Hi Everybody,

Don't know if any of you guys have any ideas to help me, but I am sure that many have a similar problem. I do enjoy shooting with open sights, but as time has gone on aand I have gotten older I find that I have problems with the sight picture getting more and more fuzzy out there. I wear glasses for nearsightedness with bifocals at the bottom of the lenses for reading. The problem is that when I look down the bbl at the sights I am looking through the top of my lenses where the bifocal part of the lens is not.

I have tried different things to help, the best of which is to wear a pair of mild power reading glasses over my regular glasses for target shooting, but this tends to be a clumsy arrangement.

I am wondering if anybody has seen any kind of a bifocal spot or something that might stick on the top of the lens on my regular glasses, maybe kind of like a contact lens in shape and size, or smaller.

Any ideas are appreciated.

John

Forcing the eye to look through a small aprature can be of benefit - both older and younger eyes!

There are products on the market today that have suction cup attachments for glasses that have disks with small apratures (some shutter type adjustable), while others are fixed apratures.

Some years ago, I bought a pair of shooting glasses at a gun show that have the left lens in standard yellow while the right lens is solid black with two very small holes drilled through - one hole lines up when the face is pressed down on a rifle stock and the other is lined up for offhand handgun shooting.

Some folks merely get a square of black electricians tape, make a small hole in it and plaster it to the shooting lens in the best position for their shooting style.

Anything that will narrow the focus will work.

Hope this helps a bit - nothing worse than fuzzy sight pictures! :D

I think I saw an attachable diopter device on the Lyman web site. Also heard of a guy who cut his own peep-holes from some sort of black tape and stuck them on the right lens of his specs. Finally, your optician will make you a pair of special glasses with a bifocal located on the upper part of the lens for your sighting eye. This will cost some $$$ but I have really considered doing it myself.

Trifocals. Have them set the middle distance to about 4 feet or a foot beyond the front sight. Get it fairly high too, so you don't have to tilt your head down too much. Works for me!

Bye
Jack

You might try a varifocal lens, too. I believe one brand name is Varilux- you know the bifocals without lines.
You can find a spot to look thru the lens to focus at any distance by raising and lowering your head a hair.
Might help.

Hi Everybody,

Don't know if any of you guys have any ideas to help me, but I am sure that many have a similar problem. I do enjoy shooting with open sights, but as time has gone on aand I have gotten older I find that I have problems with the sight picture getting more and more fuzzy out there. I wear glasses for nearsightedness with bifocals at the bottom of the lenses for reading. The problem is that when I look down the bbl at the sights I am looking through the top of my lenses where the bifocal part of the lens is not.

I have tried different things to help, the best of which is to wear a pair of mild power reading glasses over my regular glasses for target shooting, but this tends to be a clumsy arrangement.

I am wondering if anybody has seen any kind of a bifocal spot or something that might stick on the top of the lens on my regular glasses, maybe kind of like a contact lens in shape and size, or smaller.

Any ideas are appreciated.

John
John,
I have a pair of glasses that I use only for shooting.They are a single lens,similar too reading glasses,but focus on a point downrange,rather then up close,or infinity.
It's a chore carrying an extra pair of glasses,but they get the job done.
Frank

Hi Everybody,

Thanks, for all of your replys to my question about "Old Eyes." I have tried the "black electrical tape" trick and am going to use it. I can see the sights a lot more clearly when looking through the little hole in the tape. It took me a little while to get the size of the hole right, but it does seem to help.

I did log onto the Lyman Gunsight site and found their stick on diapters that they sell for $19.95 and think that maybe I'll order out a set sometime, but the price of the electrical tape thing is sure hard to beat.

The next time I go into my opthomologists office for an eye exam I'll talk with him about possibly getting a pair of eye glasses with focal points that can help, but I think that that cure may get into some considerable $$'s.

Well, again I say, Thanks for all of your input.

Keep your powder dry,

John

Merit makes an aperture adapter that fits on eyeglasses. They also make a GREAT variable diameter iris type aperture insert that fits most aperture sights and lets you choose your own setting with a simple twist. I keep mine wide open when hunting up close but if I get a longer shot it is easy to reduce aperture size to sharpen focus.

I am amazed at how few people have heard of Merit and the products.

