Sighting with Rx Glasses

[ShootingNut]

Having to use reading glasses, complicates my sighting the target.
Bought safety glasses with a 1.50 correction (reading) at the bottom of the lense. So, we are supposed to concentrate on our front sight, right? Well, the front sight is somewhat blurred, and you look like a "fruit cake" with your head way back to place the Rx on the front sight. Distance vision is not too bad.
Anyone else find this a handicap at ranges of 25 yards or more?

 

[Eghad]

Might want to get a pair of glasses just for shooting. I am near sighted. I went to the doc and he tried out various lenses that help me with revolver and rifle shooting for SASS Competitions. Its not perfect but it works.

I use a scope on the hunting rifles so no problem there.

For rifle shooting he suggested a Merit Optical device due to what the lense would look like on a pair of glasses I would need to have the sight back to 20/20.

http://www.gunblast.com/MeritOptical.htm. He even recommended the size aperture I would need.

or this company looks like they have an excellent product for your problem

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213122

 

[crankshop1000]

I'm in the same boat with the old eyes.I put a red dot on my target .22 and Crimson Trace on my 642 and 1911. I'm backkkkkkkkkk!!!

 

[surveyor]

for what it's worth.....
most Rx glasses if in bifocal are for 12" in front of glasses...
I do cad drafting, & it is NOT 12 " length that I need closer to 3'-4'
when I had glasses made, distance lens not really the problem..
more really needed up close for reading...& cad work...
the funky glasses that they fit you with before they grind RX lenses and someone who knows what the customer wants, will help greatly...
have the near vision be about 3', this translates into roughly arm length when pistol shooting...

my RX overall can be handled with a std reading glass, for the most part near & far.. but just a hair diffrent for lengths of 3-4'.. do a lot of computer work.. most RX for near vision is based at 1'.... won't cut it for pistol shooting, or computer work, as that is done at 3-4'...

when they grind your lenses, the optician has a set of glasses that they can adjust to make sure it works for you.. I suggest you try reading small print at 3' or so with them, and when you can, it should not be a real problem..

there is not that much diffrence between my distance & near lenses in bificals (lined is the way to go) but enough that it makes a big diffrence in shooting or computer work..

otherwise you can have a special set made with your near lens in the eye dominant, and a distance lens in the other, and use it for shooting, this was discussed as an option by my optician..

your milage may vary..

 

[rgates]

I've been wearing no line bifocals for about 7 years now. They are absolute hell to get used to but after about a week they were the closest thing to normal vision that I think is possible. No problem at all with handgun sights but some rifle iron sights are a little bit of a challenge. Next trip to the eye doctor I'm going to discuss this. At least my son is enjoying being able to outshoot me when we get the iron sight rifles out. #*x* he's good.

 

[jaws48]

Old Eyes

Tri-focal lenses did the trick for me! Front sight in focus and target blurred...

 

[surveyor]

the way the optometrist told me (and I have no reason to doubt it)
is this

when a lens is ground, if lined with separate lens, take a bifocal for example, the entire lens, EXCEPT for the bifocal part is the distance lens.. so you have good peripheal vision.

If the lens is a UNLINED bifocal the lens transitions fron distance to near like this !x)_(x! the top of the parentheses is the distance , the middle is transition, the bottom is near, the sides are not ground at all, so the peripeheal vision is not enhanced.

while I agree a unlined glass looks better, for me it does not perform better..

 

[Dwight55]

I guess I'm just an outlaw on this subject. Probably have 6 or 10 pairs of variously ground glasses around the house to help these 62 year old eyes.

Found out that just point shooting works the best for me with handguns, . . . scopes for rifles.

When I put on my glasses, . . . the targets make fun of me, . . . and my shooting scores take a drastic turn for the worse.

Probably won't do for all but it works for me, anyway.

May God bless,
Dwight

 

[allen820]

Forget the bifocals!

When I ran into the same issue, I went and found an old pair of glasses I had worn in the pre-bifocal days. These "single-focal" glasses worked just fine. Yeah, my far vision is not as good as it is with my no-line bifocal/trifocals, but with the older lenses, the sights are clear and the target is just a little blurry. Works fine. I simply could not shoot a rifle with the no-line glasses.

