GTA
All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General => Air Gun Gate => Topic started by: Smaug2 on November 30, 2021, 04:38:14 PM
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I just got glasses this year. I was lucky to have 20/20 vision for my first 40 years of life, and it's been getting worse these past 5 years. They told me I need trifocals, but I tried them and didn't like them at ALL. I wear computer-specific prescription during the work day, distance glasses when I'm out and about or watching TV, and usually no glasses when I'm at home.
Shooting scopes is no problem, but some of my guns are not ideal with scopes.
I'm near-sighted and I'm finding that I can't see both the target and front sight well at the same time. Do you have a trick, or do you just give up and shoot scoped guns?
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The target should be blury. The front sight in focus.
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Peep sight work best for me. You have to open that hole until the spider webs go away.
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The target should be blury. The front sight in focus.
This. Even with perfect vision, the eye can't focus on both sights and target at once. Target shooters tell us to focus primarily on the front sight, the rear sight and target should be slightly blurry. Seems counter-intuitive, I know, but it works.
As avator said, peep sights with a correctly sized aperture make things easier because the eye naturally centers the front sight in the opening of the rear. I recently put a peep sight on my R7 for shooting 10-12 meters, and I shoot as well with it as I do a scope. ...of course that may say something about what kind of shooter I am...but I digress....
Another option is to have a pair of glasses made that are basically distance only so you don't fight the segments in a bifocal/trifocal lens.
I have worn glasses since I was six, and I'm now 57. I can still shoot open sights with a good degree of success, so I'm sure you can too. I am nearsighted enough to make my wife panic if I take my glasses off while driving. :D
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Another vote for peep sights. I'm 56 and need reading glasses. I can't hardly use regular Buckhorn sights in perfect lighting. I can use peeps and both the target AND front sight are in focus. Very effective.
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Welcome to the club, Funny you mention 40 cuz that is the age that a lot of people's eyes start to go down hill. Depends on what kind of shooting and how much you care to spend. Easy solution if you can is just use a scope and make sure you set up the rear scope adjustment for your eyes. As others said peep sites are very helpful. I bought a pair of competition shooting glasses that actually have a white piece of plastic that flips down over the non shooting eye and the dominant eye has an adjustable iris that really helps for open site pistols. you can also get an iris that sticks to regular glasses. lot's of options.
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If you use reading glasses, I got some full lens safety readers that work well.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E5NXH6M (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E5NXH6M)
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I've been shooting my whole life and no one beats father time... I still enjoy shooting irons but they become more challenging over time. larger front sights and larger rear notches help. Apertures also help.
But what really helps the most.... Red dot sights... I have them on my AR's and withing the last 2 years, my carry pistol now sports a red dot...
Allows you better target focus and only one point of focus.
Service Rifle had always been iron sights, but has lost a lot of older shooters who could no longer be competitive due to aging eyes. This is the reason they changed the rules a few years ago to allow a 1-4.5x optic to now be used. It has allowed older shooters to jump back in the game. Contrary to what a lot of shooters believe, Optics don't make you shoot better, they male you see better. The fundamentals of trigger control, sight picture and breathing are still required.
If you just have to shoot irons.
for pistols try front sights with green or orange inserts and black rear sights. Helps with contrast.
for Rifles, look up Blitzkrieg front sights. They make them for AR's along with mag pull plastic and metal back up iron sights. they can be had with white or green or orange in large vertical posts or triangles/dots or combinations.
Another option is seek out an optometrist who is familiar with shooting sports. he/she can prescribe Bifocals where the close-up portion is above vs. below you distance portion.
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I know this isn’t the answer you want but practice may be the answer you need. Learn to hold your head/glasses/eyes exactly in line the same line all the the time. You’ve added a prism in your sight path. You might as well have put your sights on a ball bearing.
I was lucky. 🤓 I got my glasses as a kid and had to learn this stuff early on.
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For me the answer was Red Dot sights on my pistols and carbines. Scopes for longer ranged rifles.
You can with some practice use one eye for the front sight, other eye for the rear. Target is going to be fuzzy.
But a 2" shoot n see bullseye dot in the center of a large black or orange target helps a lot.
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While I just starting shooting anything this past week I have been wearing bifocals for the last 2 or 3 years. Prior to that for 4 years or more I wore one prescription at work most of the time that was for reading and computer screen reading and another prescription for anything else when not working in the office at work or when not on a computer at home. I learned after I got bifocals that some lens shapes and sizes are better for bifocals than others. I also learned that while some may say it will only take a little time to adjust to bifocals it may have taken me 6 months or more to be comfortable most of the time wearing bifocals. I now only use the computer glasses when working on my car or other activities where it is difficult to view through just the lower portion of bifocals when working up close to something.