I'm near sighted, Had a pair of bi-focal made, the bottom (reading part) was made with my hand out, like holding my gun, and was put in the eyepiece so it just barely was below my line of sight. The top lens is my regular lens for looking far away. I barely have to tip my head to see my sight, it is clear, and I can also see the target fairly well, It works great for me.

This is exactly the reason that I have changed to a low-magnification, long eye-relief scope.... mounted "Scout rifle" fashion. I have, regretably, given up iron sights altogether. I find that this set-up gives me the flexibility I need, more precision than open sights (because of the magnification) - yet, it is very easy on my eyes.

There is a removeable mignification lens that adhears to your lens, they are sold as reading adapters. Just get one that is of the right strength, and put it on above your current bi-focal. They are like a magnetic piece of soft plastic that sticks to your lens without any adheasive, that can be removed and re used any time you go to the range.
Walgreens used to have them in the same areas where they kept the reading glasses, they may still carry them.

Lee L.

John:

I'm on your same page. I recently ran across "Hansen's Eagle Eye Shooting Glasses" in a black powder cartridge magaziner. They have a web site, www.hansenseagleeye.com

I visited my optometrist last week to get a new exam and prescription. When I told him about this web site, and the problem with shooting, he said "bring your rifles in and we will design a pair of shooting glasses."

So I have an appointment to do just that. I'll take my Sharps rifle with tang and globe sights and my Kentucky long rifle. This should give them a different kind of "day at the office".

Not recently of course, but truly asking his method. I am a 34 year practicing private practice optometrist who shoots a lot.
At 57 it is tough and don't think you all won't get it....you will.
The idea of the stick-on plastic bifocal is a good one and it should work. get the +1.25 power. Put it on the back where it is protected. They stay on well and you can cut them down and get six or eight if you want. If it is in the wrong spot it can be reapplied.
They are 25 bucks a pair and are called Optics 20/20 or something like that.....we would call them "press on bifocals"
Another new product has the right focal power and you can get them for 35 dollars. Goggle for "PC Peekers" a custom powered binocular computer aid that slips down behind your distance protective eyewear. They are pretty good for sighting in, though they move with the recoil of my big bore revlolvers.
Small red dots are best, and I have two Tasco 2000's on a .44 Anaconda and a Glock 36. I have a Gilmore on my .45 four inch Anaconda.
Elmer said to file the rear sight wider and that works too... as did most of his advice.

One of the things that helped my old eyes on the only open sight rifle I shoot was to put a set of Williams fire sights on it. They got glowing red dots on the back and one glowing green dot on the front sight.

It's kind of like looking at a three dot pistol sight. Just line up the three dots on the target and shoot. Got a set ordered for my Super Redhawk now. It normally uses an aimpoint 5000. My son wants his aimpoint back so I'm gonna try the Williams on it. Sure works good on my muzzle loader.

My old eyes played out and I am having to have them repaired. Have worn glassed for 30 years and a while back I got to where I couldn't focus through a scope and the 3 dots on my Ruger P97 sights looked like 9 dots. Went to where I have have my eyes checked and since my last checkup I have developed Cataracts. I went a week ago and had my worse eye done. They inserted a lens in my eye and now I can read and use the computer without any glasses. Going tomorrow to schedule the other one. I looked at the sights through the eye that I had fixed and they are plain. Now I'll have to find another excuse for my bad shooting.

OK, P97 - Used to live in the Tulsa area and ran gas pipelines all over the state of Okla.

Never heard of "Panama" - where the heck is it? :confused:

You might try a varifocal lens, too. I believe one brand name is Varilux- you know the bifocals without lines.
You can find a spot to look thru the lens to focus at any distance by raising and lowering your head a hair.
Might help.
====
McMaster-Carr sells a Bifocal stick on. You can adhere it anywhere you want on your glasses and you can remove them and put them on other glasses. If I remember the run around 15 bucks. I forgot all about them until I came across this post, my eyes are not that young either. I think I will put them on my shooting glasses. Good Luck

I forgot this :D

OK here is the part numbers


Magnification Level Per Pair

1.25 --- 53635T302 = $22.50

1.50 --- 53635T303 = 22.50

1.75 --- 53635T304 = 22.50

and here is the website

http://www.mcmaster.com

I'm getting to the point in life now that it's apertures or scopes all the time ! But I'm getting a kick out of teaching ,my step kids how to shoot with open sites & remembering those early days of shooting ! I like to think of growing Old distastefully :D

Dave