Astigmatism: What feature to look for in optic

[ronas]

I have astigmatism as well as being nearsighted. All are corrected to extent possible with glasses.

What features in a rifle optic, like type of reticle will be helpful to shooter with this problem. All some scopes seem brigher, is that from quality of optic or size of lens used?

Will shoot with AR15 100 to 300 yards.

[FLIGHT762]

Reticles won't matter, what you need (like I do) is a scope that has a diopter adjustment. Wear your glasses and rotate the diopter until the crosshairs are sharp. Many of the scopes out have a easy to rotate diopter so it's easy for us to adjust it. Some scope brands still have the old style where you have to unlock a friction ring,turn to adjust and reset the friction ring. A bit of a pain, but it does adjust.

Remember; dot sights like the EOTECH, Aimpoint and even scopes like the ACOGS do NOT have a diopter adjustment. The red dots/ reticles will be fuzzy or oblong to us. I wish Aimpoint/ Trijicon made a diopter accessory for their sights. When I spoke to a Trijicon rep about this, he told me the scopes and sights are made for young eyes.

Good point since many of their products are used by the Military.

[Pthfndr]

What Flight762 said.

Any quality scope (NF, Leupold, Nikon, Burris, etc) will have an adjustable eye piece to dial in the diopter setting to the needs of the shooters eye. Just make sure to adjust it while wearing your glasses.

The reticle itself makes no difference. I also have astigmatism, but no near/far sightedness. Choice of reticle has not been an issue.

[ronas]

Any quality scope (NF, Leupold, Nikon, Burris, etc) will have an adjustable eye piece to dial in the diopter setting

Do scopes also have a focus adjustment in addition to a diopter adjustment?

[FLIGHT762]

For most sporting scopes, they do not have a separate focus . Most scopes are calibrated to be parallax free between the distances they will most likely be used(at hunting distances). These are scopes usually at or below the 3X9 power range.

There are varmint and target scopes with adjustable objectives(objective housing that turns and will focus from about 30 yards to infinity). These scopes have been around for decades and are usually in the higher powered category.

Recently(in the last 10 years or so)manufacturers have designed scopes for tactical use, target, varmint and long range hunting having a focus knob on the 9'O clock position on the turret. This set up is a little easier to use over the older adjustable objective focusing and is now a common way to focus on the target.

[Pthfndr]

Do scopes also have a focus adjustment in addition to a diopter adjustment?

As FLIGHT762 said, some scopes are designed to be parallax free. Generally fixed 10x and lower powered scopes are like this and will have no adjustment for focus. Once you adjust the eye piece to YOUR eye, you are good to go. No other focusing is needed.

Variable power and higher power fixed magnification scopes will have some kind of focus adjustment, also known as parallax adjustment.

Here's an example of a low power scope (2x-7x) with no focus/parallax adjustment. Just the diopter adjustment on the eye piece. Notice no knob on the left, or reference numbers on the objective. This is what FLIGHT762 meant when referred to a Sporting scope.



Here's a USO 3.2x-17x scope with the focus/parallax adjustment on the front (Objective) lens. You can see the numbers on the objective housing (the left end) and a reference dot. Though many scope manufacturers mark their parallax/focus adjustment with yardage numbers, the numbers are truly only for position reference and will not always correspond with actual distance.

The knob on the left side of this scope happens to be for the illumination.



Here's one of the new Premier Reticles tactical scopes. Elevation knob on top, windage knob on the right side, parallax/focus knob on the left side.

Photo courtesy of CS Gunworks