Shooting Handgun - Nearsighted With Glasses

[dross]

I'm nearsighted, with glasses that make me far-sighted. So, of course with my glasses on, I can see the target, but the front sight is blurry, and if I look over the top of my glasses I can see the front sight clearly, but I can't see the a small item at 7 yards, or a typical target at 25 yards.

For those of you who share my condition, do you look through your glasses and deal with the fuzzy sights, or do you look over your glasses and deal with a target you can't see well?

 

[mssmith44]

Hi I share your problem. I have bifocals now where I can focus at different distances by tilting my head.
For pistol shooting open sights sight alignment is very important. That is front to rear aligned with each other, then on the target.
For bench rest accuracy aligning the sights with the best focus on the sights.
for speed shooting some where between the sights and the target so they are both slightly out of focus.
If you have a dot sight then far sighted is better.

 

[clelaj]

I have same problem. Bifocals, tip your head and squint just right to focus on front sight. I have red dot on my 22 pistol and that is great and easy

 

[NHT3]

Crimson trace laser.. Allows you to focus on the target (which is probably what you will do in a stressful situation) not on the sights.. Like you I see two front sights but see the target just fine.. If you are just talking about bullseye shooting find the magnification that allows you to see the front sight clearly, for me it's 1.5. That's how I work with the situation.

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[Grelber]

For those of you who share my condition, do you look through your glasses and deal with the fuzzy sights, or do you look over your glasses and deal with a target you can't see well?

So far I've been able to get by with using non-prescription safety glasses and shooting at a fuzzy target. It is not possible for anyone to have their eyes focused at two different distances at the same time, so everyone who focus's on the front sight is shooting at a fuzzy target to some degree.

A lot of folks deal with the issue by having special glasses (or contacts) made that allow near focus with the dominate eye and distance vision with the weak eye.

I got scared of looking over glasses after experiencing blow back from a bad primer & watching what happened when a shooter shot a double charged round & getting a cut from lead coming back off of a steel & etc, I want something between my eyeballs and where the action is. The other thing is it makes it hard or impossible to have good shooting posture, unless you are dropping your glasses down your nose a bit or something like that.

 

[88E30M50]

I have the same issue. I can either tilt my head back and see a clear front sight and fuzzy target through the lower reading part of my bifocals or look normally and see a fuzzy front sight over a clear target. I used to wear contacts regularly and have done the mono-vision for years. Last year I tried to fix my issue by having the prescription adjusted so the front sight was clear in my right eye and the target clear in my left. That actually works pretty well for me except I had the near vision adjusted out a bit too far to read without reading glasses. Now, I don't wear the contacts very often because I never remember to carry reading glasses and that leaves me back with the bifocals.

I have found that if I shoot without the bifocals and just use a good pair of non-prescription shooting glasses, I can shoot better. But, that's not very practical in a day to day carry environment.

 

[Hardscrable]

I wear tri-focals and share your grief. Crimson trace on self defense guns. Bright fiber optic front sight on range/competition pistols - - how I focus depends on situation, distance but nothing is perfect. Have avoided prescription shooting glasses but considering.

 

[Classic]

Gradient or "lineless" bifocals work for me. Can adjust for rifle or pistol sights with a little head tilt.

 

[Bosshoss]

Sights sharp and target out of focus. This is what you want.

Everytime I get new everyday glasses I take my old ones and make them my shooting glasses.
I have a non-bifocal lens put in my dominate side that focuses at front sight length and I leave the old bifocal in the non-dominate side.
This still gives me some depth-perception when shooting and moving thru a stage(USPSA). It also allows the front sight to stay sharp.
Usually cost $65 or so for a non-bifocal lenes in my old glasses.

 

[redryder]

Like Bosshoss said, get you some shooting glasses.

 

[LarryC]

Like Classic, I went with the gradient lens in my glasses. By nodding my head slightly, I can focus on the target, then on the sights, works well for me. I have equipped most of the rifles I regularly shoot with scopes but kind of hard to do that with my EDC.