So I think some people may need to give bifocals or trifocals more time. It takes time for the eyes and brain to adjust to the lenses.
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Since this year I wear glasses as well, near sighted too on my 50th but also needed reading glasses.
I could choose for multi focals, but did choose for two pair of glasses. Both pairs have the same frame, only the lenses are for daily life things like driving etc and the other pair is for working behind my laptop as reading glasses. I could choose here for 1yrd sharp sight, 2yrds sharp sight and 5yrds sharp sight. My pick was 2yrds and it is perfect for everything I do in and around the house and gives me more than over 2yrds sharp sight actually (up to about 10yrds). And that pair of glasses is perfectly suited for shooting with my open sights airguns. So bottom line is, if you have or need reading glasses as well, those might be very suitable for you too to shoot with open sights.
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While I just starting shooting anything this past week I have been wearing bifocals for the last 2 or 3 years. Prior to that for 4 years or more I wore one prescription at work most of the time that was for reading and computer screen reading and another prescription for anything else when not working in the office at work or when not on a computer at home. I learned after I got bifocals that some lens shapes and sizes are better for bifocals than others. I also learned that while some may say it will only take a little time to adjust to bifocals it may have taken me 6 months or more to be comfortable most of the time wearing bifocals. I now only use the computer glasses when working on my car or other activities where it is difficult to view through just the lower portion of bifocals when working up close to something.
So I think some people may need to give bifocals or trifocals more time. It takes time for the eyes and brain to adjust to the lenses.
It took me a few weeks to get use to progressive no line bifocals. Stick with it, your Brain and eyes will make the adjustment. I was told to point my nose at what I wanted to read, look at.
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If you use reading glasses, I got some full lens safety readers that work well.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E5NXH6M (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E5NXH6M)
Ditto. Just strong enough to focus on the front sight.
I used to think that color optic fiber sights were dinky. Not anymore...
I used to be able to focus down to 6" until I was 45. Could see grain in inkjet printed images that my colleagues needed magnification to appreciate. Now, I can't focus properly at less than 3 feet without help...
Bright light helps because it makes your pupils "stop down". That "smaller aperture" effect increases depth of field, thus sharpening what you can see over a wider distance.
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I have the same issue with choosing one or the other to focus on. An open reflex "red dot" sight has helped greatly with my pistols.
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Can’t swear air gunners are worse about safety than other shooters, but we seem to be. We often ignore safety rules. Maybe because their “air guns”, and even though we take them seriously, are a little more lax about things.
Really should wear glasses...safety or prescription. ...but we often don’t.
Red dot are popular for a reason...makes things easier...it all looks like one distance to your eye, are focusing on one flat plane. Better to dial it down to where you can almost see though the dot. Am seeing on-duty police officers with them on duty guns.
Open sights are more of a challenge. Likely that's why I prefer them.
Nearsighted (things only get blurry with distance). Still a decent open sight pistol shot, can see the front sight clearly which seems to be the main point of pistol shooting. Still manage to shoot decent scores; fatigue gets to me sooner now.
As I got older, WIDER front (and rear notch) sights worked better. Easier to see an align the wider sights, the skinny sights might suit young perfect vision shooters. Only proof I have is that my scores went up once I changed to wider.
Can’t really use the “aperture sight” trick on a pistol used as a pistol, but you can put a kind of aperture on your glasses. Works like an F stop on a camera...smaller hole, deeper depth of focus.
Can try that one for free. Just a bit of black tape with a small hole punched in it stuck to your glasses. Will take awhile to get the tape in just the right place for a natural feel, but it works. If you like it, there are nice commercial versions that adjust (Merit Lens Disc has been around “forever”).
Does make things dim, might need brighter lights indoors/basement shooting. Only light you get to your eye is whatever passes though the tiny hole, but everything is in focus...rear sight, front sight, and target.
Have some day-glow sights on some of the “plinking”/sporter pistols. As the light shifts, get more shift in POI with the glow sights. Those sights seem better suited to quick/fast shooting than precision.
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I have an eye doctor that let's me bring the gun in, measured the eye to sight and cut the lense to focus there...
He really made my life better.
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Hi Jeremy
I've been wearing glasses my whole life, plus I'm also at an age where that front sight (and, especially, the rear sight) isn't as sharp as when I was younger. I still shoot open sights and peep sights, though, because I very much enjoy them even after all these years. And, I'm still an effective iron sight shooter, though my eyes do tire more quickly, now. My advice is to keep trying with the new glasses. It's still very doable.
The advice of concentrating on that front sight, regardless of open sight or peep, is spot on. A peep sight setup has the potential of sharpening the front sight a bit, but for me the main function a peep sight is to take that now very fuzzy rear sight out of the sight picture.
