What is the best cure / solution to focus better on the front sight- coloring the facing edge, opening the rear sight, moving...? I have tried with my daughter's nail polish color white, it just made a white blur, did not help much. Any ideas, experiences would be greatly appreciated!
Failing eyes- loosing the front sight cure
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A time machine. Need that flux capacitor and a DeLoran. Or talk to the folks making your eye glasses - the practical option. Mine is going to make me a pair specially for focusing on iron sights as soon as I get my eyes examined and the likely new prescription. Your sighting eye lens will be ground somewhere between closeup and far prescription. Make sure whoever is making glasses has made glasses for shooters before. They are out there.
As my front sight started to blur, I had my eye doctor prescribe a lens that focused at 3 1/2 feet; about average for both rifle & pistol. Since he was also a shooter, he knew exactly what I wanted. Really sharpened up the image, & was good up to 75 yards. Beyond that, I needed to go back to fuzzy sights.
Many report that a peep sight on the tang has really helped to sharpen up the front sight again.
There are also covers with a small "peep" hole in them for glasses that can be used.
There are also covers with a small "peep" hole in them for glasses that can be used.
Everything that worked for me is when the front sight is in focus and the rear sight ant target are blurred. With the front sight sharp, I could position the rear sight steadily on the target, which while slightly blurred was distinct enough for a good hold. It was when the front sight disappeared that my groups really opened up. Then I needed the peep sight or a diopter on my glasses to increase the depth of field enough to have a distinct sight and target view.
Col. Batguano
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In bright light things get tougher to differentiate contrast. You may need to go to a colored filter, or a polarized one. Gehman (the German precision target shooting folks) makes a screw-in variable aperture type of insert eye piece for precision competition shooters with all the do-dads on it to let you experiment with what you find to be the best on any given day. Things will change from day to day (under varied light conditions), and even your personal physiological condition..
Obviously this big honking gizmo hanging off the back of a traditional ML'er is about as un-PC / HC as it gets. It would look as out of place on a historical gun as a pig in hot pants. What you CAN do however, is to get one, and find the 2-3 settings that are the "rightest" for you, and make / purchase those as inserts for your historically-based aperture, and nobody further than 3' away will be the wiser.
Obviously this big honking gizmo hanging off the back of a traditional ML'er is about as un-PC / HC as it gets. It would look as out of place on a historical gun as a pig in hot pants. What you CAN do however, is to get one, and find the 2-3 settings that are the "rightest" for you, and make / purchase those as inserts for your historically-based aperture, and nobody further than 3' away will be the wiser.
I recently took to putting fiber optic front sights on my guns. Makes a big difference for using open sights, I only have an operature on one of mine. Surely isn't HC but I'm not worried about being judged for that.
Luckily most of the folks I shoot against are old enough to understand or not care since it doesn't give me any real advantage. Progressive lenses aren't all they're cracked up to be.
Luckily most of the folks I shoot against are old enough to understand or not care since it doesn't give me any real advantage. Progressive lenses aren't all they're cracked up to be.
Generally, top accuracy in any open sighted firearm is achieved by sharp focus on the front sight. As my eyes have aged, I have had to pay much more attention to sight configuration. What I have found to work best for daytime targets may not be the best for low light hunting situations. In both cases I use a from blade that has a “vertical” face that tapers forward to the barrel. The rear sight notch appears at least a blade width of daylight on each side of the front sight when sighted. The rear sight will be blurred, but that is normal. For hunting, a brass blade picks up better in low light. For daytime targets, I will generally blacken the face of the blade to avoid it being washed out in sunlight. A German Silver blade does not work well for my eyes. As I have aged, corrective bifocals with a gradient lens that is Located on the lenses higher then standard enables focus on the front sight without altering the cheek weld on the stock. Interestingly low power readers(ie.from CVS) 1-1.5X will work for front sight focus with my eyes quite well. A longer barrel also may enable better focus on the front sight....for those who are becoming far-sighted With age.
