Over 60 shooting

I am nearsighted, so my glasses correct for distance. Without them on, I can see the front sight, but the target is blurry. If I wear my glasses, the target is crisp and the front sight is blurry. Since I shoot mostly shotgun where you focus on the target, not your front bead, I am trying that with handguns to see how well it compares to only seeing the front sight.

I'm with you!
I've put Williams Fire Sights on everything I shoot that will take them. And this one really bothers me, I've had to move the targets in towards my shooting position from where it was not too long ago.
My younger self would be ashamed of my older self's shooting if they ever met.

Im the same age as you, and Ive been noticing things are degrading at a rate quicker than I like. Ive worked and played outside my whole life, and from what the eye doc said, that can cause problems, especially as you get older. Just in the past couple of years, I seem to be getting a lot more, and larger floaters than I used to have, which are getting annoying, as at times they randomly and completely fuzz out any sight picture I might have with no notice. Its almost like recoil drives it while shooting too.

My last eye exam also indicated cataracts coming on. Not sure how thats going to go, or how fast.

I notice with my handguns, that getting a clear, sharp, traditional sight picture is becoming more and more difficult, especially with sights with a fatter front sight, like the Glock night sights, that have smaller gaps in the rear notch. I tried a set of Warren sights, that had a thinner front sight, and that was better, but they were all black, and only really worked well, in bright light, and for slow, more deliberate, bullseye type "lolly pop" sight picture, Anything with a dark background, and I lose the sight picture altogether.

Rifles, peeps are still the best bet, and more so now, the smaller apertures. Im OK with my AR's and the large ring at closer distances, but at mid to longer distances, I need that smaller ring to get a clear front sight. Its fuzzy with the large ring. It really is amazing how it sharpens up with the smaller ring too.

Awhile back, I discovered red dots are your friend. I much prefer them on most of my rifles.

Ha, wait until you are over 80. At 63 the fun has just begun for you. I use magnifying safety glasses that focus at the correct distance. At least they are cheap and do the job quite well as you keep needing stronger ones as the years continue to pass.

No, they don't work as well as my young eyes did at all but at least I can still shoot fairly well with them. Red dot sights work much better than the glasses if you can rig one up on your gun.

I use the aperture adaptation on my shooting glasses, made by "See Better Shoot Better". It mounts right on the lens and makes the front sight crystal clear. If anyone else has tried it, please let us know what you think about it.

Like LoneGoose, I use an aperture that sticks onto my glasses with a small suction cup. It's made by Merit. If you're outdoors, and have plenty of light, it works like a charm. Suddenly everything is in sharp focus. It's like stopping your camera lens down to f22.

I have TruGlo TFX sights on my primary EDC and Trijicon's on some others. I need reading glasses (1.25's 3 for $10 at DG) but I don't like to wear them when shooting my carry guns. The white ring on the TruGlo front sight helps quite a bit.

Yes, and painting your front sight helps a lot. I degrease it with acetone, then put a layer of white nail polish on it. The next day, I put a layer of bright orange over the white. Let it set for a day. Nail polish is more durable than paints.

LoneGoose said:

I use the aperture adaptation on my shooting glasses, made by "See Better Shoot Better". It mounts right on the lens and makes the front sight crystal clear. If anyone else has tried it, please let us know what you think about it.

Click to expand...

Ive seen these advertised for years, and can see where they would work for some shooting.

My problem is, my shooting is a little more "energetic", and I rarely stand still and shoot. Cant see wearing that around on my safety glasses all day.

As much as Id like to "correct" things, I also feel I need to be able to shoot "as is", and thats how most of my practice is. I guess I lucked out kinda sorta figuring out how to shoot when I could see. Now I can kinda sorta do it without looking.

I have noticed "cheaters" help with getting a clear sight picture, but I only wear them to read the fine stuff with, and dont normally have them on. The sights are the only "clear" thing when wearing them too.

Wasnt someone just recently making a pair of glasses that you could "zoom" focus on? I seem to remember Penn and Teller and a few others advertising them.

LoneGoose said:

Yes, and painting your front sight helps a lot. I degrease it with acetone, then put a layer of white nail polish on it. The next day, I put a layer of bright orange over the white. Let it set for a day. Nail polish is more durable than paints.

