mmurph12

I've shot a lot of competive skeet and faced this issue big time. It has ruined numerous good scores and produced disastrous performance in shootoffs. Several years ago a dear friend who is retired military, former member of the MTU at Ft Benning, a 2650 NRA bullseye shooter and a member of two Olympic teams shooting Rapid Fire Pistol offered some advice. His two sons are also 2600 bullseye shooters and one shot Rapid Fire Pistol in the 1996 Olympics (background provided to demonstrate that he has something to offer). He said "Match pressure is nothing but dumb thinking. It's thinking about the result before the match is over. The only thing that matters is the technique." Following his advice worked for me. It turned off match pressure like flipping a switch. I haven't experienced it since. YMMV.

Something else you might want to consider is the double D or occupational lens. In this lens you have a conventional d shaped bifocal with your reading correction. About 14 mm above that is an inverted d with the exact correction needed to see your front sight and the rest of the lens is your distance correction. I understand that airline pilots use these lenses to see their overhead instruments and I know that some painters and appliance repairmen use them. I've used them since the 80's and wouldn't want to be without them. I have several out of date lenses lying around and would be glad to send one to anyone who might like to see it (at least as long as they last).

Regarding the use of glasses, another option is the "double D" or "occupational" lens. In this lens the reading correction is a conventional D shape near the bottom of the lens. About 12 or 13 mm above that is an inverted D shape with the exact correction needed to make your front sight sharp. The rest of the lens carries your distance correction. Not only do these lenses eliminate the problem us old guys have seeing the front sight clearly, they are useful when using the computer, reading labels in the grocery store, working under the hood of the car, running a lathe or milling machine or doing anything that requires seeing at arms length. I'm told that airline pilots use them to see overhead instruments and I know that some painters and appliance repair men use them. I've worn these lenses daily since the early 1980's and wouldn't want to be without them. While these lenses eliminate vision problems in my pistol shooting, they are awkward when shooting a rifle and they get in the way if you are a skeet or trap shooter. I use conventional shooting glasses for these purposes.