If you don't like shooting while wearing progressive lenses

[SunnySlopes]

I wear progressive lenses. When I shoot pistols I use the Weaver stance which means I look out of the upper corner of my eyeglass lens. The problem is that the upper corner of the lens is distorted, plus, the top section of the lens is for long range. When I look at the front sight, I have to use the mid range.

With progressive lenses this whole process necessitates holding my head at a really awkward angle to find the correct portion of the lens.

I had toyed with the idea of just getting some glasses corrected for mid range, but then I wouldn't be able to see the target. Or much of anything else for that matter.

So my optometrist configured a pair of glasses specifically for shooting guns w/iron sights. Both lenses are corrected for long range, but he inserted something called a "golfer's segment" in the upper corner of one lens. This is a circle that's corrected for mid range and it works great.

I tried it yesterday on a Combat Commander, a Mark 4/Series 70, and a Sig 716. All with iron sights. It makes all the difference in the world.

 

[slidemuzik]

Excellent post, thanks. I have been struggling with the same issue for a different reason.

I'm right handed, but left eye dominant. I have to turn my head to the right and look through the upper left area of my left lens. I gave up on progressive lenses after I found out that progressive lenses have a much reduced area of correction. Only PART of your modern eyeglasses actually have the correction. By changing to lined bifocals it increases that area dramaticly. It is better, but still a problem shooting though. I will check into this golfers option. It makes a lot of sense.

Give this man a gold star.

 

[morcey2]

It's always good to have an optometrist who is a shooter. I have a very slight astigmatism in both eyes. Not enough to notice at any other time, but the Dr. told me to wear my contact lenses when shooting with iron sights. It made all the difference in the world, especially on normal mauser sights with the tiny notch in the rear sight.

Matt

 

[brboyer]

I wear progressive lenses. When I shoot pistols I use the Weaver stance which means I look out of the upper corner of my eyeglass lens. The problem is that the upper corner of the lens is distorted, plus, the top section of the lens is for long range. When I look at the front sight, I have to use the mid range.

With progressive lenses this whole process necessitates holding my head at a really awkward angle to find the correct portion of the lens.

I had toyed with the idea of just getting some glasses corrected for mid range, but then I wouldn't be able to see the target. Or much of anything else for that matter.

So my optometrist configured a pair of glasses specifically for shooting guns w/iron sights. Both lenses are corrected for long range, but he inserted something called a "golfer's segment" in the upper corner of one lens. This is a circle that's corrected for mid range and it works great.

I tried it yesterday on a Combat Commander, a Mark 4/Series 70, and a Sig 716. All with iron sights. It makes all the difference in the world.

Well, you could adopt a proper stance and fix that problem.

With your new setup I assume you are restricted to a very specific head position. This may work for bench type shooting, but for any active sport like USPSA/IDPA or even self defense, we may not always be able to get into perfect alignment.

Ask you eye doc about mono-vision glasses. Basically non-dominant eye is correct for distance and the dominant eye is corrected with the focal point on the front sight (or normal reading distance). I know a lot of people that use this setup on a daily basis (non-shooters) instead of going to bi-focals. Worked great for me!

 

[SunnySlopes]

or even self defense, we may not always be able to get into perfect alignment.

Ask you eye doc about mono-vision glasses. Basically non-dominant eye is correct for distance and the dominant eye is corrected with the focal point on the front sight

Re self-defense. I can imagine any number of situations where my glasses would not even be available. That said, my eyesight is still good enough to shoot a man sized target at typical SD distances.

Re your second suggestion. I discussed this with my optometrist. He said it was a possiblity, however, in his experience, too many of his clients can't use such a prescription. Their brains aren't able to process the information that way.

I actually knew a guy who had lasik and they did that, viz. one eye corrected for distance and the other for reading. The doc who did the procedure got the eyes mixed up and corrected the master eye for reading, the weak eye for distance, and my buddy never was right after that. His brain couldn't process the info.

The golfer's seg (correction: "shooter's seg" since it's not for golfing) is perfect for now.

 

[Frank Ettin]

I wear progressive lenses. When I shoot pistols I use the Weaver stance which means I look out of the upper corner of my eyeglass lens....

I also wear progressive lenses. When I shoot pistols, mostly in the Weaver but sometimes in an Isosceles, my head is erect; and I'm looking at the front sight through the "middle distance" part of my glasses.

 

[mdemetz]

The problem is that the upper corner of the lens is distorted, plus, the top section of the lens is for long range.

I asked about why things are out of focus in the bottom outside corner. I was shown that the corrective area of the lens is sorta hour glass shaped.

