Riflescope and glasses ?

I shoot benchrest with a large group of old guys. All need reading glasses to read. None wear them with a scope.

Use the method that gives you 20/20 vision , with or without glasses, adjust eye piece. Then adjust parallax, if scope has it.

Do wear some type of eye protection while shooting.

I wear readers when needed. Which is becoming much more often as I approach 60.. But for anything longer than arms length away I have 20/20 vision and the readers blur my distance vision. Wearing them to hunt would be a handicap and it would be too slow to put them on to look through optics. I can adjust the focus on my scopes and binoculars to see just fine without my readers.

If you don't need glasses for distance use a scope without them.

You need to wear whatever you will wear in the field before raising the scope to shoot -- which means safety glasses of some type even if plain vision.

That said -- and wearing the same eye protection as for the field -- adjust the eyepiece to produce sharp crosshairs against a plain white background.

I need glasses for distant vision and wear them with the scope. Actually, I wear bifocals and have no issues seeing both through the scope and beyond...it's the tip of the gun that gets a little fuzzy.

I wear trifocals and have bad astigmatism. A couple of years ago I found out I see better through a scope without my glasses. I have no idea why but suspect it is astigmatism related.

Astigmatism - glasses are designed to see clearly when looking straight through the center of the lens.
Looking through the lens on any angle will blur vision.

With a rifle scope, on a bench, i am looking through the top of the lens.
When i shoot skeet, i need to pick up the bird comming out of the house with peripheral (side) vision.
The eye is seeing through the lens on an angle.
My frame needs to be square to my face. If angled like a v , blured vision.

Working with my eye doctor, she was able to apply different perscriptions in the same lens.
The frame was made straight. Great for skeet and rifle shooting.

Handguns- get a prescription that lets the eye focus on the front sight or just beyond. Old eyes dont change focus fast enought to see target and sights clearly at the same time.
Or get one of those new fangled red dot sights.

Just how "eye" see it.

243winxb said:

Astigmatism - glasses are designed to see clearly when looking straight through the center of the lens.
Looking through the lens on any angle will blur vision.

With a rifle scope, on a bench, i am looking through the top of the lens.
When i shoot skeet, i need to pick up the bird comming out of the house with peripheral (side) vision.
The eye is seeing through the lens on an angle.
My frame needs to be square to my face. If angled like a v , blured vision.

Working with my eye doctor, she was able to apply different perscriptions in the same lens.
The frame was made straight. Great for skeet and rifle shooting.

Handguns- get a prescription that lets the eye focus on the front sight or just beyond. Old eyes dont change focus fast enought to see target and sights clearly at the same time.
Or get one of those new fangled red dot sights.

Just how "eye" see it.

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Um, no. I am an optician, and a former optical lab manager, Your statement is close, but let me expound on it a bit. Actually, it is true in the sense if they are fitted that way -otherwise, false. However, the 'center of the lens' as you put it, is rarely the optical center of the lens-that point at which no light is refracted. The 'center of the lens' is what is known in the lab as the geometric center of the lens. If the optical center is placed there, it usually results in unwanted prism- it will 'pull' the eye down, unless the Rx correction is small- under 2 diopters. (Prentice's Rule)

Toric lenses (astigmatism-glasses) use a toroid curve on the back surface of the lens to refract light to accomodate for irregularities in the corneal surface. If you are myopic, you may see a phenomenon known as 'edge compression' near the edges of the lenses, but things should be clear inward of that, unless your OC height is set incorrectly. (This is true whether the lens is toric or spherical.) I'm not sure what a hyperope would see, none have ever described it to me.

I fit shooters for shooting specific glasses all the time-it's actually how I started as an optician. I was a lab tech who shot, so I knew what shooters needed, so I got called out to the floor when a shooter came in. You just set the OC of the dominant eye, or both eyes, up and in nasally. The glasses will be useless for anything but shooting, but they do help a lot.

As for frame angle, that is a very individual thing. I have about 15 degrees of pantoscopic tilt, tops are out farther than the bottoms, Some see better with zero tilt, some with retroscopic tilt. (tops closer to eyes than bottoms.

