Sighting disc for use on eyeglasses?

Warhorse · Feb 21, 2011

Didn't want to hijack the bifocals thread.

Has anyone had experience using a sighting disc that is applied to eyeglasses to help bring BOTH the sights and the target into sharper focus.

These are attached to the lens through which you are sighting either with a mild adhesive or a suction cup (suction cup is an additional part). They have a relatively small hole that is supposed to work on the same principle as a pinhole camera. They block out approximately a 1/2" circle and you look through the hole in the middle of it.

Sounds like it should work. I just purchased some but haven't yet tried them.

Anyone have pros or cons on this idea? The first thing that came to my mind is that you probably need reasonably good light to be able to use them.

jjbduke2004 · Feb 21, 2011

I think they're popular in Bullseye (NRA Conventional Pistol) circles. You might want to check with mike_in_md who is the resident Bullseye guy. If he doesn't use them, he probably knows someone who does.

mike_in_md · Feb 21, 2011

jjbduke2004 said:
I think they're popular in Bullseye (NRA Conventional Pistol) circles. You might want to check with mike_in_md who is the resident Bullseye guy. If he doesn't use them, he probably knows someone who does.

Thanks for the introduction there jjbduke. LOL.

I don't have experience with them, but I have heard a couple of shooters say great things about the merit delux opticals. I wear progressive glasses for red dot shooting, and I wear single vision computer distance glasses for iron sights. My uncorrected vision in my shooting eye for distance is 20/30 and I need a 1.50 correction for my shooting eye for iron sights (computer distance). That combination makes the front sight very sharp and target a little more blurry, which works great for me.

If you can see the front sight very sharp and the target as a blur... that is what you want to see. That's why I use single vision computer glasses for iron sight shooting. Being able to see both the target and front sight clearly can cause problems with accuracy because your eye will probably focus somewhere in between the front sight and target, or either or. I think perfect vision requires much more mental disipline and training.

Warhorse · Feb 21, 2011

mike_in_md said:
Thanks for the introduction there jjbduke. LOL.

I don't have experience with them, but I have heard a couple of shooters say great things about the merit delux opticals. I wear progressive glasses for red dot shooting, and I wear single vision computer distance glasses for iron sights. My uncorrected vision in my shooting eye for distance is 20/30 and I need a 1.50 correction for my shooting eye for iron sights (computer distance). That combination makes the front sight very sharp and target a little more blurry, which works great for me.

If you can see the front sight very sharp and the target as a blur... that is what you want to see. That's why I use single vision computer glasses for iron sight shooting. Being able to see both the target and front sight clearly will cause problems with accuracy because your eye will probably focus somewhere in between the front sight and target, or either or.

I understand what you are saying in regard to glasses. Actually, single correction glasses is what I currently use so that I can see the front sight clearly. (My arms have simply gotten too short.)

I don't understand your statement that being able to see both front sight and target clearly will cause problems with accuracy.

The concept behind the sighting disc is to improve focus in both places through the "pinhole camera" effect. In theory, it should work. In practice...... Well, the jury is still out.

mike_in_md · Feb 21, 2011

Warhorse said:
I understand what you are saying in regard to glasses. Actually, single correction glasses is what I currently use so that I can see the front sight clearly. (My arms have simply gotten too short.) I don't understand your statement that being able to see both front sight and target clearly will cause problems with accuracy.

The concept behind the sighting disc is to improve focus in both places through the "pinhole camera" effect. In theory, it should work. In practice...... Well, the jury is still out.

Seeing the target in sharp focus will not help you. It can only serve to distract you. Holes will appear in the target corresponding to wherever the barrel of the gun happened to be pointing at the time you broke the trigger. Get the front sight in clear sharp focus and centered in the rear sight notch. Concentrate on getting the trigger to break without disturbing sight alignment. Focus on the sight alignment, not the target.

Here's the target I shot yesterday at the AGC using a Colt 1911 with iron sights and 230 grain FMJ ammo from 25 yards in rapid fire, one handed similar to my avatar photo, focusing on sight alignment only.

Warhorse · Feb 21, 2011

Hey! Great target! Congrats! :thumbsup:

Back near the middle of last century I used to be able to do that with a .45 acp in Bullseye competition, too. Of course back then I had 20/10 vision in both eyes. Now I'm happy if I can keep nearly all shots in the black with a two-hand hold.

If we ever get a break in the weather, I'm going to give the sighting discs a try. Will post again on that subject eventually.

mike_in_md · Feb 21, 2011

Warhorse said:
Hey! Great target! Congrats!

