This blurs what that eye sees and makes it easier to tune that eye out. Once you develop the habit of aiming with your dominant eye and stop being confused by the other eye, you can remove the tape.
If you learn to shoot with both eyes open, you not only have a larger field of view and more awareness of what it going on around you, you may also find long shooting sessions less tiring.
pixelpanache That actually makes a lot of sense to me and I'm trying it right now and it works. Thanks for taking the time to write. I've always guessed that in any kind of "battle situation", you want your eyes looking far-out, aware of your dynamic target and not cross-eyed looking at your front sight two feet in front of you, with the "battle-field" blurred beyond it.
Gonna post another comment after testing it at the range. In the range's controlled conditions I get good results by shifting where I point my eyes between the target and the front sight, but I suspect that's because I know the range so well, but in a dynamic and dangerous situation I know I won't be able to stop pointing my eyes at my aggressor, so your method sounds a plausible compromise for self-defense shooting. Thnx again.
xithappens
Yeah there's no doubt that in a real fight you'd want both eyes open and focused on the environment and the threat; it's what I do when shooting pistols or speed-shooting in general.
Closing one eye and/or focusing totally on the front sight is definitely more appropriate for bullseye shooting or distance shooting.
+xithappens Thanks for the reply. I'm glad it made sense. I like what you wrote about looking far out, not looking cross-eyed at your front sight. That says what I was trying to describe very clearly.
Before I figured this out, I knew I should shoot with both eyes open, but I had a hard time processing those two sets of double images and my eye would close itself anytime I paid attention to something other than forcing it to stay open.
I'm right handed but left eye dominate. In the Army the drill instructors assumed since I was right handed I was also right eye dominate. I learned to shoot with my right eye. After I retired I learned I was left eye dominate and started shooting that way. Now I can shoot with both eyes open but I have to slightly tilt my head one way or the other.
If I shoot right handed I turn my head to the left a little and it works. When I transition and shoot left handed, I turn my head a little to the right and it works.
SAR-1076 thankyou so much sir, I was wondering how cock eyed people like myself could shoot. This helps me a lot, thanks heaps.
Here's a video on how I teach cross-dominant shooting: ua-cam.com/video/j7PBGI3-FEA/v-deo.html
THIS! I'm fighting this battle now!!! I'm cross eye dominant. I use rifles
Also right handed by left eye dominant. Rifles I do shoot left handed BUT its my duty/service pistol always had issues. Squinting does narrow the focus (and double targets) BUT does negatively reduce the peripheral which back in the day (was important) during my "threat/no threat" clear house drills and even more during an actual FugOps stack). Nowadays, might consider trying to going back to a few USPSA matches or similar for beyond my current occasional and more relaxed plickering at local range.
Had trouble focusing with two eyes ,until I started focusing with my less dominant eye , works wonders Thanks for the video. 👍
Easy way to learn is first line up your sights normally with one eye, then open the other eye and now your brain will keep the correct sight picture vivid in your mind and continue to keep sight in focus. Takes a split second to line up the sights then open the other eye to have better situational awareness and vision. Once you practice like this you will eventually be able to just keep both eyes open the whole time while bring your rifle or pistol up. The training is also very non invasive to your regular shooting since you are doing everything the exact same exempt opening both eyes once you're on target.
Outstanding! This is exactly what I wanted to hear you explain. I was getting a hard time with that. Thanks!
The moment I watched this video everything made sense and I told my eyes exactly what to do. Thank you very much.
This is an excellent presentation on a topic that I, as a new shooter, have received conflicting recommendations about. Intuitively, I don't think I could close one eye when addressing a threat. It makes sense to keep both eyes open to be fully aware of one's surroundings. Chris, you've given us a plan on how to train to ignore the input from the non-dominant eye. Many thanks!
when I started out as a competition shooter I could not tell which eye was the dominant one (RH shooter) but after two years of using a blindfold patch over my left eye (mounted on glasses/shootingglasses) with both eyes open this has helped me making my right eye dominant so now I can shoot with both eyes open without a patch and getting a much better clear picture of the dominant eye sight picture. Although I'm not training without a patch this might help those who wish to do so.
