Prescription glasses for shooting

[b_haycock]

I suppose many of us on this forum are at the age where our eyesight is limiting us at distances of 100 yards! I know about the importance of focusing on the front sight - that is a given and easy to do with the proper prescription. My question has to do with special prescription glasses made up especially for our shooting requirement. Has anyone had special prescription glasses made to allow a better sight picture at 100 yards? Is it possible to have a special prescription that will allow a clear focus on the front sight and still provide for some degree of focus on a target at 100 Yards/

Bill

 

[rabbit03]

Hello Bill, yes it is possible. I know because I have a pair.

I discovered that I could not see my front sight very clearly nor could I see the 100yd targets clearly any longer. My friend John L. Hinnant advised me to see one of his eye doctors who was familiar with shooters and their requirements.

It is kind of a compromise on the glasses to be able to see both the front sight and the 100 for the prescription given. The end result has been several State and a National Championship wins and that should speak for itself.

Good luck and good shooting

rabbit03

 

[b_haycock]

Thanks for the reply rabbit! I was considering going to a good optometrist and explaining my need - seems like they should be able to understand what shooters need is a focus point that provides the depth of field that will give us the best compromise. I do realize there is no "magic bullet" that will give us clear focus at all distances as even a good healthy eye will not do that! I t would be easy to get a prescription to provide absolutely clear focus on the front sight as all one would have to do is provide the doctor the distance from your eye to the front sight - the problem comes in when you also want some degree of focus on the target at 100 yards! I am going to talk to my eye doctor and see what he says - will post here his comments.

Bill

 

[Jim-Iowa]

I am one of those individuals who never has been able to see without corrective lens's.
Years ago, my optomitrist(long since retired) was a very avid trap shooter.
He fitted me with a set of tinted lens's that worked very well.
I would like to have a new pair, but there was one thing that Rabbit said that I think is key.
He found an optomitrist that woked with shooters, and understood what is needed.
Our educational institutions are propogating firearms phobia to the point that many of these youngsters would not take us seriously or make an effort to understand our needs.
So find one that either shoots or works with shooters.

 

[redwing]

Yes, like Rabbit said see a "Shoot'in Doc". My Eye Doc is an NRA Pistol Coach, and Compt.shooter. When I hit that magic age where my knowledge picked up and my eye sight fell off. {:yakyak: He's lying about the knowledge thing.}
He set me up with the Veralux lenses Deluxe grade. They have worked great for ten years. They take a few weeks to get used to. You may stumble around for a few days but they are worth it. I can shoot a hand gun again and see the sights. :thumbsup:

 

[rabbit03]

Yep, all good info. I actually made the apt. and took my rifle in with me. (They were expecting it). Yeah when I hit about 40 the eyes started to go a bit but oh well I would rather be here shooting with glasses than not at all. :thumbsup:

rabbit03

ps Ol' John L told me to get a pair of Ray-Bans for the prescription, which I did and haven't looked back yet.

 

[redwing]

Say, Rabbit are they the progressive lens? I did not know Ray-Ban had one?

 

[paulvallandigham]

I had shooting glasses made for me more than 20 years ago to shoot Trap with. The focal center of the lens is moved to the upper inside quarter of the lens, which is where you are looking through your glasses when you mount and swing a shotgun. It eliminated eye fatigue, allowed a much clearer image of the moving clay target, and added a couple of targets to my 100 target averages. I still have the glasses, and they still help. I do believe they can make glasses that allow you to focus on the front site. Just don't expect to see both the front sight and the distant target clearly out of the same lens. Now, if your barrel was about 10 feet long, that might be different! :blah: :grin:

 

[rabbit03]

Not sure what that is but they are just a single prescription ???? Not sure what progressive is since this was my first pair of glasses.

rabbit03

 

[Applejack]

Shooting with both eyes open has helped my shooting vision with my 59 year old eyes. I can see both front sight and target better shooting with both eyes open rather than with my left eye closed.

I also keep my rifle out where it is handy and I daily sight on objects around the house or out a window to exercise my eyes and keep them used to trying to focus upon front sight and target. When you hit age 40 you have forty layers of cells on your eyeball and most people cannot bend a lense that thick to focus like they used to do. Each year you get another cell layer. I believe that by constantly exercising your eye muscles you can keep them stronger to try to bend the lense a little harder to keep focusing to the best of your ability.

 

[roundball]

I'm very lucky to be 61 and have only required those disposable reading glasses for the last several years.

A couple years ago I started to notice too much blur on the sights at the range so I tried a pair of my 1.50 dioptor drugstore reading glasses...they gave enough improvement that I bought a full sized pair to get some eye protection at the same time.

Then last fall I tried them hunting but they were too strong to see clearly at distance, tried a 1.0 dioptor pair and they are great...deer hunted with them last year and wore them turkey hunting this spring...it's a good feeling having the eye protection hunting with a Flintlock too.

 

[Shifty]

I have been using Progressive lense with fairly good results don't know what veralux lenses are.

 

[MFP308]

Veralux is a brand of lens. Progresive lenses are bifocals without the transition line. The top is generally for distance and the bottom is for close work. I have a pair and tghey help a great deal.

