ARTICLE: Miraculous Breakthrough in Handgun Accuracy - Here's the Secret

[Centuriator]

MIRACULOUS BREAKTHROUGH IN HANDGUN ACCURACY

First, let's talk about one of the most significant problems causing marksmanship and accuracy problems for many shooters, many more than would either care to admit it or even realize it. It sneaks up on you so gradually you just kind of get used to it. I'll give you the problem and solution right away and if you want to read more and read about my "miracle" yesterday, keep on going. I'm so excited about it I can hardly stand it.

SUMMARY

Here is the problem

PRESBYOPIA

Here is the solution for handgun shooters "of a certain age"




Presbyopia is the normal loss of near focusing ability that occurs with age. Most people begin to notice the effects of presbyopia sometime after age 40, when they start having trouble seeing small print clearly — including text messages on their phone. You can't escape presbyopia, even if you've never had a vision problem before. Even people who are nearsighted will notice that their near vision blurs when they wear their usual eyeglasses or contact lenses to correct distance vision The eye's lens hardens with age, resulting in blurred near vision. This is called presbyopia.The eye's lens stiffens with age, so it is less able to focus when you view something up close.



What impact does this have on handgun accuracy? The less you are able to see objects in sharp focus the less you will be able to get a super sharp front sight focus and accurate sight picture. Again, it sneaks up on you and many just think, "Oh, well, I can get along with it ok." WRONG.

Now, what is the "miracle breakthrough" ... eye protection that has full lens magnification, not partial lens magnification, not bifocal, but full lens magnification. Yesterday I brought out to the range a pair of full frame magnified lenses and the results were nothing short of, miraculous, for me. I've been training for years and have been doing "ok" but ... after all these years of intense training my mechanics were improving, but my eyesight was declining, so I was not getting the kind of tight groups I was always chasing, and I was unable to get rounds decently on targets from 25 yards and beyond. Until yesterday.

Yesterday with the glasses I'm going to tell you about I was able to put every round into an 8" target from 25 yards, very consistently and at closer distances, I was able to get ragged single holes in the bullseye, it was, simply "miraculous." Why? I could finally see a super sharp front sight and an in focus sight picture!

Now, the good news is this, when you use magnified lenses you do NOT have to get the same strength you may be using for reading glasses, in fact, you should not, since you are looking at something at arms length to begin with, you need less magnification, so I bought a 1x magnification and I'm going to get .5 magnification to see how that works as well.

At the end of the day, I backed up and was banging my 12"x20" steel target from 35 yards, center mass, and could even place shots at top and bottom at will.

So needless to day I left the range more joyful than I have been in a VERY long time. All that training has paid off for me and I've got grip and trigger manipulation down, and with that sharp front sight focus, the rounds are actually going where I intend them to go.

HERE ARE THE GLASSES on Amazon. Note: You can buy them in various power magnification. Buy at least .5 under what you wear right now to read comfortably. I'm still experimenting with the right power for my eyes, but right now the 1x is working fantastically well.

 

[mjsdwash]

I may try that out, thanks.

 

[Centuriator]

I tried using regular reading glasses, or the shooting glasses that have only par of the lens magnified. A mess! You have to tilt your head back and out of position to get a sharp focus and it is distracting to have part of the view in focus, the rest out of focus, or partly magnified, the rest not.

The full frame magnified lens is really the perfect solution and you can buy them at a lower power than you use normally to read things closer to your face.

I'm going to order another pair to find out if, for me, even .5 magnification may do it.

Regardless, it is wonderful now to get a nice sharp, razor sharp, sight focus again, something I had been missing for many years, like I said, it is a problem that just sneaks up on you and you may not even be fully aware of how much of a problem it is.

 

[Centuriator]

I may try that out, thanks.

Yes, please do...they are so inexpensive it is worth...wait for it...a shot!

 

[Kano383]

Had come to the same conclusion, after some trial and error. No reading glasses: can't see my sights. Glasses, target becomes a blur (but groups improve). I went to an optometrist, asked him if he didn't mind me bringing my slide along, and proceeded to check what magnification was giving me the best compromise. In my case, .75 below my reading glasses (1.25 vs. 2.0) allows me to see my sights, and still have a decent target picture out to 15-20 yards.

Now, should one EDC shooting glasses?

