Woes of the middle-aging... can't see the front sight clearly WITH my glasses on

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BTW I learned last night that my 1860 Army and Walker revolvers' front sights (8 and 9" barrels) are juuuust far enough away now that I can't get a sharp front sight focus with my naked eye. so I got that going for me.... which is nice...

Just break down and get progressives already; You'll be wearing them all the time, and several of us have mentioned how we shoot using them.

When i needed glases. I had my son measure the distance from my eye to the rear sight. On my crack shot. The eye doc made my prescription. The focal point starts at 18 inches. They work well. Only regret is getting the auto darken.

How does that help?

Setting the intermediate focus to be clear at 18" makes the rear sight crisp, the front sight just slightly blurred, but more than good enough to shoot, and the target anywhere from barely blurry to a ball of fuzz, depending on distance.

Regular progressive lenses can make whichever one of the three that you want crystal clear, with one of the other two slightly fuzzy , and the other fuzzy, just by tilting your head. Each type of shooting requires your focus to be sharp at a different distance.

Young eyes can easily change focus very fast. As we age, the crystalline lens in the eye hardens and we slowly lose the ability to focus near (presbyopia) and then the crystalline lens starts becoming opaque. (cataracts) As Offhand says, there are some exciting choices coming in accommodative InterOcular Lens implants for post-cataract patients. I too, am hoping I will not need surgery before they are perfected. (no signs of it yet; I have always protected my eyes. When I was young, I had Photogrey Xtra glass lenses, then Transitions when I went to plastic, then poly lenses. I currently have magnetic clip-ons for my regular glasses, and Transitions 8 Amerthyst for my Trapshooting glasses.)
 
Setting the intermediate focus to be clear at 18" makes the rear sight crisp, the front sight just slightly blurred, but more than good enough to shoot, and the target anywhere from barely blurry to a ball of fuzz, depending on distance.

So what good do it do if you cannot see your target? Yes you can see your sights; but if your target is a blur how can you have any semblance of accuracy?
 
I shoot with contact lenses and my safety glasses are bi-focals with the bottom part readers so I can see the sight better.
 
So what good do it do if you cannot see your target? Yes you can see your sights; but if your target is a blur how can you have any semblance of accuracy?

Well, I was just explaining what it does. It is up to the individual shooter whether that is of value to them. Obviously it is to Coal Cracker Al. A non-moving target doesn't always require the level of acuity needed for a moving target. Basically, it's a single vision solution that makes all of them clearer, but at varying levels.
Is it a solution I would use? Definitely not. It is fairly easy to master using progressive lenses for any type of shooting, and as I mentioned, I have separate shotguning glasses. We're both shotgunners, and know that you must have 100% concentration on the target, because it is moving. Static rifle and pistol shooting (hunting still shots, plinking) doesn't require the same level of concentration on the target. In actual defensive shooting, the eyes tend to lock onto the target, whether moving or not; this sometimes has to be trained out of soldiers and LEO's so they don't develop "tunnel vision", which can be fatal. If you've ever doubled on report pair upland birds, you know how to do it .
 
I too, am hoping I will not need surgery before they are perfected. (no signs of it yet; I have always protected my eyes.
I did not protect my eyes from UV well well as a young man, and as a result I needed to have IOL implants by age 55 (2019). Many insurance plans only cover non-prescriptive implants, by the way - my corrective (but not adaptive) IOLs were $5K for the set, above/beyond the expected co-pays and such. The best part of the IOLs, other than having much better vision than previously, is that my eyes reflect / glow like an animal under specific circumstances. :D

ETA : I elected to have corrective but not adaptive IOLs based mostly on the fact that my eyes have been unstable for my entire life (curvature, overall geometry, and fluid occlusions) and it just didn't make sense to try to avoid glasses when I was almost certainly gonna be back in glasses anyway...
 