Thanks. I've been struggling wit sight picture for a little while now as a new shooter and I've been watching a lot of videos. You finally said what no one else has. I am always going to have 2 sight pictures ad I just need to learn to focus on the one fro my dominate eye. Cross eye dominance isn't helping the whole deal but now that I know I'm seeing what I should be seeing I can work on the mechanics without having to question if my sight picture is correct.
+Chris Sajnog,
Thank you for your videos. This video cleared up some confusion I have been having from your previous videos. This is the first video of yours that I have seen where you have an image showing exactly what someone with both eyes open should expect to see when aiming.
I believe a large part of the confusion comes from the word "focus." There are at least two senses of the word focus: a) to focus an image, i.e. like a camera or looking with both eyes so that a particular point at some distance is perfectly sharp (in focus), and b) mental focus, i.e. concentration. When I initially heard you say to "focus on the front sight", I understood that to mean that I should be focusing my eyes like a camera on the front sight. This of course means that the target becomes blurry. In fact focusing on the front sight in that way makes it very hard to line up the rear sights at all. In this video I finally understood that my eyes should be visually focused on the target, but the front sight should be "focused" in the sense that it is the point at which I am looking and concentrating on. When I focus (like a camera) on the target, and then focus (as in concentrate) on the front sight, lining up the sights becomes easy, my target is clear (focused like a camera), and I do have a ghost image of the sights, like in the picture in this video.
I am sharing because I have seen a few other comments with similar points of confusion. I know that you have trained many professional and novice marksmen in this way without issue. It may be possible that anyone learning from you in person gets past this point of confusion very quickly because they would also have the benefit of your corrections and seeing the methods displayed in person. Communicating with the internet at large is a different challenge and I hope that other people find this comment useful in understanding your lessons. Perhaps you might consider adding some extra language about what you mean by "focusing" with pictures like the ones in this video to help. The images in your video "Fix your eyes, Fix your focus" video I find a tad contradictory to the image in this video. In that video the front sight is perfectly in focus and the target is blurry.
Please do correct me if I have misunderstood you.
Thank you for your videos. I have a lot of respect for NAVY SEALs, particularly like yourself who continue to contribute to our society beyond their military service.
Thank you. I tried really hard to show what you see, but sill - this isn't exactly it. But it does give a better sense.
To clear up some of your points:
1. You SHOULD focus "like a camera" on your front sight post.
2. The target and rear sights SHOULD be blurry.
3. Your eyes WILL naturally align the CRYSTAL CLEAR front sight post in the middle or your blurry target and rear sights.
It works. It's not my "idea" or "method" - it's science.
Hope that helps put this into FOCUS.
Thank you for your reply Chris. That does really help clear it up for me. I will experiment with it.
@@ChrisSajnogs does this mean that both eyes look at the front sight post? Causing you to have two target pictures? That is the part that confuses me is in the image there is one target that is blurry, two front sights one of which is clear, and two rear sights that are blurry. But I don't know how it is possible to have both eyes pointed at the target but focused on the front sight post.
I agree wit h a lot of the comments of he taught nothing,He just talked and did not show...I am no way trash talking this guy who is awesome and far better then I could dream of, I am just saying on this video, he taught nothing, just talked, again this guys knowledge is far greater then mine, he damn well knows what he is talking about I just wish if your going to do a "HOW TO VIDEO" then please ..show us HOW TO
another helpless toddler, i learned how to aim like that just grabbing random stuff as if it was a gun, instead of whining - do it, that's why you 'pendoses' (as we call you in Russia) will never defeat\enslave us, you just sukkkkk
Ok Chris, I was sold on your system until I watched this video. In the video you showed a graphic of what you see when you shoot with both eyes open(2:20) that's what I see too WHEN I FOCUS ON THE TARGET INSTEAD OF THE FRONT SIGHT (except the target is clear). In your other videos you speak at length about the importance of focusing on the front sight. If you shoot with both eyes open you will get a double image of either the front sight if you focus on the target or a double image of the target if you focus on the front sight. At least that's the way my eyes work.
