Old eyes + small sights = blur

I've had one for a number of years, finally went to a friend when he ran off with my AR. I found it effective reliable, and a very good deal.

DaStray said:

61 yo eyes + small sights and my shooting is really suffering (it wasn`t all that good anyway) Minute of side-of-barn it seems. What to do then?
Picked up a new Ruger PC 9 and am thinking that a red dot scope may be the way to go. I`ve seen Bushnell trs-25 ads and I`m thinking...Hmmmmmm.
Anyone have any experience with one? I realize that they`re not top-shelf optics but most reviews seem to be favorable. Besides, at the rate that the PC 9 is eating ammo, I`m already hard pressed to keep it fed.

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i was thinking of selling my trs-25 my astigmatism make it hard to use with long use. quick plinking shots are fine. even with my bad eyes i can still shoot good groups with it. only got about 100 rounds on it. i have the utg mount to.

I wear glasses to see distance. I do not focus on the sights clearly; I focus on my target. Years of shotgunning teach you that. If I only focused hard on the front sight, I'd be shooting minute of barn as well

Get your eyes checked and get corrections if needed and try something different.

Walkalong said:

Red dot sights are awesome for older eyes. Yes, I have a bit of astigmatism and the dots bleed out a little for me, but it is still way better than irons.

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For some, looking at the red dot thru a rear aperture sight trims the fuzz off of the dot.

DaStray said:

61 yo eyes + small sights and my shooting is really suffering (it wasn`t all that good anyway) Minute of side-of-barn it seems. What to do then?
Picked up a new Ruger PC 9 and am thinking that a red dot scope may be the way to go. I`ve seen Bushnell trs-25 ads and I`m thinking...Hmmmmmm.
Anyone have any experience with one? I realize that they`re not top-shelf optics but most reviews seem to be favorable. Besides, at the rate that the PC 9 is eating ammo, I`m already hard pressed to keep it fed.

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I've got two TRS-25 red dots. They've been mounted on some of my rimfire handguns, rimfire rifles, and one is currently on a 9mm carbine.The TRS-25 works just fine for me.

GBExpat said:

For some, looking at the red dot thru a rear aperture sight trims the fuzz off of the dot.

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That's what I did on my AR, when I had it co-witnessed with irons. Using the small aperture, everything looked sharper, and my accuracy improved a bit.
For normal noise making those I left it down.

George P said:

I wear glasses to see distance. I do not focus on the sights clearly; I focus on my target. Years of shotgunning teach you that. If I only focused hard on the front sight, I'd be shooting minute of barn as well

Get your eyes checked and get corrections if needed and try something different.

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I was taught just the opposite....keep front sight clear and let target blur....pistol, not rifle. use red dots and scopes for them. Havent shot a shotgun in a long time....had good vision then!

I'm 62 and have been wearing glasses since I was 8. I finally figured out I could ask the optometrist to write me a prescription with a focus at 6" past my hand with arm outstretched.

Everyone's different and I'm certainly no optometrist/ophthalmologist but I'd like to tell what happened with me. It just might match your experience or keep someone from getting overly frustrated.

I happen to be lucky enough to have found an optometrist who will let me bring my AR to the office. She was an ARMY sharpshooter (ARMY guys sorry I'm not clear on the exact title but she was the one designated as the "better" shooter in the group) and understands the issues.

So what I did for about 10 years was get Decot Hy-wyd lenses. The left lens was set for distance and the right lens was set for focus on the front sight but not so strong so as to blur out the target too much at 200 yards. We worked out just the right magnification in the right lens by using trial lenses with me looking through my AR's rear aperture first at the front sight and then at a distant object. It took a long time and all I can say is my optometrist was very generous with her time. I frankly think she thought it was a cool problem and secretly might have had a bit of fun with me.

In any event it's a very tricky balancing act of a clear front sight and a blurry, but not too blurry, target. This all worked, buying a new right lens every year or two, until I was age 60. (I'll be 62 this April) At that point the right lens had to be so strong to see the front sight that the target was just too blurry for me to cope. I HAD to go to a MISO sight and my shooting scores have gone back up. I might get a flat top AR upper & scope but I really don't want to.

I still shoot handgun with the dual prescription glasses I used to use for AR shooting as the targets tend to be 25 or 50 yards. But even with handguns I've started to go to a red dot.

All this has been very frustrating; problem is it's normal!

My optometrist said everyone's time will come. Just wait.

RussellC said:

I was taught just the opposite....keep front sight clear and let target blur....pistol, not rifle.

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That's what they coach for irons on a rifle too. My dilemma is what to do for an optic, scope or dot. Focus on target, dot, or both. I'm still trying to sort that out. Brian Zins advocates target focus when shooting a pistol with a dot.

The eyes cannot focus near and far at the same time, it is impossible. I know all the pistol gurus tell you to focus on the front sight - which I can do without correction, but then the target - even at 7 yards is blurry, so I reverted back to wearing glasses for correction and doing a lot better. At 10+ I can out my shots in COM - not 10X Bullseye perfect, but good enough to do what my guns are designed to do.