Posted by Susan on December 03, 2001 at 10:23:40:
I am farsighted and I wear bifocals. For iron sight shooting I have been using my regular glasses with a clear sight. This works out OK except the clear sight does not always fit well on all types of frames and "flops" around. I have been considering shooting glasses. My questions are: should I get a single vision lens or a bifocal lens? If I get a single vision lens I will most likely have difficulty seeing pellets and putting them into my air pistol.
Susan
Posted by Bubba on December 03, 2001 at 11:17:02:
Susan,
I assume that "farsighted" means you are the first in the car to read the road signs, and your arms are not quite long enough to read a newspaper. If that is correct, then there is the variable of the strength of your prescription, and condition of your eyes.
So, even with all these variables, we are back to the basics. Most folks agree that the objective (pun intended) is to have the front sight of the pistol in perfect focus. The target is a round blurry black, and the distance on each side of the front sight within the rear sight viable only as an amount of light on each side of the front post.
I too am farsighted, as described above. I need about +1.75 diopter to achieve the sight picture as described above. I have a set of Varga Pistol shooting glasses, Have the adjustable diopter, and increased magnification lenses, (have not had magnification checked, and since I bought them used, I haven't a clue as to magnification, but they do work.
However, I shoot mostly at home. Turned my hall way into a 10m range, target and lighting within specifications. I do not have a target return system. so this means that after a few shots I have to retrieve the target to score it. I find that the Varga glasses are too much trouble to take off and put on, because of the around the ear ear pieces. I need to wear a billed hat because there is a light above the shooting station. The glasses have adjustment rods protruding upwards that makes the use of a billed hat difficult.
So, What I use most of the time is a pair of full sized reading glasses. I bought them at Wal-Mart, I sanded the non aiming eye glass to make it opaque. Spent about $9.00, I think, and have used the same pair for a couple of years now.
Hope this is of some use to you. Go to Pilkington's web site and read Warren's Hitchhiker's Guide, for further information.
Respectfully,
Bubba
Posted by Susan on December 03, 2001 at 11:47:58:
Thanks for your reply. My prescription is quite "strong" - +4.75 with a 2.25 add for the bifocal. Over the counters are out for this prescription! Any suggestions with this in mind?
Posted by Bubba on December 03, 2001 at 13:37:10:
Strong prescription, indeed. Can you obtain the sight picture described in my last post, through the +2.25 portion of your current bi-focals? If you can, you might, as an experiment use the plastic lid provided with a coffee can, to cut a cover that would fit over your non aiming eye. Just use a little masking tape to hold it on, and the fit is not too important, because this is just an experiment. If you are happy with the results, perhaps you could get one lens made for a frame you like, and have the non shooting eye glass with no magnification and made opaque. We still want light to come through the lens, we just don’t want to have a sight through the non aiming eye. you might want to consider plastic or composite lenses to save weight. I think that you could order a pair of glasses with your stronger prescription in the aiming eye, and just a clear lens in the non shooting eye, and if ordered in composite material, it would be relatively simple to use sand paper to make that lens opaque.
Wear your normal glasses on a string thing so you can take off the shooting glasses and walk to the target and score it. Should not have any trouble loading the pistol with the shooting glasses on. In fact it is a help as it retains your focus at a short distance.
Hope this helps. If it does not, you just need to talk to your ophthalmologist or optician, and explain what you want to do. If he can't or won't take the time to work with you, get another one.
Respectfully,
Bubba
Posted by Curtis on December 03, 2001 at 16:54:05:
How about two glasses on one, meaning your shoot eye side +4.75 and the other 2.25 on the glass.
Just an idea........ Mine is 20/20, good luck shooting.
Posted by Ian on December 03, 2001 at 17:13:15:
Like you, I also am farsighted and wear bifocals. I don't have as strong a prescription as you do but went through the same set of problems as you are now confronting.
I got a pair of Champion Olympic shooting glasses. When I had my eye doctor do the lens for them he just used the prescription for just my farsightedness. He had the lens cut to fit the large circular lens holder. I then installed an adjustable iris behind it. It works very well.
Remember the sight radius is approximately 1.5 meters to 2 meter. So you really need make sure that you have a clear sight picture. This takes some persistence. You need to have them cut to meet your needs. Don't take anyone’s word for it.
I would suggest you look at Don Nygord's Shooting Tips entitled "The Eyes Have It." It gives you some good insight as to how to go about getting a good set of shooting glasses.
By the way, the adjustable diopter is not bad but it sometimes left me dizzy.
If there are any questions that I can answer for you please don't hesitate to email me.
Posted by Marty on December 03, 2001 at 22:05:38:
Susan,
I went through the same problems you are describing earlier this year when I started shooting again. Years (53) and the need for trifocals made bringing the front sight into focus a constant battle of head position to look through the proper part of the lens. After getting some great advice on TT I started with my most recently retired glasses by completely covering the left lens with scotch tape and masking off all of the right lens except for my trifocal. I used some moleskin at the bridge to raise the glasses slightly. All of the sudden I could see the front sight. My scores increased significantly. I also experienced the problem of being blind except as I looked straight ahead through my right trifocal. I used this setup for several months and then went for a pair of Knoblochs. I have my normal distance vision in the left eye and my trifocal in the right eye. I have a flip down white translucent cover for the left eye and an adjustable iris for the right eye. It works great. I like the glasses and would recommend them highly. For me my trifocal worked well. In your situation you may need to try the diopter adjustments that Bubba recommended with your normal distance lens. I purchased mine from Ray MacDougall from Airguns Only in Canada. He has a test kit you can rent for a week and play with to see what works best for you. In the kit in addition to the glasses and all of the accessories is a complete set of negative and positive diopters. I used them over top of my normal lasses to get an idea of what I needed. Talk to your ophthalmologist or optician for help. Mine were very curious and interested. I found it made a big difference when they saw my equipment and shooting position in understanding what I needed from them.
I hope I haven't been to long winded. Good luck with it. Definitely read Nygords and Warrens articles on vision and shooting. They help explain it very well.
Marty
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