Sights For Changing Eyes

[*Kemosabe*]

I am going to have cataract surgery and after a long and arduous consultation with my ophthalmologist I had to strike a compromise that will reduce my near vision somewhat. I will not be wearing glasses for SD shooting.

For my carry gun I want fast acquisition sights for all distances out to 15 yards. So what kind of open sights do my fellow vision challenged shooters have on their guns that would suit my needs?

I’d appreciate knowing why you made that choice too… thanks!

 

[g.willikers]

Most people seem to try to rely too much on their equipment, instead of their skills.
Maybe it's due to a lack of confidence in those skills.
There's plenty of self defense type circumstances one can imagine when sights will not be viewable or even see able, regardless of what they are.
What then?
Good form and point shooting?
Lasers?
I prefer the first choice - relying on form.
Like throwing a baseball or bare bow traditional archery.
Become the arrow, er, bullet.
If the sights are see able, fine, but use them for reference to check form, not the end-all, be-all.
Learn to be effective without them, too.
Then, if they are not available, you won't be defenseless.

 

[1911 guy]

While i agree that good form makes up for a lot, I also understand what changing vision can do to one's shooting. I'm not quite there yet, but I know several people who have come to really like XS Big Dot sights.

 

[ku4hx]

Wife and I both have cataracts and will be facing surgery in the not too distant future. My ophthalmologist told me I could pick the either far or near vision or one of each to be equalized with glasses. My plan to to get near vision and wear glasses for far vision.

Our interim solution is lasers. We have glow-in-the-dark sights but without glasses they just present fuzzy glowing spots. Having done low light training, we feel lasers are our best option. As is the usual case, YMMV.

 

[*Kemosabe*]

@ g.willikers - Plenty of confidence after 3 confirmed shootings as a LEO. The First perp taken out by point shooting; the second by instinctual shooting and the third by aimed fire. There was a fourth, but no body was ever recovered. That pretty much takes care of “form”, but what I need are sights for aimed shooting.

@1911 guy - I’ve seen them online and they look like they would fill the bill for the criterion I set for myself. The smaller dot looks like it would be good too and lend itself to a little longer ranges as well. If you get a chance to talk with an actual user, maybe you could post how they like using the big dot.

@ku4hx - Prior to this cataract problem I used a mono-vision prescription (near vision in my master eye; distance vision in the other) that worked extremely well for shooting and all around use.

Recently I got back into flying and the aforementioned prescription is hazardous when trying to determine height above the runway! Therefore, as I mentioned in post#1, there was an arduous decision to lose some near vision. BTW... 73s

 

[1911 guy]

I know several of them personally. At first glance, I assumed the large front sight would make a refined sight picture difficult, but they have assured me and demonstrated on target that they adapt easily to it and can hold good groups out to 25 yards or so.

All of them said it took a learning curve to adjust to using the large front sight, but every one of them also said it has become their sight of choice now. One younger guy tried a pistol with them installed, liked it and had a set installed. No vision problems, he just really liked the sights.

I have shot a Glock with them installed. To my surprise I shot almost as well with them (but I don't shoot those as well as other handguns) as I did with regular sights. I can imagine that with a little practice they would become second nature, as the others have claimed and shown.

 

[*Kemosabe*]

@ 1911 guy - That’s exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for. I appreciate your response and this probably is the way I’ll be going when the time comes.

As good as the Big Dot sounds, I was hoping that there might be some more choices to get a better feel for what’s out there.

 

[MutinousDoug]

I see the narrow front sight of the 1903-A3 better in bright sunlight than the wider M1 Garand sight. By that I mean that there is less blur because the blade is narrower, so the blur is narrower/smaller.
Neither of them is clear to my 66 YO eyes; just the blur is smaller. All the rest is technique.
Occasionally I can beat these young guys.

 

[ku4hx]

Prior to this cataract problem I used a mono-vision prescription (near vision in my master eye; distance vision in the other) that worked extremely well for shooting and all around use.

