A Sight for "Older" Eyes

[wolflodge]

My Sig 1911 has Trijicon Night Sights. I have been thinking of changing out the front sight to a highly visable sight but leaving the rear as is. Even with my prescription glasses, the front sight is difficult to see. I hope some of you guys out there can offer some suggestions. Thanks!

[htfan]

Good question! I need some options too.

[Bill Steele]

I too have fading vision issues.

I just installed a set of Truglo TFO's on a gun and was pretty impressed. I got the Green/Yellow set (green front, yellow rear). These are the best night sights I have ever used.

They get a lot of complaints about longevity in online reviews, something you won't likely see with Trijicons, but man they are terrific right now.

[reddot556]

i put a set of the xs sights on my hi power..i really like them...http://xssights.com/index.php?nID=si...ts&sID=handgun

[JRJCP]

http://www.heinie.com/information.php?info_id=6

[stevie]

On my 1911's I left the front sight in place and used a 10-8 with .156 notch to give more light between the front and rear sight. This worked much better for me.

[Press Check]

Dawson's FO sights are definitely hard to miss at any age.

[markw]

The dawsons are great. Have them on my 1911. Doing the same for the SP01 I just ordered from czcustom.

[littlejake]

My distance vision changed around age 40. Still correctable to 20/20 with glasses. Distance correction generally requires a negative diopter corrective lens. I found after getting glasses that I shot best without correction; and the front sight was in good focus without correction and the target slightly blurred. Naturally I still wear safety glasses.

These days for target shooting, I've gone to a .22 and use an ultradot 1x optical sight. Nice thing about 1x optics, it puts the target and red dot at infinity so, I can shoot with my corrective lenses.

Where I going with this is: OP have you tried shooting without your corrective glasses?

[Eirerogue]

I'm using 10-8 .156 rear sight coupled with XS small dot front sight. Just perfect for me and my aging eyes!

[9mmepiphany]

A fiber optic front will really improve your ability to pick up the sight.

You'll see a huge improvement if you replace the rear sight also. The best combination for the F/O front would be a plain black blade with a wide rear notch...the 10-8 rear sight is an excellent example and the Heine 50+ sight is also very good

[morfeeis]

I suffer from low vision and XS big dots make it much easier to pick up the front sight. The above picture is XS big dots mounted on my Ruger SR9 but they make sights for the 1911 also. From this day forth, every pistol i own will have them.

[Old4eyes]

What is the ultimate goal - target shooting or self defense?
The reason I ask that, is that I can offer a couple of solutions that work well for target but don't work well for a self defense scenario.

I use safety glasses that have prescription inserts. I normally wear progressive bifocals, but for the shooting I went with a hard line bifocal, and had the "close" portion of the lens made large. With my head at neutral shooting position, I am viewing through the "close" portion of the bifocal and the front sight is in clear view. I tilt my head down to view the target clearly. This setup works well for target shooting, but bad guys at the bedroom door may not wait for me to put on my special glasses.

Option two for target shooting:A Merit optical attachment - http://www.midwayusa.com/product/978...th-suction-cup

You would use this on a pair of glasses where you see the distance clearly. Put this on the glasses and view the target thought the iris of the attachment, and you'll see the target and the sight in focus together ( or at least a lot better than you normally would). I find this works for me at 25 yards better than at 10 yards or closer. It is a little cumbersome to set up, but for target shooting with iron sights, it works nicely. Again, not something to use in a self defense scenario.

Both of those solutions works with the existing sights, so if you have multiple guns, you are getting a single solution for multiple problems.

Now if you are looking for the self defense solution, it may be something like an XS Big Dot, but your vision still may not work well with that scenario.

Sucks to get old. Been there, doing that.

[rtk]

On my 1911's I left the front sight in place and used a 10-8 with .156 notch to give more light between the front and rear sight. This worked much better for me.

+1.

I installed Heine sights with the .156 rear notch and it's a huge difference over the previous .125 notch. The .177 rear notch (I believe) on my Wiley Clapp Commander makes front sight acquisition a breeze.

[g_conway]

I have the same vision problems. I put the TruGlo TFO's (green fron / yellow rear) on mine and now I have NO problems with the sights in ANY lighting condition.

I will put these on any gun I can, they are that good.