+TUCOtheratt I got a bit confused at the end of what you were saying but the way i understand shooting with your eyes open is that you have to focus on the target. and then the double sight should appear easily
+Conservative Macro My point this. Pick up a pistol, make sure it's unloaded and pick out a target across the room. Have both eyes open and focus on the front sight with the target in the back ground. You will always have two target images not like in his graphic.
TUCOtheratt two target!? If I look at the taget the double sigh looks more clear then if I look at the front sigh for me but never two targets
+Conservative Macro
Are BOTH eyes open?
TUCOtheratt yes
No matter the proper instruction, I naturally close an eye. Tnx 4 ur hlp!
AS SOMEONE who cant physically wink on eye closed.
and A gun nut and GOOD hunter.
ITS a challenge that I have ADAPTED to.
I only found out today that I'm cross-dominant. I've never looked at the sights, only the target. I guess it explains why Ive always felt that sights on pistols are a waste of time...partly
Coming here from watching American Sniper a few months ago. Sure, it’s a movie but both eyes open got me thinking. And working on it
Its almost or maybe it is the same as instinctive shooting a recurve. I shoot instinctive and the more I practice my instinctive shooting my pistol shooting improves.
Whoa, glad I found the last two video. I just watch the vid about front sight post focus and this video. I'm cross-eyed dominant and while at work sitting at my desk I realized with better focus (not looking) and knowing which eye is my dominant eye. If I keep both eyes open I'll need to focus on the object on my left instead of my right. This should really help when I take this to the range. I can squint and that helps, but I'd rather keep both eyes open so I don't loose that bit of Peripheral vision I might need.
Same here, I am right handed and shoot with my right eye. When I use both eyes, I have to use the sight picture on the left which is more blurry. Is this the same case with you?
I’m right handed in everything,& a R/H shooter my entire life but I’m L/eye dominant.Look fwd to trying this out.Jerry M.& I we’re talking the other day and he helped a lot w/my grip and in using my L/eye.
Let me know how it works!
Personally, it was just something I picked up completely naturally. Right eye is able to see the crosshair while my left hair is not, so it was pretty easy. Its much harder on ironsights though. Practice it with a red dot because its easier to tell which eye is seeing which picture.
I shoot a lot of high power match. I shoot with both eyes open but under some light conditions it at times doesn't focus quickly so here's what I do. I simply "wink" the other eye very quickly. Just that instant gets my brain to basically say "Hey...over there"...and it all comes back. Same thing if there's a lot of background "noise"...You'll see that when using both eyes your scores will improve and the fatigue at the end of a long day is greatly reduced.
Great tip!
Great demonstration using that photo. So many people see that sight picture and think they are doing something wrong.
I will have to work on this. My father was a long range competitive shooter for the Army in the 1950s )1000 yards). He taught me how to shoot and it was with one eye closed. This will be a hard habit to break.
Idk I came looking for an explanation about it. I've herd about it and when I went through FMTB training when it came to the range portion I kept both eyes open.
The best way i can explain what i was seeing and experiencing, imagine a split screen one side normal and the other zoomed in on target (I was shooting with an ACOG scope). On the normal side I could see a transparent rectile on the exact same spot the other eye was scoped in on.
The benefit I saw from this was with my normal view eye I could use it and its peripheral views and use that transparent rectile to quickly put my sight on target. But I notice you have to have good firearm position disaplient, meaning when you shoulder the firearm it in the exact spot each time.