A more correct way to say what I think you meant is: "Glasses (toric or not) are best when the optical center is set over the center of the pupil."

Shooting glasses just have the OC set where to pupil will be while shooting. I use to have a couple sets I made, but that was twenty years ago when I had a lab and 'junk' (rejected) lenses to make them from.

243winxb said:

Working with my eye doctor, she was able to apply different prescriptions in the same lens.

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Huh? Do you mean a multifocal? They all do that....

I am near sighted and have worn glasses for 50 years now. I have never taken them off when shooting a scoped rifle or scoped shotgun nor have never had the need to. I am careful about not getting scope bit.

entropy said:

Huh? Do you mean a multifocal? They all do that....

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All areas of the lens needs to gives a sharp clear view. I was told something had to be done to the back surface of the lens. Not the front.
Shooting skeet, station 3, looking more to the center of the field, where the target will be broken. The peripheral (side) vision was not clear. She changed something in the glass lens to see the target clearly.

Hard to explain. Now i see targets clearly, right, left, high or low. Took 2 extra appointments. I just keep going back, till i can see well.

stringnut said:

If you don't need glasses for distance use a scope without them.

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That doesnt work for me...picture in scope is clear, but the reticle is blurred. I wear my glasses.

If fact, my shooting glasses are prescription!

Russellc

243winxb said:

All areas of the lens needs to gives a sharp clear view. I was told something had to be done to the back surface of the lens. Not the front.
Shooting skeet, station 3, looking more to the center of the field, where the target will be broken. The peripheral (side) vision was not clear. She changed something in the glass lens to see the target clearly.

Hard to explain. Now i see targets clearly, right, left, high or low. Took 2 extra appointments. I just keep going back, till i can see well.

Click to expand...

Progressive lenses (no-line) are almost always done on the back of the lenses these days; the current state of the art lenses actually split the add power between the front and the back; causes less peripheral distortion and allows for wider reading areas. She probably put you in a better progressive lens than you had previously, though that's more an optician's job than the doctor's.

stringnut said:

If you don't need glasses for distance use a scope without them.

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Wrong, unless you don't have presbyopia; What you are focusing on when you look through a scope is only a few inches in front of your eyes, NOT 100 or 200 yards away.

entropy said:

Um, no. I am an optician, and a former optical lab manager, Your statement is close, but let me expound on it a bit. Actually, it is true in the sense if they are fitted that way -otherwise, false. However, the 'center of the lens' as you put it, is rarely the optical center of the lens-that point at which no light is refracted. The 'center of the lens' is what is known in the lab as the geometric center of the lens. If the optical center is placed there, it usually results in unwanted prism- it will 'pull' the eye down, unless the Rx correction is small- under 2 diopters. (Prentice's Rule)

Toric lenses (astigmatism-glasses) use a toroid curve on the back surface of the lens to refract light to accomodate for irregularities in the corneal surface. If you are myopic, you may see a phenomenon known as 'edge compression' near the edges of the lenses, but things should be clear inward of that, unless your OC height is set incorrectly. (This is true whether the lens is toric or spherical.) I'm not sure what a hyperope would see, none have ever described it to me.

I fit shooters for shooting specific glasses all the time-it's actually how I started as an optician. I was a lab tech who shot, so I knew what shooters needed, so I got called out to the floor when a shooter came in. You just set the OC of the dominant eye, or both eyes, up and in nasally. The glasses will be useless for anything but shooting, but they do help a lot.

As for frame angle, that is a very individual thing. I have about 15 degrees of pantoscopic tilt, tops are out farther than the bottoms, Some see better with zero tilt, some with retroscopic tilt. (tops closer to eyes than bottoms.

A more correct way to say what I think you meant is: "Glasses (toric or not) are best when the optical center is set over the center of the pupil."

Shooting glasses just have the OC set where to pupil will be while shooting. I use to have a couple sets I made, but that was twenty years ago when I had a lab and 'junk' (rejected) lenses to make them from.

Huh? Do you mean a multifocal? They all do that....

