Reflex shooting/aiming with both eyes?

[Fargin]

I'm searching for info on Reflex shooting or aiming with both eyes open. I'm currious about how it affects your aim, when firing a rifle. Peripheral vision and proper judgement for depth of field contra accuracy?

I was drafted and recieved training on the m1 Garand, the MG3 and G3. But my weapons training was more or less limited to ****e shooting on a range. So I only have experience with using my iron sights, using one eye. A couple of years ago I talked to an alledged Ex-SAS(He had red hair), who promoted shooting/Aiming with both eyes open.

I'm looking for someone who have either experimented or use any similar technics. Some who haven't only been chillin' on a shooting range, but actually done some moving while shooting.

I hope you can help :)


Disclaimer: Grammar/spelling, I tried to use the search engine but I'm either incompetent or out of luck.

[Seraphim]

There was a whole thread awhile back about this, I tried looking for it but cant find though.

[shorty]

I heard that if you shoot with both eyes open it gives you a better perception of depth. Personally i don't shoot with both eyes open. But, I only shoot a scoped deer rifle so i can't say how i'd shoot if I a red dot. I think in the military they teach you to shoot with both eyes open as a SOP. Just my .02 on this subject.

[Trident-za]

I read about this in "Inside Delta Force" (great book, by the way)... the guy explained it in terms of "target recognition". You only have split seconds to play with and if your eyes are focused on the front sight it is theoretically more difficult to distinguish between a hostage and a bad guy in the available time - and accidently killing hostages is a bad thing.

Personally, I think this kind of shooting is only really applicable for a "quick action" scenario - it doesn't necessarily apply to deer hunting. I know that I used reflex shooting when in close-up contact with lots of stuff going down, and the "one eye closed, focus on front sight" approach when there was distance (and time) involved.

[JiJoMacLE45]

Duke started a thread on this a while back, I believe the title was instinctive shooting. It was primarily about hand guns, not rifles, but maybe of some help.

[Chris196]

Both eyes open shooting works quicker with electronic type sights like the Aimpoint and EoTech. It widens your field of view and allows you to actually blur out the body of the scope so that you see more of the target area. Both eyes open also allows you the advantage of having your full peripheral vision, which is an absolute necessity in CQB as it allows you to spot flanking targets and team mates movements.

[Light Fighter]

A buddy of mine is currently on the local SWAT Team. He has shot many types of short rifle in close combat (MP5 varients,pistols, shotgun,m4) and the only time I have ever seen him shoot with one eye closed is shotguns and hunting. He says that with both eyes open it allows you to do two things at once. Keep your weapon at the ready and be aware of your sorrounding at the same time. He also says its easier to perform target ID with both eyes open.

[James]

It takes a lot of practice. If you want to learn to do this, don't go to a range and expect to shoot 100 rounds and be proficient. Maybe after 5000 rounds of good practice, you will have the foundation set.

[Fargin]

Thanks alot for all the answers, this is what I want to hear. Please keep it coming if you have anything to add.

Is there any cons?

[SABER 2-3]

The human visual reception process is set up so that the use of both eyes together will produce the max. effective result (steroscopic). But it was not designed to focus on near and far objects all at once. This forces a shooter to chose between clear target recognition or a clear sight picture. There are numerous schools of thought on how to marry the two and only through sending lead down-range will you be able to decide which is best for you. My advise to you would be to enlist the help of someone who has put these tech. to use into real world application sucessfully.

[exoninja]

This is how you do it.

Go grab a toy handgun or something, keep both eyes open and lift the gun up to take aim.

You'll see double vision. Now focus with your right eye and you'll get your sight-picture. You'll probably still have double-vision, but as long as you're seeing a correct sight-picture, you're fine.

It takes some practice for the brain to adjust immediately to focus with one of the eyes.

Hope this helps.

[Seraphim]

Heres the old thread about this topic...you can check it out

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2144

[GazB]

I usually shoot with both eyes open with my .22 rifle. It has a low powered scope. (ie 2.5X). The low power scope means the crosshairs wobble less and I find it easier to hit a moving target with a low power scope than a higher powered one. For paper target shooting on a range then I use a x4 scope as the better view of the target makes tight groups easier, however the higher magnification makes the crosshairs "wobble" more and I have to close one eye.

When hunting with both eyes open through the low power scope I don't really have perfect vision. I concentrate on the view through the scope (after all that is where the rifle is pointed). This means I can see colour and movement from my off eye but I am not concentrating on it. If an object moves and it is visible to my off eye I usually change focus to see what it is and where it is going. this has saved the lives of a few stupid sheep who were wandering into my FOV.
The low magnification of the scope means a wide FOV is already visible in the scope, but if something is rather close then it might not be visible till it is right in front of you. Having both eyes open can help, and I find it is better for tracking running game too. (ie a rabbit crossing in front of a building or other animals).

[Mortimer]

i am considered to be a pretty good shot with the f89 AUSTEYR and i have done snap shoots with one eye closed and with both open....it didn't really make a difference to my score and i didn't find one particulary better than the other although when doing contact drills i noticed that i tended to have both eyes open when taking shots and opportunity targets.

The Austeyr has 1.5x mag with a circular crosshair(i forget the name)

[Seraphim]

Whoops, nvm.....I just re-read the post. :cantbeli:

[GazB]

My brother loves the Steyr, though another of my friends thought it was only good for rabbits. I think the difference in their opinion came from what they had used previously. My brother went from a Sterling SMG to a Steyr, which is a significant improvement in range and accuracy, while my friend went from an SLR to a Steyr... more ammo, drop in recoil and weight and size.

The low magnification of the scope means less eye strain I guess.