I too was looking for an explanation as to why this is the preferred method. From what you shared, I gather that having both eyes open allows you to use your non dominant eye to scan the periphery. Therefore gaining a tactical advantage over potential threats. Although not necessarily improving your shooting. Is that correct?
just open both your eyes and place your handgun aligned with your dominant eye. Do not close your non-dominant eye because, accordingly, it will lessen the visual acuity of your open eye. Besides, having your both eyes open give you a wider peripheral vision while firing. I think it is the Russians that started using shooting eye patch or covering, because one Russian Olympic shooting coach observed that the open eye will have some degree of less visual acuity of around 20% when the other eye is close, so the Russian Olympic shooting team started using eye covering when they compete. they cover their non-dominant eye which is open while the dominant eye is open during firing.
I've been looking for one sight picture. Man. I needed this. I've been able to actually consolidate the sight picture at times. I was under the impression that my brain would eventually do this after practice. I've been working on this daily for over a month and sometimes I can get one without the ghost, others I cannot. I know which is which, but I have been struggling for a consistent "no ghost". So, what I'm describing is normal? Yes?
I have a few question, or things I notice. 1) when look with both eye open if I focus on the gun sights (front sights) I see only one sight picture but I see two blurry targets, 2) if I shift my gaze towards the target, but not focusing on the target, but paying attention to the inside sight picture (I am right handed, so I pick the inside/left sight picture😃) , then I see two sight pictures but one blurry target, I find becoming aware of the left sight picture makes it clearer. 3) However, if I really focus both eyes on the front sight then I see two fuzzy targets and have to aim for the right fuzzy target. I am thinking #2 is the correct way, I just need some clarification, I am new to shooting (about 1.5 years) and I go with my 16y/o son and 13 y/o daughter, and trying to teach them the right way 😃. Any way great instructional videos Chris Sajnog and thanks for your service.
I've been a professional photographer for 26 years, and even before then I was a very avid student/hobbyist all the way back into my teens. After 30 years of looking through a camera's view finder I have developed a very formidable habit. Beyond that being that I am such a visual person I've taken eye dominance tests and even though I almost always look through the camera with my right eye (I also grew up shooting rifle) the tests are not affirmative. Actually when I shoot my camera I do keep both eyes open and depending on the situation I sometimes find myself using my left eye, BUT the camera body/hand blocks the vision of the other eye. I understand that in a self defense situation you don't want to close your eye, but every self defense video I've seen says the attacker will be within few yards and it will happen so fast you won't take time to aim, you will point and shoot. I've also heard that if you do shoot someone say around 20 yards away you are going to prison. But I don't have a CCW I just want to compete.
Being a photographer and "shooting" action sports, combined with shooting iron sight rifle since I was 5 has honed my reaction, aim, and timing reflexes that when I picked up a pistol for the first time I shot tighter groups than my friend who is Mr. Glock, GSSF, tactical man. I grouped inside 12 inches from 20 yards by the end of my first session with a pistol and am now grouping inside 8 inches from 20 yards. (furthest distance at my range) Of course my GSSF friend said I wasn't shooting correct, but my way of shooting made tighter groups than what he did.
At close range I can make out the sight like you show in the video and still see the target, but for long range (range that is way outside of self defense) either the target is blurred beyond recognition because I'm focusing on the front sight, or I lose the sight to see the target.
I've been at this for several months now, practicing sighting with my gun unloaded and mag out at home and I've been going to the range about twice a week since the first of the year. I shot 400 rounds today (4 boxes of CCI mini mags, not 9mm) and was able to do what you explain at about 5 yards and I'm starting to shoot almost as well as I can with one eye at close range. But that's at 5 yards. 10 yards the target starts to get too blurred for me make a distinction of the ring edges, and 15-20 yards it's a blurry mess. I'm trying to aim at a fuzzy shape that has no definite edge. I am guessing at where the center is. I used a shooters eye patch and loved it. It was like shooting with my camera. If there's a way to bring the target into focus and keep the sight in focus with both eyes open at a distance I'd be interested in knowing how that can be done. Am I doing something wrong, not doing something, should I get a shooter's eye patch? I made quick progress to 5 yards, I'm closing in on 10 but the progress has slowed to an apparent stop. Any advice?