 

[r1derbike]

Shooting pistols with my progressives has been a disappointment with different 'scrips, wide-channel progs, everything I've tried.

Had to settle with a +.75 reading 'scrip. (just OTC reading glasses) to see the sights, and target equally. By equally I mean each very slightly out of focus, target no farther than 21 ft.

Have a weird combination of astigmatism/near/far sight issues after a car accident and brain tumor treatment. Could probably have a difficult, varied 'scrip. made for both eyes, (prefer to keep both eyes open, but sometimes not possible as my brain cannot process that, intermittently) but don't have thousands to spend on pistol shooting glasses. All my long guns have glass, covered there, but have to block free eye with the rifles. Things get very strange with both eyes open, looking through glass.

 

[Zeke/PA]

I struggled with the Progressive Lenses also and accepted my fate.
THEN along came Cataract Surgery and my Doc suggested Lasik surgery at the time.
I had it done, the "irons" look like they did years ago and now I only need specs for reading.
The surgery is elective though and I had to foot the bill but it was/is well worth the cost.

 

[SunnySlopes]

Zeke, not all of us are candidates for lasik. I'm one of those.

For the others, here's the concept. As far as I know, nobody is utilizing the golf seg for shooting.

Instead of the outside lower (for a golfer), mine is in the inside upper corner for my shooting stance when I use iron sights. It's great solution. Not the best (that would be guaranteed corrective surgery), but it's the best for me.

 

[soonerfan85]

GREAT. I'd never noticed any distortion from my progressive lenses, but thanks to you I'm sure I will now. :banghead:

As for lasik, I had it and even though I do see better I still require corrective lenses both near and long distances AND now my eyes are overly sensitive to lights so it's difficult to drive on two lane roads at night. Wish I'd never wasted my money on Lasik.

 

[Zeke/PA]

Zeke, not all of us are candidates for lasik. I'm one of those.

For the others, here's the concept. As far as I know, nobody is utilizing the golf seg for shooting.

Instead of the outside lower (for a golfer), mine is in the inside upper corner for my shooting stance when I use iron sights. It's great solution. Not the best (that would be guaranteed corrective surgery), but it's the best for me.

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.
Actually my Eye Doc was part of developing the Lasik stuff.
His is a shooter though and the Progressive lenses that he prescribed in days gone by were somewhat less painfull than those of some of my Compadres had to deal with.

 

[Trent]

I have the same problem, supposed to wear trifocals. (Also screwed with me when I did motorcycle racing)

I had my glasses made for distance only. I have another set of glasses for up close, I use when working or reading at night. When driving / shooting / hiking / whatever, I use my distance glasses.

 

[sniper5]

My solution:

For pistol with red dot: No Prob

For pistol without red dot- This: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/978528/merit-optical-attachment-with-suction-cup

For rifle with scope: No Prob

For rifle with aperture and irons-This: http://ahg.anschuetz-sport.com/inde...42&PHPSESSID=d6814badb667bc9403cf21f35c729878

I use the titanium frames and 42mm holder for rifle to make it more forgiving.

Not tacticool and paramilitary looking but VERY VERY effective at getting a perfect sight picture. But I shoot bolt rifles in 3 position.

 

[radar1972]

I have progressive lenses, too, and also use something akin to Weaver stance, but never had any problems using the mid range of the lens to focus on front sight and still see the target. I am far-sighted and the close up and mid range correction of the lenses are due to astigmatism. Maybe that's different than your situation.

 

[Trent]

Sniper5:

How does one go about GETTING those in your prescription? Have your eye doc order them?

 

[beatledog7]

I wear progressives, but the distant part of each lens is almost flat, very little correction. I don't wear them to shoot at all because for me the front sight is in focus without them. Just can't see up close.

 

[sniper5]

Trent:

You have a couple of options. You buy the glasses, which don't come with a lens and take the lens holder to the optometrist and tell him to make a circular lens in your prescription with about a 39" (or whatever your eye to front sight distance is) focal length, then after mounting the lens you adjust the lens holder until you are looking out the center of the lens when in shooting position behind the rifle. Helps if you write down the settings in case you want to return to them later.

Or you can order a circular lens from an online optometry shop if you know what the prescription should be (I knock off about a quarter diopter from my distance prescription and it's close enough for government work). You can always send the holder to them for fitting.

I order mine from these guys: http://www.10pt9.com/Gear/Glasses-a...om-ground-for-your-shooting-glasses-p243.html

The best choice for material is CR39 optical resin. Reasonably shatter resistant but no chromatic abberation (rainbowing) like with Polycarb.