Our problem was being in a dark room, rising from a deep sleep, stumbling around grabbing eye glasses (and getting our own and not the others) and then grabbing a gun is not optimum in our opinion; been there and done that. We have glasses that work very well ... in a well lighted situations.

Our goal with lasers was to eliminate the stumbling around finding the right glasses or having to deal with very fuzzy sights of any/all types. And for our eyes, lasers do just that for us.

 

[g.willikers]

The best sights set up that I've discovered are the kind that the action pistol competitors favor.
A tall rear sight, with a wide notch, and a equally tall, skinny front sight.
Then there's plenty of light around the front sight that allows it to easily center in the rear one.
And they pick up well, to the eye, even fuzzy ones.
This arrangement allows even my old eyes to shoot quite well to 50 yards or so.
But, of course, it requires light, so it's only helpful in the daylight.
For low light, a tritium version would work well.

And, yeah, the two different lenses for the two eyes works well, but with the limitations you mentioned.
They work great standing still.
But when running around at an action match, the ground ain't exactly where it looks like it ought to be.
When I started using the sights described above, the glasses were no longer really needed.
Good thing, too, as they were never where I put them last.

 

[*Kemosabe*]

@ MutinousDoug - I’m going to try your suggestion and compare the wide front blade & narrow rear notch against the narrow front blade & wide rear notch and see if it makes a difference for me.

With good eyes I always did better with the wide front blade and narrow rear notch and I never gave any thought going the other way with “compromised” eyes…. Thanks!

@ ku4hx - Stumbling around looking for glasses was a non-existent problem for me because my mono-vision prescription was for extended-wear contact lenses. Whenever I opened my eyes I was in focus. The only problem I had when shooting with mono-vision was in international skeet. If I shot with both eyes open the non-master eye would take over at the targets beyond 15-20 yards and I would be behind on left-to-right targets and ahead on right-to-left targets. There was a simple solution: Both eyes open as the target came out of the house and the non-master eye closed as the gun was mounted.

@ g.willikers - MutinousDoug mentioned the narrow front blade and wide rear notch as well and I’m going to give it a try. I agree that tritium sights will have to be in any mix I end up with.

As I mentioned to ku4hx I had contact lenses with a mono-vision perscription and not glasses. Within a few hours I couldn’t tell which eye was focusing or any object the change was seamless… even when moving. There were only two problems with that contact lens prescription; international skeet (see above for the solution) and landing an airplane - specifically an airplane with a very high nose angle where the runway was no longer visible over the nose and looking out the sides gave two different perspectives or the height above the runway. I solved the problem by using the same far distance lens in my master eye. Worked great… just hoped that I was not going to be doing any pistol shooting immediately upon landing!

As for stuff never being where you put them last.. Everything has a place and I seldom put them there!!! :

 

[Manny]

I've not tried these but became interested in them because of my own very poor vision. I've read a number of good reviews including a recomendation from Masad Ayoob and they are supposed to work very well for folks with vision issues. Unfortunately they are not yet making them for my SD semi-auto of choice, an HK USPc, but it appears they have most all others covered. The factory tritium sights on my HK do work pretty well though for the distance involved even w/o my glasses.

 

[JTQ]

I've not tried these but became interested in them because of my own very poor vision. I've read a number of good reviews including a recomendation from Masad Ayoob and they are supposed to work very well for folks with vision issues. Unfortunately they are not yet making them for my SD semi-auto of choice, an HK USPc, but it appears they have most all others covered. The factory tritium sights on my HK do work pretty well though for the distance involved even w/o my glasses.

Did leave out some text or a link from your post that would let us know what sights you are talking about?

 

[MartinS]

My choice was to try what I already had after getting the single focus, distant, lens implants.
Turned out OK. I shot better post op than before with the factory sights on a Smith & Wesson 442. It's close, quick and dirty anyway, right? However, if this is a medical excuse for more toys ploy then just delete my post before you show this thread to the PO.

