Shooting with Declining Eyesight

[rhodco]

I'm sure there must be some guys out there over 50, like me, that can't see as well as we used to. The problem I'm struggling with is how to focus on the sights but still see the target. With my every-day prescription glasses I can focus on far objects fine, but obtaining a clear sight picture at arm's length is darn near impossible without putting on my reading glasses - and there would be no time for that.

I started using the Crimson Trace laser grips and that solution has helped me keep my focus on the target, but I can't use those for IDPA - which I really want to find a way to continue with somehow.

I'm thinking that progressive bifocals would be a difficult adjustment because of the head movements needed to change focus from near to far. Anyone had any experience shooting with these kind of glasses?

 

[MtnCreek]

You may benefit from practicing your draw. If you can make a consistent draw and hold the weapon the same way each time, don’t worry about the sites. Kinda like shooting a shotgun.

 

[GeoEmeritus]

I have lens implants that are fixed focus so my eyes no longer accomodate for distance. I have trifocals that are cut for close, middle and far distance. I optimized the middle to the distance of my front sight (also works for computer). I also have a pair of sunglasses that are bifocals with medium on the bottom and distance on the top. I don't like progressives because I can never be sure which part I'm looking through.

Also, for target work you can try a mask over one lens with a pinhole in it. That will increase your field of focus so both the front sight and the target are acceptably clear. I made mine out of a piece of thin sheet metal but you can buy an adjustable aperture with a suction cup that sticks on the glasses.

These days I'm trying to get ready for IDPA and the pinhole trick won't really work. I find that even though I can't focus the front sight anymore I can "concentrate" on it and put the sight picture in a consistent place in the blurry target image. I can put most rounds in the black at 15 yards in paced fire. You can get used to most anything with practice.

 

[heeler]

I am currently 58 and my dilemma using hanguns is this.
If I use my over the counter reading glasses I can get a good look at the sights but the target is not clear and when I take them off the target is clear but the sights are fuzzy.
So I figured it was time for prescription glasses.
I hate getting old.

 

[Ankeny]

rhodco:

There are several good threads about this very topic on Brian Enos' forums. Years ago I had the right lens in my shooting glasses set for the distance to the front sight and the left lens set to distance vision. That's a common set up. I am finding I can do pretty decent with a fuzzy sight picture so I now just settle for a trashy front sight when I shoot iron sights and I moved to an optic in USPSA. Yeah, I know optics are not part of the game in IDPA. Good luck.

 

[Japle]

If you can afford it, get your eyes done. LASIK is pretty routine these days and the price has come down.

About 8 years ago, I had my eyes done so that my right eye focuses from 10” to around 30” and my left eye focuses on distant objects. My brain just uses the best feed without any effort on my part. Now, I can focus on the front sight and see holes or hits on the target at the same time. I don’t have to wear prescription glasses, although I do have a pair that enhances my vision a bit. I only wear them at the range.

Get your eyes done. You’ll love it.

 

[davidatcs]

I use a reverse bi-focal for my right eye. It is high enough that it only comes into play when I tilt my head down towards the sight. The left lens is normal so I retain some distance vision with the left eye.

 

[rhodco]

My eyes are not bad enough to have any kind of surgical procedure done. I can still get around without glasses if I need to. But, one of the reasons why I like my .45 more now is because the holes it makes in the target are easier to see ;-)

I like the idea of having some shooting glasses with my distance prescription on the left, and near prescription on the right. I just tried it out with 2 pair of glasses cocked diagonally so I could see through one of each and I think I could work with that. Thanks!

 

[Fred Fuller]

Several years ago world class firearms trainer Louis Awerbuck had some bad health problems from a relapse of encephalitis or something like that. One of his big problems was visual. He wound up using ghost ring pistol sights, till his health improved.

Don't know if that would help in your case or not, but FWIW... http://www.brownells.com/1/3/ghost-ring-handgun-sights

lpl

 

[Cosmoline]

Ghost rings sound about right for that problem--you focus through them.

Personally I try to make a point of practicing even when the peeps are not up to full speed. My contacts frequently start to fail under stress, and it can be raining and so on. The more I practice when conditions are cruddy and I can't see, the easier it is to shoot in such conditions. I also find that if my stance is right the revolver is pre-aimed for the most part. Not a recipe for bullseyes, but it gets the job done at 10-15 yards and I stay in a 6" circle. My drills focus on shooting instantly as soon as I'm in my position. I try not to spend a lot of time aiming.

 

[Japle]

Ghost rings work on rifles because they're close to the eye. On handguns they're just another rear sight you have to line up with the front, plus there's no good way to line them up.