 

[wdan5906]

I believe once you get to the age when you are in bi-focals or tri-focals, other than for bullseye shooting or regulated action shooting (IDPA or USPSA) where custom eye glasses can be used, the only solution is to train with your street glasses. learn to shoot with fuzzy sights and focus on the immediate threat. Old guy brain default mode.

 

[romad7]

I've heard of guys using red dot sights when their eyes go bad. That would probably be a good investment.

 

[Hardscrable]

I believe once you get to the age when you are in bi-focals or tri-focals, other than for bullseye shooting or regulated action shooting (IDPA or USPSA) where custom eye glasses can be used, the only solution is to train with your street glasses. learn to shoot with fuzzy sights and focus on the immediate threat. Old guy brain default mode.

I use lasers on EDC and one red dot on a specific competition gun, but this has been my basic philosophy. I have hesitated using shooting glasses for USPSA, steel, etc thinking it is better to be used to shooting with fuzzy sights/target if the need ever should arise than call time out while I change glasses. Batteries die, lasers/dots break or malfunction.

 

[88E30M50]

Has anyone else resorted to adding a touch of fluorescent orange to the front sight to make it easier to pick up? After putting a set of Trijicon HDs on a Glock 21, I realized how much easier it was to pick the front sight up configured that way and since the things run about $150 a set, I've been doing a home brew HD of sorts. I can't afford to replace all of my carry sights at once, so this helps until such a time as I can replace them.

 

[Brewster]

I'm near sighted with bad astigmatism. It's a real buzz kill with handguns but surprisingly doesn't seem to have a big effect on shooting long guns.

 

[bmiley1963]

Eye wear contacts. When I wear contacts in both eyes, I need reading glasses. Without my contacts I can read fine. So I have gone to "mono vision". I wear one contact in my left eye. That way I can see far away with my left eye and read, or focus on my front sight, with my right eye. Took me a couple of days to get used to it but works for me.

 

[Dundee]

Sights sharp and target out of focus. This is what you want.
.

i agree with this

 

[Zoub]

If you practice enough, you won't even need your sights.

I know, people are choking on their own vomit right now and want to call BS. I started life as a shotguner. I noticed early on with my Glocks that in a way the flat black top of the slide was kind of like a shotgun barrel. So about 20 years ago I took the sights off a G21 and ran it for a year like that on steel plates. 15 yards and in, no problem. I shot my Glock like a shotgun, go figure. And what does a red dot do? It allows you to shoot your handgun like a shotgun.

There are lots of solutions but looking over the top of your glasses is not it. Any of the options above work. Muscle memorization is going to be important. Start on a target that is close (paper) and learn your sight picture. Again, there is no wrong way to make hits, just misses. With shotguns, some people will get on target and do the coarse adjustments with both eyes open. Then they fine tune right before the shot with one eye closed.

If your vision is so jacked up that even the front sight is blurry, then your daily wear glasses should probably be set up for different scrips in each lens as mentioned above. After a week or two your brain adjusts to it. The other option is shooting glasses set up that way and then keep those by your gun at home and use at the range.

no matter what you have to practice and start at 5-7 yards so you make hits and get instant feedback.

 

[AA&E]

Sights sharp and target out of focus. This is what you want.

Everytime I get new everyday glasses I take my old ones and make them my shooting glasses.
I have a non-bifocal lens put in my dominate side that focuses at front sight length and I leave the old bifocal in the non-dominate side.
This still gives me some depth-perception when shooting and moving thru a stage(USPSA). It also allows the front sight to stay sharp.
Usually cost $65 or so for a non-bifocal lenes in my old glasses.

i agree with this

I agree with these men. The focus should be on the front sight, an out of focus target shouldn't be an issue, everyone else experiences fuzzy targets too if sighting properly.