Saw this via Mas Ayoob.
Eyes Wide Shut
You HAVE to keep BOTH eyes WIDE OPEN, or you will DIE!!!! Ok, skippy. If you can’t hit the target with both eyes open, you might as well have your eyes wide shut. I would much rather you close an eye and get the hit quick, than to keep them both open and miss. Well, you have to shoot a pistol mounted optic with both eyes open. No, no you don’t. Some people have to close an eye to shoot, regardless of what sighting system they use. Some people have to even squint an eye. If that is what it takes to get quick, accurate hits, then do it, and don’t pay any attention to what someone what has not seen the world through your eyes has to say.
There is plenty more in the link. Agree or disagree if you wish, but I laughed and was constantly nodding my head.
Just printed it out to read.
As someone who is strongly right handed, but left eye dominant, I reject the keep both eyes open mantra.
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Especially if using any kind of long gun. Pistols, OK, shotguns, rifles, not a chance. I am so left eye dominant that I will miss every time if I have my left eye open. And, no I will not learn to shoot left handed. Tried it once, and did some really stupid dangerous things with my right hand because mind could not grasp what hands were doing.
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Mas is correct. IF you get accurate shots, WHO CARES?
Same mis-match here. There isn’t a safer bird in the air than the one flying by me if I try to shoot with both eyes open. Unless I’m shooting my old Browning Auto-5. Then the entire flock will fly under my pattern unharmed and unaware.
Same with Glocks against zombies. My natural point of aim is about a 15″ high. I do get a good look at the entire top of the slide though. 🙂
He who becomes at one with the tool first…. wins, and victory loves preparation.
this is why the firearms community is a BIG disappointment… there are way too many taticool azzholes out there spewing misleading “tactics”… if you come learn at my school, I teach you the basics and then help you find what works for YOU. the whole point of school (to me) is helping you remove blocks and get you comfortable handling arms.. this is fun stuff to read. reminds me of the nod wearing moron with the Raptor stuck in 6 inches of snow clueless. “Believe nothing that you see and half of what you read”… as dad used to say.
By the way, I could make the same comment about the “focus on the front sight, not the target” rule. I try to follow the rule because it’s what I was taught but it never feels natural (even if I wear my “computer glasses” which are optimized for that distance). And I don’t seem to be any more accurate if I do than if I don’t.
@Paul Koenig: Well, from what I’ve read over the past 50 years, the defender will most likely be focused on the threat, not the front sight. 😉
Through training and repetition, the subconscious mind when under threat and duress will focus on the threat automatically through the ‘line-of-sight to gun sights’ alignment picture. The gun-sights alignment picture should always move up into the head’s line-of-sight picture. This occurs when the muscle memory of the shoulders, arms, wrists and hands, automatically go to the proper lock position when arriving at the trigger pull place, whether that is from the hip, low ready, high ready or high extended, positions.
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I’ve got this one guy who’s been shooting at the range for the past 12 years who shoots from the hip just like in the movies and he’s more accurate than 50% of the shooters who shot with traditional extended arms. It’s all in the muscle memory gained through repetition.
@ Lawful2Shoot?:
“…This occurs when the muscle memory of the shoulders, arms, wrists and hands, automatically go to the proper lock position…”
Agreed, with sufficient repetition, a person can build neural pathways. Without, for most people, they won’t be practicing enough for that.
I remember reading about PDs that trained with the cartoon-type shoot/don’t shoot turning targets (I just can’t remember the company) that depicted muzzles as 1.5″ black circles. Most recruits’ shots were clustered around the cartoon muzzles as that was the source of the threat.
“…I’ve got this one guy who’s been shooting at the range for the past 12 years who shoots from the hip just like in the movies and he’s more accurate than 50% of the shooters who shot with traditional extended arms…”
Again, no argument with that one person. Jerry Miculek is amazing, but there are probably only a handful of people who can perform like that.
My comments are about the average concealed carrier. Such as myself. 8>)
Sorry if my comment was taken as criticism, that was not my intention. I agree with your comments. I mentioned the hip shooter guy because I use him as an illustration of how far one can achieve if they do the work to get there. In my CQC pistol instructions, I demonstrate that someone like me, can put rounds into the belt areas of the deadly threat from inside of twenty feet with regularity, with weekly practice, faster than they believe they can. We begin at two feet and move back as progress occurs.
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We do drills where an attacker rushes you from the front with a weapon, you guard with your weak hand arm while moving or falling back while drawing from the hip holster and firing shots within a torso target which is within five feet. One must be able to handle a fall backwards to achieve this drill. Most real-life attacks are similar to this activity.
also depends on what range you are shooting..short self defense range you bettrr be good enough to get rounds on target straight outta the holster… the “speed rock” it was called years ago.. draw, point muzzle at target, cant firearm out away from your sidea bit, double tap.. anything less than 15 yards I can put rounds on target sans sights.. most days..
One of the major problems new rifle and pistol shooter experience is not having the gun fitted to your body type and body characteristics. With pistols, the ‘grip angle’ is the problem a majority of the time. I always instruct a new pistol buyer, when as the gun store, to take the pistol of interest, obtain their usual grip with the pistol at the high ready position. Then close both eyes and don’t peak. Extend the pistol out to the natural position which they “Feel” is their normal shooting position. Then open their eyes and check to see if the slide is parallel to the floor—straight and level, pointing downrange. If it’s not they are not holding a ‘natural fitting’ pistol for their body type.
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People with smaller hands seldom pass this test with a Glock, which has the greatest grip-to-slide angle. When they open their eyes holding a Glock, they’re three to five degrees too high. Same goes for most 1911s, but not all.
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And when shooting long guns, it is typical for most shooters to shoot high with the stock factory set-up of the rifle. Cast, pitch, drop, length of pull, balance, are all off at varying degrees and increments and must be ‘fitted’ to the person through trial and error until ‘best results’ occur—many times perfection is unobtainable due to physical problems and challenges. But substantial improvements can be experienced by all, no matter what problems a person has.
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For me and pistols, I must have the heaviest pistol possible, so I always use a solid guide rod with extra weight added at the muzzle. And the more radical the grip texture, the better I shoot, especially when I run the gun at six to seven rounds per second.
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I thought I’d post the obvious, for most members here, but perhaps you haven’t done this type of customization because you just make do with how the gun came, because…..it’s good enough.
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Not long ago, well about six years ago, I had a friend bring a mystery pistol to the range along with a blindfold. He told me to put the blindfold on, which I did, then he handed me a new pistol and said, “Dave, it’s ready to go, point and shoot” (we have a 5’X 5″ target up to test ‘person to gun mating status’. The gun felt excellent, and I shot it, took the blindfold off and found myself looking at a Bill Wilson EDC X 9 4″ barrel. My shot was dead even with my eyes and within 9″ of dead center at 21 ‘.
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Now I have three of the X series Wilsons and have forgotten all about all my hot rod customized Springfields. Bill Wilson must have the same exact body type as me, with the same shoulder, arm, and wrist hand alignment as I do, cause it’s the only gun I have ever bought that needed nothing done. Damn what a tool it is.
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Moral of the story; become one with the gun, for your life depends on it when the SHTF and everything goes out the window.
I actually had that problem at 12. Left eye dominant and would starve if forced to eat left handed. Dad put two layers of Scotch tape over just the spot where my pupil lined up and the slight blurring forced the use of the right eye. It was just a couple of trips to the skeet range til I didn’t need it anymore. I just gave those Bausch and Lomb aviator shooting glasses to a 14 year old I know. I hope he gets another 50 years.