[jrgreen]

i would also go as far to say put a laser on your pocket gun. face it, thah't the onr you can't afford to miss with.

 

[alsipd]

My Solution for your problem

As many of you know, I am a new shooter. Started going to an indoor range in early January and focused on renting / shooting 9mm guns and ammo.From there I bought some of my own guns and got me a 22 pistol as well . I shoot a lot and I LOVE it.
Best guess I have put 3000 rounds of 9mm downrange, and probably 1000 22lr and a wee bit of .380.
From the jump I had a focus problem . I wear reading glasses - I cant see small print from less than 3 ft, but my vision is excellent long-range. When I try to line up my sights it is all a blur, even with my readers on. I simply cannot see front sights if I focus on rear, and vice verse.If I wear the readers I am a wee bit better at seeing sights, but the target is a blur. End result I cannot sight a target worth a crap . Despite all my practice, I am not improving.

Today, I played with the 22 pistol first...4OO rounds from 10-15 yards. Target was 8'' metal plate. My guess is I hit 40 -50 % at best.

On to 9mm - 200 rounds, same range . At best I hit 25% of the time.
I shoot well enough to defend myself a close quarters, but I love the sport and I want to improve...
Hell, I may just be an idiot that does not know how to aim, but either way I am frustrared with it.

I am looking for suggestions, or solutions from other 50ish guys who eyes suck, lol

The way I solved this problem is to have a special prescription made. The glasses have my distance prescription with a close up prescription placed in the upper 1/3 of my dominant eye. This solves the front sight out of focus by tilting my head slightly down when firing. this also keeps my posture slightly forward to help me control recoil. The other advantage is that the distance is in focus as well, if I keep both eyes open. I have been using this for five years now and it works perfectly. I found a pair of polycarbonate riding/sunglasses for bicyclists (Bolle Parole) that have a removable insert for the prescription. This was my solution for an "aging" issue. I worked very closely with my optometrist to be certain that this would work for me. She was awesome, even letting me bring an unloaded gun to use while getting the prescription correct.

Hope this helps.

http://www.sunglasses-int.com/Bolle-Parole-Matte-Black-Tns-Gun.html?id=g2efZzwG

http://www.sunglasses-int.com/lens_bolle.html

 

[broadus123]

I found a similar fix for the problem. I have glasses for shooting with a lens on my dominent side so I can focus on the sights and a distance lens on the other side. I shoot with both eyes open and this works for me for USPSA as well as IDPA.

 

[-06]

Found a cheap pair of reading glasses that work better than the bi-focals. Target is still a bit blurry but can get decent hits. Have concentrated on point shooting. All the rifles have glass except three and two of them are truck guns. Reached retirement age last year so the eyes should not get any worse---I hope--lol.

 

[Bailey Boat]

Wes, don't change anything and don't run to have your eyes checked and buy some expensive prescription glasses until you take a 1" bright orange dot and place it in the middle of the black bullseye. Use your 1.25/1.50 readers to line up the sights and place the orange dot on top of the front sight. You'll be amazed at the difference now that you've forgotten about the target part of your problem. I know this works because I do it every time I need to shoot an iron sighted handgun.... Try it at least and let us know what happens.......

 

[RenegadeRN]

Wes...One More of Many Good Suggestions....

I too am over that 50 mark. I can't tell you how much I have spent in a variety of glasses to shoot with. I happened upon an answer that seems to not have worked for a couple of people here. I wear bifocals and could use tri's if I wanted. I spent a bit too much money on prescription shooting glasses, etc. etc.

Wanna know what worked? Not my eye doc. He had no clue on what to do...so figured he must not be into shooting sports or an anti. I took a business card with me to Wal-Mart. I went to the cheapy reading glasses end-cap. I would put a set of glasses on and hold the business card at arms length (much like you would a handgun). I would focus on the card and then at 20ish yards down the aisle. I would refocus on the card and back down again. As I changed the strength I noted that I could not only read the card, but was able to see clearly to 25 yards. I shoot with a single strength lens that allows me to see as well as I did when I was twenty! Yes, I have the fiber optics sites on, but know I would not need it. My accuracy has improved dramatically! If you ever get glasses or have them you will notice the MD asks what you do for a living. Or reading, etc. Why? Because glasses are only for a certain distance. If you wear a specific prescription you will notice that the lower part of the bifocal will only allow you to focus on a specific distance. If you look up through the bottom part of the lens you can't see. So glasses are made for your eyes to focus on a certain distance. With this in hand, again find that value that will let you focus as clearly as you can from 2ft to 20 yards!

I even went further. I have to have glasses to see. I wanted a set of sunglasses that were prescription, but they wanted as much for prescription sunglasses as they do regular glasses. I may be blind, but am not stupid! $600 is a bit much. There are at least three alternatives that I found. One is that Oakley does have a military/leo discount if you know the website. It is like half the costs. But even better yet is that both ESS and Revision Eyewear has a service that allows you to put an insert into either of their glasses. YEP! And they will fill the prescription as well including the insert for less than a $100. So...ESS Eye Pro ICE Series and Revision Eyewear Sawfly's (from $50 to $70ish) you get a clear shooting lens and a dark sunglasses type lens with interchangable lens/eye pieces. Add that $100 in and you have not only shooting glasses that are guarenteed to take a shotgun blast, are approved by the military to wear in combat, a set of glasses you can shoot with and SEE with at the range, but a set of sunglasses you can wear at all times!

Hope it helps cause I am never going back to not shooting and do it inexpensively. I learned the hard way with cash and nothing worked for me, but the above!

Now, I went a step further

 

[phespe]

........Try a progressive reading prescription lens. Magnified at the bottom with magnification diminishing up the lens with no magnification at the top. Probably low magnification would be the ticket too, like 1.25, 1.50. But progressive readers aren't cheap. Would be good if you could try some out first.

That's what I do and it works well for me - My optometrist suggested them for me and told me if I did not like or could not get used to them - that he would replace them with standard bifocals and only charge the Bifocal price.


.......Another option for "ageing eyes" (also known as Presbyopia) is wearing one contact. One eye is magnified with a low power reading lens(a contact) and the other eye isn't. Then you have close up in one eye and distant in the other.

This is called MONO-VISION and has been in use for many years. I understand that Pres Regan used this trick so he could see to read his speeches and still see the audience - all without glasses.

PHESPE

 

[RugerWes]

Just a follow up ...Last Friday I was fortunate enough to spend over 4 hours with Jeff Franz of Aesir training. He quickly recognized an issue and asked me to do a simple eye dominance test. Turns out I am a natural lefty. Go figure, lol . Sooo, now I am learning to overcome my inherent desire to grip right handed. I still need work and time on the range, but after 15 minutes with Jeff I was shooting lefty and did so for the balance of our time at the range... my accuracy and groupings improved dramatically.

Thanks for all the input, trust me I listen .