front sight visibility

[ericf]

preface,

The front sight is suppose to be the focal point before the trigger is released. It's suppose to be crystal clear and the target slightly out of focus.

However, on those of us with the older eyes, reading glasses (or cheaters) become a necessity for eye focus within the arms length.

This fact was brought to my attention when I was trying to determine if a front sight change would provide any benefit.

I have to use glasses for details to come into focus when cleaning the pistols. Then I saw that, " Wow, the sight is really in focus " When wearing the cheaters.

I have started a search for safety glasses that had bifocals built in. They are out there and they aren't too expensive. But the bifocal portion isn't placed well (for shooting).

In searching I found these.

http://optx2020.com/p-38-hydrotac-stick-on-bifocal-2-pair-offer.aspx

Has anyone tried to use bifocals or close corrective lenses for shooting??

I was intending on using just one corrective lens for the dominant eye only.

The main drawback, the target becomes very blurry. And there is a slight need (for me) to squint the weak eye (uncorrected) to prevent orientation problems. The orientation troubles will pass (I think) as I get used to the correction. The dominant eye will be corrected for close in clarity (sights), and the weak eye will be uncorrected for distant clarity.

I'm not sure if the brain can get used to this. But my spouse has a contact that she wears in one eye for reading and the other eye is uncorrected for distant vision. Same sort of situation, but not for shooting sports. She said the brain adjusts quickly.

I'm not sure if this is the answer or not.

I have perfect distant vision, and, uncorrected, I can see the front sight, It's just not absolutely crystal clear.

Advise please

[Beaz]

For what what it's worth I do the mono-vision thing. I wear one contact in my non dominant eye and this works for me. I'm the opposite of you as I can see close just not far, so my dominant eye sees the front sight clear and my non dominant the one wear the contact can see the target clear. the brain does adjust so for me it's the best of both worlds. I'm going to get Lasik next month on just the one eye.

[Phil G]

I use the HydroTac stick on bifocal on the lens of my shooting glasses on my dominant eye only. I place it in the top 1/3 of the lens so that I only look thru it when I tilt my head down. That allows me to engage the bifocal only when I am needing it to have complete focus on my front sight. The rest of the time I am looking thru the bottom 2/3 of the lens and it has no correction. It is not a perfect solution but it works better than anything else I have tried.

Here is a link to get a bifocal replacement lens made for your dominant eye shooting glasses. It inverts the bifocal with the correction in the top 1/3. It does the same thing as the HydroTac stick on lens - it is just more permanent. I ordered the bifocal replacement lens several years ago and was very happy with it. Unfortunately, over time I needed more corrrection. So I ordered a HydroTac stick on lens with more correction to see if it helped. The HydroTac has worked well and I never got around to ordering a stronger bifocal replacement lens. I can move the HydroTac around on my shooting glasses to find the "perfect" location on my dominant eye lens.

Phil G

[dugout]

Call Robert Decot and tell him you are shooting an iron sight pistol. Trust me, he will fix you right up with the front sight in focus and the loss of clarity at distance minimal.

http://www.sportglasses.com/

[ericf]

I routinely purchase shooting glasses from a local safety supply place. I live near the shipping industrial areas, and glasses are cheap ($3.95), and of a good quality. They are cheap enough that when scratched up, toss them out. And I'm hard on glasses. The safety retailer told me of a safety glasses similar to what I wear and like (wrap around style) that would work. They have the bifocal on both lenses in the top 1/3 of the lens all the way across, rather than the bottom inside quadrant. Suppose to be utilized by Mechanics and such that have to be constantly looking upwards at details. However in searching, I couldn't find them.

The Optx was the closest thing I could find for our application. My fear is the water that holds them in place on the lens drying. I have bought a generic clear water based gel to hopefully prevent them from falling out during a match.

I hope my brain can adjust. I'd have preferred a 1 diopter rather than a 1.25, because as of now when just practicing drawing and sighting the pistol, I have problems. We'll see. (pun).

Thanks,

Eric

Edited May 18, 2011 by ericf