Short pistol sighting with problem vision

[Pablo]

Stubby Revolver also, I suppose.

My 53 yo close up vision has really gone lousy. I used to have exemplary vision all around. 20/15 and better! I wear glasses at the PC, reading, any work actually - but glasses are just an aid - glasses are not perfect for many reasons I won't go into here.

The glasses I have now are somewhat refined after 5 plus years of messing with prescriptions. They are progressive lenses that allow me to walk about and see at a medium distance - even at a distance where I need no correction. However, I can still see 20/15 like an eagle at 2 yards and beyond without my glasses. You young and vision blessed guys have it made.

Now here's the stupid part. Learning to see through progressive lenses actually trains your eyes in odd ways - the worst part IMHO, it makes shooting a short hand gun very tough. My eye tries to focus on both sights and even the sights and the target. Interesting that my longer barrel Blackhawk is just long enough that with my unaided eye I can focus on the front sight, and shoot fine.

So - anyway. Any tricks or tips?

Should I try and shoot with my progressive lens glasses? I'll need goggles over the top me thinks.

Speak up glasses wearing shooters. Thanks!

[BarryinIN]

Welcome to my world.

I've worn glasses since about 18. It was about like for other people except maybe it happened quicker: I could see to shoot OK for a while, then it got harder in my 30s.

I found an eye doctor that works with shooters. That's probably not very common. This guy was 50 miles away from me, but known by shooters around here as "the guy". He lets people bring their guns to his office (but not inside) and you go around to the back door and sight at a fire hydrant while he does the better or worse lens thing. I found it was a lot better having the actual gun to get the exact focus distance.

He's also the guy that spotted my Glaucoma early and got it treated before it did enough damage to matter.

Sadly, I got a letter just yesterday from him saying he had sold his practice and is leaving the state to "pursue other interests".

If you can't find a gun-friendly eye Dr, I have heard of people using peel and stick temporary reading lenses for shooting by sticking them on their shooting glasses. They get them at drug stores, and they come in a package with a few lenses inside. You buy a certain strength after trying on the reading glasses in the store. Sometimes they say it only takes a small change (+0.25 for example) to really sharpen up the sights.

I never could find the stupid things myself, but I haven't looked since finding that eye Dr. I might be looking again soon, though.

Lastly is the Merit adjustable eyepiece I saw someone mention on here in a recent post. It has a suction cup to stick on my glasses, and I use it to sharpen up the sight picture when testing handloads for accuracy. I don't know that it will do what a correct glasses prescription will do, but it should compensate some for a blurred sight picture.

[Pablo]

Very helpful thanks!

[BarryinIN]

There is another thing I was reminded of when I looked at yesterday's mail and saw a catalog from a place called Hidalgo's. They sell a zillion different types of shooting glasses, prescription or not. They have a "try-on" program where you get a kit sent to your home to try different frame options.

That reminded me of...

I don't think it was Hidalgo's, but I know there is a company that will send a kit of shooting glasses with various lens strengths if you send a deposit or use a credit card number to secure it. You can then sit at home trying different lenses as you sight over your guns to see what works best. Then you send it back with an order.

I've never done it, and can't remember the name of this place. I don't think it's Hidalgo's but I'm not sure. I want to say they are in Dallas.

Obviously this won't replace an eye exam, but might suffice for minor corrections for those of us who need a little help for shooting only. I don't know- maybe they require a prescription, and they send some lenses in the range you require.

If I remember of find the company name I'll post it.

[Pablo]

I just shot with my office glasses last time out. The best I've shot, but not a good shooting position.....

[Pablo]

Hard to describe - but with my glasses on, at distance, objects are slightly different than true position. I'm gonna talk to the eye docs.

[Pablo]

Hard to describe - but with my glasses on, at distance, objects are slightly different than true position. I'm gonna talk to the eye docs.

Pablo you idiot, it's called prismatic error/effect.

I picked up my custom made prescription shooting glasses today. Wow - very nice!! I can't wait to shoot with them.

[Pablo]

OK Folks. Now shooting is REALLY fun. These glasses are GREAT. Wow. If you want to take a huge step in improving your target skills, take a slide to eye doc and let him work his magic.

[BarryinIN]

It was nice having that eye doc who catered to shooters, and interesting how him correcting for the distance to the sights instead of the distance to a newspaper in the hands made a difference. Correcting for reading and using that for shooting was a small compromise, but still a compromise.

I need to find another gun-friendly eye doc.

I also miss that doc because I got in to see him not too long after a doc in the box eye exam, and he was the one who found glaucoma and they did not. It was early, it got lasered, and seems to be gone before doing any noticeable damage. I'll always give me his due for that.

[Pablo]

This doc did appreciate all I brought in was my slide.

What I got is:

Large frames, large eye coverage - safety glasses - supposedly would stop a .22. OK not Mr. Fashion Mall.

Left eye is uncorrected 80% of lens area with a small bifocal at the bottom for fine work at the shooting bench. This allows me to see downrange perfectly.

Right eye (dominant) corrected to fixed focal length of sight. With optical center (the center of my eye when viewing sight) dialed in with zero prismatic error. Target is where I see it. Same small bifocal at the bottom.

After a couple range sessions all I can say is I should have done this much sooner. Best $200 I have invested in shooting. Very nice. I was drilling bulleyes - the kind of shooting that I've dreamed about lately. The most improvement is in rapid fire site acquisition. No more waiting for the focus and such. Man I was having a blast.

I would say the only odd thing is after I take the glasses off after leaving the hot area, it takes a couple minutes for my eyes to adjust without the glasses.