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Old August 8, 2014, 03:32 PM   #26
DannyB1954
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Get your arms stretched.
I have not bought one yet, but I do like the front fiber optic sights on the XDS 45. If their XDS9mm was thinner, I might give it a go.
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Old August 9, 2014, 07:54 PM   #27
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I'm up to tri-focal glasses and Millet SP-1 Red Dots on the handguns. Without the Millet's I had given up shooting accurately. These new compact sights like the Burris Fastfire's look nice and unobtrusive on a gun. If I had the disposable income I would get one, or two, or three.
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Old August 10, 2014, 07:51 AM   #28
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I hate it when my eyes get tired and there's still ammo left. The Lasik I got a while ago cured my extreme near sightedness, but sometimes the sight picture fades after a while. I'm going to put some electrical tape in the range bag to try the aperture on the shooting glasses trick. If that works, I'll spring for the Merit version. Anyone else try this?
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Old August 10, 2014, 10:39 AM   #29
JeffK
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Quote:
I'm going to put some electrical tape in the range bag to try the aperture on the shooting glasses trick
I was thinking of trying that too. The aperture needs to be pretty close to your eye though, and glasses distance will narrow down your field of vision quite a bit.
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Old August 10, 2014, 03:14 PM   #30
willr
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Looking through the posts I don't find anyone mentioning cataract surgery which is what I have. I found that the only thing I can do is to use trifocals with an extra wide intermediate area. This enables me to focus well on the front sight. Progressive lenses aren't ground in a way that is conducive to the kind of focus we need for shooting.

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Old August 11, 2014, 09:19 AM   #31
g.willikers
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Another trick I've adopted is to have a wide rear sight and a narrow front sight.
This allows lots of light around the front sight and makes it much easier to pick up and center, even in low light.
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Old August 12, 2014, 05:13 AM   #32
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Have you tried night sights? Otherwise, lasik/glasses might work for you.
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Old August 12, 2014, 05:44 AM   #33
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Unlined 'tri-focals' are what my Doc prescribed. I'm a happy camper now!
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Old August 12, 2014, 08:22 AM   #34
AK103K
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Something to consider, and Im certainly not saying its "the" answer, but something to consider, is skipping the glasses and letting your eyes get stronger.

About 8 years ago, I was wearing trifocals, as prescribed by my eye doctor, which I broke at work, and due to where I was working, wasnt able to get a replacement at the time. Id got them 5 or 6 years previous to that, and every other year or so, they kept increasing the power of them, as they did with the set of fixed power "reading" glasses I had for a number of years before that.

When my glasses broke, I went on to just wearing my safety "sun" glasses in their place (my regular glasses were also sun glasses). Over the months, I began to notice I really didnt miss the trifocals, and the only time I felt I needed glasses, was when I was trying to read small print on plans, or labels. I solved that issue with Walmart 1.25 "cheaters".

I also noticed my shooting did not seem to suffer without the glasses, and in fact, seemed slightly better as time went on.

My thoughts here are, that the eye glass industry is really a big racket. Im not saying that there arent people out there who really do need them, there are, but I think there are probably more, who really dont, or didnt, and once they got their hooks in you, and started increasing the power with each additional visit, your eyes just kept getting weaker and weaker as the power increased, and you became, for lack of a better term, "addicted" to, and needed them more.

Im convinced for me, this was the case, and my eyes are stronger now, since quit wearing them, than they were 8 years ago.

Ive had a couple of eye exams over the past eight years, and asked the doctor giving the exam at each of them, if this was possible, and they both seemed to blow me off, and want to skirt the question, and basically said no.

Now both of these doctors were different doctors from different places, and neither was the one who prescribed my last pair. Interestingly enough, while they said I did need glasses (who'd have thunk?), their prescriptions were not as strong as the ones I broke.


These days, I wear my $6 safety sun glasses when I shoot, and I have no troubles seeing the sights, or making good hits on the targets. I still need the "cheaters" for reading the small print on stuff, but at $7 a pack of 3, its a good bit cheaper than the $500+ a pair the last set of trifocals cost me.
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Old August 12, 2014, 10:09 AM   #35
g.willikers
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^^^
Kind of like asking most doctors if nutritional supplements are any good.
I discovered the same thing.
Most eye problems are due to eye strain that cause the eyeball to change shape, throwing them out of focus.
Learning how to relax the eyes helps a lot.
There's relaxing exercises available on the web, from various sources, easily found with a web search.
The only time I really need glasses to shoot is with precision type shooting, like small targets at longer distances.
Reading is another matter, though.
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Old August 13, 2014, 02:21 AM   #36
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right there with you

Age 56, and I had great vision up to about 2 years ago.

A set of 1x readers is working for me, for IDPA and paper shooting, I slip them on and it works fine. Not practical for SD or hunting.

One thing I am considering is mounting a small dot like the Burris Fastfire on top of my big Glock 10mm for a deer pistol. I will kill a deer with that blaster yet.
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Old August 13, 2014, 11:51 PM   #37
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A lot of folks with poor eyesight are switching to holographic/tritium/red dot sights that mount on the rear sight dovetail. Trijicon RMR, Leupold DeltaPoint, and Burris FastFire II are all good options for that.

Here's a good article on the subject, if you're interested.

http://www.defensivecarry.com/forum/...s-pistols.html
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Old August 21, 2014, 02:03 PM   #38
paw080
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..There is a First Step..

