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Thread: Vision and artificial light

  1. #1

    Vision and artificial light

    I’m in my early 50s and wear progressive bifocals (with a further correction for astigmatism). To make matters worse, my dominant eye is my weaker eye. After a year-plus hiatus from shooting a few years ago, I came to realize that with my glasses on, the bumpy thing on the front of the gun was more like a smudge. Ouch.

    More recently, as I observe my own performance, I notice this is only a real problem on indoor ranges - no matter how brightly lit. Outdoors, it appears that my pupils contract enough to give me a sharp front sight focus. Indoors or out, a bright orange front sight (Ameriglo CAP or homemade equivalent) helps.

    My solution so far has been to wear a set of non-prescription shooting glasses when I shoot indoors; apparently, my uncorrected vision focuses perfectly at front sight distance. (One downside is that with a red dot sight on a carbine or shotgun, I get a lot of bloom.) I worry that this solution, while it helps with pure marksmanship, may cause problems in a self-defense situation where I’m wearing my street glasses - “Wait, where’s that sight I could see at the range the other day?!”

    What solutions have any of you come up with?

  2. #2
    Red dot.
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  3. #3
    Site Supporter
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    I am experiencing similar issues, and currently more frequent eye doctor visits are the answer. I will fail qualifications if I don't have an exam and adjusted prescriptions just before quals. I discussed this earlier in one of the red dot threads. The first time I failed a qual I could not figure it out. While doing dry fire on my own I learned that with my then current prescription lenses I had two sharp, distinct, and clear front sights, and could not tell which one was the one I needed to be using. New lenses fixed that. It is independent from light levels.

    I can currently tell that I need to visit the ophthalmologist because a couple of weeks ago I was doing dry fire work and could clearly and distinctly see my rear sight, but not my front sight. I put the blob in the notch, and seem to be able to work past it in the short term. This is my fifth vision shift and prescription change in five years.

    I have had red dots recommended to me, and have one, I am just waiting for it to be authorized on a duty weapon...

    pat

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by GJM View Post
    Red dot.
    Ditto. Age has only increased issues with my genetically-deprived vision. Docs have done all they can with prescriptive fixes. But with "normal" prescription giving me the best correction at distances, it's hard & slow to move head so that progressive lenses bring front sight into better focus. Having shooting glasses corrected to help that, but then distance vision is compromised, so those aren't suited for normal wear.

    Red dot lets me wear my normal glasses, see as best as I can (about 20/30), and shoot pretty well. With confidence that is lacking with irons.

  5. #5
    I recognize the advantages of red dots, but I’m reluctant to go that route for practical considerations (e.g., pocket carry).

    At some point I need to take one of my regular pistol slides out in the yard and examine how it appears in twilight or under exterior floodlights. I have a suspicion that interior fluorescent/LED lights are uniquely bad for some reason.

  6. #6
    Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Hickory NC
    Having experienced what you described I can assure you a red dot is the cure.
    David

  7. #7
    A red dot may work but...1- I believe there are two types of systems to produce the dots. I have read that one seems to work better w/ astigmatism than the other. I have no idea about pistol dot sights which type they are. Also they are pretty limited as to what pistols can mount them although that is getting better all the time. 2- For HD, have you considered lasers? Depending on pistol model, the CTC laser grips usually don't cause any problems w/ holster fit, so that is a plus. The rail mount lasers or laser/lights need a dedicated holster so again, limiting what gun and what L/L will fit. 3- For other than HD shooting, I have found that a dedicated pair of glasses works great but this definitely depends on your eyes. I have a pair where the lens, the entire lens, for my dominent eye is set to focus perfectly on my front sight. The other lens is a bifocal. Each time I put them on, they feel weird for about 4-5 minutes and then I no longer notice them.

  8. #8
    https://dawsonprecision.com/warren-t...tritium-front/

    I like these Warren Tactical sights if you have a Glock. The white outline around the front tritium dot is huge and easy to see.

  9. #9
    Disclaimer: I'm only slightly farsighted, and the only reason that I have prescription lenses is because another health concern can erratically exacerbate that issue. I wear them less rather than more; and predominately for shooting, writing, typing, and reading at the end of a long day. Most of my opinions are derived from my work with others, rather than from my own experiences. The workforce that I'm a part of is aged from their young-20s up to just shy of 60, minus one outlier in their mid-70s.

    Replying broadly, as there's several different sets of realities at hand...

    If qualifying as a matter of employment, one's options are much more limited than for those shooting for passion or personal reasons. Swapping out sights without prior permission can cause workplace angst, and isn't always a good option because of that. If extremely far-sighted to the point of having difficulties achieving a front-sight focus sufficient for liability purposes (e.g. qualification, potential UOF); one could make the pitch to work that given the ADEA of 1967, ADA of 1990, Hansen v. Webster, and Judy Cangealose v FBI et al; a waiver allowing for the carry, qualification with, and potential use during duty of a pre-approved personally-purchased slide and optic would constitute both a reasonable accomodation and reduce liability to the agency at no additional cost to the same. If you're near-sighted to the point of having difficulty generating sufficient index off of the target while front-sight focused; things are less clear-cut.

    I know several whom use "inverted" or "reversed" bifocals as their primary eyewear, with the bias being towards their shooting ability when wearing them. If driving and other such activities that require distance vision, they can lift them temporarily.

    My prescription is set for the maximum clarity of my front sight at full extension; it's notionally a hair out of focus if reading things closer to my face than that, but I generally hold books\smartphones\tablets further out and higher up than most, so it doesn't quite arise as an issue.

    Eyes degrading at different rates and from different initial capabilities can make double-imaging both more likely and more distracting when it does present. Much like those whom don't have a significant relative degree to their eye dominancy, such shooters may find that they are going to get their best performance from closing one eye. For some this is a difference in the time required to generate an effective sight picture or a difference in the quality of that generated picture; but for those at the far end of the problem it may be a requirement to form a sight picture at all.

    Some low-level accomodative training can be helpful for those with a recently changed prescription. Given a cleared or ersatz weapon, while wearing their correctives and with uniform lighting; such a person should sight-in on a distant target with defined edges, raise the muzzle relative to the rest of the weapon until the front sight has fully departed the rear notch, and perform the following: focus on the target until its details are crisp and fully realized and hold for 1 second, shift their focus to the front sight until its corners and edges are sharply defined and hold for 1 second, and then repeat for the full prescription (e.g. 10 repetitions). If performing these prior to a shooting session, I'd recommend keeping the repetitions to a minimum to avoid fatiguing the eyes prior to the shooting itself. If performing these after a shooting session and the implied eye fatigue that goes with that, then they may close out shooting for the remainder of the day depending on shooter ability. Ideally, such eye-sprinting is performed on a non-range day.

    (For those that want to get just a tad deeper into the weeds: within the limits of your available training space, set the target either by the limits of your corrected vision (near-sighted) where it can still be sharply defined in-focus OR by the limits of your uncorrected vision (far-sighted) where the fine details can still be perceived. If doing this indoors, as most are; you may run out of space before you hit these limits, and that's ok.)
    Jules
    Runcible Works

  10. #10
    Site Supporter Totem Polar's Avatar
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    Aug 2013
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    FWIW, I’ve found that doing flashlight training at the indoor place also made it *a lot* easier to see the sights. I could see going all-WML if running irons with bad eyes is the reality.
    ”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB

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