Reading glasses and sight picture?

[Charlie Harley, #14153]

I’m 54 and have used reading glasses for ten years. A +2.00 serves me well for newspapers and iPad screens. Funny thing though, I can read the same screen unaided if it’s across the room. Distance vision has always been great. 

 

My friend, a fellow shooter and optician, tells me about these stick-on lenses that turn neutral lens glasses into bifocals. Apparently shooters use them to see the sights better by putting them on their glasses right in the line of sight. 

 

So I go to his shop today with a mock-up of a pistol to get fitted. The lenses work great, but with only a +1.00 magnification. 

 

His shop was busy so I didn’t have time for a detailed discussion, but why would the magnification change at iPad, front sight, and across the room distances?

 

(I wonder if this is how Alpo started...)

[Alpo]

10 minutes ago, Charlie Harley, #14153 said:

(I wonder if this is how Alpo started)

 

[Doc X]

As we get older the ability of our eye to quickly snap into focus at different distances lessens. I'm like you only 9 yrs further into the progression. Up close, "there's an iPad there?" At a distance no problem. But when you're shooting your eye has to try and keep the sights (close) and the target (distant) all in focus. You'll have to experiment a bit to find out what works best with your eyes. I've found that for me glasses that focus the front sight well are best. If the plate is a little hazy no problem as long as the front sight is sharp. Contrast plays a part too. I was struggling with my 73's little brass bead front sight, putting a bigger sure hit sight on it made a HUGE improvement! (Thank you Wild Walt for letting me look your set up over!) I'm now considering putting them on my pistols too. 

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

It was a revelation when I got my first set of bifocals.
Looked at my wrist watch and nearly fell over.

I could actually SEE it CLEARLY ... the Elder Eyefuzzies sneak up so slow and gradual a man gets used to 'em and until he can see clearly again, he doesn't realize how bad it had gotten!

That being said --

Pistol shooting, I'll crank my head back so I am looking through the sights, through my bifocal lens. Brings the front sight into sharp focus. Not sure why but it works.

[Trailrider #896]

Years ago, when I started losing accommodation ability (where your eyes can't change focus rapidly), my opthomologist had me bring my M1860 Henry in, and figured out a prescription that was about half-way between the front and rear sight.  I could focus on the rear and front sight well enough to align the sights and the distant target was only slightly out of focus.  The distance of relatively sharp focus also worked for my sixguns.

Just had my right eye's cataract problem operated on this morning!  The left eye was done in March and the distance vision is 20/20.  Still need glasses for close work/reading.  It will take awhile for the right eye to heal up, and a few months before I can be fitted with new reading glasses if needed.  Will see what I will need to do for new shooting glasses.

Stay well, Pards!

[Pat Riot]

I have always had bad eyesight. I have worn glasses since the age of 5 when my head start teacher told my parents I could not see well in class. I wore glasses that made my eyes fill the lenses due to magnification. 
Anyway, I have always had issues shooting handguns. I am a good handgun shot but not great. I do things backwards. I have to focus on the rear sight and align the blur that is the front sight to the center. It actually works for me if the front sight is of a different contrast to the rear. If I have all black front and rear sights my aim is pretty bad. 
I like a little color on the front sight and do best with white. A white stripe up the center of the front sight and a white outline on a black rear sight is best. 
Fir my cowboy revolvers I have stainless Rugers. I file the shine off the front sight and paint the rear sight black. It works well for me. 
As for adding lenses or using the lower portion of my progressive lenses to see the sights better it does not work for me. I have tried getting glasses made just for shooting and it seems that all I do is waste money and time and cause myself heartache. 
Perhaps changing the coloration of your sights might help. 

[DocWard]

I'm with you, that my distance vision is just fine. Better than when I was in my twenties. However, my near vision leaves much to be desired. I could get some prescription glasses for shooting, but the cost is somewhat attention getting. I got some SSP Eyewear shooting glasses with a bifocal lens on the upper inner portion of the lens, and they seem to be working pretty well. My eye looks through the lens pretty naturally with long guns, and I have gotten in the habit of canting my head so I can look through the lens for handguns. I'm still shooting as a two eyed shooter with them. Something to consider.

 

https://sspeyewear.com/collections/best-sellers/products/top-focal-ultra-kit

[John Kloehr]

I'll get to your question in a few paragraphs...

 

I took a green gun with me to the optometrist and got fitted with a pair of glasses that put the front sight in focus.

 

Forget progressives for shooting, the hunt for focus requires moving the head up and down, which leads to lifting and lowering the firearm with the corresponding adjustments in wrist angle... Go with a single prescription if you can!

 

I tried bifocals, but between the line and nodding my head, they just don't work.

 

With my shooting glasses I can't really read up close and the targets are a bit fuzzy but that front sight is solid and I don't have to nod my head or adjust my arms.

 

So getting to the question you asked, consider that most people don't get reading glasses as long as they can get focus by moving what they are looking at a bit further away. And people do this unconsciously, slowly, year by year moving the newspaper, book, or iPad a little further away as the eyes change.

 

And then we (suddenly) run out of arm length. So we need reading glasses, which usually allow moving the media back in closer (do you hold the iPad at arm's length?).