If they're big enough to look through, you have to try to center the front sight with no reference points.

Every year or so someone comes up with a "new and improved" ghost ring sight for pistols. They don't work.

 

[Kendal Black]

Got a shotgun?

The more my age and wisdom increase, the more I appreciate the abilities of a plain old bead sighted shotgun, which can do good work even if one's vision lacks the sparkling clarity of youth.

 

[TheProf]

The good news as it relates to diminishing eyesight is that most self-defense situations occur up close and personal. Most likely it will be at arm's length.

Prolonged shootouts across parking lots are unlikely scenarios for most civilians. Didn't say it can't happen...but most attacks occur up close.


Practicing your fast draw and learning to integrate unarmed tactics (to give you time to draw the gun) is what really counts in most self-defense situations....not "bull's eye shooting".

 

[Cop Bob]

One of the things that I have been saying for the last few years, is that when pistol shooters eyesight begins to fail,,, he becomes a rifle shooter...

It has been my problem for awhile now... I have tried the bi-focal, tri-focal... any focal I can get my hands on and my arms are still too darn short.... on the pistol range I have found some readers that will allow me to sharpen up on the front sight..

I too will follow this thread in search of enlightenment at a better way...

 

[Averageman]

Try another system.
Lots of folks are using a red dot sight, might work for you.

 

[JN01]

XS Big Dot sights work great for quick acquisition at close range, not as good for tiny little bulls-eye groups though.

Red dots are another way to go, Trijicon RMR is the best but is pricey.

 

[19&41]

CT lasergrips can be a good option also.

 

[Japle]

The good news as it relates to diminishing eyesight is that most self-defense situations occur up close and personal. Most likely it will be at arm's length.

Sometimes that doesn't help at all.

A few years ago, I was in the waiting room while my wife was having LASIK. I started talking to the guy sitting next to me. He had quite a story.

He was asleep in his house with his two teenage kids in their rooms when someone started kicking in the front door. By the time he woke up, there was someone standing in his bedroom doorway. He had a gun in the drawer next to the bed, but without his glasses, he couldn’t tell whether the person standing there was a BG or one of his kids. He grabbed his glasses, put them on, opened the drawer to get his gun and was immediately punched by the intruder. The guy threw him on the floor, picked up his gun, covered him with a blanket and told him if he moved, he’d die.

The poor guy stayed under the blanket, hoping his kids were OK (he could hear what was going on and they sounded alright) and listening to his house being ransacked. The BGs eventually left and he checked his kids. They weren’t hurt, just scared to death.

He told me, “I’m never going to be in that position again. I made an appointment to get my eyes fixed the next day”.

 

[BleysAhrens]

I use progressives. I'm only 37 and have had cataract surgery in both eyes... Better than going blind, but sucks for shooting.

 

[bikerdoc]

I'm thinking that progressive bifocals would be a difficult adjustment because of the head movements needed to change focus from near to far. Anyone had any experience shooting with these kind of glasses?

I am 62. Been using them for 14, I guess I have adapted.

 

[Uteridge]

I know a pretty well known instructor that has a flexible adhesive lens pasted to the part of his strong eye shooting glasses that he looks through when shooting a pistol. Not sure who makes them or how expensive they are but it sounds like it would work for you. I use a similar set up on my military glasses but they are Oakley lenses that fit on the nose piece of my ballistic glasses instead of the paste and stick lens that this instructor uses.

 

[EchoBravo]

You might also look into monovision contact lenses. That's what I use when shooting. One lens is focused for close vision (sights), the other for distance (target). Won't work for rifle, so I use a scope for that. For glasses I have multifocals, but can't shoot with them.

 

[KodiakBeer]

For target shooting just use low powered reading glasses of about +1.00. You can see both the sights and the target clear enough to shoot effectively.

For defense, you really can't walk around wearing reading glasses....

 

[Resist Evil]

"For defense, you really can't walk around wearing reading glasses...."

This is the key aspect of looking for an answer to this vision thing. Some of us are looking for a consensus of what genuinely works for everyday living and for the hopefully never-to-occur unsocial interaction of self-defense using a firearm.

 

[ms6852]

Like most I cannot focus close up so shooting with glasses at most is not an option and like me my problem cannot be fixed with Lasik surgery. Instead I had my doctor write me up two prescriptions one for reading and the other for long distance. I use the long distance glasses which I placed on the smallest frame available that way I can look over the frames if need be. This allows me to focus with handguns and the target with very little head movement or eye movement. Using the long distance prescriptions also allows me to use iron sights on my rifles without the fuzzy or floaties one sees when trying to focus.