Mike

 

[Keppy]

Bill
I use to shoot silhoutte and used a meit sight. It had a adjustable apreture and I tried it with rifles also. But I didn't need it with rifles as I did for pistol shooting. I also have tried "its called a clearsight. that attaches to your glasses. It has three diffrent power lense. Both would be great for target shooting.

 

[plinker]

The last time I went to the eye doctor, he gave me a prescription that was quite a bit stronger (+3.5 diopters) for close vision than the old one. When I asked for the prescription that would enable me to focus at 30", he gave me a strange look and said "Why?". So I told him (turns out that he is also a shooter and was looking for places to shoot since he had only been in town for about 6 months) and he wrote up the prescription for a 2.5 diopter correction. Then I called these folks up (http://www.envirosafetyproducts.com/category/Mag-Safe_Whole_Lens_Magnifying_Safety_Glass) and got their whole lens safety glasses. Now I can focus on the sights but the target gets fuzzy. Down to the basement to cut some strips of thin sheet metal to about 1/2" wide. Drill a 5/64" hole near the end and trim to 3/4" long. Tape it to the new safety glasses where I can see the sights through it and it acts like a small aperture on a camera in that it increases the depth of field so I can see the target much better. If you want to favor seeing the target over the sights do the same thing with a weaker (less correction) pair of safety glasses. This does the same thing as using reading glasses, but I am much more comfortable with ANSI rated safety glasses between my eyes and rifles or pistols.

 

[b_haycock]

Thanks to all who have provided valuable input! I have learned a lot and will take action to get some new glasses made based on what I have learned here. I have used adjustable aperture device on my glasses and they do seem to help.

I will get back to this posting as soon as I get some information from my optometrist.

Again, thanks for all the great input - I know it has helped me.

 

[mike alexandre]

I spent $240 to get a "pair of shooting glasses" that were supposed to enable me to see the front sight and the target at 100yds. I threw them away in the end and use a pair of ready readers, either 1.25 or 1.50 on a dark day. They work fine and cost $18 and when the scratches and burns from the flinter marr the lens to see I throw them away and $9 later I can see again. No more opticians for me.

 

[JOHN L. HINNANT]

Good Morning All,

It is important to understand that with or without prescription lense, it is not possible for the human eye to sharpely focus on the front sight, rear sight and target at the same time, yet you must concentrate on a correct sight, picture.

And then you must maintain the same sight picture from shot to shot.

I have talked with a number of the finest rifle shots in the world about sight alignment and sight picture. They and my eye doctor, all agree that the eye cannot bring all three (all at different focual) lengths in the same sharp focus at the same time. The eye can only focus on two of the three at any one time.

The best sight picture is to focus on the target and front sight, leaving the rear sight slightly out of focus, but concentrating on maintaining the same sight picture shot after shot.

This is all part of the total mental management
progam required to be a good shot, competetive or otherwise.

For this reson, it is a waste of time and money to go to the Opt Doctor without taking your rifle and a target to tape to a wall. If you cannot do this, save your money and stay at home.

PaulV's comment about the focal point in a lense is quite correct. This is just one of the reasons, I finally abandoned the B&L Rayban type of shooting glasses and went to the KnobLocks style.The Knoblocks are expensive, but I have now been using them for 15 plus years, so that initial expense is spread out over a numbe of years, and I expect to be shooting for at least 20 more years.

These frames use a single, round lense, and can be adjusted to center over your eye in any shooting position. Therefore the lense focal point can always be centered in the middle of the lense.

In addition different lense are easily and quickly inter-changeable on the same frame.

Regardless of the style, you will need two different tinted glasses; one in a medium amber tint. and one in a light lime green tint.

Forget about the rose red, brown or other colors. Scientific reasearch into this subject has conclusely proven that for shooting at a black target on a a white background under bright light (indoors or outdoors) the light lime green tint is overwhelmly the best color for the typical human eye.

The light green color allow the best target clarity while reducing harsh glare.

Th amber tint is for overcast or darker, subdued light conditions.

In the days before I needed prescipton corrections, my Raybans were tinted green and amber. Everybody that tried the light green marveled at the effect, but whatever reason, few made the change. The most common reason; they just never got around to it, BUT, BUT , they were going to do it before the next shoot. They still have not.

Human behavior is very interedting.

In my youth, my vision was 20/05; a big advantage. But then..., reality is, that we are not really all created equally. My vision today, at age 68, is 20/15 and that still helps.

For rondy work, where everything has to be PC, I would have my lense made up clear, in a type of old fashion frames, to keep everybody happy.

Best regards and good shooting,

John L. Hinnant

If you are not an NRA or NMLRA Member, why not? I am carrying your load.

Politians Lie!! US Freedoms Die!!!

 

[Rat Trapper]

I bought a pair of Knoblocks and tried all the different lens until I found what worked for me. Which is 1.0 for rifle shooting and 1.25 for pistols. I need a 2.25 for reading and .75 for distance. When shooting my rifles I just use the Knoblocks over safty glasses.