I also second trying a red dot if the peep option doesn't work for you and you don't want to go scope. Red dots are definitely easier for me to use than peeps and they are much easier on these old eyes than irons, to boot.
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Lots of good advice and experience in this thread; thanks all!
I'm spoiled, as I grew up 20/20 and could easily focus on the front sight, and the target was also pretty sharp. Not any more.
I didn't think about the aperture thing. I'm an photography hobbyist too, so I should have. I'm mainly shooting in my dim basement now, so my pupils are almost fully open. Then, I'm shooting with black sights and some of my targets have large black centers. I have one of those self-resetting paddle rig that has a black metal cabinet; makes it very hard to pick up sights and my bullseyes of my targets are black. I'm doing a lot of things wrong, it seems. ::)
The first step I think is to print targets with white bullseyes and only the very center black.
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I have two pair of glasses, too: one for computer distance and one for 5' and further. I had been using the long distance ones, but since I should be focusing on the front sight, I should be using the computer ones.
I'm also going to start painting all my front sights with white nail polish; that seems to help a lot, at least in the dim basement.
I'm going to get my LED worklight and shine it on the targets, which should help even more.
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Crappy eyes my whole life, shooter most of my life.
-Aperture/Diopter sights are your friend. Much easier to shoot.
-With leaf type rears sometimes I prefer a really fine front sight with a dot/lollipop on top or a thicker square front sight.
-Try varying your “squint” on your closed eye. Squint harder or less and experiment with it.
-Try shooting both eyes open. It can be done. Again experiment.
-Work your cheek/chin weld. Moving around until you find the clearest position.
-Experiment with your mouth position. I know this sounds stupid as all get out but opening your mouth a bit or closing it with varying pressure will cause some facial changes and may aid in eye clarity. Again experiment and I know it sounds stupid.
-Target choice, color and lighting matter. If you are shooting for precision / groups experiment with target shapes, sizes and colors. Try a smaller target( sounds counterintuitive but can focus you more). Try a bright orange target or other colors to contrast a black sight against. Try a bold outer target line or varying contrast shades etc. basically experiment with targets.
At the end of the day standard leaf and post sights are and have always been a challenge for me. I can have fun with them but I simply have to accept a lower potential accuracy/or precision with them. Some of that is practice as I don’t shoot them as much as others some is mechanical/biological walls so to speak. I tend to drive for far more precision with my airguns then my powder burners for some reason so leaf and post can be a little frustrating to me.
Good luck and rest assured you will settle in to something that works for you, but you may need to adjust equipment a bit to get the precision you are looking for.
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A bit off topic but, I also need AO adjustable scopes... my focus is different than Betty Lou so we have to adjust after each of us shoots the same guns.
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The first step I think is to print targets with white bullseyes and only the very center black.
This works for me. I don't like aiming way below the bull. I like aiming where I expect to hit. That hides black sites in a black bull.
I posted official airgun targets to the "free target" thread on GTA. These have just the black rings, with the bull white or a light gray. If only I can find them fast...
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I'm also going to start painting all my front sights with white nail polish; that seems to help a lot, at least in the dim basement.
I suggest bright red for the front sight, rather than white. If you want to shoot a white target, the white sight will disappear over it - or the contrast over a light gray or squirrel colored target will be too low. Objects that need shooting are hardly ever bright red - unless they get smart and use it as camo :)
I like shooting at orange paste on dots when using black target sights:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VAWW2RG (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VAWW2RG)
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VIRWMJG (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VIRWMJG)
Available in many colors and sizes:
www.amazon.com/ChromaLabel-Color-Code-Labels-Dispenser-Light/dp/B00N17X7YA (http://www.amazon.com/ChromaLabel-Color-Code-Labels-Dispenser-Light/dp/B00N17X7YA)
www.amazon.com/ChromaLabel-Removable-Color-Code-Labels-Dispenser/dp/B019CX7QZM (http://www.amazon.com/ChromaLabel-Removable-Color-Code-Labels-Dispenser/dp/B019CX7QZM)
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long-time glasses wearer, near-sighted most of my life.
I prefer irons and ACOG-style light-gathering or red-dots, but I do put some decent glass on some of my airguns, too. Decent meaning adjustable focal point- and lemme tell ya, a good crossbow scope is superlative for under-40-yards. Since we shoot multiple platforms, practice and form are always paramount.
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I am near sighted and wear glasses all the time.
I prefer iron sights over scopes.
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For shooting indoors in the 5-10 yd range, the GTA pistol shooting match targets (5M and 10M scaled for 5M) work well.
https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=114750.0 (https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=114750.0)
https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=115064.0 (https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=115064.0)
I tried painting the front sight but could not get good contrast with the gap on each side. I left the sight black, use low power reading glasses, added a target light, and use a 6 o'clock hold. With the bull under an inch, offhand is good practice for me.
