Do you have unusually good eyesight?

Degraded to 20/15 in my 40's.
And the speed of focus went too.
Used to look close and far and stuff was crisp, just like that.
In my 40's I was at the dr's office paying at the desk and looked down the hall and read the eye chart pretty well.
Doc laughed and said I memorized it.
Told him nope.
The line for reading it was halfway down the hall.

My left eye hardly turns left (hence screen name). Tracking is perfect in all other directions, the lenses and other were great.
Eye docs said to not worry about the not looking left, as most folks would kill to have my vision.
Since it's a nerve defect, any attempt to fix it could screw up other tracking.
Risks way more than the possible gain.

Adapted way back (born with it).

Just look like a friggin moron when at drive throughs (looking left).
Turn my head but too far and they both don't point the same.

Eh, I still had no prob dating pretty gals.
And walking along w them on my left, another gal passing left of mine......I could hook the right and check out others without mine noticing.
Hehehehehe

Old Dog said:

I had 20/15 vision for about the first forty years of my life. Was a pretty decent hitter and above average defensive center-fielder playing organized baseball to age 19 (and city league softball into my 40s) and I had a damn good jump-shot in HS basketball.

Had no problem shooting expert from the get-go with the tiny sights on our issue 1911s in the military -- I had no idea they were so deficient until I started buying higher-end production pistols much later on with the types of sights we've become accustomed to. Also shot expert with the M-14 iron sights, even though I'd never used aperture sights growing up, just open sighted Model 94s and scopes on bolt guns.

My last military deployment in '04-'05, one night realized I couldn't read the print on the same paperback novel I'd been reading just the night before ... that's when I went to low-powered readers and about the same time found out I couldn't see handgun sights clearly. Few years later was having issues driving at night, all the tail-lights were fuzzy red blurs. Now wearing progressive lenses and shooting handguns with cheap reading glasses and all rifles with either red dots or scopes.

When you're born with great eyesight, you take it for granted until it starts going. I sure miss it. This thread made me take out my old GI 1911 and look at the sights -- no way can I shoot effectively with sights like that these days.

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Same for me just switch out M-14 for M-16 and it's an almost identical story. Paperback books, driving at night, sports, all basically the same. Growing up my friends and I used to mark off 50 yards or so and shoot prickly pear cactus bulbs for a quarter with open sight bolt action .22's. When I was in basic training 50 years ago I remember an 8 hour class on how to get a proper sight picture and thought you have to be an idiot to not know how to do that. Found out the first day at the range why our drill instructors spent so much time on the subject.
The most amazing eyesight I personally witnessed was the husband of a friend of my daughter in law. He was blessed with a wicked curve ball and exceptional vision and drafted by the Colorado Rockies right out of high school. At 75 feet he could see the playing card you held up.
But what was most phenomenal was his night vision. We were at a BBQ at his place in the Texas hill country one evening and around 10 PM or so a few of us were on the back porch bending our elbows. He remarked about how many deer were in the open field past the driveway. It was dark dark out there no moon and I kind of scoffed at the thought that anybody could see that far without ambient light. My son told me that if Jay says there are deer out there then there are deer out there. With that Jay went to his truck and retrieved his spotlight. There were probably 10-15 deer in the field that was a hundred yards or more away.

Had eagle eyes when I was a kid..better than most. Could spot game at very long distances. Through much of my adult life I enjoyed excellent vision (but am color blind). In my 50s I had to get reading glasses. In my 60s my shotgun shooting was impacted...clay birds look a little fuzzy now. Can't shoot open sighted rifles worth a hoot anymore. Used to eyeball shoot squirrels and rabbits with my single shot .22; now I can only see fuzz on the barrel. At 72 I need higher level magnification with my scopes, but I can spot prairie dogs at long distances without glasses. As the young'uns say, "It's all good."

Into my 30's I had 20/10 vision. I lost it so gradually I didn't realize. These days I wear trifocals. My childhood dream was pistols with adjustable sights. Doesn't matter so much now. I can use issue Colt Series 70 sights, the original hog wallow on an old single-action, or the shark's tooth of a New Service. I can pretend they're anything I want.
I was so happy last Friday morning after doing a little basic close-in warm up, on the first shot I nailed an eight-inch gong at fifty-five yards offhand with an unaltered Series 70 1911. I reloaded and put it back in the holster. No sense in proving to myself that it was a lucky accident.

Yep, like lots of posters here, 20/15 until almost 40 then it seemed like overnight the closeup vision went. Then all ranges of vision have deteriorated slowly since.

I stopped asking what my uncorrected vision was once a doctor told me it was 20/400 in my teens. I can wear glasses and get it corrected but without glasses I might as well be blind. Need to talk to an eye doc about Lasik to see what kind of candidate I am.

