Need advise/tips..re:prescription. glasses and sights

[Hogxtz]

Is there a better way to deal with having to use progressive bifocals and sighting? It is starting to become a problem for me when I shoot my Glocks. I have to raise my head to see the sights through the bottom portion of my glasses and it throws my whole shooting stance/accuraccy and technique out of whack. I thought maybe trying a plain pair of reading glasses that has the same magnification in the whole lens area? Are there any tips or tricks that work better?

Oh yeah, I wasn't sure which forum for this post so I hope I got it right.

[lazs]

Well.. as many know here.. I don't particularly care for glocks but...

The do have sights that resemble other guns. Your eyes work about the same on em.

I have gone through a frustrating year or so with sights and my vision.. I used to have 20/15 vision.. still do they tell me...IF.. and that is the big if.. IF I can find the spot on my proggressive lenses that will work.

A year or so of making excuses about the suns glare or the wrong color sight or whatever.. have done me no good at all.

I finally admit that the glasses I use to walk around with are not the right ones for shooting handguns.. For rifles? sure.. the top part works fine unless I get prone and can't get my head down far enough but..

Not for handguns. I want a sharp front sight. If I can't get that then nothing else matters. soooo

I started going through all those reading glasses laying around from when we didn't admit that vision was getting bad. kept grabbing pairs until one pair brought the front sight into sharp focus.

For me.. that meant a power that was greater than I expected by a bit.

The groups I was shooting at 25 yards got cut in half. The target was fuzzy but they all went into somewhere near the center of it.. 3" 25 yard groups shrunk down and I could actually call flyers again.

Downside is that I end up with a few pairs of drug store glasses in the shooting bag.. hell. end up with em in the glove compartment and everywhere but at $10-$20 a pair.. who cares?

[SgtDinosaur]

I bought a pair of shooting glasses with a 2.5X biopter on the bottom so I can see my handgun sights. I don't worry so much about the target; I can see where the center is. Basically the same as the above.

Progressives work fine with rifles for me, too.

[littlejake]

Most people would agree that focus on the front sight is important. When I was younger, I too had 20/15 vision without correction. Now I need a little +diopters for up close and a slight -diopter correction for distance to get back to my younger ability.

I found that neither my distance corrected glasses or my close up corrected prescription was useful for shooting. My eyes can still pull a good focus on the front sight without correction... so, I shoot with uncorrected shooting glasses.

If that doesn't work for you, a custom refraction by your optician for a distance equal to your front sight to master eye might be the ticket. The standard distance for the close up vision refraction is 16 inches. Depending on your choice of stance and your gun, around 24 inches is close to the eye to sight distance. It's an expensive route as you would need custom lens for shooting. They should be polycarbonate for safety and the color of your choice. Some opticians can do calichrome yellow lens.

[Grumpyoldretiredcop]

I use Gargoyles with a prescription insert. I had my optometrist make up the inserts in my reading prescription. Works well.

[9mmepiphany]

has anyone tried inverting their bi-focal perscription?

[pinwheels]

I have intermittently tried stick-on magnifiers on my clear shooting glasses. I can stick one wherever I want it, and it works reasonably well, with one exception. I only need a small diopter adjustment (+1.25), but still am stuck with uncorrected astigmatism, which is about half of the problem. I'm thinking I'll just get a pair of single vision glasses that allow sharp focus down to 2 feet (about right for computer monitors too) and see how badly it messes up my distance vision.

[orangeusa]

ARE YOU GUYS NEARSIGHTED? or FAR? serioustalk

I specifically asked the opto and he understands the problem, and it's still not solved. I pull my glasses down a small bit on my nose until front sight is in focus (using upper portion of glass). The bifocals are effective so close that they are useless.

But my eyes are reallly bad... And reading glasses, so easily bought are not for near sighted. I can shoot okay at 10m, but beyond that, I'm a mess - for bragging rights and small groups, but do have a center of mass which is correct... Just a little variance issue...

ANSWER: Wish I had one. Hope you find one.

[cvgunright]

couple of solution I've done for some of my patients (I'm an optometrist)

1) did a single vision distance and put an adhesive reading add of 1.75 to the top of the sighting eye. Took the natural stance of the shooter and placed the bifocal at the most comfortable angle. (optix has a self adhesive depending on your arm length either a +1.50 if tall top a +2.00 if shorter)

2) did the same but with the whole lens. sighting eye at the sight distance non sighting at far...not ideal but worked...(liked option 1 better)

3) contacts...newer multifocal contact lens have a better arms distance focal point...e.g. bausch and lomb multifocal, acuvue oasys for presbyopia

4) enhanced the sights with tru-glo sights... easier to focus.

[cvgunright]

Oh yeah...if you do option one above...make sure you put the adhesive on
your dominant eye... which should also be your sighting eye.

you can also trim the bifocal adhesive so it is just a quick head tilt to get the sight in focus without sacrificing field of vision.

[Grumpyoldretiredcop]

has anyone tried inverting their bi-focal perscription?

Wanted to but couldn't convince my optometrist to do it.

[zinfull]

I have the problem of out of focus also but I peek over my glasses and then I can see the front sight, not much of the target but if I am aiming down range I should be OK.

jerry

[Old4eyes]

Wanted to but couldn't convince my optometrist to do it.

Uh, he works for YOU. Time for a new optometrist.

I went with the UVEX Genesis safety glasses that have a slip in frame for which you have prescription lenses cut.

The advantage here is you get the wrap around glasses and you have the ability to easily change the outer safety lenses for different colors. The frame, safety lenses and insert are fairly inexpensive.

BUT BUT BUT.... The prescription lenses (cut by your local optician) might get pretty expensive. I took my setup in and said that I wanted the bifocal portion cut high, that I wanted to look straight ahead with my head level and clearly see the front sight. I wanted the distance cut for 25 yards.

This way, I have to tilt my head slightly down to see the target and as I bring the pistol up I get my head in a neutral position and see the front sight clearly.

Anyhow, that's how Old4eyes handles the problem.

[Hogxtz]

Some good ideas here, thanks. I think I will try putting a RX frame in my ESS shooting glasses and just keep the prescription set to see the front sight and forget about the bifocal part. that way the whole lens area will work for sighting and the target a little fuzzy.

[jrod]

Now that 49,I have the same problem.Damn front sights seem to be growing fuzz on 'em. Anyhow I solved that with cheap wal-mart reading glasses.using the lowest powered ones,my front sight is crystal clear again and the target is only slightly out of focus.Forces me to focus on the front sight like we're supposed to.Hope this helps,Joe