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My eyes went south in my late 40's, enough that I had to get bifocals to read my approach charts in my lap and the instrument panel in the cockpit. The glasses I had made up were ground so that I could see the instrument panel as well as the plates and charts in my lap...in other words, the grind line was a good bit higher than normal for bifocals.

I quickly found that that same high grind line gave me a good clear view of the front sight while shooting with only a slight head position correction. I now use no-line bifocals with that same high grind line with good clear sight pictures...you may try that approach when next ordering your bi's. HTH's Rod
 
I got a pair of Zeiss ones made to focus at arm's length for pistol and for standing carbine, and some Knobloch's for prone rifle (got them because I couldn't see the reticle any more, I thought the scope was deteriorating but it was my eyes).
 
Don't you love the feeling, when you suddenly discover your arms aren't long enough!
Didn't even notice until then, tried to read the small writing, stretched out arm, and ... bloody hell!
Then go an talk to the specialist, and the first question... "How old are you?" because it is an age related problem!
How do people find using a peep sight, nowadays?
 
.in other words, the grind line

Seg (Segment) height.

same high grind line

Seg height.

I now use no-line bifocals with that same high grind line with good clear sight pictures..

Seg height. And setting a seg height high on a no line induces prism, and reduces the viewable distance area. For some specialized applications, like your cockpit glasses, and with some prescriptions, (lighter ones) that works OK, but not for one's every day glasses.

So do you fly planes with the spinny things on the front, or wooshy pods on the wings? ;)

Don't you love the feeling, when you suddenly discover your arms aren't long enough!
Didn't even notice until then, tried to read the small writing, stretched out arm, and ... bloody hell!
Then go an talk to the specialist, and the first question... "How old are you?" because it is an age related problem!
How do people find using a peep sight, nowadays?

Large peeps, (like ghost ring sights) only slightly sharpen focus; smaller apertures sharpen it more, but at the cost of less available light.
 
IF YOU SEARCH AROUND ON THE INTERNET YOU CAN FIND SAFETY GLASSES THAT HAVE THE READING LENS ON THE TOP OF THE GLASSES. THEY ALSO MAKE THEM WITH THE READING LENS ON THE TOP AND BOTTOM OF THE LENS. THIS LEAVES YOU REGULAR VISION IN-BETWEEN THE 2 READING SECTIONS. IN THE EYE WEAR BUSINESS THEY ARE CALLED DOUBLE D OR PILOTS LENS. SEARCH DUAL READERS ON THE INTERNET. MOSTLY FOR PILOTS OR AUTO MECHANICS. PILOTS NEED TO FOCUS CLOSE LOOKING UP AND DOWN AT INSTRUMENTS AND DISTANCE IN THE CENTER. AUTO MECHANICS ARE LOOKING DOWN INTO ENGINE BAYS OR UP UNDER THE AUTO. THE TOP LENS KEEPS YOU FROM NEEDING TO TILT YOU HEAD SO FAR BACK TO MAKE THE SIGHT CLEAR USING A REGULAR BIFOCAL SET UP. ALSO WITH MOST SHOOTING STANCES WITH PISTOL, THE MAJORITY OF SHOOTERS ARE LOOKING THRU THE TOP OF THEIR LENS. NOT A NEW PROBLEM. JUST NEW FOR YOU. US OLDER GUYS HAVE ALREADY BEEN TROUGH IT.

BELOW IS A LINK TO DUAL READERS
https://www.amazon.com/Jackson-Safe...rds=top+bifocal+glasses&qid=1614698298&sr=8-2
 
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You must be deaf, too; you don't have to shout. Yes, those glasses are called occupational D-segs, or Double D segs. I've made many pairs of them, mostly for plumbers and pipefitters.
 
All caps is hard to read on these posts.

I second the safety glasses with top readers.
3M BX safety glasses are a great value in that type.
 
help me get better alignment of the front fuzzy blob with the two rear fuzzy blobs.
and the other fuzzy blob I am shooting at.;)

Had glasses made to make the sights sharp, work great when I am standing still, attempting to run around while shooting A USPSA stage where everything else was blurry didn't work so well for me.