My vision used to be somewhat better than 20/20. I'd say better than average, but not exceptional. At 61 I still have 20/20 in my left eye. My right eye is borderline needing correction. My eye doc says that as long as both eyes are open my brain focuses on the good vision in my left eye so nothing is blurry unless I close or block the left eye. They don't recommend glasses for me yet. Since I only use my right eye for shooting a long gun, even if both are open, It makes it harder to use irons. I still can, but I do better with readers on when shooting irons. I can focus optics enough to account for the less than perfect right eye.

Except for reading. Anything more than 3' away is as sharp as ever, but I have needed readers for fine print up close for 10+ years. The eyes just won't focus that close. I can lay the news paper in the floor and read it, but not hold it in my hands and read it without readers.

Had 20/10 vision (fighter jock eyes) all the way to near 50 or so, when I was then tested at 20/13. Now, at nearly 63 I am wearing progressives for the last 2 years. Sucks, because I had to get used to wearing glasses all the time, rather than simple readers, which I started with at 48, (1.25s) and progressed only to 2.0s from 48 to 61.

Still remember pointing out signs that said cities and mileage, up the road, and everybody exclaiming, You can really see that far?

I should get glasses for reading.
Low light my eyes go to hell (yeah, working under cars is about done).

Did see a deer's ear in a blowdown across a creek at 75 yards or so last yr.
Can still see pretty good out a ways. But gimme a second or two or three to focus.

Always dreamed and wondered, too, what great vision is like. I am very nearsighted. Wore glasses since I was 6 and now wear contacts. Doc claims that without them I'd be "legally blind." I believe him. Everything is completely blurred and out of focus. It's so bad, I'm not even a good candidate for lasik. They'd have to cut so much off my cornea to reshape it that it would risk serious eye damage. As a result I have spare contacts and glasses in my car and at work, just in case. I even have spare prescription inserts for my shooting eye protection (Smith Optics Aegis Compacts).

My glasses are very thick with a diopter of about - 8.5. They used to be worse, with a diopter of -10.5, but as I've gotten older my eyeball has shrunk. Despite the mild improvement, I now need reading glasses when I wear contacts.

There is one good thing about my bad nearsightedness. Without glasses or contacts I can see better than most objects that are really, really close, like a few inches from my face. Unfortunately, that doesn't help me when shooting. It helps when cleaning my guns, though.

Like many here, I had great vision until my 40's when a gradual decline started. Last year I went and got tested for LASIK. Doc told me I had cateracts. Not bad but they were there. Optometrists never mentioned it.

Got the multifocal IOL lens implants. Walked out wirh 20/10 in the right, 20/15 in the left. Expensive, but worth every penny. I swear I can get sharp focus on the sights and the target simultaneously.

Massive jump in scores. Dr. Niraj Patel with Pacific Northwest Eye Associates in Tacoma WA. Yep, I'm giving him a plug.

Awesome service, Great doctor. Changed my whole outlook on life.

Walkalong said:

I had superb vision when I was younger, both acuity and speed. I could see the spin on 90 MPH fast balls, and pick up the rotation on sliders & curves.

At 40+ I could still see count the catchers fingers from the outfield.

I miss my vision, but hey, at least I got to enjoy for a long time what many never have. I don't fuss much. At 62 I still see better than my sons, one that wears contacts.

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Sound like you were gifted like Ted Williams but must have struck out more than him, perhaps that's why they call you Walkalong!

Wore glasses of the coke bottle variety from 2nd grade on. In college, I asked how bad it was and was told my left eye was 20/700 (20/800 was legally blind) and 20/400 in my right eye. To make matters worse, I had major astigmatism in both eyes. I couldn't wear contacts so I was stuck with the extra-thick lenses. When I was 38, I went to a local doc to see if I could have lasik. One of the tests is to 'map' the surface of your eyes. Mine looked like a topographic map of the Rockies and the Appalachians. Good news was, I was a good candidate for lasik. I paid my money and had it done.
Afterwards, I was amazed that, though cloudy, I could read the name of the car dealer on the back of a car. After the time period to let my eyes settled they came back as 20/15 in my right eye and 20/25 in my left. I'm 60 now and use '1's' cheaters for computer and reading. Shooting clays suddenly got easier (I could see them) and no more broken glasses when I creep up on the scope a bit. Definitely nice and worth every penny.

Hi...
I have horrible vision...extremely nearsighted.
Glasses since I was about 8 years old...bifocals for 10-15 years now.

Just got my first trifocals last year.
No matter what I do...to see clearly up close I need to take my glasses off.

