SSP Top Focal lenses vs Rudy Project

[RangerTrace]

So, I'll be 50 in November and my latest contact lens prescription wiped out my near vision.  It wasn't good, but now it's just gone.  I bought a pair of the SSP Top Focal lens glasses last year and have dabbled with them in dry fire, but thats it.  I tried them today in a live fire session of pistol, PCC and 3gun rifle practice.

 

With a LOT of practice, both live and dry fire practice, I could make them work for action pistol shooting.  They are fine for slow fire pistol right now.  But they are a huge NO GO for the PCC and 3gun rifle.  I can't get the proper cheek weld without looking through the top/correction section of the lens which totally screws up my view through the optics.

 

So what do we old folks do??  I ain't moving to open or CO.  Just accept the fact that pistol shooting will be sloppy with a fuzzy front sight?  I can still make head shots at 25 yards if you don't rush me.......

 

Getting old....or at least being nearly blind sucks.

[OPENB]

I got those top focal glasses last week & tried to shoot a match with them. I thought the magnified part was too small & too high. I spent the better part of the week looking for a better alternative. I’m probably going to the eye doctor & have lenses cut for my Oakleys. I may try the stick on bifocal dots to supplement the magnification area on the top focal glasses. 

Edited August 16, 2018 by OPENB

[RangerTrace]

Matt Cheely says he's always shot using sharp target focus and blurry sights..........I'm not sure how to retrain myself for that, but it would be helpful since I really can't change my age or my eyesight........

[OPENB]

Not sure how to do that...

[malobukov]

When shooting red dot the choice is easy, just use distance glasses (red dot it projected to infinity).

 

With iron sights you'll have to choose what to keep in focus, the front sight or the targets. I think it's more important to see the front sight clearly, as small errors in its position translate into large errors downrange. Targets are more forgiving, you can usually tell where the center is even if the target is slightly out of focus. So reading glasses work better with iron sights.

Edited August 17, 2018 by malobukov

[lstone]

I have been recently had a pair of glasses make with my dominate eye set for front sight focus with left eye set for minimal distance and I wear them about 10 minutes before eyes adjust to the un normal vision correction. previous to that I used a 1.50 full lens safety glasses. It does make front sight focus much better.

 

[candiru]

Matt Cheely says he's always shot using sharp target focus and blurry sights..........I'm not sure how to retrain myself for that, but it would be helpful since I really can't change my age or my eyesight........

Isn't it Leatham who's settled for having his prescription done in between? I.e. Making the focal distance e.g. 15 yards. So they are both somewhat blurry.

Personally, I just got my first progressives. Still learning to tilt my head back for a crisper sight picture when I need it with the pistol. No problem with shotgun or rifle.

[OPENB]

I found the Elvex safety glasses with the full size reader lenses on Amazon, & they are perfect, except they don't come in any tints. Makes shooting outdoors in anything but full overcast a challenge. Any suggestions?

[GOF]

For shooting iron sights (I'm a Super Senior) I had a pair of single prescription lenses made... normal distance prescription... but with the focal point set at 25-inches. Any optical shop can do this.

That puts the iron sights in sharp focus and makes the targets a bit blurry... but you can't see the scoring rings on them anyway, so why look. Most shooters just know the right sight picture on the target to produce a A or -0. With sharp sights you can do that. Sharply-focused sights on a slightly blurry target can produce a good hit. Blurry sights on a sharply-focused target will not.

Even with the 25-inch focus distance I can still read a automobile license plate at 13 yards, and see black lead splashes on steel at 35 yards. This hasn't hurt me... I'm an IDPA Master in SSP & BUG, and an Expert in the rest of the IDPA divisions.

[zzt]

R, the solution is two pair of glasses, or one additional lens if removable.  Use the top focal for iron sights and the plano or distance corrected lens for optics.  I tried the top focal for everything and it sometimes cost me time when shooting optics.  My eyes are long gone, so the only irons I shot was in Limited.  I gave that up three years ago and now every pistol I have wears optics.  Open is just as much fun as Limited, and I don't have to remember to bring/change lenses.

[Dwbsig]

I been using the ssp glasses for about a year now and it really helped my shooting because I could see the front very clear. IMO you got to take in consideration that the front sight is two feet from your eyes so you have to get  the lenses weaker then your normal reading glasses.