I always practice the opposite eye, so that if I ever get injured I am somewhat effective with both hands and eyes. better than good vison helps, but just found out I need my right shoulder replaced which is my normal main arm I use because I am right handed. funny thing is I always shoot better with my left.
I was shooting my brother’s AR recently with a red dot optic of some sort that we could shoot even with the dust cap on the front side still place because by keeping both eyes open, my right eye sees the red dot while my left eye sees the target down range and my brain puts the two together. I would guess this is basically what he’s talking about in this video. Our brains put the two images together.
Practicing the Front Sight Focus String will train the brain in controlling ocular focusing and control. 30 minutes a day for a week. Available at Front Mass or Amazon.
Eye Dominance is based on having stable muscle balance ,an imbalance can happen gradually if you are working on vdu all day , you have better 3d vision if both eyes are open and there is no muscle imbalance causing intermittent suppression missing target to right or left depending which extra occular muscle is effected
Thanks for the info any great info is a good thing keep it up the great videos
No disrespect intended, but I watched the video twice, you told us to "Teach your eye which picture you want to see", but gave no explanation or examples of how to do that, so how is the video supposed to improve my shooting?
Practice. Mentally focus on the dominant eye picture. Practice. ✌️
You just asked my question, I have no clue. however i love his videos.
This concept is hard to get a grasp, and even harder to explain
When I first saw your comment I was thinking "oh I know the perfect way to explain",but it was sounding more complex than it needed to be. One thing that helps a lot is an illuminated sight/reticle because that will draw more focus to the eye aiming down sight,also if you can try following a targets movements I find that can help focus to your eye aiming down sight (it does for me at least). Besides that if you're from the states I'm certain there's tones of veterans you could get in touch with,maybe go hunting and they could help refine your skill (as long as their a trained rifleman,so maybe find a marine if you can). Also I don't think this is a terrible idea,in Canada lots of our vets enjoy hunting,and one great way to help our veterans is by being a friend and regular person with them. Many sacrificed too much,and having somebody to drink beer with,and bring back a piece of the military lifestyle for them seems to help a lot of them keep rolling (no pun or offense intended,I know some are literally rolling in a chair).
Edit:Now it's totally possible that my brain is good at "bindon aiming" and I just gave you some nonsense about the moving target,but I know for certain illuminated sights will help. Specifically green or red (we're able to process more shades of those colours,and due to their shorter wavelength our eyes go to those two colours more than any other,or some nonsense along those lines).
He is an old trick buddy. Cover one eye with an eye patch or a piece of cardboard in a hat. Walk-around. After about an hour change to the other side. It's the way we used to teach people how to use pop up displays when they were helmet mounted. For me personally when I was using one ocular NVGS during night driving it came pretty natural. It basically teachers your brain to use one eye at a time. As long as you wearing safety glasses it's okay and it allows you to shoot with one eye and still keep your situational awareness through the periphery of the other. Bottom line it's a skill that used in a lot of parts of the military.
I have no problem shooting a pistol with both eyes open once I learned how to shoot as cross eyed dominant. I have problems shooting with a red dot on a rifle with both eyes open due to a lazy eye. Eye strain is also a bigger issue for people like me with a lazy eye. I am right handed, left eye dominant. I recently gave up on red dots and went to low powered variable optics with illuminated reticle. The Vortex Strike Eagle is a good choice to get started with. For pistols I use irons only.
Very interesting, I've not heard that before. Red dots are made to shot with both eyes open. I'll have to ask some of my eye doc friends about this one.
I had almost given up on this topic. I fell acorss it at work while eatting luch at my desk. Book marked! WIll watch with interest tonite as I foucus on sight and the destination target is slightly out of foucus ( to be expected) but I see 2 pistols and cannot seem to overcome this hurdle so I slightly close my left eye. But,...the process is ok for bulleye shooting but not for timed shooting. Be back.
Chris, I’m cross eye dominant. The drills on your associated app were immediately effective for helping me to keep both eyes open so thanks for that. I’m wondering about rifle optics. I am using my weak eye currently. Should I change something or try to adapt as is?
