I can’t see my sights

[kansas_volunteer]

Cheap readers can help a lot. I'm 69 and would be shooting shotgun only without them.

I agree readers can help. Go to Walgreens or somewhere and but some cheap readers and see what happens. It seems to me you might want to start with readers marked 2.0. Try various powers. Then when you go to the eye doc you can have info to help him to begin working out a perscription for you. At some point cataracts can become an issue I have them. My doc told me usually nothing is done about them until glasses can no longer give you 20/30 vision.

 

[Grenadier1758]

For trial purposes, go to the dollar store. While these may not be the best readers and they will scratch easily, you can find glasses from 1.00 to 3.00 and those glasses only cost... wait for it … $1. I used the 1.00 glasses for quite some time.

 

[JamesT]

"I just have trouble with focusing on the rear sight"

I am primarily a dedicated pistol shooter and read a lot about pistol shooting.

One of the teachings of pistol shooting is to focus on the front sight. The rear sight can be "fuzzy", this is okay. The eye can not focus on three things at the same time: the rear sight, the front sight and the target.

As before, I would go see a eye doctor, try to find one who caters to shooters. Get the last appointment of the day so you can take your rifle in with you.

My pistol scores went down and my eyes were constantly watering. Doctor said I had major cataracts and that my lower eye lids had fallen.

Result was cataract and eye lid surgery on both eyes. Trip to the Doctor was well worth the trip, my scores went up and I can see great now.

As you said our eyes cannot focus in three plains at once. Obtain your sight alignment. Move that sight alignment onto your target. Then focus your eye on the front sight making it crisp as possible. Allow the rear sight and target to be blurry while mentally focusing on keeping the sights on target. This is rifle shooting 101. It's what allows the old timers to outshoot the younger fellas. Not everyone knows this. Hope this helps someone.

 

[Crow-Feather]

Last time shooting, I tried sighting without my bifocals. The sights were a lot sharper. Two shots later, some tiny object had to be washed from my eye. Went back to wearing glasses.

 

[rmark]

I've started wearing 0.5 safety glasses to sharpen up my view of the sights, it's worked pretty well. Previously I had bifocal reading/safety glasses so I could more easily focus on the muzzle while loading.

 

[hinamanra]

My eye doctor perscribed me contacts, the one for my right eye fosuses close for my sights and my left eye focuses on distance. It works out perfect.

 

[Grenadier1758]

I used the monofocal contact lens system for many years. Eventually presbyopia overcame even that as I needed a stronger reading prescription. Then I discovered that the previous prescription for the shooting eye would put the front sight in focus. Used that for several years. Now I am getting the lens replacements as cataracts clouded my sight such that even all the low powered reading lenses were of no help. The diopter method / peep sight helped, but diopters are not allowed in many competitions.

Of course there is always the smoothbore solution. No rear sight to make focusing on anything but the target necessary. The pattern makes up for out of focus sate of the front sight.

 

[grey8833]

I can't see sights at all now, I made this the other day, it has since been refined and browned. I am down in the back/hip from doing something stupid and taking a bad fall so testing has been put off for a while.
View attachment 32275

That is just too cool. Windage by twisting off center! Mark the flat on the back for alignment. Sorry if its not historically correct, because it should be! I made my front blade a “ Partridge”.not historical, but the front sight stands out as a black square. Old age requires you get tricky.

 

[Homesteader]

I know this topic has cooled off since I first posted it, but I thought y'all might like to know how it's playing out for me. Thanks to everyone for all the input by the way.

My ophthalmologist tells me my vision is actually quite good, with the normal presbyopia one expects at my age. It's apparently a matter of light more than anything else, because of the natural death of cones or rods or whichever. The rear notch was so narrow and low to the flat that very little light could get through and that made the blade a visual smear. I can see the bead on my fowling piece well and even on C&B revolvers so that made sense to me.

So I took a triangular file to the range and started carefully (and with great trepidation) opening the rear sight after each shot with the rifle. I was eventually able to see the front sight pretty well! My groups tightened up (I'm still not Hawkeye) and I've got to say I'm pretty darned happy about it.

This is exactly what was suggested above, and was right on the money. Let there be light! What a thing!