These are system glasses so there are tons of accessories, different filters, apertures, etc. Properly set up, you will be shocked at how crisp the front sight is. They are pretty much what the Olympic teams use, along with Knobloch and Champions.

 

[Trent]

One of my problems is if my prescription is set up for me to actually SEE the target at longer ranges, then the front sight is blurry. (Astigmatism in my right eye).

I offset this by learning to shoot left handed with iron sights. I'm not QUITE as good yet, but I'm getting almost as proficient as a lefty as I am as a righty. My left eye is 3x better than my right eye and does NOT have an astigmatism, so hopefully I'll get better with time. I still suffer from hold control and trigger control problems, but I'm not too bad. I can hold 1.5" groups at 100 yards with either hand, but stretch it out to 300 and my accuracy suffers a LOT. Either from strong-side shooting with my bad eye, or weak-side shooting with my good eye.

 

[hueyville]

I can't do lasik as I spend a lot of time at high altitudes and after lasik as you go higher than 16,000 feet your vision gets progressively worse as the atmospheric pressure changes and causes the eye ball to change shape due to weakening from the lasik procedure. Don't want to be blind on top of a mountain, eh? So I have finally hit that magic time in life where the close-up vision is changing. What has worked for me is using the correct contact lens in weak eye and dominant eye is one that allows better focus at front site differences. As my eyes go farther away I plan to try a bifocal contact in my dominant eye but for now the slightly different lens is working.

 

[sniper5]

Trent,

The astigmatism can either be corrected in the prescription or you can use an aperture either on the sights or on the glasses (they make a nice one for the Nova's) to increase the depth of field. Also be careful about tinted lenses or sunglasses, they will make the pupils dilate and decrease depth of field. Notice you will never see sunglasses on shooters in the Olympics and only rarely at places like Camp Perry. Also as you get older your acomodation (depth of field) will suffer. Switching to a 6 o'clock hold and blacking both sights will increase contrast and visibility. Personally, given a choice I prefer double apertures (aperture front and rear sights-dot in a ring-in a ring-in a ring. . .). Front sight MUST be in focus, rear sight and target can be (and probably will be) blurry. Front aperture opening should be double the width of the bull, rear should be the smallest possible given available light conditions. For irons the front blade should be the width of the bull. I collect and shoot lots of old service rifles and some of the sights were really awful. But to me that adds to the challenge.

Oh, and this is going to sound kind of, well, "Duh", but clean your shooting glasses frequently.

 

[doubleh]

I have found that the solution that works for you now won't work in a few years. I got my first pair of progressive bifocals several years ago. Wow, I could use iron sight on pistols again but they took away iron sight use on rifles. Now I have a new prescription and iron sights on pistols are of no use and rifles are good.

My solution to restore pistol shooting was to find the correct power cheap reading glasses. Yes, the target is a little fuzzy but not enough to be a problem. A clip-on shade takes care of bright sunlight.

 

[Trent]

Trent,

The astigmatism can either be corrected in the prescription or you can use an aperture either on the sights or on the glasses (they make a nice one for the Nova's) to increase the depth of field. Also be careful about tinted lenses or sunglasses, they will make the pupils constrict and decrease depth of field. Notice you will never see sunglasses on shooters in the Olympics and only rarely at places like Camp Perry. Also as you get older your acomodation (depth of field) will suffer. Switching to a 6 o'clock hold and blacking both sights will increase contrast and visibility. Personally, given a choice I prefer double apertures (aperture front and rear sights-dot in a ring-in a ring-in a ring. . .). Front sight MUST be in focus, rear sight and target can be (and probably will be) blurry. Front aperture opening should be double the width of the bull, rear should be the smallest possible given available light conditions. For irons the front blade should be the width of the bull. I collect and shoot lots of old service rifles and some of the sights were really awful. But to me that adds to the challenge.

Oh, and this is going to sound kind of, well, "Duh", but clean your shooting glasses frequently.

Dude, that makes a lot of sense.

Three years ago I was hammering 300 yard targets no problem.

Now I'm struggling to even SEE the target. Last time I was out I had to put a 3x5' white paper backing just to make out a 6" black bullseye (and I could BARELY make that out, despite the 100% contrast on the center.)

Two and a half years ago I got "transitions" lenses so they go dark when I'm outside. I'd never once given any thought to that screwing with my shooting.

 

[sniper5]

Ooops, reread my post and meant to say that sunglasses or tints make pupils DILATE, not constrict.

 

[22-rimfire]

I had glasses made for mid range with also works for computer use. Essentially the focal length is set at about arms length. Hence I can see my front sights pretty clearly and the target is fuzzy.