I had this same problem when I started shooting and it seemed hard to overcome. I just kept concentrating on the sights and training my eyes and the "second" sight picture simply disappeared. Now when I use any sight on any gun, I get a perfectly clear picture of one sight only. Just keep at it and one day it will just click.
I'm left handed and left eye dominant, but now I shoot right handed with my right eye because things in the world aren't designed to be left handed friendly, there was a time ages ago I would turn my head to look down the sights with my left, but that was just confusing especially I still end up having to use my right eye for any long guns anyway. I can reliably hit an IPSC metric sized steel target at 80 yards with a pistol with two eyes opened, target focused, as long as the blurred image of my sight picture has the target in the center, and there's equal light between the rear and the front... it works perfectly fine, and if I need to do more precise shots, I squint my left eye a little to go for front sight focus, but for most competitive shooting, handgun target distance rarely approach even 50 yards... All it took was picking a random object in the house, such as a light switch, then just repeatedly drawing and looking down sights, switching between squint front sight focus and two eyes open, target focus, to get my brain used to looking at the different plane with the non-dominant eye, and before long it becomes as natural as anything else..
I could never grasp the concept of closing an eye to shoot, funnily enough. Closing an eye to shoot is so obscenely uncomfortable that it would distract me, so I never bothered (probably why it's uncomfortable). When I moved into optics, I learned that it makes target acquisition lightning fast by using my right eye to see the reticle but focusing with my left, "ghosting" it into my frame of reference. I can pick up stars in the night sky on 9 power in under a second. When shooting, coming back on target is that much easier. However, if the parallax is incorrect, higher magnifications become very troublesome. Good things can come from two eyes open if you put your mind to it.
I've noticed that squinting the non dominant eye helps me focus.
Q. Lawrence The downside is you loose a portion of you field of view. Especially peripheral vision. I have a problem of seeing two targets lol idk if this is the same as seeing two sight pictures.....
@@eddiezarate2 I've observed that as well. It's better than complete loss of vision though.
Q. Lawrence I tried it and it does help with the double target issue too!!
Just partially close your non dominant eye a bit, that makes a big difference in learning to shoot with both eyes open
Thank you for explaining what you see with both eyes open. I shoot pistols with both eyes open but I turn my head to align my dominate eye to the sights and I see most other keep their head straight and it was really bugging the hell out of me cuz I'm seeing two sight pictures & thinking I should be seeing one.
Thank you for your video. For the longest time I shot traps with my left eye closed. I practiced looking at a target at home and now when I look at a target I can keep both eyes open. I will need to be practice at the trap field now.
The most helpful explanation on this topic.
amazing. I just came from the focus on the front sight video, not knowing you had posted this. I commented that I just learned how to do this. I see 2 targets and 1 front sight. is that right? it's like i'm turning stereo vision into mono left and right. now I have Foreigner "Double Vision" in my head. you are a sight picture jedi. thank you.
Thanks! And lots of videos here to test which eye is dominant.
A friend an I would always shoot pistols at the range. He was always better than me. He noticed I was right handed but aiming with my left eye. I started shooting left handed an it made a world of difference. I’m 74 now an can remember when I was a child I would pick up thinks with my left hand and get slapped for it an told use my right hand. To this day things I wasn’t taught, I do left handed. Hopefully this helps someone.
Watching this video I have a question. Are you right handed and right eye dominant ? Or are you right handed and left eye dominant ? or left handed and....you get what I'm asking. The visual of the sight picture, and your hold on the firearm did not seem to match....Just curious..
You teach to focus on the front sight when shooting so why is your example photo showing two guns? Its two targets you see with both eyes on the front sight. Is this an old video before you started teaching front sight focus?? Very confusing!
nothing confusing here, just hold your smartphone like a pistol and you will learn how to aim with both eyes open in a coupla minutes
Great videos I use your videos as an aid while teaching my wife and kids.
Hey EVERYONE - Quit talking about "My Problem is..."
