Aging eyes

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I have the SSP glasses with the reading area on top. Then I got a set of their no-correction replacement lenses. Changed out the left corrective with a non corrective, so only the right (dominant) eye has the reading lense.

ALso have tried Hydotak stick on lens and like them very much also.
 
A blurry target is fine. If you are truly focused on the front sight, the target is going to be blurry regardless of how good or bad your vision is. The difference is that with good vision (if I remember correctly ) when you look up at the target, it is clear, but stays blurry when wearing glasses. Just put that front sight in the middle of that blurry target, or at 6 o’clock if that’s what’s needed, and have fun.

Keith, I got that same advice from my Dad. At the end of his LEO career he was wearing reading glasses for close work, distance was fine. The last few times he was at the range he wore his reading glasses to see the sights on his trusty .38 Colt and fired at a blurry target. He told me about it when he got home, very happy he scored well above the simply "passing" grade.
My problem is I need glasses for distance. The shades in my profile pic are 'script. I used to be able to see near or far with those glasses. Now to see close I have to take my glasses off. I use Dad's advice, wearing clear non-script shooting glasses, seeing the sights clearly and shooting at a blurry target.
 
On a somewhat-related note, a few months ago I had cataract surgery at a fairly-young 60. There are lots of options, but basically the first choice was whether to pay $3800 extra for getting corrected vision or nothing to get whatever vision you ended up with. I picked the corrected version (figuring it’s a lifetime deal), then had to choose between a correction at a fixed distance, a one-close/one-far deal, and multifocal lenses. I picked the correction for distance with the expectation I’d use readers up close or progressive bifocals for things like shooting. (The multifocal lenses have terrible haloing at night because they actually form three images, only one of which is ever in focus). I ordered some extremely-cheap ($75) progressive bifocals from Zenni.

Turns out you get what you pay for. I ended up almost exactly corrected for distant vision, but the bifocals were like a visit to the fun house, so they’re being remade. Last week I was at the pistol range with only readers or plano safety glasses, so I tried the readers. I could see the front sight, but the target was a shadowy blur. I shot the best I have in the last ten years (possibly in forever). With my .22 the groups at 12 yards were around an inch and with the 9mm they were maybe two inches. I know that’s not great for THR alumni, but for me it’s miraculous. Apparently in the past I was always focusing on the target.

I have a selection of cheap garish nail polish I use in front sights. Thank goodness fashion industry!
 
I have 20/20 vision and have trouble seeing black sights on black targets. Always use orange rifle targets or white silhouettes at the range.
 
Red dots,RMR, steel targets, bigger paper targets with contrasting "bullseye". Sometimes I use large sheets of butchers paper and fluorescent spray paint to make circles or squares to shoot at. I cannot see black on black anymore. Steel targets are good for "rough" work, not trying to shoot teeny groups, only hit the target.
 
Today I had a new vision issue at the range, something I've experienced when reading if I'm tired, but today was the first time I experienced it shooting. For the record, I am right-eye dominant and right-handed and I shoot with the left eye closed. You know how if you look at something cross-eyed you see double left and right? So I was seeing sort of like double up and down, except more like a ghost image overlapping above the non-ghost one. Which made it pretty much impossible to line up the top of the front sight with the top of the rear sight, because it was hard to tell where the non-ghost one left off. I thought I should line up the non-ghost images. The result was that my shots were hitting lower than expected. They were also a bit to the left. Writing this I'm now wondering if I should have tried to line up the ghost images instead. IAC, the more I tried to see clearly, the blurrier everything became. The head shots here were at 3 yards, COM at 5 and 7:
IMG_2571 (3, 5 and 7 yards 20190710).JPG
This experience was distressing. I tried putting my distance glasses on but that was worse. I didn't think to try my reading glasses, maybe I will do that next time.

I have drusen (deposits on the macula, people who get macular degeneration usually have drusen first, but not everybody with drusen develops macular degeneration), and when I recently saw the optometrist for a new prescription he said this is the reason the letters in the middle of the lines on the eye chart are harder to decipher than the ones on the ends. I guess this could also be the cause of what I experienced today, but no idea if this is actually the case.

Any thoughts or advice?
 
Well, Geauga Bob's advice did the trick. Using dollar store1.25 readers I can now see both the bulls eye and my front sight post at a hundred yards. Thanks!

