"Alternative" sights

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civil_lib

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As my eyes age, I'm faced with either blurry sights or blurry target. Has anyone used alternatives to the traditional post-and-notch sights on their handgun? I've been looking at a couple of "ghost ring" style sights, except they are not circular. I've used peep sights on a rifle and liked them, but the distances are totally different in that situation. I have not been able to find these sights in any gun store, and hate to spend around $100 and not like them.

With my post-and-notch sights, I can more easily get a good sight picture with totally black sights ( no white dots, etc.), but it is still blurry. Anyone else had that sort of experience?
 
You have to focus only on the front sight and let the rear sight & target go blurry.

No human eye can focus on three differt things at the same time and keep them all in focus at once.
No matter how good they are.

The front sight is all that really matters anyway.

But, you might try a Merit Iris on your glasses.
They help old eyes see the front sight clearly, a lot!

http://www.meritcorporation.com/products.html

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=8767&title=DELUXE OPTICAL ATTACHMENT

rc
 
My eyes are starting to get worse. I tried the ghost ring type rear on a Glock, didn't care for it.

The only thing that has helped are Heinie sights. Nothing unusual about them except they pay attention to having a deep, wide notch and crisp corners at the top of the rear sight.

The front is a well designed serrated ramp, with or without tritium, again with crisp, sharp sighting corners.

They are also plain, blued steel, so they're easy to adjust for height or to re-touch the blueing.

http://www.heinie.com/

At the range I tilt my head up untill the front is sharp in my graduated bifocals.

You don't need bifocals, do you? (just kidding)
 
I painted the front sight with orange nail polish. this helps a little. I cheat and shoot with my reading glasses on. this makes the front sight really clear. I have lasers on some of my guns and this helps a lot too. Getting old ain't for sissies.
 
If your eyes are real bad just go out and buy yourself a laser for your gun, then all you have to do is look for the little red (or Green) dot on your target (or local BG) and squeeze the trigger! ;)
 
welcome to thr. check out xs 24/7 big dot sights, for all eyes, young or old, imho they are the best sights on the market for defense, and they are big, and i am sure that they would be easier for you to see with your aging eyes.
 
clarification

I should have mentioned that I want this to be something that I would use for everyday carry. It should fit in a "regular" holster. I've tried shooting at the range with my reading glasses on and off. The group with them off is a little bigger, and it takes longer to set up the shot than when I'm wearing the glasses.

My eyes cannot focus on the front sight without my reading glasses. I normally will not be wearing them in a situation in which I might need the gun in a hurry. Plus, the darker it is, the harder it is to focus.

I have considered a laser, but right now they don't make one for the XDM. Plus there is the consideration of the time to turn it on. Has anyone practiced with the Lasermax, and found that turning it on becomes second-narture?
 
There are lasers that go onto the butt of the handgun where you hand is.

I will be upgrading to that buttstock laser so the simple action of holding the gun in shoot grip with hands will activate the laser. To me it's a good reminder to stay way from the trigger before shoot.

What did they call it? Oh yes "Crimson Trace" i believe.

I use Green emitters on the shotties and they create a inch dot at 20 yards two inches at 100 yards and burn tissue within a foot. Dot on, pull trig. I found a secondary bonus to my green lasers, they illuminate teh area around the target well enough in pitch dark.

Put dot on and fire. The rest it is chasing the dot and needs to be minimized.

On all three guns is a gigantic strobe light with like 120 lumens of power. They destroy anyone's ability to focus or nightvision depending on time of day. A quick flick of the toggle gets em going fast.

My wife's Taser has it's own laser good for a dot at 20 feet onto a attacker.

So laser it all up.

One thing.

When transporting to and from range, pull all of your batteries, fires are a real risk.

I chose green laser because one of my eyes are going out slowly by the month and I see green first before I see red. I am working on options for possible surgery to fix the bad eye. Once done, I may go back to sights.
 
the xs sights work in all quality holsters, and many that aren't so quality, you will not have an issue finding or using the holsters you have now with the big dot sights.

lasermax work, and the cool thing is that they strobe, so you can pick it up quick. however you will need to test your carry ammo in it to make sure that it cycles the action with the laser max guide rod laser in the weapon, you should be good but i would test to verify first. as far as turning on the laser as second nature that is something that you will have to work out, it is just like knocking off a manual saftey, to guys that have been shooting glocks all thier life it might be a foreign and hard concept at first, but you can get to where it is natural. that is another thing that goes back to training.
 
I feel you. Ever since I started needing bifocals it's been a problem.

For me, replacing the blade front sight with a FO bead on my iron sighted rifles helps a great deal. I get much faster pick-up and better definition, especially when paired with a receiver sight at the rear. Even with 'open' irons my groups improve markedly.

On my CCW weapons where there's a model available for them the XS 'Express' pattern works extremely well for me. Nothing else that I've yet found allows me to index and hit as quickly and positively - glasses or not. I've not had any holster-related problems since I switched to them so long as the entire slide length is enclosed. There have been minor issues with my Fobus and 1911s, so it's been relegated to range duty only.
 
Don't they make a guide rod laser for XD pistols? I don't know where I saw it but I swear I saw it somewhere... not sure how they work exactly but I know they exist lol.
 
Oh one more thing. Shifting to the good eye with the handgun's tri-dot sights at any light using only the front sight focusing on the target center mass does ok for me. I will have to practice quite a bit and pick up the pace.

I learned some things from the doctor recently offering alternatives to my eye problems. It's all good.
 
Look into the Ashley Big Dot sights. The rear sight is a shallow notch with a very big dot on the front. The front is easy to pick up in a hurry and might be useful for you. On the negative side, it obscures much of a target if you are going for precision. Same thing that anythingshiny was talking about, "although DEF not target sights, i use and recommend the XS 24/7 Big dots...easy to use under stress and good for our aging eyes".
 
I'd also recommend the XS Big Dot sights, but Crimson Trace laser grips are really where it's at. They're neck and neck in my mind in regard to making good sense for self-defense.
 
The XS were invented exactly for this purpose. At defensive distances, they are accurate enough, and you'd have to be stone blind to not be able to see them. The only downshot is that they aren't as precise, so if you want to practice shooting groups at the range forget it. But defensive shooting is not high precision, so they are great for their intended purpose.
 
Back to the OP...

You need to have the sights (particularly the front sight) clear. The target need not be clear. Your error budget is mostly in sight alignment.

One option you might want to consider is getting a dedicated pair of shooting glasses with the prescription ground to your needs. Dr. Alan Toler is probably the best at this...see www.customsightpicture.com for information.

The other option would be to go to a red dot sight. Don't skimp on this...good optics are not cheap.
 
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