As long as you keep telling yourself you "have problems" guess what? YOULL HAVE PROBLEMS!
B real B quiet Big Boys are talking!
My problem is that I don't have a dominant eye, and that can't be fixed by not saying "my problem".
Sea of Blood Red Roses jab a finger in one, hey presto, instant eye dominance
A trick I use to get my brain to switch is a quick wink. Shutting my non dominate eye for just a split second makes that switch happen.
awsome video! im working on this problem now. thanks for the tip.
Start first with how to determine which eye is the dominant eye, THEN focus on that one when two appear. Takes some getting used to. Be safe.
A more scientific explanation is you are moving your horopter to the target in stead of your front post. This will create the effect that the front and rear sight are outside of Panums fusional area hence being double. Our eye can only fuse an image to be one clear singular target at one focal distance at a time. Everything in front or behind this area will come across as double vision. Closing one eye will negate this double vision effect however you loose your stereoscopic depth perception. He failed to mention everyone’s amount of double vision will be differnent depending on your eyes natural point of rest. Some people are more crossed or uncrossed then others. Perceived distances can change with monocularly Vs binocularly vision. Try pulling up to stop sign in your car with one eye (safely). It will feel like a longer distance than if you use two eyes.
I have bad eyes (I play video games a lot) so when I went with my dad to a shooting range I noticed seeing to figures of the Same target. I thought my eyes were really bad but this helped a lot.
definitely need your advice on this I'll be watching your videos as I'm a beginner. just subscribed thanks
I can see both the target and the sights very well
Chris do you suffer from shoulder problems? I noticed the discrepancy in your shoulder levels. If you do I feel you brother , I am going through shoulder issues now. A day in gym will equal 3 days of discomfort. God bless brother
Wow! 6 years on YouYube and you're the first one to notice. I'm 100% disabled and have problems with pretty much every joint in my body. My right (your left) shoulder is lower than the other and have neck pain because of it. If you've got any cures I'm all ears!
Chris Sajnog I too have the unbelievable neck pain as well . I’ve tried just about everything. The doctor said it was over active upper body movements. Even so I have rotator cuff issues in both shoulders. I just use a heating pad when things get bad. Anyway.... I love you videos and keep up the good work. God bless!
Thanks man, great video!
Well, I am right eye dominamt, but I still prefer to shoot with both eyes open. Only in close range(for me up to 10 meters)
Question, I have trained myself to look at the front without seeing the back sight doubled. But my target is doubled. I am right eye dominate. So I shoot at the right target because when I blink that's the one I am aiming at. Have you ever heard of this and what can I do to correct it.
Focus on the target, not the front sight. Even if you line up the wrong sight picture, you'll hit.
Only focus on the front sight if you have your non dominant eye closed/squinted.
Now i know.thanks for video is really good
It would be nice if you explained why it makes you a batter shooter instead of just claiming it does
My yoga helps me much. I have got the third eye and can shoot with both eyes closed.
My problem is that I have a hard time getting my eyes to find the front sight. They automatically lock on to the rear sights and the front sight is hard to acquire
I already aim with both eyes open when i am shooting right handed, but i also want to learn to use both eyes when shooting left handed, any tips for that?
I’m having trouble while aiming through a magnified optic. My left eye is dominant and I’m right handed. When I shoulder the rifle and look with my right eye I keep focusing on what my left eye is seeing. And even if I wanted to focus, I physically can not close my left eye without closing my right eye too
real good teaching
I am right eye dominant, shoot right hand dominant, shoot with both eyes open. My right eye has better vision that my left eye. I am learning to shoot with my non-dominant left hand, both eyes open, is there a technique I can use to allow me to switch to a temporary left eye dominance as I learn shooting with the left hand. Right now, I oscillate between seeing 2 sight pictures, and seeing with the dominant right eye sight picture. Having only one eye open limits field of vision. I am practicing injured shooter situations. Is my only choice closing my right eye in this situation
I tend to close one eye until I get the sight picture before opening back up.
I started out shooting both eyes open, because I figured you should have peripherals open on both sides right?
