How to Shoot With Both Eyes Open

How to Shoot With Both Eyes Open

How to Shoot With Both Eyes Open

Shooting with both eyes open helps you see more of your surroundings. It’s especially useful in real-life or fast-moving situations. Unless you're a long-range shooter, this is a skill worth learning.

But how do you train for it? It takes practice — and some simple tricks. Let’s go over a few methods that can help.

1. Start With One Eye Closed

Start by closing your weaker eye, aim and shoot like you usually do. Then, slowly open your other eye and practice shooting with both eyes open.

Do a few shots with one eye closed, then open both eyes and shoot again. Keep doing this until shooting with both eyes open feels natural.

2. Focus on the Target First

Look at your target with both eyes open. Then, bring your firearm up and line it up without changing your focus from the target. This helps your eyes and brain get used to aiming naturally.

Once the sight or optic lines up, take the shot. This method helps you keep full awareness of your surroundings.

3. Squint and Open

This one takes more time, but it works. Squint your weaker eye instead of fully closing it, and slowly open it more and more as you shoot. The more you practice, the easier it gets to keep both eyes open.

4. Cover Your Dominant Eye

If your dominant eye doesn’t match your shooting hand (for example, you're right-handed but left-eye dominant), try covering your dominant eye during practice.

Hold the gun in your shooting hand, cover your dominant eye with your other hand, and practice aiming with your weaker eye. Over time, your brain adjusts and it gets easier to shoot with both eyes open.

5. Use an Eye Patch or Chapstick Trick

Use an eye patch or rub a bit of Chapstick on your shooting glasses over the dominant eye side. This blurs that eye just enough to help you rely more on your other eye.

After a few sessions, reduce the blur (or take the patch off) until both eyes are working together.

6. Try Dry Fire Practice

Dry firing is a great way to train without live ammo. Use snap caps and aim at a safe target.

Steps:

• Focus on the target with both eyes open.

• Practice your aim and trigger pull slowly.

• Repeat until it feels natural.

This helps because there’s no loud noise or recoil, so your brain can focus just on aiming and vision.

7. Use a Red Dot or LPVO

A red dot or LPVO (Low Power Variable Optic) makes it much easier to shoot with both eyes open. These optics let you focus on the target while the dot or reticle appears clearly in your vision.

The Odin 1-8×24 FFP LPVO Rifle Scope is a great example. At 1x magnification, it works like a red dot, perfect for both eyes open. Then you can zoom in for longer shots. It’s a smart choice for tactical, hunting, or range use.

Why It’s Important

Shooting with both eyes open gives you:

• Better awareness of what’s around you.

• Faster target tracking in close-range situations.

• Improved depth perception and comfort while aiming.

• The ability to shoot with either hand or eye, which is great for tough positions or emergencies.

Bonus Tip: Find Your Dominant Eye

Make a triangle with your hands and look through it at a faraway object. Slowly bring your hands back to your face. The eye that lines up with the triangle is your dominant eye.

Final Thoughts
There’s nothing wrong with shooting one-eyed, but learning to shoot with both eyes open gives you a big advantage. It just takes practice and patience. Try out these simple methods and see what works best for you.

And if you want a scope that really helps with this skill, check out the Odin 1-8×24 FFP LPVO Rifle Scope — built for shooters who want speed, clarity, and precision.