Eyesight and pistol shooting

[Blacksmith101]

I read a couple posts talking about the target being clear and sights fuzzy. Y'all got it backwards.

Front sight, front site, front site!

 

[Czechnologist]

I'm going to have to think this through a bit, as I think I need different solutions for different situations. I picked up a CZ SP-01 Tactical to try in my first USPSA match this year, and I might pick up a spare slide and have it milled for a red dot by Cajun Gun Works. When I'm moving I won't have time to think how bad my eyesight is, and I do just fine with a red dot on my pistol caliber carbine (a heavy Colt 6951 at that). More money I wanted to throw at it but I think ultimately that will work.

For bullseye just-concentrating-on-tiny-groups center circle, I will spend some time with the special prescription I had made with dominant eye for the front post and weak side eye for nearsightedness, and try a fiber optic front set on my P-01 carry pistol, or just get another pistol for those days I just want to take my time and strive for quarter size groups. We have a nice CZ-75BD sitting new in the shop right now, and I might snag it up before it gets sold. I have 5 rifles, each with a purpose, so what the hey. When practicing self defense shooting for open carry in the shop, silhouette type targets will work just fine, and I will have to live with the fact that center mass and a head shot are just good enough...

I hate getting old, but why complain. Life's good.

I'm only a couple years behind you in age. The 1.5x readers I wear daily work well for me in most situations but, I do find myself compensating more to keep the front sight in focus these days. Indoor ranges with so-so lighting are the most challenging.

 

[d33rhunt3r]

I've seen a few posts about CZ sights being replaced with the Dawson's to assist with eyesight, my 75b is currently getting a set installed. One of the descriptions on Cajun even talks about being easier to use on older eyes. There's a front and rear fiber optic replacement and there's also a rear black and front fiber optic replacement. Might be the way to go. I wear contacts for near sighted, and I've found that fiber sights help me out quite a bit as it's easier to quickly align the colors evenly more so than straight lines of regular sights.

 

[Pinecone]

A couple of things to try.

If you have the near/far lens thing, cover the non-dominant eye when shooting. Either an eye patch (most drugstores have them) or a piece of tape on the lens to totally blur out that image of sight/target from the non-dominant eye.

Or get some shooting glasses optimized for shooting. I used to shoot some bullseye. The serious guys all got lenses ground to make the front sight in perfect focus. Some even took their bullseye pistol to the eye place for a precise measurement of the eye to front sight distance.

 

[engineerbrian]

Have you seen SSP Eyewear's bifocal shooting glasses? The magnifier is on the TOP of the lens instead of the traditional bottom placement AND you can get the bifocals for just the eye you need.
I'm also near sighted and got 1.0 power and the difference is remarkable. The front sight is crystal clear, head angle is in a natural shooting alignment, I have clear, smoke and shooter yellow lenses and they are around $45.00

www.sspeyewear.com is their website I believe.

Tactical RX is a great option too. They are custom made glasses to fit your need so they cost more, but they are great. I have 3 pairs

If anyone does buy them you can use 2agg for 10% off

http://tacticalrx.com/

 

[boss281]

A couple of things to try.

If you have the near/far lens thing, cover the non-dominant eye when shooting. Either an eye patch (most drugstores have them) or a piece of tape on the lens to totally blur out that image of sight/target from the non-dominant eye.

Or get some shooting glasses optimized for shooting. I used to shoot some bullseye. The serious guys all got lenses ground to make the front sight in perfect focus. Some even took their bullseye pistol to the eye place for a precise measurement of the eye to front sight distance.

My special prescription IS the bullseye lense, and if I close the non-dominant eye, the front sight is a perfectly focused. But the target is just background noise. The optician had a starter pistol to take a precise measurement, by the way...

 

[boss281]

I read a couple posts talking about the target being clear and sights fuzzy. Y'all got it backwards.[/QUOTE

Yep, wish I still had eyes to do that!

 

[Blaster229]

I read a couple posts talking about the target being clear and sights fuzzy. Y'all got it backwards.[/QUOTE

Yep, wish I still had eyes to do that!

Yours is a tricky situation I see.

 

[IronEye]

Reading glasses from the department store don't work for those of us that are nearsighted. They make things much worse. I've never seen -3.5 diopter reading glasses in a department store rack.

 

[jonnyl]

Ditto on the mono vision. I wear one contact in my right eye for reading and nothing in the left. Keeps the front sight in clear focus. Also put fo fronts on the cz and the glock. Maybe not super precision for bullseye, but works well for action shooting sports.

 

[boss281]

I ordered the Cajun Gun Works front FO.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Pinecone]

My special prescription IS the bullseye lense, and if I close the non-dominant eye, the front sight is a perfectly focused. But the target is just background noise. The optician had a starter pistol to take a precise measurement, by the way...

That is how it supposed to be. Clear front sight, fuzzy target.

Impossible for the human eye to have both front sight and target clear.

 

[boss281]

That is how it supposed to be. Clear front sight, fuzzy target.

Impossible for the human eye to have both front sight and target clear.

Correct but i cant see the target at all through my right eye if the front sight is clear--its not fuzzy its just a complete amorphous blur. I have been told to spend time with the special prescription and leave both eyes open, letting the brain adjust. We will see.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[boss281]

I wear trifocals and have a really hard time with iron sights on pistols. Most of my .22s have red dots.

My 9mms have the fiber optic tube in the front and stock sight in the back. This works great for me.