 

[Centuriator]

Had come to the same conclusion, after some trial and error. No reading glasses: can't see my sights. Glasses, target becomes a blur (but groups improve). I went to an optometrist, asked him if he didn't mind me bringing my slide along, and proceeded to check what magnification was giving me the best compromise. In my case, .75 below my reading glasses (1.25 vs. 2.0) allows me to see my sights, and still have a decent target picture out to 15-20 yards.

Now, should one EDC shooting glasses?

Good points all. I'm still experimenting with the magnification, and am going to pick up a .5 mag to see if that still helps/works.

As for EDC shooting glasses....I'm not worried about effective accuracy in 99.999% of the cases where a SD weapon would be brought into use.

But for fun and success on the range...nothing beats the magnified shooting glasses.

 

[AZAndy]

There is a silver lining to being nearsighted all your life-- as you age, your vision actually improves. At 50, I was minus nine in both eyes, and now at 61 I'm a little less than minus seven and can actually get by with single-vision lenses again. My computer glasses double as my shooting glasses, as the distances are similar, and I can see the target well enough.

 

[Walkalong]

I was lucky, I didn't suffer from "over 40" eyes until 48 (12+ years ago), which is when I started using 1.0X reading glasses to help me see the sights.

I keep them in my range bag.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HMDG8WQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I don't know about this being a break through exactly.

1.0X worked best for me, and still do. They come in skinny, like the ones I linked, or full sized.

 

[Jim K]

I will write the same thing here I did on another site. No one should simply buy a pair of "miracle glasses" to correct vision problems. Get a good eye exam by a competent eye DOCTOR (not an eye glass fitter) and make sure nothing else is wrong.

Jim

 

[Dr.Rob]

Honestly last time I got glasses I was warned I am probably due for bifocals next go round...

and getting those in my Wiley sport frames.. spendy!

 

[warnerwh]

I wear 1.25 glasses to drive and shoot. For reading I need 2.5 glasses. It was a breakthrough for me when I figured out I could use weak readers to shoot. These days both front and rear sights would be completely blurry without glasses.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I finally reach the point where by tri-focals were affecting my competition shooting and I also recommend getting an eye exam for a competent eye specialist ...especially helpful if they are a shooter and understand the needs of your chosen sport

A simple visit resulted in a pair of shooting glasses with the dominate eye focused on the front sight and the non-dominate eye set for distance. Now I'm able to see both the target and front sight clearly.

My total cost, out of pocket, was $64

 

[GarySTL]

Try these http://optx2020.com/c-1-hydrotac-stick-on-lenses.aspx

You wet them and stick on the safety or sun glasses you already own. Easily removed and replaced or moved to another pair with no damage.

I've got them on several sets of shooting glasses.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

I finally reach the point where by tri-focals were affecting my competition shooting and I also recommend getting an eye exam for a competent eye specialist ...especially helpful if they are a shooter and understand the needs of your chosen sport

A simple visit resulted in a pair of shooting glasses with the dominate eye focused on the front sight and the non-dominate eye set for distance. Now I'm able to see both the target and front sight clearly.

My total cost, out of pocket, was $64

Do you find those glasses useful for other applications? I see them being great for shooting, because your focus is fairly narrow, but I picture feeling dizzy using them for other day to day situations.

 

[entropy]

Same advice I've been doling out here for years; get a set of glasses with the focal point set for the front sight. The price point here does make it worth a try. Intermediate vision glasses should be 1/2 of the magnification of your near Rx. (i.e., if your reading add is +2.00, get +1.25.)

460 Shooter, they are also very handy for computer use; you are correct, your distance vision and near vision will be fuzzy.

There is a silver lining to being nearsighted all your life-- as you age, your vision actually improves. At 50, I was minus nine in both eyes, and now at 61 I'm a little less than minus seven and can actually get by with single-vision lenses again. My computer glasses double as my shooting glasses, as the distances are similar, and I can see the target well enough.

For some. For those with simple myopia with presbyopia, this is true sometimes. If you are lucky enough to be about a -2.00 sphere Rx, you even have instant readers-just take your glasses off. But for those of us with myopia and astigmatism and presbyopia, not so much. the spherical component might get better, but the cylinder (astigmatism) usually gets worse with age.

I finally reach the point where by tri-focals were affecting my competition shooting and I also recommend getting an eye exam for a competent eye specialist ...especially helpful if they are a shooter and understand the needs of your chosen sport

A simple visit resulted in a pair of shooting glasses with the dominate eye focused on the front sight and the non-dominate eye set for distance. Now I'm able to see both the target and front sight clearly.