Click to expand...

damn bro, didnt see that coming. extreme. you went from the corps to being an optician? Are you going to pursuit ophthalmology or optometry?

entropy said:

progressive lens t

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Have bifocals with a visible separation line. Read it was better for pistol shooters, as the blended progressive lens may get out of focus from head movement. This way i know what focal length is in use.

I should have a pair of shooting glasses for each sport? But a age 72, not going to happen.

Thank you for the information.

For pistol shooting I keep the front sight in clear focus, letting the rear sight and possibly the target blur. This works for me, maybe not the next guy.

Russellc

243winxb said:

Have bifocals with a visible separation line. Read it was better for pistol shooters, as the blended progressive lens may get out of focus from head movement. This way i know what focal length is in use.

I should have a pair of shooting glasses for each sport? But a age 72, not going to happen.

Thank you for the information.

Click to expand...

Yes, lined bifocals are best for pistol shooting for presbyopes. You set the bifocal for the distance the front sight is at (which is a longer focal length than normal) , and leave the OC of the lens the standard 3mm above the line. This allows for the target to be sharper than it would be otherwise, and the front sight is crystal clear.

I don't have glasses specifically for shooting anymore either, as I was able to get them for free when I worked in the lab. Now I'd have to pay for them. I have learned how to use the progressive lenses for each kind of shooting I do.

Klint Beastwood said:

damn bro, didnt see that coming. extreme. you went from the corps to being an optician? Are you going to pursuit ophthalmology or optometry?

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Well, I was Army, but thanks for the compliment! I started in optics about ten months after I got out of the Army, a local optical chain's shop was looking for lab techs, and it was four blocks from my house. I worked there about a year, then went to work at the gun shop I had wanted to work at since I was a boy. My old boss from the optical lab came in with his room mate, who ran a LensCrafters lab. So I worked both jobs for a while, then just LensCrafters, As I mentioned earlier, I started fitting glasses for shooters, and became an optician, as well as lab tech. Left there after 9 years for a union job nearer to home, in a feed mill. When the Walmart I work at now opened, I started there on overnight stocking. I wanted the Vision Center, but the jobs were taken by people transferring from other stores. It took me 10 years to finally get there.
At 53, I have no plans to become an OD or MD, too much schooling for the time left for it to pay off. I study the Wills Eye Manual just so I have an idea of what the Doc is doing. He used to teach Optometry. He taught me how to use the slit lamp to keep an eye on the progress of his cataracts, (early stage) but in our office, we don't have Optometric Assisants, so we (opticians) just do the Autokeratometer and Autotonometer, no Ophthalomoscope or slit lamp.
I will say I've had a very diverse life with many skill sets learned.

I'm blind as a bat without my glasses,after reading some of these comments I think i'm going to put a scope on my rifle.

243winxb said:

Have bifocals with a visible separation line. Read it was better for pistol shooters, as the blended progressive lens may get out of focus from head movement. This way i know what focal length is in use.

I should have a pair of shooting glasses for each sport? But a age 72, not going to happen.

Thank you for the information.

Click to expand...

I use progressives, at first the focus problem you speak existed, but it is amazing how quickly staying in focus becomes second nature. Everyone is different, so it may not work for some. I think one should try various methods, but find and use what works for you.

Russellc

Stimovsky said:

Do you keep your glasses when you shoot with a scoped rifle ?

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Yes. I focus the reticle with my glasses on since the reticle is apparently in a focal plane distance where I'd have to use my glasses to see it properly. For the record, I'm naturally nearsighted.

I have a slight astigmatism and I've found that shooting with my glasses ON, significantly improves a red dot scope. You see a much sharper dot with less faceting (for lack of a better word) around the edges. With standard scopes with reticles, I seem to do okay with glasses off.

Stimovsky wrote:
Do you keep your glasses when you shoot with a scoped rifle ?

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Yes.

If I am hunting, I don't have time to fiddle with taking off my glasses and stowing them before shouldering the rifle, so the scope is adjusted to give me a clear picture when I look at it through the normal (upper) lenses of my bi-focals.