Propper Use of a Scope

[OLd Man]

I'm not going to give much of my opinion because I don't really know what is right and what is wrong. But I have been told that you shoot with both eyes open and concentrate on the cross hairs or dots you are using at the time. This allows you to call your shoots as to where you were aiming when the shot was fired. There is more that one way to skin a cat, but there may be a best way, and if so that is the way I would like to practice. Some of you have been trained, and others are probably self trained but experts non the less.

[Bwild97]

I shoot with both eyes open as well, I learned to do this while learning to shoot a bow as a kid. It takes some practice but it is worth it.

[biggdawg]

i just started shooting with both eyes open. takes a bit of getting used to but i like it less fatigue on the eyes.

[Drifter]

Both eyes open for me.

[Blacklab]

One eye here. Was always told open both just haven't broke that habit.

[Michael]

Both eyes open with a scope, one eye closed with iron sights. Just can't break the bad habit I developed early on w/ iron sights.

[LRRPF52]

I shoot both eyes open with a pistol, carbine, iron-sighted long gun, and magnified optic equipped guns as well. One issue is that cheek & eye muscle contraction and spasming inputs movement onto the gun, as well as distracts from your focus on a perfect sight picture.

If you are cross-dominant, this requires getting around it with a choice of several techniques. When I shoot left-handed with a long gun, I initially squint slightly with my right eye to shift dominance to the left eye, then can open my right eye slightly after acquiring the sight picture. With mental focus, I am able to develop more capacity for dominance in the left eye.

[stokesrj]

Both eyes open in all cases, rifle shotgun, pistol, bow. For High Power Rifle matches I use an occluded blinder for my left eye but keep both eyes open. There are reasons that result in a relaxed focus and properly dilated iris. For iron sights your focus absolutely needs to be on the front sight and the target should be softly out of focus. For optical sights the focus should be on the reticle and the target should also be in sharp focus, which is easily achieved. For hunting with a scope I use both eyes open and see two images, a 1X with my left eye and 6X or whatever the scope magnification with my right eye. My brain ignores the smaller image and focuses on the larger right eye image. I've broken many clay pigeons in flight with my rifle using this method.
Keep your eye on the target and insert the rifle between your eye and the target, there should be absolutely no accommodations of your body to achieve alignment. No tense muscles and the rifle should naturally point to the very center of your target. Test this by looking away or closing your eyes and verifying your sights are on the center of the target with no need to use any muscle to move the rifle into alignment. This is called natural point of aim and is more important than the type or quality of scope you are using.
Bob

[Harvest123]

I shoot left eye dominant, right handed pistol left handed with a rifle and it took a lot of getting use to keeping my eyes open. Really had to practice with rifle, and it came easier with a pistol. I shootboth eyes open, but it still is a challenge for me to not flinch with my right eye when shooting a rifle. Practice. Dry fire drill with partner, use some tape over one lens of your shooting glasses on your non-dominant eye. Shoting with both eys open is a type of natural holographic vision. You can do it, just practice, it can be a life saver in a defensive situation.

[frank]

I'm also cross-eye dominant. I can shoot pistols both eyes open by tilting my head slightly to line my left (dominant) eye up with the sights. For long guns, I can only shoot both eyes open when using a red dot sight. Otherwise, I have to close my dominant eye. Not ideal, but I'm too old and stubborn to learn to shoot lefty.