I'll give you the bad news now, its a temporary solution, good for maybe a year or three as you continue to lose the ability to accommodate (the ability of your eye to adjust the focus for near and far objects). When you were young you never could see both near and far clearly, but you could accommodate fast enough to make it seem like you could. As you age your ability to focus on near targets (front sight) degrades. People that have always been "near sighted" have an easier time of it as they age since they can still see near and never could see very well "far" -- you know the guy, you are in a dim restaurant and he takes off his glasses to read the menu as you get out your "cheaters" :)

My solution was Lasik "monovision" but its not for everyone, is expensive, and without a good workup by an understanding eye doctor can be disastrous. Basically my right eye sees the front sight clearly my left eye sees the target clearly, the difficultly is adapting to the inevitable "parallax".
 
I noticed a huge difference in my vision after shooting mbus peep sights on my Ar. It focused my right dominant eye so much that I noticed the blurry vision iny nondominant eye. I thought about shooting southpaw as well to equalize my focus to both eyes. Might work.
 
Well, at the range today I finally had to accept that I simply can't see a black front sIght clearly against a black target. Clear as a bell with reading glasses but then, of course the target is a blur. I know this issue has been discussed here before with some members strongly recommending certain vision aids. I don't remember what they were (I wasn't interested at the time) and I'm not finding anything via the search function. Any thoughts or experiences that would help me address this problem?

These threads also discuss this:

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ing-sports-everday-wear.819052/#post-10513881

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...n-shooting-glasses.780454/page-2#post-9960095
 
One other little trick, this one for a "RDS" (red dot sight) + "BUIS" (BackupIronSights) ... such as on an AR where you have both a RDS and a "backup" flip-up aperture sight set.

If the red dot appears a bit too "twinkly" and scattered, flip-up just the rear aperture sight and look at it thru that.

I discovered that aiming the RDs thru the aperture tightened the dot. ;)

Apologies to anyone who already mentioned that in this Thread ... I did not feel like reading thru all of these responses.
 
Replying to "old lady new shooter's" post about double-vision difficulties. What you describe happens if one eye is pointed higher than the other. But since you said you had only one eye open, I am completely at a loss to account for it. I'd schedule a fast visit with my opthamologist, describing the issue when I made the appointment, and be sure to talk to someone that knows something (not just the scheduler) so they can decide the level of urgency. I can't say it is an emergency because I know bupkiss about eyes, but vision is nothing to take risks with. Good luck.
 
In the precision pistol disciplines, it's normal to focus on the sights...and leave the target fuzzy. And to get glasses set up for precisely that. I highly recommend Dr. Alan Toler, in Richmond, VA, and his Custom Sight Picture kit. I switched to dedicated shooting glasses in my early 40s, and my only regret is not doing so five years earlier.

Also try a sub-six hold. Yes, significantly below the black. It's an act of faith...but you'll get results.

With iron sights, errors in front to rear sight alignment are far more important than errors in alignment with the target.
 
commygun asked:
I know this issue has been discussed here before with some members strongly recommending certain vision aids. I don't remember what they were...

Prescription bifocals.

May cost upwards of $500, but will make all the difference in the world.

Also, keep in mind, prescription lenses can correct for even slight astigmatism - a phenomenon that can throw off your aim significantly - something dollar-store readers cannot correct.
 
Replying to "old lady new shooter's" post about double-vision difficulties. What you describe happens if one eye is pointed higher than the other. But since you said you had only one eye open, I am completely at a loss to account for it. I'd schedule a fast visit with my opthamologist, describing the issue when I made the appointment, and be sure to talk to someone that knows something (not just the scheduler) so they can decide the level of urgency. I can't say it is an emergency because I know bupkiss about eyes, but vision is nothing to take risks with. Good luck.
Thanks. :)
 
At some point, corrective lenses and paint will not fix the problem that you cannot focus on the iron sights on a pistol. After that, it depends on how much inaccuracy are you willing to live with, due to the fact that you cannot clearly see what you are doing.

Even with corrective lenses, or taking them off, my sight picture all around is fuzzy. I can still do this with irons:

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But this is not good enough for competition. I can't shoot an iron sighted pistol and be competitive anymore, so I had to make changes to a number of pistols, and that meant Ultradot's. I had to send this off to Ruger so they could install a sight base, as this was not something they were doing when this pistol was new. I have, and do, occasionally shoot this in Bullseye competition instead of my

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M46

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Which I also had drilled and tapped for an optical sight base. I can shoot these at 50 yards and I can see what I am aiming at, even though the Ultradot has zero magnification.

Of course, at 50 yards, I have to use a scope to see the bullet holes.

With a rifle, I can still use irons and a front aperture sight.

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