My total cost, out of pocket, was $64

This works for some, but if the eyes differ to begin with more than about 2 diopters, many will have difficulty resolving the differing images presented to the brain. Many contact lens wearers do the same thing, it is called monovision, but rarely done with glasses. Your OD or MD and optician know their stuff, 9mmepiphany.

 

[BSA1]

A simple visit resulted in a pair of shooting glasses with the dominate eye focused on the front sight and the non-dominate eye set for distance. Now I'm able to see both the target and front sight clearly.

A visit to a eye doctor that is pro-gun is the best way to go.

My eye doc checked my handgun to make sure it was empty herself. (How cool is that? A lady pro-gun Doc). Then we did a vision check with me holding the gun at arms length.

I am going to get prescription shooting glasses after my eye surgery (hopefully this summer). Just waiting on the Doc to tell me my eyesight has got bad enough.

 

[Centuriator]

Try these http://optx2020.com/c-1-hydrotac-stick-on-lenses.aspx You wet them and stick on the safety or sun glasses you already own. Easily removed and replaced or moved to another pair with no damage. I've got them on several sets of shooting glasses.

Very cool! I'll have to check those out too.

I just checked them out on Amazon (where they are less expensive, of course) and unfortunately the lowest magnification they offer is 1.25.

 

[Centuriator]

A visit to a eye doctor that is pro-gun is the best way to go.

Oh, baloney. If the issue is presbyopia, the solution is $8, not hundreds at so-called "eye doctors" who are rip off artists selling you overpriced face hardware.

 

[entropy]

There are damn few emmetropic (except for presbyopia) presbyopes; be glad of it if you are one; cheap readers will not suffiuce for those with high hyperopia, high myopia, or even a moderate amount of astigmatism; I will agree with you about private practices' glasses being overpriced. Get your Rx from them, (they are required by law to give it to you) and you'll find there are many ways to get them less expensively. (I work at one of them, company policy forbids me to mention it by name, but the color blue might slip out in conversation....)
Also, cheap 'store bought' readers do not have exact PD's. (pupilary distance) and usually induce some amount of unwanted prism.

Oh, baloney. If the issue is presbyopia, the solution is $8, not hundreds at so-called "eye doctors" who are rip off artists selling you overpriced face hardware.

And what field do you work in, so that I may disparage it while knowing little to nothing about it?

 

[hdwhit]

Dr. Rob wrote:
Honestly last time I got glasses I was warned I am probably due for bifocals next go round...

Don't fight it. I did for years. When I finally got them I wondered why I had waited so long.

 

[9mmepiphany]

This works for some, but if the eyes differ to begin with more than about 2 diopters, many will have difficulty resolving the differing images presented to the brain. Many contact lens wearers do the same thing, it is called monovision, but rarely done with glasses. Your OD or MD and optician know their stuff, 9mmepiphany.

I'd heard of it with contacts also...never with glasses. My OD has his contacts set up that way so that he can do the detail work as well as move around the office.

I thought I'd have more problems with the different images being presented by each eye, but my mind appeared to resolve the issue in a couple of hours. My ability to shoot with both eyes open might have been of some help as I'm accustomed to ignoring the image I'm not primarily interested in

 

[9mmepiphany]

Do you find those glasses useful for other applications? I see them being great for shooting, because your focus is fairly narrow, but I picture feeling dizzy using them for other day to day situations.

I had the pair made to use exclusively for shooting. They have a yellow tint to filter blue and increase contrast.

I don't experience any dizziness when I forget to change back to my tri-focals after shooting. Usually the "hint" is when my eyes get tired from the lack of a darker tint in bright sunlight

 

[RETG]

One question, for those who are training with these glasses, will you have them with you and have time to pull them out of your pocket if you need your weapon for self-defense while walking through a store, on a street, in your house?
Sure hope everyone is learning how to point shoot.

 

[GarySTL]

Not germane to shooting, but I'll point out another advantage to the stick on reading lenses.

If you're old, like me, and need to work overhead, such as a light fixture, just stick them on the upper edge of the lens and you don't need to tilt your head back to focus on your work. Sometimes if I tilt way back I get a little dizzy. No cracks about always being dizzy please.

 

[GBExpat]

I just use the "cheaters" that I already have (and have been using for ~25 years).