Problems with eyes getting blurry in scopes

[Deereman7]

Good morning. I'm getting older and i now wear glasses. I have noticed over the past couple years my new, higher magnification scopes i have issues after 8 seconds looking at a target starts getting blurry. I have my reticle in focus, and parallax is spot on. I get a perfect picture until 8 seconds then gets blurry. According to the internet i have muscle strain. According to my eye doctor i have dry eyes. My eye doctor is not a shooter, he does help with law enforcement with pistol correction, which i have no issues. My question is there any eye doctors that you guys know in central Indiana that are actual shooters? It's getting bad enough that i need to get it resolved or retire. Thank you for any input

 

[NyleRN]

I don't any info on docs to help resolve the issue but I used to get a headache after shooting an extended period of time through magnified optics. Especially with targets at longer distance. What I've done to alleviate that is look through the optic with both eyes open until I'm pretty much where I want the dot/cross hairs to be. Then I'll close my left eye and take the shot

 

[Hawkeye7br]

Are you using a blinder on your non-shooting eye? A simple piece of paper target scotch taped on your lense will allow you to shoot without squinting.

 

[Ark]

8 seconds is short, but eye fatigue is definitely real and my eyes blur out pretty quick from staring through a scope or set of sights. That's just what happens when you close one eye and focus your vision hard on something.

Acquire target and shoot fast before your eyes give out.

 

[Tombs]

Are you adjusting your diopter correctly on your scope?

This sounds like a problem caused by improper diopter adjustment causing eye strain.

 

[Deereman7]

Yes, my reticle is very clear and crisp. I'm in focus and parallax is adjusted. I can drop my head a little and cross hairs don't move. On the one eye two eye. I always shoot scopes one eye. I've tried both eyes. It's the same, the tape over the left eye makes it much worse. Magnification definitely affects how blurry the target it. 25 power i can look 4 seconds longer. 55 power my eye fades pretty quick. The new scope i just got has a fine crosshair with a very small target dot. I probably didn't choose wisely.

 

[DadSmith]

Does your scope have an adjustable objective? If so try to change it to match the yards you are shooting.

 

[Doug]

It is easy to get the reticle adjustment wrong.
Start with the scope pointed at a featureless background; white wall, for example - distance doesn't matter.
Look off in the distance, for about 10 seconds to let your eye focus on infinity.
Quickly look through the eyepiece at your reticle. It should be sharp and clear at the instant you look through the scope. If your eye has to focus on it, you're out of adjustment.
Make small changes and repeat the process.
The goal is an instantly sharp reticle when your eye is completely relaxed and focused at infinite distance.

If the reticle is perfect, I recommend Refresh tears eyedrops. They are over-the-counter and help with my occasional focus problems while reading and web surfing.

 

[Doug]

Tequila seems to go that to me .

Does it affect your spelling?

 

[2in1evtime]

I have worn glasses for over 40 years, there are times i actually take them off when shooting scoped rifles and it helps.

 

[mark40sw]

It is easy to get the reticle adjustment wrong.
Start with the scope pointed at a featureless background; white wall, for example - distance doesn't matter.
Look off in the distance, for about 10 seconds to let your eye focus on infinity.
Quickly look through the eyepiece at your reticle. It should be sharp and clear at the instant you look through the scope. If your eye has to focus on it, you're out of adjustment.
Make small changes and repeat the process.
The goal is an instantly sharp reticle when your eye is completely relaxed and focused at infinite distance.

If the reticle is perfect, I recommend Refresh tears eyedrops. They are over-the-counter and help with my occasional focus problems while reading and web surfing.

This (above post)...

Adjusting the reticle can be difficult because the eye can focus on a wide range of reticle adjustments. When the eye has to strain to focus, fatigue can set in. The strain to focus is difficult to realize while adjusting reticle, unless using (above posted) process.

 

[Tombs]

Yes, my reticle is very clear and crisp. I'm in focus and parallax is adjusted. I can drop my head a little and cross hairs don't move. On the one eye two eye. I always shoot scopes one eye. I've tried both eyes. It's the same, the tape over the left eye makes it much worse. Magnification definitely affects how blurry the target it. 25 power i can look 4 seconds longer. 55 power my eye fades pretty quick. The new scope i just got has a fine crosshair with a very small target dot. I probably didn't choose wisely.

Crisp and clear doesn't mean much. The fact your eyes are "relaxing" to a state where the reticle goes blurry suggests you need to keep moving the diopter until that stops happening.

 

[russc2542]

Something not asked yet... what scope, exactly, are you using? I ask because clarity and quality vary significantly. I remember one day looking through my <$300 ACME 6-24 for two matches back to back with a splitting headache (from eyestrain) then getting home to find my $1300 Leupold 3-15 had arrived, looking through it and just thinking OMG I CAN SEE EVERYTHING. Even that ACME to a $400 Vortex Diamondback is a huge difference.