Check out Eyepalusa.com. I've been using these for about a year now. These apertures just stick to your glasses. They bring both sights and the target into focus.
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I prefer peep sights when possible, and a good friend who's 20 years older uses the aperture that sticks to your glasses. He also found a shooting eye Dr to make him shooting glasses.
My Dad always said getting old ain't for sissies.
My Dad always said getting old ain't for sissies.
I'm late to this thread. At my age I have found a rear peeper and front post very good for all-around use. Some clubs might not permit this set up on 'open sight' matches. Others do permit it as all clubs are facing an aging membership and to keep the sport going need to adapt. The 'open sight only' concept is a throw back to the belief that all old timers from pre-Revolution to post Civil War, including the real mountain men used only open sights. Not true, peepers have been around a long time. They were used on cross bows long before the days of firearms.
SSP Eye does a top focal lense which really works well for these 79 year old eyes: front site is sharp: targets a little blurry: come in various colors as well.
John in Maryland
John in Maryland
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With all respect to your reply. The copy and paste below is right off the net. The information it gives is what I have been always taught.
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When you aim, you focus all your attention on the front sight, observing it’s alignment with the rear sight. The rear sight should be slightly blurred, but the front sight should be crystal clear. Study it. Meditate upon it. Let everything else vanish.
Flintlocklar
I devised this clip-on devise about 50 years ago so I could compete in matches, it will provide you a sharp & clear picture of both of your sights & the target, also works just as well for hunting & can be moved out of your line of sight when not needed. I recently posted a similar reply under General Muzzleloading.
The frame for this eyesight shooting fix is a Loupe & can be purchased on Amazon for about $6.00. Just remove the glass lens & replace it with the bottom of a plastic 35 mm film canister & drill a clean .040-0.70 hole in the center. These newer Loupes have two-arms, just loosen the setscrew & remove the outer arm.
Over the years this devise has helped numerous friends with various eyesight issues, all have been very pleased with the improvements in their shooting scores. As other forum members have mentioned there are other stick-on type fixes like Merit, but I couldn't handle the mess they left on my lens & constant need to remove & replace it between matches. You can wear this lightweight devise all day & be comfortable. You will be happy with your results.
Happy trails..
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The best suggestion I read here is "See your eye doctor." Especially if he/she is a shooter. Mine told me it was time to have my cataracts removed. I did. My new (implanted) lenses fixed the can't-see-my-sights problem and several others along with it. That's not PC and it's not purely a ML topic either, but neither are a bunch of black disks with teeny holes in `em. `Nuff said?
Col. Batguano
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These are the aperture eyepieces from precision rifles I was speaking about in my earlier post. The top one also has a 1.5x multiplier and is adjustable for focal distance (front sight, rear sight, target) . i had trouble downloading the images earlier.
I've done all the other fixes mentioned in the previous posts. I'm getting the lens implants and with one lens replaced, I will affirm that I can see the sights as clearly as I have ever seen them. The peep sights, the optical discs and moderate corrective lenses (0.5 to 1.5) in readers will keep you shooting until the time for lens replacement is due.
Having gone from 20/10, I can certainly understand your issue. The only solution I've found that consistently works with irons is a Dollar Store 1.00 reader coupled with a Merit diopter device. It works with both apertures and post n notch.
Here's a link to it but sadly, it's now out of production. Any are available are what's already in the supply lines.
https://www.gunblast.com/MeritOptical.htm
Here's another version of the same thing but currently available at the same price point.
http://www.champchoice.com/store/Main.aspx?p=ItemDetailOptions&item=393
Here's a link to it but sadly, it's now out of production. Any are available are what's already in the supply lines.
https://www.gunblast.com/MeritOptical.htm
Here's another version of the same thing but currently available at the same price point.
http://www.champchoice.com/store/Main.aspx?p=ItemDetailOptions&item=393