Allen

 

[bfox]

My Opthamologist was nice enough to let me bring my handgun to his office .
He worked with me till we got the sights crystal clear .
That was about a week and a half ago . Went next door to his office
and bought the glasses . When they came in I could hardly see
the front sight it was total fuzz . Called them back
they finally said they made a mistake at the Lab . Gave me my regular bi-focal
for reading . I bought everyday glasses at the same time .
Said they were sorry realized what had happened and they will fix it .
That was Friday and they are on vacation this week so
we will see in a while how they work .
We may be getting older but we are still here .

Good Luck , Bill

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

I told the ophthalmologist I wanted a lens for X distance, which was what I worked out to be to the front sight in offhand position. Also seems to be about computer distance. Works fine.

 

[Frederic]

Contacts worse.

I have bi-vision contacts. Left is near and right is far. I can either see the sights or the target. Not both! Very frustrating! I usually revert to glasses. (Bifocals and not too much better)

 

[enikkor]

Here's how I solve it.

We are supposed to focus at the front sight and the rear sight should
be slightly blurred. The sight picture should also be slightly blurred
but the front sight should be 100% clear.
I ask my optometrist to set up lenses that focuses on where the
approximate front sight, with my arms extended, plus 5 -7 inches away.
Then once we got the right clarity, I asked him to make me a single
focal glasses just for shooting pistols.

When I use the new shooting glasses, it was amazing that always the
front sight remains 100% sharp as should be and the other plane slightly
blurred. If I keep my hands still, my shooting improved.

 

[tipoc]

This is my solution...

I wear bifocals, the style they call Executive. Two pair. One set is for everyday wear and shooting. One for shooting and reading or detail work. On my day to day set the top of the lens is for distance the lower lens has the focal point set for my sights. This also happens to be about the distance from my eyes to my dash board on my vehicle or my computer screen. I prefer to wear the same set for walking around that I have for shooting. It keeps things simple.

When I went to the eye doc I assumed my shooting stance held a pen in my hand instead of a gun and told him I wanted the focal point for the lower lens to be the end of the pen. This gives me sharp vision a few inches fore and aft of that point. Good for snubbys and 7 1/2" single actions.

I have to tilt my head up slightly to shoot. A small price to pay for having my day to day set be my shooting glasses as well.

The second set enables me to shoot off a bench with my head lowered.

tipoc

 

[El Paso Joe]

I use a pair of progressives. I can tilt my head so that I can see the front sight. The target is still pretty fuzzy though. In the old days, the old timers (then) would put a paper reinforcing sticker (one of those round thingys you use to fix the torn perforations on three hole punched paper) with a piece of paper in the middle with a veeery small hole in it. It worked like a pinhole camera. Good visibility of both target and sight. I keep telling me I need to work on replicating it since I am now one of the old timers...

 

[tipoc]

The target will still be fuzzy evan with perfect eye sight if you are focused on the front sights. One of the peculiaraties of the mamallian eye if we are looking at something far off what's up close is fuzzy and vice versa. In the healthy younger eye we can quickly focus from one to the other. As we age we loose the ability to rapidly change that focus so we need specs, contacts or surgery.

tipoc

 

[1035 TOG]

The sighting accessory referenced by Eghad and sold by Brownell's is a variable aperture which you may adjust for the circumstance. It is a little spendy. Lyman makes a similar fixed aperture for a much lower price - shop around at some of the online vendors to beat Lyman's online catalog price. I use this device regularly and find that it can help substantially, depending on the type of shooting you are doing.

I'll pick up the MeritOptical device on a future order, now that I have confirmed that this type works for me.

 

[lefteye]

I have the same problem shooting handguns. I wear no-line bifocals. I recently discovered on the internet what may be the solution: bifocals with the close vision lens at the top rather than the bottom. This is supposed to allow the shooter to bend the neck to line up the sights while looking through the upper part of the lenses of the bifocals - a more natural position for handguns and rifles with open sights. I haven't ordered the glasses yet, but probably will tyr them. I didn't save the URL for the site, but searching for shooting glasses should get it for you, along with several others.

 

[Justme]

Lefteye, my grandfather was a welder and he had bifocals on the top and the bottom of his glasses. This was so he could weld overhead. They looked like trifocals but were really double bifocals.