Prescription glasses with a twist

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AK103K

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Im to that point where Im going to have to get some prescription glasses for daily wear, or do something, and especially for handgun shooting.

I had progressive trifocals about 15 years ago, screwed them up at work, and havent worn any since. My eyes actually got better, and I really havent needed anything but Walmart "cheaters" (1.5x or so), for reading the "fine stuff". For daily wear at work and play, I just normally wear my safety/sunglasses.

Ive had a couple of eye exams, and asked a couple of eye docs about that now, but they dont want to hear it or talk about it and tell me I need prescription glasses. My eyes are definitely better than they were when I first wrecked those trifocals, and Ive got my theories, but I digress.

What I am wondering, and I havent talked to anyone yet, but Im wondering if anyone has had glasses made, like a bifocal, but with the "power" lens, in the upper 1/4" of the lens (instead of the bottom), where you would be looking, with your head just ever so slightly down, while shooting a handgun and looking out over the sights.

Right now, without some power, Im having a lot harder time seeing the sights, or at least, they are really fuzzed out, and not clear and sharp. If I use my cheaters, I can get a nice clear, sharp sight picture, and stll see the target fine, but its fuzzed out. The cheaters are too strong for normal daily wear, so they would be the heavier power normally seen in the lower bifocal. I just want that up top.

I really dont want, or really need to wear glasses all day, and I dont want glasses just for shooting, and glasses for everything else, if I do end up getting some. If I have to wear glasses, I want one pair, that will be workable to shoot with too, or whats the point?

Has anyone seen anything like that, or had something similar done?
 
Thanks mcb, thats exactly what Im looking for. Ill check them out. :thumbup:
 
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You also might want to look into a diopter to put on your existing glasses. The merit is the best, as it is adjustable, but others on the market work well too. I put a merit on my shooting glasses and it helped to bring the sights into focus, without magnification. You can punch a 1/16" hole in some black electricians tape and place it on your shooting glasses in a position where your eye would look thru the hole when sighting your gun to see if this would work for you. It may give you a few more years before your eyes may need some other help like mine did.
 
Long long ago and in a land far far away; before there were progressive lenses I was an optician. We made quite a few such custom glasses for shooters with a segment focused at arms length in the upper portion just for shooters.
 
Im familiar with the stick on diopters, but Im looking more for a daily, all-around use type thing, and not just range specific.

I prefer to practice how Im likely going to need to shoot, so Ive been dealing with/practicing, shooting with a less than good sight picture in practice, as its all Im going to have in the moment, unless I can figure something out.

Up close, its not so much an issue, as I often dont use the sights at all. Its the longer range shooting, where I need more precision, where I suffer the most.

I ordered a set of the glasses mcb posted up and will give them a try.
 
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My last eye exam, I was in a conversation with my Doctor. I told him I am a shooting enthusiast and wondered what would be my best option. I saw him spark a lot on interest and he asked my what distance I shoot at the most. Turned out he was a gun Nut as well. He then changed my prescription and gave me a prescription for my specific needs with a Progressive lens which I always wear. All I know is it has worked out well for me.

I have been a "running enthusiast" and later coach since High School. High Volume compeitive running also meant certain injuries along the way. I learned early to find a Doctor that also ran more helpful than just any Doctor. Maybe he same is true for a shooter as well.
 
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I wear progressive lenses and have no problem seeing the sights on my handguns. It doesn't take long for you to find the sweet spot in the lens for handgun sights. Where I have an issue is with rifle sights and rifle scopes. That I am still trying to resolve but it seems single vision lens glasses are going to be the answer there.
 
I shot with tri-focal lenses for a while but got tired of "looking for" the sweet spot when shooting.

I finally settled on having a pair made with the lens in front of my dominate eye set for the distance to my front sight and the lens in front of my non-dominate eye set for distance. This doesn't work for everyone as your brain has to be able to render the different images together for you to "see the whole picture"...but if you don't get headaches the results are great.

