My most annoying eyes

[ghh3rd]

I wish that I could see when I shoot. I wish I could turn my eyes backwards so the good side would be out. I love to shoot handguns, but it's frustrating to have blurry sights. I have tried the diopters but they don't work well for me. Sliding my glasses out as far as possible without them falling off or sliding down does help somewhat.

I recently discovered that if I aim my pistol and hold my glasses much farther (a few more inches) away from my face, and move the lens up/down I can find a spot in which everything is perfectly crisp and clear -- sights and target. Everything is a bit smaller, but oh how clear it looks!

I would give my right arm (I'm left handed) to have a pair of glasses made like this just for shooting purposes, but my optician looked at me like I had two heads when I mentioned it.

Has anyone found someone willing to listen and actually make some "special" lenses just for shooting that work?

Thanks,

Randy
Tampa Bay

 

[Bookworm]

I've never noticed a difference between wearing glasses or contact lenses, and I've a really nasty prescription.

Your target should be clear, your sights blurry, btw.

Paint some little targets on your garage wall, roughly the size of the target you shoot at the range. Clear your weapon, and practice sighting in until you're doing this automatically. They teach a version of this in the Corps for target acquisition.

 

[jnyork]

Get another optomotrist. He may not be a shooter, but he is trained in correcting all kinds of difficulties. If you coordinate it ahead of time, you should be able to carry in an unloaded handgun in a case so you can demonstrate your problem and get some lens that will help you. If not, get another optomotrist.

 

[aka108]

I found that the proper strength of reading glasses, the kind you get a Wally or one of the big drug stores for a few bucks really helped out. Have to try a few pairs on but maybe this might work for you.

 

[cavman]

Dr. Norman Wong: Bullseye shooting Optometrist

There is a great article in this month's NRA publication Shooting Sports USA by Dr. Norman Wong.

It is a free subscription. I clicked on the magazine in the upper right corner. It is pages 14-17. http://www.nrapublications.org/ssusa/index.html

Also there is a compilation on Ed Hall's website that he has collected of Dr. Wong's writings to the Bullseye-L forum. It is a wealth of information!

http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/nwongarts.html

 

[Kevin5098]

It is impossible for anyone to focus simultaneously on front sights, rear sights and target. However, I have to disagree with the statement that the target should be clear and the sights blurry. According to the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Pistol Marksmanship Training Guide:

"It is imperative to maintain 'front slight point of focus" throughout the sighting and aiming of the pistol. The shooter must concentrate on maintaining the correct relationship between front and rear sight, and the point of focus must be on the front sight during the short period required to deliver the shot. If the focus is displaced forward, and the target is momentarily in clear focus, the ability of shooter to achieve correct sight alignment is jeopardized for that moment. Frequently, this is the moment that the pistol fires. A controlled, accurate shot is impossible under these
conditions."

I'm fairly new to pistol shooting, but have found this to be true. My groups are much more consistent when I focus on the front sight.

 

[Yo Mama]

Best "upgrade" I ever spent to improve my shooting were my eyes. There are so many options, and your doc should be aware that you are a shooter and that you are having issues with your vision.

 

[cavman]

It is the front sight that is in focus.

A single scratch on the front sight with your pocket knife is a great way to make sure you are truly focusing on the front sight and the front sight only.

When you are seeing the scratch you are focused on the sight. If you do not see the scratch you are focused improperly somewhere else.

 

[hso]

My optometrist made a set of glasses for me that work just fine. They also happen to allow me to put my computer monitor at the proper distance also so they've become my "computer glasses" as well.

 

[si vis pacem]

I'm in the same boat even though I am only in my mid-twenties. I went shooting yesterday, and while I had a shoot-and-see on my target, I couldn't tell whether my aim was satisfactory. What a bummer.

 

[Hungry Seagull]

It took a cataract removal and a lens (corrected) implant installed behind the black dot of the eyeball surgery to correct my problem. Of the right eye.

Front sight of pistol is perfect view at 25 inches or so (Not much further than a computer screen) and target center mass is a shootable blob. Im left eye dominant.

I had other issues affecting my entire life from the decline in vision and eventual end of night time driving and bad weather as well. It took TWO Eye surgeons about 7 visits and counting. Low tech vs high tech in different offices.

Combining the strengths of both surgeons in seperate visits and surgery has resolved mostly my eye issues to better than 20/30. Sufficient for FAA and DOT again as well as shooting.

And the new lens has yet to arrive. Im typing this through a pair of old spare glasses over 10 years old with no lens in the right side at all. Those glasses happens to be also shootable as well.

This is one 5 thousand dollar medical billing Im happy to bill to insurance and pick up the rest. Thank god.

 

[gbran]

Ditto on the Wally World reading glasses. To read, I use 2 power glasses. I bought a pair of full sized reading glasses in 1.25 power and they work great for pistol work with targets under 15 yds.