Opinions on astigmatism

[zpelletier]

I ordered a Holosun 507k red dot for my P365X. I assume I have an astigmatism since I see a small cluster of dots. What would be some general advice for this situation? On a rifle I could look for other types of optics, but for pistols it’s red dot or iron sights. Should I just center the cluster and shoot it?

[OlongJohnson]

There is a lot that has been written about it already. Short version of the gist is that if you maintain a target focus rather than looking at the dot, it tends to be a lot less bad. Different optics seem to provide varying results for different people. But do a search, it's been discussed at extreme length previously.

I've mostly stayed out of the red dot game due to my better than 20/20 uncorrected vision still including astigmatism.

[vcdgrips]

Just starting to get into the dot arena.

I have a stigmatism. To date, I have found that the dot seems pretty sharp at full extension when I maintain a target focus. I have shot an agency qual with a 99 and 4x 100 in the last 5 weeks. No other live fire and min dry fire.

“Group” at 15 (10 shots total) certainly tighter than with iron sights

4 2 body 1 head iterations had all 4 head shots touching

Body shots were a bit more spread out but splits were faster v irons.


All This is through my standard distant correction glasses.

Historic solution for shooting is to either not wear a correction at all or use contacts I monovision (correct non dominant/no correction dominant) or under correct dominate eye.

Data gathering continues.

[Phaedrus]

I have astigmatism and it's not a huge issue most of the time. It does seem to vary a bit due a variety of factors; fatigue, time of day and interaction with a particular RDS. In broad terms the dot looks better to my eyes with my Aimpoints (Comp M5, PRO, and H1) than my cheaper dots (at least the older ones). Probably if I was more concerned with shooting tight groups it would be worse but I would just choose a magnified optic for that.

Ultimately I think you just have to try it out to see for yourself. It's hard to predict your results without just givin' it a shot.

[UNM1136]

I am astigmatic as well, and my current eye doc is...less than interested in getting my scrip right.

She put me in progressives last year, and from the 15 and 25 yard lines I dropped all my rounds low left. RM said what all RMs say in that situation- "Trigger straight to the rear! Control your trigger!

Turns out when shooting with my glases I need to tuck my chin more. During practice I could watch the dot "drop" to the left as it slid through the transition in the lens. Tucking my chin more kept the dot from crossing the transition. Dunno if it is my crappy eyes, crappy scrip, or crappy glasses that is the problem, or all three.

I am resolving it this year with corrective surgury. Found a doc that will bill me a down payment out of this year's FSA, and the balance after July 1 when the FSA refills. I am using the most experienced (and expensive!) doc in town. And am rather excited about wearing clear, non corrective Oakley's to work. Or waking up and being able to see the clock. I have worn glasses since I was six.

pat

[SJC3081]

I have Aimpoint M4, T1, H1 and three Primary Arms Micros. I have a bad astigmatism. All of my Red Dot show a similar cluster. I pick a blurry leg out of the cluster and use that as my center of the dot.

[Nephrology]

Also have astigmatism. Deploying the rear BUIS on my ARs helps improve the crispness of the dot, but in practice, given where I live/shoot, the sunlight washes out all of the out of focus light so it is a reasonably crisp dot in practice.

If I need to I will deploy the rear BUIS; looking through the ghost ring helps further cut out of focus light and makes the dot more functional (eg zeroing at 100yd).

On pistols I find it to be generally less of an issue given the more coarse nature of its application, though it can be a pain when shooting at 25M and beyond.