Recommendations for aging eyes

[Dwight Harley]

I had intraocular implant cataract surgery a few months ago. My distant vision is now pretty good but I have to wear glasses for up close work. Looking for suggestions as to what combination of glasses or prescriptions is going to work best at the range or when hunting. My eye doc is not a shooter or hunter so she is not really sure what it is that I need. I am guessing that more than a few members of this forum have been down this road. Thanks in advance for your suggestions and personal experiences after cataract surgery.

 

[tgfrench]

If you find the magic solution I'd love to hear it. I've been using a small peep sight attachment that I fabricated, that attaches to my glasses while bench shooting. Yea, I am finally getting into the optometrist office the end of this month. Maybe trifocals?

 

[rchas]

I go the simple route. Punch a small hole (around 1/8 inch) in a a piece of electricians tape and stick it on my shooting glasses.

 

[Grenadier1758]

There are shooting stick-on apertures that can be purchased that have an adhesive that is easier to remove from the lenses than the electrical tape. But the electrical tape will be useful in determining if you want to go out and purchase one of the stick on diopters. They do work best in bright light.

 

[ETipp]

First off, it will totally depend on the each persons vision and/or limitations. Trust me on this, I have been fighting it for a while now.

What I have found out is, when you go to the eye doctor, they have to make a formula equal out, when it comes to bifocals and/or trifocals. Its like an algebraic formula. To gain something, you have to give up something, in certain situations. I have been complaining about not being able to see as well since I began wearing bifocals/trifocals. I wanted to get my distant vision back, and I did, but at the cost of giving up my trifocals. So now I must wear trifocals to see open sights (to shot and hunt) and I use just my bifocal glasses for normal day use. With my trifocals, my distant vision is not as good, but I can see open sights fairly clear and definitely have improved distant vision with just bifocals.

Without a speck of doubt, peep sights and a front sight of the optimum size for the peep works best for my vision and is now is paramount.

It would behoove you to discuss this with a good eye doctor.

One last comment on this. My Lyman GPR has a buckhorn rear sight and a fairly wide front sight. I can actually get a fairly good sight picture while wearing only bifocals. So indeed, buckhorn sights can be beneficial in certain situations.

Good luck to you.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

I just discovered a ghost ring peep for the rear and a gold bead for the front works best for me. Out of desperation I unscrewed the peep hole thingy and discovered the remaining "ghost hole" was perfect.

 

[64Springer]

Reading glasses.

15 bucks.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

I carry a bandoleer of reading glasses.

 

[TDM]

I’ve tried a number of things. Peep sights definitely help. Mainly I just limit my max target range to 50 yards. And sometimes, if the sun is high, I can still shoot out to a 100, but not very often.

 

[longcruise]

Reading glasses.

15 bucks.

Reading glasses clear up the sight picture but make everything downrange near impossible to see.

 

[64Springer]

2.0 magnification allows me to shoot when no glasses at all make shooting iron sights impossible.

I haven't found anything that makes old and tired eyes focus on the three different planes at once.

With the 2.0s the front sight is in focus. With the rear sight blurrier than the target.

 

[oldwood]

Muzzleloader Builder Supply has a new supply of Johnson Peep sights. The Johnson Peep can be altered to fit on the tang of most custom m/l's. I've used two in the last year , with perfect success. Mounted both with tiny screws from underneath the tang , unseen. My eyes are bad and I can't use regular sights , any more. This peep makes my vision like new.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

"Peep sights improve on notch-and-post open sights by improving your eye’s ability to see the front sight in relation to the target. "

https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/g...e-your-vision-and-rifle-shooting-peep-sights/

Over The Years: Peep Sights For Improved Vision​

In the early days of peep sights, hunters used peep sights on rifles to help them shoot more accurately in low light conditions. Peep sights were found to be very helpful in hunting during twilight hours when the game was most active but the sun had not risen yet or had already set. The aperture in a peep sight collects light and amplifies it as you look through it, which improves your ability to see your target in dim conditions.

People have long known peep sights to improve vision, so peep sights on riflesare widely used across the world. This improvement in vision is especially useful when aiming at targets during low light-time, or hunting during twilight hours.

https://rangerpointstore.com/news/rifle-peep-sights-how-to-improve-your-vision/

 

[longcruise]

2.0 magnification allows me to shoot when no glasses at all make shooting iron sights impossible.

I haven't found anything that makes old and tired eyes focus on the three different planes at once.

With the 2.0s the front sight is in focus. With the rear sight blurrier than the target.

I can "see" (pun alert) how that could work for you and others with similar vision. For me, I'm a tri focal guy. My reading lense will let me clearly see the rear sight but everything beyond is progressively worse.

 

[flntlokr]

If you find the magic solution I'd love to hear it. I've been using a small peep sight attachment that I fabricated, that attaches to my glasses while bench shooting. Yea, I am finally getting into the optometrist office the end of this month. Maybe trifocals?

I got my optometrist to give me a prescription that gave me perfect focus on the front sight, but only for my dominant eye;the other lens was the usual prescription. When sighting, the important thing is to get the front sight clear . The target and rear sight can be blurry. the altered correction is only a slight bit different than the full correction; still good enough to pass the drivers exam. I got the glasses online for about $40.

 

[morehops52]

All above is good advice. We all have our individual solutions to make sighting better usually after trying things that didn't work as well. One of the things gunmakers did was move the rear sight more forward on a longrifle. You'll notice that the majority of suggestions involve some type of aperture whether a peep or mounted on your glasses. That smaller hole increases your depth of focus and are made in various diameters to suit a shooters preference. I've also read that some have had better sighting using low power reading glasses like 1.5. 2.0 , 2.5x .
What has worked best for me is a Lyman 57 series peep on nearly all my rifles plus a Williams on my T/C. I also need a very fine front sight and have filed down most of them. On two I have epoxied a 1.5mm fiber optic on the front sight. This gives me a really small diam. point to place on the bull and shrunk groups another 1/2 to 1 in. On one rifle I epoxied scope mounts with a 2-7x so I could shoot to the distances the spooky deer were keeping. I don't care as much about PC as I do about shooting as good as I can and putting meat in the freezer.
I hope you find something that works for you. It could be a bit of trial and error.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

I’ve tried a number of things. Peep sights definitely help. Mainly I just limit my max target range to 50 yards. And sometimes, if the sun is high, I can still shoot out to a 100, but not very often.

Not only can I not see anymore I can't get a good offhand hold any more either. I had my left shoulder rebuilt in 17 and things haven't been the same since. It might be time to just shoot skeet.

 

[TonyC]

I had cataract surgery and now my vision is 20/20. I use SSP with reading insert in my right eye. The insert is high on the right lense so that you look through it when your head is down while sighting. Works real well. I can see the sights and the target clearly.

https://sspeyewear.com/products/top-focal-assorted-interchangeable-kits

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Dwight - Try this!

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/...our-glasses-so-you-can-see-the-sights.160334/

 

[ernbar]

Here’s something weird. I wear tri focals for every day use but can’t use them for target shooting. They mess up the crosshairs in my scopes and make iron sights impossible to use. So I wear regular clear safety glasses allowing me to clearly see both iron and scoped sights and can easily focus on my target down range.