Vision - being old sucks

10 months after my last eye exam I noticed a vision change in my left eye when shooting pistol. My right eye, the one with the bionic lens, still had good iron sight focus, but the left eye distant focus had degraded. However, even the right eye has shifted slightly (again). Given I have three pair of shooting glasses I'm grateful two pair use Rudy Project inserts so the cost to change the prescription is reasonable. The Hunters Gold, which I like for certain conditions, I'm not going to replace. Fortunately, this gives me a good excuse for missing some of the distant targets at old-man speed. This is a cautionary tale for the young that if they intend to shoot into their 70's to budget for frequent changes in eyeglasses:(

Yes. Its one reason COs are so popular for pistols now. Us old farts can't see the dang sights.

At a Tier IV IDPA match last weekend (we don't run and gun, we waddle and shoot!). We had to shoot targets about 60 yards away multiple times in the standards stage. I literally couldn't see the targets.

Yep, I am 72 and I got lucky 5-6 years ago. I already had a pair of 'computer' glasses made up where the entire lens on both sides was focused at desktop screen distance. Took them to the range one time just to try out. Turns out my screen distance is the same as my front sight distance. Yeehaw. Wife's work changed health insurance companies so the new glasses 'every other year' policy was reset. So I got a new pair w/ slightly oversized frames, my usual trifocal prescription in my non-dominant eye side and 'front sight focus' prescription in the entire lens of my dominant eye. Both lenses automatically darken in sunlight. Each range visit I put them on and things are just a little weird for maybe 3-4 minutes and then I don't notice it afterwards. My Dawson FO front sight is in perfect focus and the targets are so slightly out of focus I don't even notice it.

I will have to remember that for my next pair.

I've been ok with my sights in the day time. Here's something I noticed though. I cannot see the little tritium front dot anymore on my night sights. Is it faded, am I fading - maybe both?

When I had my cataracts developing, I went to Given's conference in Tulsa. In the shoot house, there was a target in black with black gun in front of its chest. Totally missed it and looked like an idiot.

Got my eyes done and it was a blessing. Modern techniques are great.

Moving to an optic - have to think about that.

Moving to optics is a no-go for me until I retire from the PD. They don't even allow them on carbines here.

After that, I guess we will see. I can still see the holes in the target at 25 yards and have a spotting scope for the long (50) line. We were T&Eing a G45 MOS at the city PD range the other day and I found it laughably easy to hit steel at 50 without readers on.

With readers, I can still see a sharp, front sight. That will do for now.

Regards.

50 and never needed glasses. I occasionally would wear some if I read text books all night. Now I can read without them, but if I know I am going to plow into a book for an hour or more, I break out the cheaters.

It’s just starting to become apparent to me that age is sneaking up on me, and I will probably need actual glasses in a few years. Getting old sucks.

I read about folks who get special shooting glasses with configurations designed for competiton. I wonder about that has in da street, you probably will not have such. Now you could probably practice a quick draw placement of your shooting glasses - being silly.

Seriously, I shoot with my regular EDGlasses and would rather put the effort into better sights. At least, that's my thoughts on the issue.

Red Dot or laser for my carry guns.

For iron sight target shooting I've been using these, they work pretty well.
I can see both the front sight and the target with these on.

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Originally Posted by Glenn E. Meyer

I read about folks who get special shooting glasses with configurations designed for competiton. I wonder about that has in da street, you probably will not have such. Now you could probably practice a quick draw placement of your shooting glasses - being silly.

Seriously, I shoot with my regular EDGlasses and would rather put the effort into better sights. At least, that's my thoughts on the issue.

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I have a pair of top bifocals that work great. Front sight is super clear. It's true, they only help when I'm wearing my shooting glasses, and not when I'm not--and on da street I would almost certainly not be wearing my shooting glasses. I manage to live with this. :)

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Originally Posted by Whirlwind06

Red Dot or laser for my carry guns.

For iron sight target shooting I've been using these, they work pretty well.
I can see both the front sight and the target with these on.

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Interesting. I need to try those.

I am trying multi-focal contact lenses which worked for a few weeks but now I need my reading glasses again. I have to call the eye doctor and let them know. The way he explained it was the left eye was at +2.50 power reader and the right eye was +1.25 reader. While it lasted it was great. I'm wondering if the power of each lease will have to be increased? I don't know. Where can I get some eyeballs from a 20 year old installed in my skull?

There is a company called SSP IIRC, that makes bifocals with the reading prescription on the top of the lens.

