Help! Scope 101 for someone who wears Glasses... Diopter or Side Focus?

st1264

st1264

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So, I wanted to get into the affordable world of precision shooting, bought the well reviewed Rem 783 in .308, it comes with a scope, I'm sure it's a no-name low-dollar one. My question is, the eyepiece screws in and out (assuming this is a diopter), when screwed all the way in, everything is blurry. When screwed all the way out, it's almost in focus - another turn and it would be I imagine. My glasses are 7X magnified (Right eye) and I'm under the assumption this is why I can't see anything clearly through the scope. Are there scopes with a high diopter setting or another focus knob that would work for me? I have some cheap bushnell binoculars that when I turn over the diopter, everything is crystal clear.

I might have to detach the scope and take it with me to the eye doctor... it's bad enough a Red Dot looks like a constellation to me (astigmatism as well) but is usable.

Anyone in the same boat (heavy eyeglass prescription)? I just don't want to shell out money for a new scope and it doesn't have the features I need. I don't think it's the scope as I looked through a Nikon Prostaff at the store, similar thing (wasn't that clear, didn't see or adjust a diopter) and a Burris FFII with larger objective lens seemed to be much clearer for me.

I'm brand new to a long range scope, only have experience with reflex/red dot sights and other than the red dot being distorted, everything else is clear.

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Edit, just put on my reading glasses and the crosshairs are crystal clear, the subject isn't. I'm in my house and not in the range, I'm hoping things clear up with more light outdoors...
 
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Read through my post here:
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...out-my-eye?p=13352020&viewfull=1#post13352020


So is your regular prescription to solve nearsightedness or farsightedness? What is the positive or negative dioptre of your prescription? Were you wearing your glasses when you looked through the scope? From what I understand you have strong reading glasses (+7 dioptre).

When the ocular is screwed all the way out and it's still not quite in focus, it means that you need more positive dioptre to get focus. IE stronger reading glasses, or less strong distance-vision glasses. Since things work with your reading glasses, you can try using the scope with those glasses at the range.

But you touch on a good point, that different scopes will have different ocular focus ranges, and it's possible that on some scopes the center of the range is off from ideal corrected vision. It then becomes a question of how much do you like a particular scope for its other features, do you want to get different eyeglasses to work with it.



Side-focus is something else, that usually refers to one way that a scope may be adjustable for parallax. Other scopes will have an objective bell you can rotate to adjust for parallax. If your scope has neither it will be set for a fixed parallax, often 100 (or a bit longer) yards for a centerfire scope. In that case, close things in your house will appear blurry, but the target at 100 yards should look good.
 
I have a high index -7.00 lens for my Right Eye for nearsightedness. When I use my old 7x35 binoculars, the diopter is turned towards + for my Right eye to match the Left eye then I'm crystal clear in both eyes, even in my house at 20ft (what I was looking through my scope at).

When I look through my scope on my Left Eye (-4.75 lower magnification), the crosshairs are clear when the eyepiece is turned a certain way, but the subject is not. With my Right eye, not the crosshairs nor the subject will be in focus, no matter what I do. My lenses also have astigmatism correction added in, but it can't be corrected perfectly as I have the Red Dot issue and street lights also have the same constellation feature at a certain distance.

I'll know more when I go out to the farm tomorrow and look at some targets through the scope at a distance. Hopefully the rain in the forecast holds off for a bit so I can do it...

My buddy just bought a Viper PST so I hope to peer through his nice quality scope when it arrives and see if I can see anything... I'm willing to pay $1000 for a scope if I can find one that works for me. Might have to make a new pair of glasses that will complement the magnification/focus range of the scope when I shoot.

I still must consider that this is a low quality scope that was included in a rifle package and another scope may work like gangbusters for me right off the shelf.
 
hawk-i said:
Don't think you will get +7 adjustment, normally I think its -/+ 2.
Click to expand...

I'm at approx +1.2 on the Diopter for my Bushnell 7x35 binoculars and everything is clear. It is + or - 2 on the binoculars but who knows how large the actual adjustment/tick is.

I'm sure binoculars aren't much of a comparison to a 3-9x40mm scope, but it's my first experience with one. I was going to buy the Vortex Viper 3-9x40 on sale at Cabelas for $299 sight unseen, but I think I have to wait as I have to make sure if it's my eyeballs or not.

With my reading glasses on, the reticle becomes clear in my right eye against a white wall. With my regular glasses on, it never comes into proper focus in the right eye, but does in the Left. Maybe I should become a lefty and most of my vision issues would be gone.
 
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st1264 said:
So, I wanted to get into the affordable world of precision shooting, bought the well reviewed Rem 783 in .308, it comes with a scope, I'm sure it's a no-name low-dollar one. My question is, the eyepiece screws in and out (assuming this is a diopter), when screwed all the way in, everything is blurry. When screwed all the way out, it's almost in focus - another turn and it would be I imagine. My glasses are 7X magnified (Right eye) and I'm under the assumption this is why I can't see anything clearly through the scope. Are there scopes with a high diopter setting or another focus knob that would work for me? I have some cheap bushnell binoculars that when I turn over the diopter, everything is crystal clear.
Click to expand...

If you can see a distant object clearly, you should be able to adjust the eyepiece to bring the reticle into the same focus as a distant object. You should alternate looking at a distant object and then through the scope at a blank wall. The goal here is simply to bring the reticle into focus. If you can't do that then maybe see if a friend with better vision can do it. (If they can't either it's possible the scope is defective.)

Once you have that, then an object at the "parallax distance" of the scope should be in focus along with the reticle. If you want to get a clear picture (especially at high magnification) then you'll need an adjustable parallax scope. This adjusts the parallax distance (and thus the focus distance) of the image in the scope. It does not affect the focus of the reticle.
 
Cbf123 said:
If you can see a distant object clearly, you should be able to adjust the eyepiece to bring the reticle into the same focus as a distant object. You should alternate looking at a distant object and then through the scope at a blank wall. The goal here is simply to bring the reticle into focus. If you can't do that then maybe see if a friend with better vision can do it. (If they can't either it's possible the scope is defective.)

Once you have that, then an object at the "parallax distance" of the scope should be in focus along with the reticle. If you want to get a clear picture (especially at high magnification) then you'll need an adjustable parallax scope. This adjusts the parallax distance (and thus the focus distance) of the image in the scope. It does not affect the focus of the reticle.
Click to expand...

Once in the 'gloomy' daylight in the country, the reticle was clear at 50M and so was the target. This was the farthest I could go out unless I wanted to be knee high in mud. Once I got to 6x magnification, my field of view was so narrow anything more would be pretty unusable. One of the delights of looking through two optics (my glasses included). This one's going to go on the EE for a couple bucks and I'll get some nicer glass with a larger eyebox and objective of 42-50mm. Looking through my 2 sets of Bushnell binoculars I've concluded that I need to replace those too (7x35 and 12x32). I need brighter optics for sure (from trying them out in the store).

So, I conclude my eyes aren't helpless, but I need something better suited to them.
 
The Vortex PST 4-16x50 my buddy just bought was crystal clear to my eyes (not mounted - looking down my street at night)... was even usable at 16x power. Maybe I have to spend $1000 for an optic to work for me :runaway:

Although, that EBR reticle was awfully thin in the middle... would most likely opt for something thicker and less complicated.
 
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