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Good links; thanks! I had forgotten about those matches.
For shooting indoors in the 5-10 yd range, the GTA pistol shooting match targets (5M and 10M scaled for 5M) work well.
https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=114750.0 (https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=114750.0)
https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=115064.0 (https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=115064.0)
I tried painting the front sight but could not get good contrast with the gap on each side. I left the sight black, use low power reading glasses, added a target light, and use a 6 o'clock hold. With the bull under an inch, offhand is good practice for me.
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memory is the next thing to go....
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Man I know the theory in gun shooting is front sight focus. I come from archery where you look through the pin/dot and focus on the x in the target. I will never be convinced the archery way doesn’t translate. You can’t hit what you can’t see. The sight doesn’t have to be perfectly clear to know it’s lined up.
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Man I know the theory in gun shooting is front sight focus. I come from archery where you look through the pin/dot and focus on the x in the target. I will never be convinced the archery way doesn’t translate. You can’t hit what you can’t see. The sight doesn’t have to be perfectly clear to know it’s lined up.
I feel like you're right.
I tried focusing on the front sight, and for me, that makes the target a complete blur. I can't tell if I'm holding on the bullseye or not.
Gonna put my distance glasses on next and give the archery way a try.
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I usually wear bifocals at 1.75x power for reading & up close work and single vision computer glasses at 1.25x power for computer work or anything in 3 to 6 foot range. So I had a pair of yellow tinted shooting glasses made in single vision 1.25x for iron sights, puts front sight in sharp focus with blurry target & rear sight.
Red dots & magnified optics make this a non-issue but some guns are just not optic friendly or are just more fun with irons.
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I use my driving glasses and cheat with a SeeAll sight.
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I usually wear bifocals at 1.75x power for reading & up close work and single vision computer glasses at 1.25x power for computer work or anything in 3 to 6 foot range. So I had a pair of yellow tinted shooting glasses made in single vision 1.25x for iron sights, puts front sight in sharp focus with blurry target & rear sight.
Red dots & magnified optics make this a non-issue but some guns are just not optic friendly or are just more fun with irons.
I wore trifocals for years until I had my cataracts removed and ended up with 20/20 left eye and 20/40 right eye.
Wore 2.00 diopter reading glasses for closer than 5-6 feet vision.
Found that a 1.00-1.25 diopter readers cleared up my front sight and pistol sights, but made be a bit dizzy if I looked further.
Same strength bifocal readers made me raise my head too far backward for comfort.
So I decided that I needed bifocal reading glasses with the correction in the top of the lense.
Guess what I found: https://sspeyewear.com/products/top-focal-assorted-interchangeable-kits?variant=28480526915
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The target should be blury. The front sight in focus.
See the blur, hit the blur.
That said, I usually focus on the target then shift to the front sight - sometimes back and forth - and fire when I see what I need to see. I learned this with a lot of center fire handgun work. Hope this helps.
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Unfortunately, I have not found "the trick". I'd love to be able to shoot open sights well, but nothing I have tried has worked to my satisfaction, so I just stick to my scopes these days.
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Been wearing glasses my entire shooting life (over sixty years). I started with open sights and peeps and still shoot iron sights even with my old eyes and probably always will, even though I mostly shoot scopes these days. My biggest problem with old eyes is not so much sight visibility as it is how quickly my eyes fatigue, now, so if I'm shooting a variety of different guns in one shooting session, I start with the iron sight guns while my eyes are still fresh.
I was trained in classic bullseye target using six o'clock hold and I still use that hold for my iron sight shooting on bullseye targets and also steel when practical.
With open rear sights, I do much better with a fair amount of daylight around the front sight when it is sitting in the notch of the rear sight, so I prefer a wider notch on the rear sight.
Again, my training, especially in formal bullseye pistol, was to religiously focus on the front sight, so it is still what I use and recommend. It's stood the test time as far as consistency and effectiveness.
My other piece of advice is to use targets with high contrast and use them under optimum lighting conditions. My experience shooting indoors is that most indoor shooting setups are mediocre as far as good lighting. It's sometimes hard to get the best lighting for indoor shooting with iron sights, my own indoor setup included, so I do prefer to shoot irons outdoors IF I have the proper lighting. Shadows are a huge problem with our backyard range, so that's why we use scopes so often.
Lastly, there is no magic trick to shooting with iron sights, open or peep. It tasks practice. You need to develop a routine on how you align your sights on the target, too. Consistency of technique is everything, no matter what sights you use.
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My vision was great until 45, now I can't focus on anything under 3 feet. I wear progressives and I don't have any issues with open sights, but without glasses peep sights work great. Pretty much every I own has a scope or a red dot on it though.