question for you pistol shooters

[whos2kno]

first of all im not a good pistol shooter and have a question for you guys.

i have no training on pistols bot have military training on rifles. i was tough when you shoot a pistol to close one eye like shooting a rifle.

well i went to the range thursday and took a couple of pistols with me(cz82 and a HK usp). i was sucking really bad and was all over the target and not hitting a darn thing. well i remember a buddy at work saying he shoots pistols with both eyes open. so i give this a try and wow i was doing pretty good.i was not really hitting what i was aiming at but getting pretty good groups. ive been shooting most of my like and have never done this before so this is going to try to teach a old dog new tricks thing.
so here is the questions for you guys

#1 do you guys shoot with one eye or both eyes?
#2 do you focus on the sites and keep the target blurry or focus on the target and have the sites blurry?
thanks guys

[raxar]

I keep both eyes open, and focus on the front sight, with both the rear and target blurry.

[slamfire51]

I keep both eyes open, and focus on the front sight, with both the rear and target blurry.

Ditto

[Schuetzenman]

Depends on what kind of shooting I'm doing, target or combat. Target, left eye closed because I'm right eye dominate. Combat style, both open, even with rifles on this one.

I ike the front sight and target in focus, the rear can be fuzzy a bit.

A lot of handgun shooting is your grip. It's hard to explain it in type, would be easier to show you in person how to get a better more stabil grip on a pistol.

[Partisan1983]

When I was shooting small bore completions, I would close my left eye. If I am shooting at bullseye style target I do the same. Other than that, I always shoot with both eyes open and focus on the target.

Basically what Schuetz said.

[old Grump]

If you hold your arm straight out in front of you and hold your thumb up can you see the striations on your thumbnail clearly using both eyes, in other words is it in focus? You are a bifocal creature, that is you have an eye on either side of your face and they will turn in to focus on that sight about 30" in front of your nose.

If you can do that then both eyes should be working and on to the hard part. You can see well enough to shoot like a marksman.

Next step is get snap caps for the caliber of your choice and insert it into the gun.

Get a plain sheet of typing or copy paper and in the very center of the paper use a fine point pen with black ink and make a little cross with 2.5 cm horizontal and vertical lines. No larger. Fasten that paper on a horizontal surface at shoulder height in a location with good light.

Pick up your chosen handgun with the off hand and place it in your shooting hand and get a good grip. Grip it firmly like you would a handshake, not to loose, not so tight that you shake. Extend your arm so the muzzle of your gun is no more than a cm away from the paper. Focus on that front sight with both eyes. You will see that the vertical line goes straight up the middle of the sight and the horizontal line sits squarely on the top of your front sight. Your front sight should now be centered in the notch of your rear sight and level.

Now with the gun cocked, your focus entirely on the front sight you play a little mind game. Imagine the sight is one solid piece attached to the trigger. When you pull the trigger back you are trying to pull the front sight back through the center of your rear sight. If you pull, yank, anticipate, jerk, grab anything but a perfect trigger pull those lines will move away from the front sight like a seismometer detecting an earthquake.

The objective of this exercise is to get 10 perfect shots and what you will discover is that when your focus is on the sight/trigger you will have no idea when the gun goes off. That will be your good shot.

Now the fun begins, switch the gun to your left hand and start over again. You will be sweating and hurting and mad at me but I will guarantee you that the top shooters do this and this is why they are top shooters.

Now the easy part, get your two handed grip and take 10 more shots but this part is pretty redundant. The whole point of the exercise is to get your focus on the front sight while your trigger finger squeezes the trigger without disturbing your sight alignment no matter which hand or hands you are using. If you can do that you can do it standing on one leg leaning over a table shooting through a door at an oblique angle or hanging by your knees from a trapeze bar. You will not know what position you will be in when you have to shoot but sight picture and consistent trigger pull will increase your chances of hitting what you want shot. Using both eyes will aid in your sight picture.

[whos2kno]

thanks guys for your replys


old Grump
i think i will give this a try
i need to do something because i suck and i really enjoy shooting and it's not fun bringing people who just shoot me under the table.

[deth502]

i use both eyes.

i didnt read the entire book that og just wrote about it, but i skimmed the first part, and i think he was telling you how to tell your dominant eye, this is very important. another thing he mentioned is dry fire practice. also a great way to start. with th pistol unloaded, work the trigger, you should not see the sights move from the finger to guard position all the way through till after the hammer falls. it takes muscle practice to move your trigger finger by itself without tensing any other muscles in your hand, which throws off your sights.

[O.S.O.K.]

Yes, just like using open sights on a rifle. Keep both eyes open and your dominant eye will naturally focus your sight on the sights and target. If you are right handed, hopefully, your right eye is the dominant (visa versa for left handedness) - otherwise, you will need to roll your head over to allow your dominant eye to lige-up with the sights.

Also - very important: your grip needs to be consistent from shot to shot. This is even more important when shooting a handgun that with a rifle. You want to have a good solid grip with full contact. I lay my weak hand over my strong and weak thumb over the strong - laying alongside of the handgun.

[Partisan1983]

If you are right handed and left eye dominate, you can train your right eye to become the dominate one.

[whos2kno]

last thursday i gave it a try and i must say i did a LOT better. not tact driver yet but it did make a big difference using both eyes. it's something im going to have to practice at. i was noticing my left eye closing or i was focusing on the target rather then the front site and i have to stop and start over.i was shooting my 1911 and was getting my shots in a fist tight group. no bad for using wolf ammo.
this is going to be fun and a learning experience to use both eyes. i will keep a update on this

thanks guys for the help

[Schuetzenman]

last thursday i gave it a try and i must say i did a LOT better. not tact driver yet but it did make a big difference using both eyes. it's something im going to have to practice at. i was noticing my left eye closing or i was focusing on the target rather then the front site and i have to stop and start over.i was shooting my 1911 and was getting my shots in a fist tight group. no bad for using wolf ammo.
this is going to be fun and a learning experience to use both eyes. i will keep a update on this

thanks guys for the help

Good to hear. I still say if you could get with me at a range I could really help tune you up.

[number6]

Unfortunately, I don't get much range time nowadays, but for many years I always closed my left eye. It began to tire me out, and I started seeing more about shooting with both eyes open.
My problem was seeing 2 front sight images. I could concentrate on one of them, but it wasn't always the correct one. I needed to learn this!
To help me, I put a piece of 1/2" wide scotch tape diagonally across the left lens of my safety glasses. I could still see fine, but now I can only see one image from my right eye while keeping both open.
I wish I would have had a mentor back in the 70s to show me correct sighting techniques, but I was basically on my own.
I practice in the house with a Taurus PT140 w/ a snap cap, but I love shooting my Colt 1911 on the range. This is my story.

[Helen Keller]

one thing I've been showing guys is, you dont have to have a death grip (unless it's something absurd like a 500) .

Cradle the gun in your hands and start from there.

[Notch]

with a semi auto, both thumbs pointed at target

[Durangokid]

Shooting handguns is about trigger control. You can shoot with one or two eyes but if you do not master the trigger you are going to miss. You need a trigger control chart which maps target hits by your trigger position.