I have always known that I am left-eye dominant and right handed. Shooting a pistol with my left eye or both eyes open is natural. However, when shooting a rifle right handed, I have to use my right eye, so I have to get a good sight picture with my left eye closed and focus my brain to keep that same right-eyed sight picture when I open my left eye. Hard to do at first, but wihh practice, it gets a little easier. The challege is tricking your brain back and forth when moving between the pistol and rifle. Does anyone else shoot a rifle right handed but use their left eye? Seems nearly impossible to me.
I do. My dad only takes us out to shoot like once a year but I've gotten use to shooting a rifle right handed and using my right eye. When I shoot a handgun, I shoot right handed with my left eye(I'm left eye dominant).
Hello Chris, reading your book and i'm at the two eyes open part! This is a great read! Thanks for all of it! I'm always on a static site at 25 yards slowly for now, do you think i can still shoot accurate at that distance with both my eyes open? Thanks again from Montreal Canada!
Thanks, I'm getting the hang of it now.
But how do you focus on the front sight then? because when you focus on the sight, you see only 1 picture of your gun and 2 of your target.
My left eye is my dominant eye, but I'm right handed. Should I learn to shoot left handed? Or should I try to make my right eye dominant?
I am guessing that training your eye's with a Brock String is intended for shooting with both eye's open. Am I wrong about that? It is funny because I shoot with both eye's open and I don't see two sight pictures, and, I don't see two targets. It looks the same as if I shut one eye.
Thanks! This helped me understand better!
Thank you very much for this!
I don't see two. Part of one side of the rear sight post disappeared until I put a little black dot in the center of my white front sight. Now I'm wondering if something is wrong with my eyes because nobody's talking about that.
No it's very easy to shoot with both eyes can I get it just like I'm going to go
Do you have any advice on using our third eye? Just got this attachment the other day
I only see one gun with I aim down my sights. Back sights are blurred along with the im aiming at is also blurred. My front sights are clear and in focused, but I shoot too low and too far to the left according to my groupings.
Did I miss something? If you’re right eye dominant which site picture do you pay attention to…the right or the left?
Try squinting your non-dominant eye a bit, then you will focus on the right picture
what about cross eye dominance?whats the best way to switch eyes?
I'm right handed but my dominant eye is the left side, what should I do? Should I just stick to closing my left eye
My issue is, I'm semi ambidextrous.I write, throw, and bat lefty. But I use scissors, play bass and shoot firearm righty. The right is also predominantly my knife hand. Strangely enough I shoot archery lefty... long story longer, I've tried the thumb trick or making a "spade" with your hands and bring them to your face...well, my hands always end up on my nose while staying focused on the "object". Do you have any tips for that? The target is always in between the two images I see, no matter what I do and where I focus...unless I close an eye. I don't want to "guess the middle".
Great video by the way!
Point at a small object in the distance with one finger, both eyes open.
Close one eye.
If you're still pointing at the object, the eye that is open is your dominant eye.
Thank you! That was extremely helpful for a person in my situation of being ambidextrous. Turns out I naturally point leaving the object between my two fingers, leaving neither finger still pointing at it. That being said, it is MUCH easier to start training myself to 'sight' on the left object using (my right eye), it seems too unnatural to sight in on the right object (my left). This happened while using BOTH hands as well. This is strange being that my left hand is dominant, but makes sense as my trigger finger is my right hand. It leaves me with more questions as to why I'm a left hand archer, but that's a different story I guess.
Then I tried it a little bit differently, I focused on an object in the distance, closed my eyes, and instantly attempted to point at it as soon as I closed them. To my surprise I noticed that BOTH LEFT AND RIGHT hand naturally pointed to the object seen from my right eye more times than it being in the middle of the two fingers. Seems as if that finalizes it.
Thank you again for this tip! I've never been able to find which one is more dominant than the other. This will SURELY IMPROVE my aim!
love this video a lot of information
have you tried shooting with both eyes open in a scope or sniper's rifle?