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Thread: Vision and artificial light

  1. #11

    Contact lens experiment

    Update - after discussion with my optometrist at my last appointment, I decided to experiment with contact lenses. She shoots, and she's almost my age, so she gets it ...

    Her recommendation was to use multifocal contacts, with the necessary astigmatism correction in the dominant eye. After a 2.5 hour fitting, I walked out with samples of three lenses for the right eye, four for the left eye with another one on order, and instructions to experiment for a few days and report back.

    (Coincidentally, it worked out that I picked up a spare PX4CC on my way to the appointment, so I disassembled it in the gun shop and brought the slide in to the doctor's office. A "C" on the eye chart was a pretty fair simulation of a Dot Torture-type target.)

    The concept of the fitting was to find a prescription that would let me see the sights well with my dominant eye, and the target with my non-dominant eye. I'll chronicle the results here.

    Day 1: Both lenses with high correction for near vision, no correction for astigmatism (the multifocal with my necessary correction for distance plus an astigmatism correction is a special order item). Not a success; poor distance vision and a lot of glare at night. Couldn't read license plates, etc. Didn't get to the range.

    Day 2: Non-dominant eye with medium correction. Much better for driving but hard to read up close (especially on a phone and/or in dim light.) Made it to the range and, holy moly, I can see a 25-yard B-8 ... at 25 yards.
    • Failed the Rangemaster Advanced Bullseye -- but due to a yanked shot from the draw at 5, not because I couldn't see.
    • Narrowly passed a Vickers 300.
    • Made it to 10 yards on Pat Mac's 5-second standards. Threw four shots low at 15, but I think that was a trigger or grip issue.
    • Shot about the same as usual on other drills.


    The sight picture is a little weird. Basically I'm seeing the target with my non-dominant eye, and sights with my dominant eye. The front sight looks sort of translucent, almost like shooting a red dot. But there's definitely some improvement. I had trigger control problems throughout the session, but I don't know if that's a result of trying to "grab the shot," or of going back to the G19 after several sessions with the PX4CC. (I have an IDPA match coming up, and don't yet have a strong side holster for the Beretta.)

    More to come ...
    Last edited by Gun Nerd; 01-25-2020 at 05:53 AM.

  2. #12
    Supporting Business NH Shooter's Avatar
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    Sep 2014
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gun Nerd View Post
    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?
    I'm in the same boat, been wearing corrective lenses for near-sightedness for nearly 60 years. At one time I was extremely near-sighted, to the point I could not drive without corrective lenses. Over the last 10 to 15 years, the condition has moderated to the point I can drive without corrective lenses. I need to be right on top of those small street name signs to read them, but I can once I'm right next to them.

    To the point, I now shoot without any corrective lenses. The front sight is almost perfectly sharp and the target sharp enough to get hits where needed. But, like you the front sight becomes unacceptably blurry if I'm wearing my glasses. I'm due for a new pair (glasses, that is) and am tempted to get a second set with no correction for my dominant eye. The only other thing I'm going to try is an eyeglass neck cord and get in the habit wearing the glasses around my neck like a Fudd when I'm not driving.

    Growing old is a real barrel of monkeys, isn't it?

  3. #13
    I’m thinking my ultimate solution might be monovision contacts with my dominant eye optimized for front sight distance, in combination with progressive bifocals that are uncorrected at the top - basically full-time reading glasses.

  4. #14
    Member JHC's Avatar
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    Feb 2011
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    North Georgia
    The big impact of lighting on my near acuity is why I'm looking seriously at target focused shooting.
    “Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais

  5. #15
    Site Supporter Totem Polar's Avatar
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    Aug 2013
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    PacNW
    With the exception of some members I’ve PM’d with here, my eyes are probably as bad or worse than the folks in this thread. I’m currently doing glasses *over* contacts, and selling off guns that I can’t put XS sights on. XS sights are a Godsend for people with really bad eyes.
    ”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB

  6. #16
    Member TGS's Avatar
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    Apr 2011
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    Back in northern Virginia
    Quote Originally Posted by NH Shooter View Post
    To the point, I now shoot without any corrective lenses. The front sight is almost perfectly sharp and the target sharp enough to get hits where needed. But, like you the front sight becomes unacceptably blurry if I'm wearing my glasses.
    Ditto. I've talked to a few eye doctors about this and it's just the way it is. I was dissuaded from doing lasik/PRK by both a lasik/PRK doctor as well as a regular eye doctor because it would destroy my ability to focus on the front sight.

    My solution is to keep on' keepin' on with glasses, which allow me to have clear vision and ID targets, but looking over the top of the glasses allows me to have an effortlessly crystal clear front sight with both eyes open. Glasses don't make my front sight unacceptably blurry per se, but it makes it harder to develop a front sight focus especially as light levels decrease.

    Contacts? I'm completely fucked with contacts. It's impossible for me to focus on the front sight with contacts.
    "Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer

  7. #17

    Update a few months in

    So, I’d gotten into a pretty good groove with getting to the range once a week. Then, COVID - dry practice a few times a week, and never wearing my contacts because they’re worse for computer work.

    Finally, on Saturday, I got out to a class. Not only was it my first live fire in two months, but it was also my first time shooting with the contacts and astigmatism lenses in outdoor light (ranging from brilliant sunshine to overcast).

    Holy moly. Within the 3-15 yard distances at which we shot, I didn’t even have to think about focusing on the front sight, because I could see everything more clearly than I ever have in my life. It was kind of like shooting a red dot - I would look at the target and a crisp, bright front sight was just there. In fact, it was all so clear that it was sometimes too much information - my eyes were processing the target so clearly that I wasn’t calling my shots or tracking the sights as well as I needed to. On a couple of drills I was distinctly distracted by the shot-up target.

    Overall, this seems like about as good as it’s going to get - but will force me to climb a new learning curve.

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