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seabiscuit
06-20-2011, 12:15 AM
I just got some contacts, and I've noticed in my dry-fire practice that they make it a lot more difficult to focus on the front sight and to get the proper sight picture with both eyes open.

Has anyone else had this problem? Any tips?

JHC
06-20-2011, 05:49 AM
Well dang. I've been wearing contacts for decades and do not find this to be a problem and it's so long ago I don't recall any transition from glasses (circa '83).

Do you perceive two front sights or some such?

JeffJ
06-20-2011, 05:58 AM
Not quite as long for me but I've been wearing contacts for over a decade and I've never noticed a problem. I will say that my vision can be better corrected with glasses than contacts, but I still prefer the contacts. It's also possible that you need the prescription adjusted, I've noticed that sometimes it takes a couple tries to get them dialed in.

orionz06
06-20-2011, 07:03 AM
I do, a little. I had a really bad corneal ulcer a few years ago and it really messes with me from time to time. I have found that spending $30 to get a few different types of eye drops to find what works best is money well spent. I will use a good bit of drops when I can to help. I don't have the issues with glasses but I haven't worn my glasses in a few months now and likely won't unless I need to.

seabiscuit
06-20-2011, 07:10 AM
Well dang. I've been wearing contacts for decades and do not find this to be a problem and it's so long ago I don't recall any transition from glasses (circa '83).

Do you perceive two front sights or some such?

It's kind of just two sight pictures, and they obscure each other to the point that I can't tell which one I should look at. If I close my left eye, then open it again, I can focus on the picture from my right eye (my dominant eye).

The perscription feels perfect for other things, really brings my world into focus. Except for my sights.

I know it took a while for my eyes and brain to learn to shoot both eyes open, so it may just be an issue of training my eyes to do the same with contacts.

I'll try shooting with glasses as well, see if that's any easier. But contacts are so much simpler.

JHC
06-20-2011, 08:33 AM
I know it took a while for my eyes and brain to learn to shoot both eyes open, so it may just be an issue of training my eyes to do the same with contacts.I'll try shooting with glasses as well, see if that's any easier. But contacts are so much simpler.

My hunch is that's all it'll turn out to be. I run both eyes open for speed but when I slow down to make distant low prob target, I squint/close that left eye to go hard on the focus.

seabiscuit
06-20-2011, 09:44 AM
My hunch is that's all it'll turn out to be. I run both eyes open for speed but when I slow down to make distant low prob target, I squint/close that left eye to go hard on the focus.

When I shot competitive smallbore, we always shot both eyes open - and those are low prob targets. When you close one eye, you cut off a significant percentage of light going into the other eye. It's an issue with smallbore, but probably not as much with pistol.

Hopefully some training will help me get the right focus.

JConn
06-20-2011, 06:31 PM
Interesting as I have a similar issue with contacts. I don't shoot often with my glasses as they are not adequate eye pro. It might be that now that you have two pieces of plastic or glass between your eye and the sights it is causing problems. I had similar issues in basic when doing qualification. I could see much better with bcgs than with eye pro w/ glasses inserts. Food for thought.

willowofwisp
06-20-2011, 08:53 PM
I have the same issue wiht contacts, its also harder for me to hold focus on things like the front sight for long periods of time...this is one of the reasons i switched to a red dot.

seabiscuit
06-21-2011, 12:57 AM
Did some more dry fire today and found that if I focused on the target instead of the front sight, everything was clear. Might need to be a new thread, bit is focusing on the target a goodie idea for defensive pistol shooting?

TAZ
06-27-2011, 07:40 AM
Had similar issues when I first started wearing contacts. For some reason they evened out my eye dominance quite a bit. End result was that I was getting the image from the non dominat eye as well. It took a bunch of dry fire to get my brain trained to once again ignore the picture from the non dominate eye, or atleast learn which of the 2 sights to ignore. On the ability to focus clearly on the sights, pretty much solved that by telling my doc what I was doing and she made sure that the lenses are set up for distance vision only. Side effect is that I can no longer read with my contacts in and have to wear reading glasses, but I'm ok with that.

JHC
06-27-2011, 11:42 AM
I am very near sighted plus 53 years old so a monovision set up with one contact full correction and one less than full (80%?) gives me the option of switching the contacts between my dominant eye so I can get a sharp front sight. Same result with reading glasses but who cares about that? It's all about the pistol shooting.

vcdgrips
06-29-2011, 10:53 PM
What say you contact/glasses wearers (ie those who use both)-do you think you shoot better with contacts or with glasses?

My present thought is I shoot better with glasses (my rx is a moderate distance one i.e. -2.25/.1.50) as I can pick up the front sight earlier in the press out.
David

TAZ
07-01-2011, 05:46 PM
I am pretty even with either glasses or contacts. I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, so it could just be me sucking the same with either. YMMV. Both my glasses and contact lenses are specifically set up for shooting and seeing absolutely clear at arms length +. Before I expressly told my doc what I needed, I noticed that I could see well at distance yet still see decent up close. It seemed that the previous doc set up the lenses to be balanced so to speak to deliver average performance over a wider depth of field. With my new lenses, arms length and closer is an issue, but it's an inconvenience I am willing to deal with.

oboe
07-06-2011, 09:53 PM
It is much more difficult to see the from sight using my "distance only" contacts. Some time down the road, I will again get some multi-focal contacts and try shooting with those. I'll bet my score will improve. I'll also try shooting with my progressive focus glasses - and I'll bet that will be an improvement.

seabiscuit
07-06-2011, 11:46 PM
Shot with the contacts a few days ago, both rifle and pistol, and the difference in group size from uncorrected to contacts was significant. I didn't think my eyes were that bad.

I just can't stand the contacts. Hate putting them in and taking them out. They don't fit with KISS.

Think I'll order some prescription Oakleys.