Vision - being old sucks

[rdtompki]

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

[Zincwarrior]

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.

[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.

[Zincwarrior]

I will have to remember that for my next pair.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

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.

[lwt16]

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.

[Gadfly]

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.

[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.

[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.

[Moylan]

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.

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.