Do glasses sometimes cause poor handgun shooting?

rob-cubed · Apr 7, 2015

I need to get some shooting glasses that have bigger lenses and sit up higher. What I struggle with (prone especially) is holding my head vertical to get enough lens between eyeball, the front sight, and the target. It's more natural to look overtop of the lenses entirely. However I haven't had any issues with shooting with glasses otherwise, even on the extreme edge of the lens.

I had Lasik a decade ago, so my long-distance vision isn't horrible but still needs glasses to correct at this point. If my prescription was higher I'd expect far more distortion towards the edge of the lens vs the middle.

The one thing I do regret with Lasik is the amount of starbust on red dots of any flavor. It really sucks and turns what should be a dot into a dancing disco ball. Blue dots with a shorter wavelength would help, but I don't think anyone makes these?

photoracer · Apr 7, 2015

Tried bifocals when I was racing but stopped after a year. When I started shooting I lived with issues for a couple of years then took the advice and had a special set made up for shooting irons sights with a short focus on the dominant eye. For scopes and red dots I use normal glasses. I just get my glasses to correct my vision to 20/15 and get the rotation correction for astigmatism. For me red dots are perfectly round but they have to be 5 MOA or larger. I have since gone to 12-16 MOA dots for speed shooting and my shooting has improved a bunch since doing that. Shot my personal best in the Steel Challenge Smoke and Hope stage of 9.09 combined for 4 runs on Saturday at PNTC. I still have a lot of floaters in my eyes as one of my other issues.

lsw · Apr 7, 2015

I've been using reading glasses for some time now. Can't focus on anything close without them. Over the years the "close" distance has been slowly increasing, to the point that it now reaches beyond front sight distance. So for iron sighted rifles and handguns, I shoot better with the glasses on. I still like to practice without them sometimes, especially handguns. Like another poster said, you may not always have the luxury of putting glasses on in a SD situation. At room-length distance it probably doesn't matter for me much, but I definitely shoot better when I'm wearing glasses than without.

Pinecone · Apr 9, 2015

rob-cubed said:
I need to get some shooting glasses that have bigger lenses and sit up higher. What I struggle with (prone especially) is holding my head vertical to get enough lens between eyeball, the front sight, and the target. It's more natural to look overtop of the lenses entirely. However I haven't had any issues with shooting with glasses otherwise, even on the extreme edge of the lens.

I had Lasik a decade ago, so my long-distance vision isn't horrible but still needs glasses to correct at this point. If my prescription was higher I'd expect far more distortion towards the edge of the lens vs the middle.

The one thing I do regret with Lasik is the amount of starbust on red dots of any flavor. It really sucks and turns what should be a dot into a dancing disco ball. Blue dots with a shorter wavelength would help, but I don't think anyone makes these?

I buy my shooting glasses from Morgan Optical. The senior Morgan is/was a BIG time trap shooter. Call then and talk to them, they will help.

I use Randolph Ranger frames, that allow quick change of lenses. Brown for bright days (better contrast than gray), yellow for cloudy or indoors, and target purple for clays.

sxs · Apr 10, 2015

I don't have a real strong prescription for distance, but do use progressives for day-to-day use. However, for trap or shooting a rifle with a scope...especially while hunting....I use single vision glasses. The single vision lenses also let me see things to one side without turning my head which is a big help when deer hunting. For a handgun with open sights, I make use of my progressive lenses as there is a 'sweet spot' in the progressive add area. The biggest problem I have is with rifles with open sights. For rifles, I most often use my progressives, but have to keep shifting my head around on the stock. That's not very practical when hunting which is why I use scopes most of the time these days

DocAitch · Apr 10, 2015

I have had 20/600 vision since I was 11 years old. (correctable to 20/13 when I was younger, now 20/20)
I started to wear bifocals in my 40s, trifocals later.
I read an article on this in one of the gunzines some years ago and they recommended taking a pistol to the optician/ophthalmologist and having him set up the dominant eye lens to focus on the front sight. (I made a mock up from 2 pieces of wood with a nail for a front sight {looked like a rubber band gun}- didn't want to freak him out)
My shooting glasses now have that prescription for my right eye and regular near and far bifocals on the left. These work fine for me. The target is blurred but I aim for the center of the blur. I use regular distance lenses with rifle.
I have also found that when ambient light is high (out doors on a sunny day), the natural constriction of the pupil/iris will bring everything into better focus. This is the same effect as a pinhole camera.
Using this same effect, devices like the Merit Optical Device with an adjustable iris are very helpful if there is enough light (sometimes problematic indoors), with the drawback that they have to be adjusted by placement or head movement and this will slow your target acquisition.
I do not use red dots much, so don't have any experience with blurring of the dot.
At 69 years my tremor has become bad enough that I no longer shoot bulls eye style when I warm up with my 22s.
DocAitch

Do glasses sometimes cause poor handgun shooting?

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