Hi, I've got old eyes, and use reading glasses. However, as a newbie to the sport, I have a hard time sighting my handgun. If I don't wear my glasses, I can't line up the sights but then the target is blured. Needless to say, I don't hit the centre area of the target that often. Other than the basics of shooting....breathing, grip, stance, follow through etc....any suggestions? What's more important, the handgun sight or target...or am I SOL.???
Farsighted and hitting the target
- Thread starter kennedy54
- Start date
You can get a pair of shooting glasses made with one lense built tofocus 4 inches past your extended arm-my opometrist did it and they allow me to focus on the front sight while the other eye sees everything else-your brain adapts very quicly to it. AAnother thing to try is reading glasses weaker than you use for reading as they will focus firther out and can be bought for one dollar at the dollar store.
I use three stage multifocals and find they work as well.
Good luck and kep trying things.
I use three stage multifocals and find they work as well.
Good luck and kep trying things.
- Location
- New Brunswick
Front sight, front sight, front sight. Just focus on it. Don't try to focus on the target or rear sight - the human eye is incapable of this feat (focusing on 3 different planes).
Here's what you should see...
Spend an afternoon at the range doing this and it becomes second nature. I prefer steel plates at 25 yards because it's easy to line them up instead of a paper target with all the distracting circles and a bullseye. And you can hear when you're on target (ping!).
Here's what you should see...
Spend an afternoon at the range doing this and it becomes second nature. I prefer steel plates at 25 yards because it's easy to line them up instead of a paper target with all the distracting circles and a bullseye. And you can hear when you're on target (ping!).
I had a set of shooting glasses made with cheap frames. Cost about $60.
Left lens is my ordinary bi-focal. Right lens has the astigmatism correction and a diopter that allows me to just barely focus on the front sight. It is not as strong a correction as my reading lens. The entire lens is the same - no bifocal.
Your old eyes have a range of focus adjustment, but the range is not as great as it used to be. that why you need reading glasses to focus closer. The important consideration for a shooting lens is where the front sight is within the rnage you can focus. For example, mabe a strong reading lens allows you to see clearly from 10 inches to 3 feet. The front sight would be sharp, and so would the rear sight, but the target would be horribly out of focus.
But if you had a slightly weaker lens, you might see clearly form 2.5 feet to 5 feet. the front sight would be sharp and the target woudl not be so bad.
Take your regular glasses to the drug store or dollar store where they have a rack of reading glasses. Take a 8" stick with a business card stuck on the end, so you have something to focus on at front sight distance. (I took a 1911 slide - but do not reccommend that.) Using the upper part of your glasses (not the bifocal part) start with the 1 diopter reading glasses on top of your own glasses, and work your way up until the front sight (the business card) comes into focus.
Then tell your optiican that you want a pair of glasses in which the right lens is an entire lens is a reading lens like the one you concocted.
Look at the diagram Centurion posted. That is as good as it gets.
Left lens is my ordinary bi-focal. Right lens has the astigmatism correction and a diopter that allows me to just barely focus on the front sight. It is not as strong a correction as my reading lens. The entire lens is the same - no bifocal.
Your old eyes have a range of focus adjustment, but the range is not as great as it used to be. that why you need reading glasses to focus closer. The important consideration for a shooting lens is where the front sight is within the rnage you can focus. For example, mabe a strong reading lens allows you to see clearly from 10 inches to 3 feet. The front sight would be sharp, and so would the rear sight, but the target would be horribly out of focus.
But if you had a slightly weaker lens, you might see clearly form 2.5 feet to 5 feet. the front sight would be sharp and the target woudl not be so bad.
Take your regular glasses to the drug store or dollar store where they have a rack of reading glasses. Take a 8" stick with a business card stuck on the end, so you have something to focus on at front sight distance. (I took a 1911 slide - but do not reccommend that.) Using the upper part of your glasses (not the bifocal part) start with the 1 diopter reading glasses on top of your own glasses, and work your way up until the front sight (the business card) comes into focus.
Then tell your optiican that you want a pair of glasses in which the right lens is an entire lens is a reading lens like the one you concocted.
Look at the diagram Centurion posted. That is as good as it gets.
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