My P-01 is the exception, I have this on the front and stock on the back. Having the enhanced sights front and back just made it an orange or green blur.

DontPanic, I called Cajun Gun Works and ordered their FO front sight replacement as it's the same height as the stock front sight (050-390 Fiber Optic Front Sight). I wanted to start with this first as it will fit my custom leather carry holster. I also ordered their "over 40 bad eyes" replacement front and rear sights (EZ/D 9-40 Fiber Optic Sight Set) just in case I want to try a wider rear sight.

 

[boss281]

Have you seen SSP Eyewear's bifocal shooting glasses? The magnifier is on the TOP of the lens instead of the traditional bottom placement AND you can get the bifocals for just the eye you need.
I'm also near sighted and got 1.0 power and the difference is remarkable. The front sight is crystal clear, head angle is in a natural shooting alignment, I have clear, smoke and shooter yellow lenses and they are around $45.00

www.sspeyewear.com is their website I believe.

I LIKE this idea, a reverse bifocal on my dominant right shooting eye! It's worth a shot and the expense is worth the experiment! Thanks.

 

[boss281]

Reviving this old thread.

Took my red dot equipped Scorpion to an indoor range and it's just a fun shooter with no fanfare. This and my Colt AR9 rifle are set up for pistol caliber carbine events, now that AGC is rocking Shooting Steel and IDPA. Took my two .45 1911s in as well, and at five yards with clear glasses and prescription glasses I could only manage 5" groups. Man that just pisses me off. One of the .45s had a fiber optic front site but it didn't really help (NOTE: I can do slightly better outside, I think because the fiber optic brings in more light that I can pick up even if blurry).

I am still struggling to find an optimum fixed sight solution. I have a set of glasses with the right dominant eye set to the front sight and the left eye to distance (after a month I gave up with these), clear shooting glasses (clear sights, and very unclear target), prescription shooting glasses (clear target, unclear sights), those little patches you put on your glasses with a small hole, etc. My last try would be a distance prescription with the front sight prescription on TOP, like the www.sspeyewear.com product (which has a clear main lens, NOT a prescription).

Of course, using my prescription glasses with any of my rifles and a red dot works just fine, but I'd like to compete with pistols instead of a pistol caliber carbine or my braced Scorpion pistol for a change.

I've gone ahead and picked up a spare slide for my CZ SP-01 Tactical and looking around for a milling service and a decent pistol grade red dot. Can't go wrong, but there is something that I just love about fixed sights. Wish I could still shoot decently with irons on my old ARs.

If anyone has recommendations for the milling service and pistol red dot, I'm all ears. Also, I'm willing to spend money one more time on prescription lenses that give me the target distance and true prescription bifocals for the front site on TOP of the glass in the Maryland area...

Thanks.

 

[bpm32]

Alan Toler is a Bullseye shooter that’ll rent you a large set of optician’s lenses that you can take to the range and try out. Basically a frame with several slots to futz with a few dozen lenses. He’s down in Richmond:

https://drtoler.com/

He’ll mail you the set for two weeks:

https://customsightpicture.com/

 

[jimbobborg]

If I'm shooting action pistol I don't even aim if it's inside 7 yards. I'm not shooting bullseye, I just need hits in the A zone. Not super effective on head shots or around no shoots, that's when I need to actually aim. I'm also suffering from bad eyesight. Now if I could only get my hands working.

 

[boss281]

If I'm shooting action pistol I don't even aim if it's inside 7 yards. I'm not shooting bullseye, I just need hits in the A zone. Not super effective on head shots or around no shoots, that's when I need to actually aim. I'm also suffering from bad eyesight. Now if I could only get my hands working.

While most IDPA targets are well within 15 yards, some go out beyond 25. I would not be able to hit anything cleanly out beyond 10 yards or so.

That said, some times I'm in the range and just want to bullseye for the fun of it. Not being able to see sh!t is pissing me off.

So far the arthritis in the hands is minimal with a rare twinge. I think lifting weights has helped with joints all the way around...

 

[lazarus]

I wear monovision contact lenses. Left eye set for distance, right eye set for nearer--not near--distance. I use prescription "readers" over them for close work.

They took some getting used to. Keep in mind the initial disorientation stems from the fact that your brain hasn't had time to recalebrate how it interprets the incoming data. Once the brain reprograms how it handles the information the dizziness, etc. abates. In my opinion you can't just use the setup at the range, then switch to something else when you leave. Try a monovision type setup for a while for everyday use, and see if yuor brain doesn't catch up with your visual input.

Having had severe bear sightedness and astigmatism...

Yes.

I was a contact wearer and would wear glasses evenings and some weekends.

Switching between contacts and glasses took the lesser adjustment, but the first 5-10 minutes I’d find my vision and focus weren’t always working perfectly. If I went from no correction to glasses it was usually more like 10-20 minutes before it was all working smoothly all the time.

No correction to contacts was usually just a minute or two. Glasses to contact a few minutes.

Probably doesn’t apply here, but I had LASIK and PRK done (long story) about a year and a half ago. Fantastic vision now. More expensive than I wanted, slightly less than I had feared. I wish I’d had it done years earlier, but no time and didn’t make the money for it a priority.

It did take weeks of recovery for me (I was extremely atypical). I was only out of work 4 or 5 days, but recovery was a combined maybe 6-7 weeks before my vision was great in both eyes LASIK and then one eye had to be redone as PRK). Usually LASIK is back to work in 1-2 days.