Back near the middle of last century I used to be able to do that with a .45 acp in Bullseye competition, too. Of course back then I had 20/10 vision in both eyes. Now I'm happy if I can keep nearly all shots in the black with a two-hand hold.

If we ever get a break in the weather, I'm going to give the sighting discs a try. Will post again on that subject eventually.

Since I'm a relative newbie in the vision falling apart department I'm interested in learning all I can learn on vision aids. I started with 20/15 vision and when I hit my 40's my vision started falling apart :lol2:

I turn 50 in a couple of months and as of about 5 months ago I started noticing my far vision degrading. Now I need glasses all the time...getting old sucks.

Warhorse · Feb 21, 2011

Missed something!

Interesting! With just the two of us posting we are already getting a little thread drift. :lol2:

I just realized that I failed to state that I am primarily interested in these sighting discs for rifle with iron sights.

My single-focus glasses are fine for pistol up to 50 yards. My distance vision is still fine. For 200 yard targets, I get sharp focus on the target with no glasses (other than safety) but can't see the sights clearly. With glasses, the sights are in focus but the distant targets are a little hard to see. (We use multiple targets of different sizes, shapes and colors for Battle Rifle competition.) I am hoping that the highly vaunted sighting discs can actually help in that arena.

It's going to be a while before I can get back to rifle at 200 yards. Will post after testing that sometime this millenium. :lol2:

mike_in_md · Feb 21, 2011

Hey Warhorse, Another option to consider is Monovision. I was just reading an article from GunBlast about High Quality Prescription Shooting Glasses from SafeVision, LLC. They basically grind the shooting eye lens to focus on the front sight, and the other eye for distance. You can also make them add a bifocal.

Here's the article I read http://www.gunblast.com/LT_SafeVision.htm

Warpspasm · Feb 25, 2011

mike_in_md said:
Hey Warhorse, Another option to consider is Monovision. I was just reading an article from GunBlast about High Quality Prescription Shooting Glasses from SafeVision, LLC. They basically grind the shooting eye lens to focus on the front sight, and the other eye for distance. You can also make them add a bifocal.

Here's the article I read http://www.gunblast.com/LT_SafeVision.htm

This sounds like what some people do with contact lenses. If they have decent vision for reading, they will only wear one contact; their distance one. Then, when they have to read something, their brain will make the adjustment to pay attention to the non-contact lens eye and ignore the one that has the contact. I wonder if it would work the other way.

Doppelganger · Feb 25, 2011

mike_in_md said:
Hey Warhorse, Another option to consider is Monovision. I was just reading an article from GunBlast about High Quality Prescription Shooting Glasses from SafeVision, LLC. They basically grind the shooting eye lens to focus on the front sight, and the other eye for distance. You can also make them add a bifocal.

Here's the article I read http://www.gunblast.com/LT_SafeVision.htm

Mike and Warhorse,
I have a pair of WileyX glasses that are are ground that way. It works very well for cowboy shooting, or any other kind of shooting where your focus is constantly shifting due to stage requirements.
They do take some getting used to when they're first put on. I can "feel" my eyes changing back and forth as I look near to far and back again. After a few minutes I don't notice it any more.

The pin hole trick works very well for me. I tried it out just the other day with my M39 Mosin. I just poked a hole in a small piece of electrical tape to try it out.
At 100 yds, a 50yd slow-fire bull is so blurry,I can hardly see it. At 200 yds, I can't tell there's even a bull on the target. (front sight is pretty sharp).
With the pin hole, the front sight is razor sharp along with the 100yd bull. The 200yd bull is slightly blurry. My groups shrunk by 2/3rds with the pin hole.

The hole had to be made bigger as the clouds rolled in. A Merit disc has an adjustable aperature that is easy to use. Now that I know it works, I"ll be getting a Merit.

Warhorse · Feb 25, 2011

First experimental report!

Doppelganger said:
Mike and Warhorse,

The pin hole trick works very well for me. I tried it out just the other day with my M39 Mosin. I just poked a hole in a small piece of electrical tape to try it out.
At 100 yds, a 50yd slow-fire bull is so blurry,I can hardly see it. At 200 yds, I can't tell there's even a bull on the target. (front sight is pretty sharp).
With the pin hole, the front sight is razor sharp along with the 100yd bull. The 200yd bull is slightly blurry. My groups shrunk by 2/3rds with the pin hole.

