I realize this thread was last topped over two years ago, but it seems to be the best place to put this observation after my recent eye surgery.
I'm 65, and have been terribly nearsighted all my life. Last fall I was diagnosed with cataracts that were approaching cloudiness, so I opted to have both mine done a few months ago. Due to my situation, I had to go with lenses that give good sharp focus at distance, but I have to wear readers (+2) for reading or close in computer work. I'm fine with computer monitor distance.
The surgery was a success, much more so than I had thought, in that my eyesight is now razor sharp at distance. I mean, it's really good. However, seeing the front sight just isn't an option any more. Yesterday I took my Springfield Garrison 5" .45 ACP and Ruger 22/45 to the range to see how things went. The Garrison has a 10 8 rear and I've modified the stock front to drill out the white paint circle with some more or less orange paint. The Ruger has the stock front, painted with two coats of Testor's enamel white. So, pretty basic iron sights.
I set out targets at 7 and 15 yards, and proceeded to bang out a couple mags each. I focused on the target, which I could see very clearly. The front sight, not so much. I saw a colored blob approximately where the front was, and a bit of the rear window. So basically I was aligning the sight on the target by my index, as well as placing the gun up/down left/right based on seeing the blob kinda sorta in the rear aperture in my peripheral vision. I then tried to do my best trigger press, with a strong support hand grip and decent (ok, for me) trigger control.
The results are below. The Garrison first, at 15 yards, one mag of 8x Federal HST 230 (my SD ammo), and below that, 10 rounds of Armscor standard velocity ammo I was trying out in my 22/45.
Attachment 119721
Attachment 119722
I was mildly surprised that despite only seeing a blob for the sights, I was able to put most rounds on paper, albeit with my typical low and away pattern (I am left handed, and have to continually correct myself from doing that).
Obviously by PF standards this isn't great shooting, but I wanted to post this to give context to the question I have:
Would this rule out ever using an optic? It seems to me an optic is, well, target focused. So would I not be able to see the target and the dot focused at infinity if I put a MRDS back on my pistol(s)? That being the case, I'm inclined to go ahead and dip my toe back in the optic world, probably with a Romeo X compact RMSc footprint for my P365X, my primary carry gun. Thoughts?