Click to expand...

I do the same thing with most of my revolvers. Works really well. Makes picking up that front sight a lot easier.

I'm not nearly there yet on age, 46 here, but I'm having the same problem. I've worn contacts since the early 90's (near sighted) and now my up close vision is going. Eye doctor says it's just age. I purchased some of those reader type safety glasses and they work like a charm for handguns. But for me, when shooting something like an AR with the peep sights, I can't focus on the front site post. Using the small aperture makes it a little clearer, but not by much. I actually find that the notch/blade set up (like AK or bolt action iron sites for instance) is much easier for me to pick up than using the peep sights. I know a red dot can remedy this, but I have some rifles that I didn't want to mount optics on.

Presbyopia sufferers unite!

I was having problems with focusing on sights, everything a blur. I am right eye dominant and ambidextrous so I switched to left hand closed my right eye and did much better. That got me to the eye doctor and a cataract operation on my right eye. Since operation eyesight has improved along with my shooting
Walt

ChasMack said:

I have noticed (am 63) that the past few months, its getting harder to see the sights on some of my pistols. I am sure others are having the same problem....how are you dealing with it??

Click to expand...

LASIK eye surgery worked real well for me. I had it done 3 years ago, when I was 67. I'd been dealing with far-sightedness and astigmatism since my mid-40s, and like most LASIK recipients, at first I had a hard time believing that other people could see as well as I can. Of course, having good insurance helped me decide on the surgery.

I'll be 71 next month and wear progressive bifocals. When shooting with my glasses on I have to tilt my head to make either the front sight or the target clear. When the front sight is sharp and clear the target is so blurry that I have to guess where I make my point of aim which results in much less accuracy than I'm capable of shooting. Shooting my rifles that are equipped with peep sights and I have no problem seeing the front sight clearly and the target reasonably well focused, without glasses. Shooting silhouette isn't too bad, in one class I use a scoped rifle and in the other class I shoot peep sights and get along pretty well. Bullseye shooting is out. I guess it's part of getting older and not much you can do to correct it just like I can't run because of arthritis. In my next life I'll choose a better body.

I wear 1.25 dollar store reading glasses to shoot with. It's not as perfect as young eyes are but without them I'd not be able to use the sights at all. I'm 65 but my eyes don't seem to have deteriorated the last several years which hopefully remains the same. However the reticle in a scope will become blurry now. My skill level is not what it was 25 years ago either but I still enjoy it a lot.

While only a kid (59) I struggle with sight too. I’ve put fiber optic sights on the front sights and it makes all the difference in the world.

Right now the 3dots are still workable but I swapped out the rear sight on the Blackhawk and painted the front sight and the liitle stub on the LCP.

I also practice index shooting out to 5 yards.

ChasMack said:

I have noticed (am 63) that the past few months, its getting harder to see the sights on some of my pistols.

Click to expand...

Just wait another 19 years; it gets better!

Went through that as competitive rifle shooter. Switched to aperture front and rear sights and a +.1 or .15 lens in rear sight to focus on front sight. Had to give up a tad on front sight and targets (100-600 yds) were pretty fuzzy but kept 'em in the black with that combo. Front sight is more important than target clarity. Pistol more of a problem but as has been stated, you can choose drugstore readers to focus at front sight distance and look across the store to reach a compromise on target/front sight clarity, remembering mis-alignment of sights causes more poi error than does sight picture.

Someone mentioned progressive glasses and they do help with pistol as you can choose the correct power compromise at any given range with a tilt of the chin. Downside is that long shooting strings will give you a crick in your neck, but we gotta work with what we got.

Here is the extreme I went to to shoot the old Garand. Where there's a will, there's a way.


Regards,
hps

Walkalong said:

Things change, we age, we adapt.

Click to expand...

Ya got that right, Walkalong!

Regards,
hps

Peep sights help with my blurry eyes, but my $500 Eotech looks like it was printed with a dot matrix printer.
My Holosun 510c is perfect except for a small flare off center dot

I'm 68,see good with my glasses on,off nothing.