Hi JeffK, you said:
"This must be a common problem. As I've gotten older, my near vision has gradually gone to hell, to the point that at an indoor range with low lighting, I can barely focus my eyes on the sights. If I try hard, I can do it for a little while and am accurate, but then my eyes get tired and my accuracy drops because the sights become little blurs and I have to guess where I'm aimed. This is less of a problem outdoors in bright sunlight. Short of a scope or laser, what do other folks do to help with this problem? Reading glasses would bring the sights back into focus, but then the target would become blurry - maybe that's still an improvement, I haven't tried. Bright headlamp? Fancy glasses with mirrors and diopters? "


There have been some interesting replies; However, the very first thing you

should do is have your eyes examined by an Ophthalmologist. This exam may reveal

other issues related to your vision besides the loss of flexibility. You may have

astigmatic issues that impair best focusing. If you primarily shoot paper bullseye

targets at your range; then focusing on the front sight blade is what 99% of all

Bullseye competitors do while aligning the front and rear sights. There is no exception

to this mandate. NRA match shooters lift and then hold the pistol in their Aiming Area,

waiting for the commence fire command. The black bull is ALWAYS a dark gray

fuzzy or blurred blob.


So, what you must do, is tell the Ophthalmologist that you want to have a prescription

for the distance from your eye to the front sight blade when in your shooting stance.

This being while holding the pistol with your outstretched hand, or both hands;

it depends on how you shoot. I have done this; having the optician tech cut

lenses for some older discarded glasses frames. Obviously you only need one

lens for your dominant eye. I've also had a lens cut for my Vargas shooting

frames for 10M air pistol and 50M(Free Pistol). There is a negative aspect to

using something as an iris to sharpen up your sights, it also sharpens the target

which has a very bad distractive affect on precise bullseye shooting.


Of course, if you plink more than you shoot paper bull targets, then AFTER you

get a prescription for a corrective lens for your dominant eye; the diopter is a

fun thing to use. There is a commercial adjustable diopter available from the Merit Co.

It sticks onto the glass lens with a suction cup and rotates into and away from

your line of vision. I wish you good luck and successful shooting.


Tony(72 years old and still shooting Bullseye)

Last edited by paw080; August 21, 2014 at 02:11 PM. Reason: Grammatic correction
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Old August 21, 2014, 03:13 PM   #39
BubbaBlades
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h3fG_LCqhE

As others have said, you need to have your sights in sharp focus and you need to be able to see your target clear enough to make an accurate shot. My solution to this problem was to have a different power contact lenses made for specific use in each eye.
My left eye is better than 20/15 and my right (sighting eye) is about 20/30. This combination allows me to see a 25 yard target as small as the 1/2" dot in my above YouTube video.

I have been using this method for almost twenty years since my vision changed in my early forties.

Mark aka BubbaBlades
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Old August 21, 2014, 07:45 PM   #40
gus3836
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I use variable focal contacts. It is as close as you can get to young eyes. I also took a pistol to eye doctor. There are trade offs but for shooting they work well.
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Old August 21, 2014, 09:36 PM   #41
MarkGlazer
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This is an interesting read. I have similar problems and before I spend any money on anything I try to do as much research as possible and employ proven technique before I resort to "just buying something."

Good luck.

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Old August 22, 2014, 07:45 AM   #42
AK103K
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Thanks Mark, that was a good article, with some very valid points, especially for beyond the simple target shooting venue.

Knowing you can shoot reasonably well without your glasses to me, is more important than shooting tiny groups with them.

As was said in the article.....

"… if you want to improve and maintain your shooting skills, you do need to go to the range regularly for dedicated practice, just as you need to go to the gym regularly to stay in shape."

Doing so, increases the likelihood of doing well should you be without them, since you have the muscle and brain memory ingrained into your psyche.
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Old August 22, 2014, 08:03 AM   #43
WC145
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I wear bifocals and I have to tip my head back to be able to focus on the front sight through the reading portion of the lenses, it's a pain and it makes the target much more blurry than it would normally be. A couple of posts mentioned red dots, I have a Trijicon RMR02 mounted on my FNP45 Tactical and it works very well. The thing to keep in mind is that shooting with a red dot requires you to focus on the target, not your front sight like you would with iron sights. Your target is in focus and you superimpose the dot on the target. Both the target and the dot are on the same focal plane so they will both be in focus at the same time. With this set up a can keep my head level and look through the upper/distance part of my glasses. I carried this rig on duty for a couple of years before recently retiring from LE, and have been very pleased with it, now it does night stand duty.
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Old August 22, 2014, 11:54 AM   #44
Alpena
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I have issues with glasses, whenever I try to see the sights with them I can't keep focus at all. I'm in my twenties so for me it was easier to just switch to contacts. Now I can shoot with no problem. To me this is the only real solution unfortunately. My father is pushing 60 and has good eyesight but just can't focus in dimlighting. He won't wear glasses so I'm thinking of just buying him a laser guide rod and calling it a day.
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Old August 22, 2014, 07:49 PM   #45
JeffK
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Just a follow-up, I tried wearing 1.25 diopter reading glasses (cheap from Walmart) at an indoor range this afternoon, and big improvement - maybe enough for now. That means I can't focus on the target, which is annoying since for precise shooting I go in/out, rear sight to front sight to target and back, before settling in on the front sight. But I guess at some point our ability to do that goes away forever, it's either close or far at least indoors, and getting the sights in focus is more important. Next time I will remove one of the lenses though, so I can see the target with one eye without taking the glasses off. Slightly lower power might work even better, but 1.25 was the weakest I could find.
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Old August 22, 2014, 08:11 PM   #46
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I was teaching a shooting school recently. A female officer was doing ok, but I could tell she had more potential. I asked her "how old are you?"
She said 43. I said hold on a sec. Came back and handed her a pair of 1.25 readers. Instant massive improvement.

Said she was going to the eye doc the next week. That's all it took.
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