The hole had to be made bigger as the clouds rolled in. A Merit disc has an adjustable aperature that is easy to use. Now that I know it works, I"ll be getting a Merit.

Thanks, Doppleganger. That is exactly what I have been led to believe. I just have not yet performed the experiment myself.

I had not heard of the "Merit disc" but it sounds like a good idea. I already knew that dimmer light would probably require a larger aperature for visibility. I imagine that it is a matter of degree, not an absolute thing, for aperature size. Even the Merit disc will probably require some experimenting for an optimum adjustment.

Doppelganger · Feb 25, 2011

Warhorse said:
Thanks, Doppleganger. That is exactly what I have been led to believe. I just have not yet performed the experiment myself.

I had not heard of the "Merit disc" but it sounds like a good idea. I already knew that dimmer light would probably require a larger aperature for visibility. I imagine that it is a matter of degree, not an absolute thing, for aperature size. Even the Merit disc will probably require some experimenting for an optimum adjustment.

Midway and Natchez both carry the Merit, it runs around $60. It has a little suction cup on it to stick it on your glasses. There's a dial on it that you turn to adjust the size of the aperature.

Something that I'm going to try before I spend 60 bucks is called "Clear 2Target"
They're a black static-cling disc that sticks to your glasses. A sheet of 8 of them costs about $6. They're supposed to be reusable.

Warhorse · Feb 25, 2011

Doppelganger said:
Midway and Natchez both carry the Merit, it runs around $60. It has a little suction cup on it to stick it on your glasses. There's a dial on it that you turn to adjust the size of the aperature.

Something that I'm going to try before I spend 60 bucks is called "Clear 2Target"
They're a black static-cling disc that sticks to your glasses. A sheet of 8 of them costs about $6. They're supposed to be reusable.

I have a set of the "Clear 2 Target" discs. That is what I was planning to use if the weather ever clears and warms up enough to get back to the rifle range. The disc backings seem to have a mild adhesive that should be reuseable, at least a few times, if you don't get any contaminant on them. They claim that after you get used to them you don't even notice they are in place. Somehow I doubt that.

I also have a Lyman "Hawkeye" that attaches to the lens with a suction cup. It doesn't have an adjustable aperature, however. Don't remember what it costs. May have come from Midway as a freebie with another order.

Warhorse · Feb 25, 2011

Merit Sighting Disc

Just checked with Midway and read the reviews on the Merit sighting disc. All were very favorable but a couple noted that they have problems with the non-sighting eye taking over on firing. Don't think that will be a problem for me as I close the left eye for rifle anyway. (Left eye is the master eye so don't have the option of shooting with both eyes open.)

Still, $60 is a bit much for something like this. I'll give the ones I have a thorough test before I consider spending that much for a Merit.

BTW, if you do a search for this device use ONLY "Merit" as anything more results in failure to find. :envy:

mike_in_md · Feb 25, 2011

Here's another optical device similar to merit...cost $75 though. http://www.champchoice.com/prod-GEHMANN_IRIS___DISC_FOR_REGULAR_GLASSES-1088.aspx

Plus it will make you look cool. Here's a pic of a Borg Bullseye Pistol shooter.

glen · May 21, 2011

pinhole sight

HI,
I'm new to the forum. Just read your comments on pinhole disc sights. I have come up with one that solves many of the "pinhole sight" problems. I am looking for shooters to try it and give me some feedback. Hope this is OK with the forum rules about ads and promotions. Don't want to get kicked off with my first post.
Glen

hvymax · May 21, 2011

Basically the disc acts as an extension aperature. It took me years to figure out why my son could not hit anything much past 25yds with open(notch) sights but was fine with optics. When I switched him to an aperature rear sight where your eye does not focus on but naturaly centers in the rear sight he was fine. The disc ads a whole extra level of centering and precision to the equation.

K31 · May 21, 2011

glen said:
HI,
I'm new to the forum. Just read your comments on pinhole disc sights. I have come up with one that solves many of the "pinhole sight" problems. I am looking for shooters to try it and give me some feedback. Hope this is OK with the forum rules about ads and promotions. Don't want to get kicked off with my first post.
Glen

It depends on whether you are trying to sell this here or not. If so, you need to have 50 posts.

glen · May 21, 2011

pinhole sight

K31,
Not trying to sell. Just looking for someone to try it to see if it is worthwhile pursuing. What I think is a great idea might not work. I've had schemes for getting rich that have not worked and this might be another. I have used it on the range and it works great.
Glen

Sighting disc for use on eyeglasses?

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