Need to try a pair made right eye sights left eye distance and see if my brain can put it together.
 
I'm near-sighted and wear a single contact for distance in my strong eye (right) so I can still read. For shooting I've used these shaded stick-ons that force you to focus on the front sight while being able to 'see' the target. I've also used a small piece of black electrical tape and cut a small round hole in the center ( a punch can work) and put it in the center of the left lens my shooting glasses. Seems to work better- not perfect but better and doesn't cost $600 for progressives that I would only wear shooting.



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I refuse to get "shooting glasses" because I know I won't be wearing them in a self defense situation.

My eyes are screwed up. I've had several surgeries on my right eye, including retinal surgery and IOL replacement. I cannot wear progressive lenses, because if I do the area that comes into focus is so small and narrow that I can only make out a single letter at a time when reading. I have an entirely different pair of glasses for reading than for distance since progressives didn't work for me--when I'm at work, I constantly change between these two different pairs. One fully focused at distance, another fully focused at computer distance. No progressive.

I see double in many situations. If I focus on the front sight I see a double image of the target and if I focus on the target I see two front sights. It's really confusing which one is real. As a result if I'm using fixed sights I close my left eye so that there's only one image, and reopen my left eye only once I've got a valid sight picture. Weaver stance makes this a bit more intuitive than isosceles.

A few things do work really well. Lasers work really well, I can just focus at a distance--if nothing else works for you, use a laser.

Red dots work OK for me. I am slow coming on target with them ('find the dot') but it works OK. A bit starbursty, but I only see a single dot, and the starburst only blows up a 3moa dot to 6moa or so, which is really good enough for self defense applications. Red dots also are a little easier to deal with the double vision I have--because the dot only appears to the right eye I only have to work out one half of the sight picture problem. With a front sight if I look at the target, I see double front sights. But that never happens with the red dot--only one dot when looking at the target since the left eye can't see the dot.

I have gotten reasonably good at working out which double image is the real one, though, so I can shoot pretty well with fixed sights. Good enough for self defense applications.

I'll obviously never be hickok45, no matter how much I practice, and no matter how much potential I may (not) have, my vision will never be good enough to be a competitive shooter. Such is life.
 
What you're refusing to do is be proactive; there are solutions to each of your problems. I use the same solution you do for your diplopia; shut my left eye if firing right handed. Another solution there is learn to fire left handed; you are obviously left eye dominant, but were taught to fire right handed, because like me, they would beat the left-handedness out of you back then.

Find an optometrist or opthalmalogist that will work with you and your shooting needs. (Though I agree that might be hard to do in Sodom by the Sea)

I don't know what progressive lenses you had, or when, but there are very good options available now.

That is water under the bridge however, (or should be) since you've had cataract surgery.

And that is what puzzles me; you say you've have cataract surgery, yet you still require distance and intermediate correction. These are both fixable (with certain exceptions) with cataract surgery; usually if a post-cat patient needs glasses at all, it is for reading.

Sounds to me like you are not advocating for yourself as a patient, and/ or just stopping at the first Dr's office you find, and nodding your head when they talk. Any opthalmalogist who is decent at IOL's will present you options in IOL's that could solve most of your problems, and spectacle options to cover the rest.

Patient, educate thyself!

https://www.aao.org/eye-health/glasses-contacts/pros-cons-progressive-lenses-computer-glasses

https://www.aao.org/eye-health/treatments/best-artificial-lens-iol-cataract-surgery

It is possible to replace IOL's; do some research into good Opthalmalogists that specialize in cataract surgery.
 
I had this problem several years ago. I mentioned it to my opthamologist when I was ordering new glasses. He said he was having a slow day, and invited me to bring in my pistol, which was in my car trunk. We played around with different lens combinations and found a good compromise that let me see the sights and the target pretty well. He made me a set of clip ons to use with my normal glasses.
 
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