Ive made it so far without glasses, but can sure tell the difference in vision. The eye doc told me when I was in my 20s I had 40-20 vision, I could see at 40 feet what is normal to see at 20 feet, and had no problem up close either.

The Lyman sticker doo-dads mentioned above that stick on the glasses is the same concept as the Merit device, an adjustable iris type thing that sticks on glasses, it adjusts to give super sharp vision for sights and target, just like I had when younger. They work.

A guy I knew that did some fancy pistol shooting in the past, like shooting things people held in their hands or mouth, wouldnt drink coffee or caffeine 3 days before a shoot. I tried it, it does seem to make a difference in my vision, as does staring at a computer, TV or book. Spending all day outside or busy on various activities not to include the above subjects, my vision is much better all around.

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Originally Posted by CraigS

Yep, I am 72 and I got lucky 5-6 years ago. I already had a pair of 'computer' glasses made up where the entire lens on both sides was focused at desktop screen distance. Took them to the range one time just to try out. Turns out my screen distance is the same as my front sight distance. Yeehaw. Wife's work changed health insurance companies so the new glasses 'every other year' policy was reset. So I got a new pair w/ slightly oversized frames, my usual trifocal prescription in my non-dominant eye side and 'front sight focus' prescription in the entire lens of my dominant eye. Both lenses automatically darken in sunlight. Each range visit I put them on and things are just a little weird for maybe 3-4 minutes and then I don't notice it afterwards. My Dawson FO front sight is in perfect focus and the targets are so slightly out of focus I don't even notice it.

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I constantly shove my progressive bifocals up for reading and close up vision tasks... I’ve been tempted to get a set of glasses specifically tailored for computer use since I’ve recently transitioned into a desk job where a large part of my day is spent in front of multiple computer monitors... I think your post just pushed me more in that direction.

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Originally Posted by Whirlwind06

Red Dot or laser for my carry guns.

For iron sight target shooting I've been using these, they work pretty well.
I can see both the front sight and the target with these on.

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I did an experiment after seeing the Merit things years ago. I just got a piece of black tape and put a 1/16 hole in it. I wet it down so the normal glue wouldn't work and put it on the lens just using the water as an adhesive. I always had to move it around to get it aligned but it worked very well. I ended up bending up a piece of black kydex so I had a stamp sized piece w/ the 1/16 hole and another 3/8 inch bent over so it clipped onto the top of my lenses. That also worked well.

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Originally Posted by LJP

I constantly shove my progressive bifocals up for reading and close up vision tasks... I’ve been tempted to get a set of glasses specifically tailored for computer use since I’ve recently transitioned into a desk job where a large part of my day is spent in front of multiple computer monitors... I think your post just pushed me more in that direction.

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A lot of this depends on what your eye shortcomings are. Mine are astigmatism and not too bad. I can see well enough w/o glasses to be able to recognize people, and drive a car no problem. Just can't read the road signs until pretty close. My computer glasses are actually about 8 yrs and 2 prescriptions old but the entire lens is focused on the screen distance so there is no moving my head around to get to the correct spot on the lens. At the time I told the doc what I wanted to do when I was getting new regular glasses tri-focal, auto darkening etc. I said point me at the cheap frames section. So cheap frames, lenses just one prescription, no auto darkening, I think they cut me a bit of a break since I was essentially buying two glasses at the same time, they were maybe $100-125.

For my PCC I'm going to get bi-focals, distance on top and 24" focus on the bottom (works for computer and driving). For iron sight pistol I use a 1.5 diopter "add" on the right eye and distance on the left. Sight for Sport Eyes will do lenses for the Rudy Project prescription inserts; this time around I'm going to have them AR (anti-reflective) coated. It's kind of the cost of doing business I guess.

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Originally Posted by Whirlwind06

Red Dot or laser for my carry guns. ...

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I agree. We have Crimson Trace lasers on every gun that might be used defensively. I won't buy anything they don't have a laser for. most of mine are red lasers because they are less expensive and work just fine at night or inside the house even in full daylight. Green is more visible in brighter surroundings but it is usually a lot more $. The two weekends after we lost daylight savings time last year I shot 2 outdoor night idpa matches. I used a Crimson Trace light and laser unit.
https://www.crimsontrace.com/product...0.html#start=1
It is just 100 lumens but I can't express adequately how well it worked in stages up to about 40 ft. The fact that we were out in the woods in complete darkness made absolutely no difference to my shooting ability. Because of that I bought two TDI Arms clamp on rails and two small lights for our under the bed in a lock box Beretta 92s. They already had laser grips so now they have lasers and lights.