There is an adjustment period when you first start seeing both your front sight and the target in perfect focus
 
I shot with tri-focal lenses for a while but got tired of "looking for" the sweet spot when shooting.

I finally settled on having a pair made with the lens in front of my dominate eye set for the distance to my front sight and the lens in front of my non-dominate eye set for distance. This doesn't work for everyone as your brain has to be able to render the different images together for you to "see the whole picture"...but if you don't get headaches the results are great.

There is an adjustment period when you first start seeing both your front sight and the target in perfect focus
What you're describing here is what I do with my red dots on occasion, when I close the front cap on the Aimpoint.

If you can shoot with both eyes open, it works great, once you understand it and get used to it.
 
I sell spectacles for a living.

I get that most folks don't want regular specs AND a special pair of dedicated shooting glasses. Some folks can get away with only having one pair (safety issues are a concern with this-another thread topic). Most shooters will end up needing a dedicated pair of shooting specs with altered prescriptions to facilitate proper shooting.

It is all about using the right tool for the job. You use different guns for different hunts/activities right? You use a different golf club for different course situations, right? You wouldn't attempt to work on your engine with your Leatherman Wave, right?

There are lots of special lens configurations and powers that can be had. Hopefully you can get with a knowledgeable optician to fill your needs!
 
I used to be a commercial finish carpenter. A lot of my work was above my head. I wore bifocals to read. I talked to my eye doctor and he suggested getting my prescription ground in the upper part of my glasses as well as the normal spot for reading. The result was I no longer suffered neck strain from having to rock my head back to use the bifocal prescription.
The additional benefit was my handgun scores improved, for the same reason.

So, yes, you could get your glasses ground so you can see the front sight.

Kevin
 
When I hit 40 I started wearing contacts so that I could wear my regular colored shooting glasses. When I hit 55 I went back to scrip glasses and had a scrip lens made for my shooting glasses. I went with distance mono-vision only and that works great - understand I shoot mostly shotgun. But those glasses work for pistols and rifles
 
Zeiss makes a lens called the Continuum lens that is designed as an 'office' lens-that is the intermediate add power (1/2 the full add power for close reading, and the amount used to focus at arm's length out to 20 feet or so) on the top and the full add power on the bottom. This lens could be adapted for such use.
Also, as mentioned, there is a lens called a Double D seg. that has a D shaped lined bifocal on the top of the lens as well as the bottom. These are made for certain occupations (and indeed are also called 'occupational' lenses) like plumbling and welding.
 
When I wore contacts I had left eye for distance and right eye for reading (aiming).
Then I went back to glasses I had progressives, no line, glasses, AND had my optometrist make me a shooting set with right eye for aiming.

Then I had cataract surgery (lens replacement) and I opted for far sighted (distance) vision. After 64 years of nearsightedness I want to enjoy distance vision.
So I have 20/15 in both eyes but need readers. I have both SSP upper readers, for handguns, and lower readers, for scopes and red-dots.

I also have played around with an stick on product called Hydrotac. Allows me to take any shooting or safety glasses and add a "reading area" where ever I want. They by far are my go-to when shooting iron sights. I have them on a pair of yellow shooting glasses.

https://www.amazon.com/Hydrotac-Mag...H77DW3GJKQ1&psc=1&refRID=31HTDAPR9H77DW3GJKQ1
 
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I ordered one of the SSP "Top Focal" sets and they showed up today.

Short and sweet, they work great! Thanks again for the tip mcb. :thumbup:

Already ordered another frame and pair of lenses. Im used to having two sets of safety glasses with different lenses and this saves me from having to change them out all the time.

I ordered the single set that comes with a frame and a set of clear, yellow, and dark lenses. Comes with a nice, well thought out case too.

The magnified part is just above your eyes and out of the way, if you normally keep your head up. Just tilt your head down slightly (where it naturally ends up when you present the gun), and you have the magnification, and the sights are clear and sharp.