Still... I can see well enough to shoot handguns pretty well out to 200yards.
And I can see squirrels and deer quite well... I think that's just a matter of having trained myself what to look for.

I also had excellent vision for my first 40 years. I grew up shooting clay targets with my dad and his friends. They were amazed by how often I would see a visible piece fly off of a 'lost' target. (Never my own, of course)
Once at the Indiana state shoot about 1980, I noticed a semi trailer roll past the camper. It said Michelin Targets on the side. The semi continued down the driveway to the far side of the shooting complex and parked. That evening, sitting around the camper, the conversation turned to what kind of targets was being thrown. I said, "they're Michelins"
"How do you know that?"
"That's what that semi says"
....stands up ....looking about 1/4 mile away in the fading light......."cheesus, you can read that from here!"
"Sure, cant you?"
Lol

When I was 27+/- a insurance investigator( checking a accident at a Drs. office) backed up into another car---he took off like a bat out of hel & as he flew past my house I wrote down his plate #. When they went to court he came in with 4 lawyers from the company---they tried to eat me alive. I told the judge--" see that car in the lot--lic plate # XXX_XXXX . The judge asked who could see the #--not one person in the court room could see the #. The judge himself went out to see the #---when he came back he said "GUILTY" By 40 I had reading glasses--now I have plastic eyes & see good so far.

redneck2 said:

Never really thought about it much other than I was glad I could see well. I’m 68 now and those days are gone.

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Right there with ya. Have to decide at the range which would work better, seeing the target clearly or the sights on the gun.

I used to. I had at least 20/10. I could read street signs from about 2 blocks away.

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And remember what they said by the time you got there. What were we talking about?

maxxhavoc said:

I never understood why people shot with a 6:00 hold - or "pumpkin on a post." I mean, just put the front sight -exactly- in the middle of the 1" dot at 100 yards and shoot...why complicate it?

Now, I have issues focusing on both at once, and I can't clearly distinguish a 3" black spot at 100 yards. I miss being able to shift focus near to far instantly, and see shotgun shells clearly at 100 yards.

Now, it's put the front sight at the bottom of the blob and hope for the best.

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This explains how I feel. Years of welding have taken its toll. I still have better than 20-20, just not as good as it used to be.

rb288 said:

Bifocals, enough said.
I really can't shoot iron sights anymore.
Red dots are a little iffy, but, I'm really good with magnified optics.
1-4 on short range rifles and up to 16x on my precision rifles.

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I have the same problem with open sights. The front sight is never sharp but I found a fix. Check the web for stick-on bifocals. Amazon has them too for about $20. I went to the local reading glass display and while standing away from their sign the same distance as the front sight would be, I tried different diopters with my normal glasses on until the sign looked sharp. I then ordered a set of stick-on bifocals with the same value. The stick-ons are flexible and can be cut to size. I cut a small piece that will fit in the upper left corner on my right lens of my normal glasses - I shoot right handed. You wet the stick-on and place it on the inside of lens and let it dry. It will stay in place until you want to peel it off and it can be re-applied the next time you need it. Now with the rifle shouldered my line of sight is through the stick-on and the front sight is sharp. When not shooting the stick-on does not interfere with normal vision. My wife thinks I look a little dorky but what's new. I usually leave the stick-on in place until hunting season is over.

I took one of these to my right eye when I was nine years old. Perforated the cornea. It's correctable with glasses (I can't tolerate contacts), but it means that my concealed carry must be accessible to my left hand. I don't usually wear glasses except when I'm driving or shooting on the range, since they are too disorienting - correct focus is only attained when looking straight ahead.
I've considered wearing a monocle... .

I am nearsighted and since 9 years old, have worn glasses. I have tried various frames and in recent years used Flexon and Columbia frames.

Now that I am using progressive lenses (Yeah, don't get old), I am currently looking at Rudy Project frames with progressive lense inserts.

I think the role of vision in shooting depends greatly on the type of shooting. I also think the role of vision in many kinds of shooting is greatly misunderstood.

Visual acuity - the ability to resolve small details at a distance - is not very important in most kinds of shooting. It's of basically no importance in anything with magnified optics. It's perhaps most useful in some kind of iron-sighted precision shooting where the scoring demarcations are just barely visible at the shooting distance - great visual acuity might afford someone a more precise aiming point.

Visual processing speed - the ability to rapidly interpret the visual data flow from your eyes - is absolutely critical to any of the speed-based shooting games. It's very important to leading targets with shotguns, to tracking pistol sights in recoil for a fast 2nd shot, to driving the eyes rapidly to the next target in the array, etc. It's probably also at least as important to self-defense shooting, although I'll leave it to the experts in that area to opine.

Most people who talk about eyesight in shooting are talking about the wrong thing.