 

But the front sight of a pistol is beyond arms length. So if a diopter of +2 lets you read an iPad with elbows comfortably bent, then elbows locked and arms stretched may only require a +1 to get focus on the front sight even further away.

 

Hope that explains it for you.

 

 

[John Kloehr]

17 minutes ago, DocWard said:

I could get some prescription glasses for shooting, but the cost is somewhat attention getting.

And the doc told me a custom prescription was not something I could get my money back on as long as the glasses matched the prescription.

 

I like shooting enough to pay for them, and they were not cheap. Also the same frame as my normal glasses except for color. Frames come with excess overcharges.

[DocWard]

1 hour ago, John Kloehr said:

And the doc told me a custom prescription was not something I could get my money back on as long as the glasses matched the prescription.

 

I like shooting enough to pay for them, and they were not cheap. Also the same frame as my normal glasses except for color. Frames come with excess overcharges.

 

I will get some at some point. I've actually had a couple of opthalmologists suggest using an appropriate contact lens in my dominant eye for shooting, putting it in a couple of hours prior to shooting to allow my eyes to adjust. It just doesn't sound like fun, contact lens aside. My oldest daughter's long time beau's mother is an ophthalmologist in Tennessee, and has said she will be happy to get me set up with a prescription and shooting glasses for a good price if I would like. Maybe at some point I'll make the trip to do just that.

[Duffield, SASS #23454]

Wait until you guys learn about tri-focal lenses.

I had a set of safety glasses made, with the middle distance set a bit high, which lets me see open sights just fine.  

Now if i  had no other eye problems.....

 

Duffield

[DocWard]

Just now, Duffield, SASS #23454 said:

Wait until you guys learn about tri-focal lenses.

I had a set of safety glasses made, with the middle distance set a bit high, which lets me see open sights just fine.  

Now if i  had no other eye problems.....

 

Duffield

 

My dad was a journeyman machine repairman at a glass factory. Always looking up or looking down for his work. His were the first trifocals I ever saw.

[Cliff Hanger #3720LR]

I have worn glasses for 50 years.

I have several pairs because I lack muscles to focus at different distances.

So I have glasses for different things.

 

When I started CAS, I had to lean my head back to get a sight picture in the bifocal.

This is not good because it takes a second or so to tilt my head down to see the ground to run.

I had a plan.

I took an old pair of glasses and removed the lenses.

I held them up to one eye at a time to find the center of the long range part of the lens with the lens up side down.

This put the bifocal on top.

Then I found the center of the bifocal part and rotated the lens until I could see good through both lenses.

Did same for other side.

 

I then took a triangle file and files a groove around the outside of the lenses.

Next I took brass welding rod and made frames to hold these new lenses.

Use some small copper wire to go from the frame ear piece around the bottom of the lens back up to the center of the frame.

I wore these glasses for a bout a year.

I was going pretty good.

 

Then I found some 1903 round frames glasses.

I saw my eye doctor who was also a shooter in other type of shooting so he knew what I was trying to do.

He had lenses made up with the bifocal on top and near the nose.

When I sight my revolver, (I lean forward and my head dips down so the bifocal comes right in line with the sights.

The main lens (bottom now) was set for 45 feet so I could see to run without having to look over the bifocal.

 

This helped me for many years.

I still have the 1903 glasses and I still have the welding rod pair I made. (about 1991 - 1992)

 

It did not take me long to figure out that my upside down shooting glasses helped me see the computer with out leaning my head back.

 

This is to give something tothink about.

[John Kloehr]

7 hours ago, Cliff Hanger #3720LR said:

He had lenses made up with the bifocal on top and near the nose.

When I sight my revolver, (I lean forward and my head dips down so the bifocal comes right in line with the sights.

The main lens (bottom now) was set for 45 feet so I could see to run without having to look over the bifocal.

I was talking with someone about a month ago who did this and it worked for him.

 

He agreed progressive's were bad for shooting, he also experienced head bobbing with them to find focus.

[Chase Randall, SASS #45902]

I tried the shooting glasses with the bifocal in the bottom, as mentioned above to much head bobbling. then I tried the stick on magnifier, they were o k, but I still wasn't happy with them. Searching one day I found these and really like them, they work great for me.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KSJQC8W?tag=duckduckgo-ffab-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1

 

Chase

 

[Go West]

I had my first pair of shooting glasses made with dominant eye lens made for front sight focus and other eye made for distance. Fast forward past multiple examinations and prescriptions later, they were not so good. My latest pair is a single vision prescription with some magnification with both lenses made for front sight focus and with a dark tint (it's bright in AZ). For finding the distance, you can measure either forehead to: pistol front sight, rifle front sight or to end of extended index finger. Any of those methods will give a sharp front sight with any firearm. The frames are a wrap around sport style for the most eye protection. My regular glasses are progressives.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I'm 73 and just got my first prescription glasses, my left eye is fine my right eye is a bit weak. I got them for driving. I've been using reading glasses for about 25 years and the eye doc said that was fine to keep using them. I didn't want bifocals. Thank God I've been blessed with very good vision.