I did have to readjust the sights on my S&W 63, as the POI was 2.5" low for some reason. Not sure what was up there, unless its just the difference in what I was seeing prior to actually being able to see the sights clearly. Was also shooting my S&W Governor, which has your basic S&W "fixed" revolver sights, with a dot, and it shot the same either way. The 63 has SS sights with an orange insert, which Im not really fond of anyway, so Ill have to see how things go with other things.

Only other issue I had, was seeing small, dime-sized and smaller pieces of broken clay birds on the berm at 10 yards. With the magnification, they "fuzz out", and its hard to see them. I had to lift my head slightly and get a flash spot on them and then aim at that. Kind of like using a welders shield. It worked, but Im thinking of trying just a clear, no magnification lens on my weak side (the old "OEG" thing) and see if that doesnt work out on the little stuff. Im thinking it will.

Bigger pieces are still easy to see and doable and shooting at the center of a SR-1C bullseye type target, or silhouette, and its a nonissue.

Other than that, they work great! If youve got the same issue, Id say certainly try them out. :thumbup:
 
I get that most folks don't want regular specs AND a special pair of dedicated shooting glasses. Some folks can get away with only having one pair (safety issues are a concern with this-another thread topic). Most shooters will end up needing a dedicated pair of shooting specs with altered prescriptions to facilitate proper shooting.
Agree 100%. I compete in the precision disciplines at a high level, and got a set of glasses with a dedicated shooting prescription when I was in my mid-40s. I wish I'd done it five years earlier, maybe ten. It's a quantum jump in performance.
 
I wear what are known as occupational trifocals.

They are regular bifocals on bottom with distance vision above the bifocals with the trifocal portion of the lens at the top of the lenses. Works great for me.
 
https://www.amazon.com/20-Hydrotac-...t=&hvlocphy=9026934&hvtargid=pla-411432350821

Experiment with a set of those. I cut a small round magnifier out. 1.5 power, and stuck it on the top left of my right sunglasses lens.

As I tilted my head down to shoot, the front sight was in perfect focus.

I’ll eventually get glasses made that way. But, it’s a cheap way to figure out what works.
Thanks for that. Just ordered a pack and will give them a try too. :)

The more I use the SSP's, the more I like them. Even just as sun/safety glasses they are great, once you get used to that magnification being up top. The normal part of the lens is definitely sharper and clearer than the Pyramax Ive been using.
 
Im to that point where Im going to have to get some prescription glasses for daily wear, or do something, and especially for handgun shooting.

I had progressive trifocals about 15 years ago, screwed them up at work, and havent worn any since. My eyes actually got better, and I really havent needed anything but Walmart "cheaters" (1.5x or so), for reading the "fine stuff". For daily wear at work and play, I just normally wear my safety/sunglasses.

Ive had a couple of eye exams, and asked a couple of eye docs about that now, but they dont want to hear it or talk about it and tell me I need prescription glasses. My eyes are definitely better than they were when I first wrecked those trifocals, and Ive got my theories, but I digress.

What I am wondering, and I havent talked to anyone yet, but Im wondering if anyone has had glasses made, like a bifocal, but with the "power" lens, in the upper 1/4" of the lens (instead of the bottom), where you would be looking, with your head just ever so slightly down, while shooting a handgun and looking out over the sights.

Right now, without some power, Im having a lot harder time seeing the sights, or at least, they are really fuzzed out, and not clear and sharp. If I use my cheaters, I can get a nice clear, sharp sight picture, and stll see the target fine, but its fuzzed out. The cheaters are too strong for normal daily wear, so they would be the heavier power normally seen in the lower bifocal. I just want that up top.

I really dont want, or really need to wear glasses all day, and I dont want glasses just for shooting, and glasses for everything else, if I do end up getting some. If I have to wear glasses, I want one pair, that will be workable to shoot with too, or whats the point?

Has anyone seen anything like that, or had something similar done?


I finally had to take an old pair of glasses (I am somewhat nearsided) and just remove the right lense for handgun hunting. Now my right eye sees the front sight perfectly clear and the left eye sees the target perfectly clear...the brain puts the two images together just fine. This is what I have to wear when hunting now..You may want to do just the opposite with reading glasses..
 
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