I'm a gettin' there

[2thdoc]

Shot my recently finished rifle yesterday. Shot her "off knee" while sitting in a lawn chair at a target 25yds away. I'm 53 and wear bifocals; with glasses on sights are blurry; with glasses off, target is blurry. I choose blurry sights. Paint spot is about 1" diameter. Four out of the six shots ain't bad. I tried to reduce the size of this picture at photobucket, but apparently am not doing something right.

 

[Rebel]

Looks right fine ta me fer her first time out. What with a little load work, she should be shootin' 1 hole groups. Gettin' old ain't all it's cracked up to be is it. But i guess it beats the alternative. Good shootin' Doc.

 

[2thdoc]

Well, picture looks about the right size now. What happened, it was great big? I once upon a time could shoot a group about this size with a bow and arrow at 25yds on a good day. If I get to the point where I can do this good at 50-75yds, I'll be more than satisfied.

 

[Doc Arroyo]

Ain't it funny how different shooters deal with the same problem! When I was just starting shooting, my older brother was shooting NRA high power at the national level. Our dad always stressed "the front sight is your friend", and we were trained to keep it in focus.

Now my eyes are a touch older, and the bifocals are making the front sight blurry. I am experimenting with a wider front sight, and opening the rear sight a bit more. But my gut feeling is that I will need a pair of glasses with a set focal length right to see the front sight!

 

[squirejohn]

Yeah - age and glasses is a real pain :curseoc I just finished putting on a wider front sight and opening up the rear. Works better than expected. I also have glasses that focus on the front sight. This combination works best when shooting paper targets in the open. However for woodswalks I take a small telescope to locate those miserable rusty targets soome masochist stuck under a bush, and then kind of visualize where the target is when I touch the trigger. Sometimes I hit the wretched thing. Old eyes also necessitates my strictly using a smoothbore for deer hunting as I just can't pick out the rear site in the softwoods (where I usually hunt) under poor light conditions - e.g. rainy/snowy days or at dusk. I guess this is about all I can do unless I change over to modern sights which I have no intention of doing at least at this point.

 

The front sight is still your friend. Dad was right. I'm like you, however, at 51 I need help seeing that friend!!! When bullseye shooting handguns I have noticed that I am better off allowing the target to be fuzzy and the front sight crisp and clean. Muzzleloaders, offhand at 25-50 yards have proven the same, for me. I guess we all have to find what works for our old eyes......sure ain't no fun! I remember Elmer Keith writing about a stick on aperature for his eyeglasses that worked wonders for him. I also understand they are commercially available nowadays and have seen them "somewhere". If I remember where I'll post it.

Vic

 

[Ohio Joe]

Vic,,, and all who might be interested. The "Shooters Eyeglass Diopter" is available from; www.lymanproducts.com, for $19.95... It is listed in the "sights" section... I might just have to try one of these for that price. Seems reasonable! Hey, I actually beat "musketman" to this information... :haha:

 

[musketman]

Hey, I actually beat "musketman" to this information... :haha:

I gotta sleep sometime... :snore: :haha:

 

There are Optomitrists out there who are well aware of what is needed for shooters, re: THE FRONT SIGHT.
: My 54 years old eyes, although far from OLD, are kinda lucky in that I'm far sighted and the front sight is quite clear & sharp. The trouble is the rear sight is so blurry I can't tell where the top flat is - I see at least three of them & the target is only a bit blurry. Low pwered reading glasses will actually sharpen both sights and may be of help to some people, depending on their eyes.
: They can easily make a set of shooting glasses that focus properly for you, as well as sight insets for front apperatures that take disks.
: There may be a way of finding one of these specialists on the net, but that's Greek to me.

 

[roundball]

Going on 59, I'm lucky that all I've needed the past few years is drug store reading glasses, slowly working up through 1.25, 1.50, 1.75, to 2.00 diopter for close reading in my lap.

For seeing sights more sharply plus getting eye protection from the flint lock, I discovered I can wear a large full size pair of 1.25 diopter drugstore glasses and they work great.

 

[Ohio Joe]

roundball,,, I'm 48 and farsighted... I can still see my sight picture alright most of the time without blurring. I'm at the 1.25 stage of reading glasses. I wonder what the result of putting one of those Lyman Diopters on my shooting glasses would be? They're not prescription... I know, I should just go to the eye doctor, but,,, I have no excuses... Any thoughts on the diopter on just plain ol' shootin' glasses???

 

[Liver eatin’ Johnson]

Here's somthing that might shed some light on the problem - from Muzzle Blast magazine...


Pinhole diopters

 

[Ohio Joe]

Thanks for the reminder, Johnson... I had forgotten all about that issue of MB 2000... 'Course, I wasn't having eye trouble at that time either so it was probably read half hearted back then... Thanks again! I'll get my copy out!