 

[jrdolall]

I had lens replacement done a little over two years ago.
I can read things on my cell phone now.
When shooting I can clearly see the rear sight on my gun AND the target. The front sight is a blur. It sucks but there it is. They can pretty much do what you want but they can't do ALL you want. I chose to give up mid-range in order to see at close range (18" compared to three feet).

 

[*Kemosabe*]

@ Manny - Check post #13 by JTQ… thanks!

@ MartinS - Yes it usually is close and quick, so I’m pretty much confident that with cataract distance lenses I can easily handle instinctive and point shooting. I’m hoping that a sight like the big dot will allow the longer shots requiring aimed fire.

@ jrdollal - I wouldn’t mind losing close up focusing and using reading cheater-glasses, but not for shooting. The first ophthalmologist told me I couldn’t wear a contact lens on my master eye after having the cataract surgery. I didn’t ask why, but I will on my next visit with the surgeon because that would solve my problem and negate the gun-sight search.

 

[g.willikers]

If all else fails, there's always the blunderbuss.

 

[MartinS]

Oh, if I had a blunderbuss it would always be my FIRST resort.

 

[*Kemosabe*]

Blunderbuss... No --- Super Shorty... Maybe!

@ g.willikers & MartinS - Contrary to popular belief, the trumpet-like muzzle of the blunderbuss did not cause it to act like a spreader for the projectiles in the load. It was designed to facilitate loading the gun while the ship was rocking and listing during battle.

I apologize for being a know-it-all, so if a spreader loaded shotgun is a viable option I might have to get to one of these:

Serbu Firearms (Tampa, FL) Super Shorty (AOW $5 transfer fee)
Choice of Rem. 870, Maverick or Mossberg 500 - 16.5” OAL, 6.5 bbl. $775

 

[1911 guy]

Eight hundred bucks for a breaching tool? I'll pass, thanks.

 

[*Kemosabe*]

1911 guy - A 1911 platform pistol in either 9x23 win. or .45 Super is my main CCF, so the Super Shorty would not be my first choice for concealed carry, but there are those that think that it’s not just a breaching tool.

See this current thread for other uses: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=769543

 

[exbrit49]

jrdolall has it right

I too underwent cataract surgery about 10 years ago and faced the same dilemma. I chose to have the lens implant inmy right eye set for distance and the left eye set for close up and reading.
The first few trips to the range were terrible, as I had not realized that when the cataract is removed you also lose the ability to focus your eyes at all. So when looking down the range i just could not get a good sight target picture.
After many frustrating sessions at the range I was able to focus on the target and the fuzzy outline I could see of the sights was enough to get me back on target. Not quite as good as I used to shoot but still good enough to shoot in the black at 25 yards.
Things were fine until 2 years ago and I realized I was struggling to see the target/sight picture, My eye care specialist diagnosed Macular degeneration in the right eye. (My dominant eye). I gave it lots of thought and then spent a lot of time at the range. I was left with no option but to shoot using my left eye! Since I am right eye dominant this was quite a challenge! however with perseverance I was finally able to shoot very respectable scores again using the left eye and a normal right hand hold. It was terrible at first and felt very unnatural. but realizing I was out of options I stuck with it.
I am still shooting very frequently and luckily the macular degeneration is holding steady.
In summary, don't sweat it, go with your eye specialist's recommendations and get back to the range and find out what works best for YOU.
Good luck with the surgery! Follow the doctors instructions explicitly, don't shoot for several weeks and avoid any strenuous activities for a while, it can result in a detached retina, (Been there done that and its not fun!!!! ) So follow ALL the doctors directives exactly.

 

[*Kemosabe*]

@ exbrit49 - Your perseverance is remarkable, admirable and inspiring. I’m glad that you took the time to respond… I picked up on a couple of things I didn’t know about.

I appreciate the good luck wishes and thanks for the good advice; I be sure to use it!