Eyeglasses and Long Range Shooting

[jolasa]

Have not shot my Shiloh 1874 45-70 Sharps for over 20 years.  34" barrel, and it has a medium range Creedmoor tang site and a globe front site.

I want to get back into the target shooting competition game.

In the meantime, my eyesight is much worse than 20 years ago, I now wear glasses (did not need them 20 years ago).  Having trouble focusing on the tang site/globe site on the rifle, and the target out at 400-800 yards.

How do you sight-challenged folks handle this problem?

Should I consider mounting a replica scope (with magnification)?  Or maybe get the Creedmoor modified to allow me to adjust the pinhole size?

Jon

[Stillwater]

Have not shot my Shiloh 1874 45-70 Sharps for over 20 years.  34" barrel, and it has a medium range Creedmoor tang site and a globe front site.

I want to get back into the target shooting competition game.

In the meantime, my eyesight is much worse than 20 years ago, I now wear glasses (did not need them 20 years ago).  Having trouble focusing on the tang site/globe site on the rifle, and the target out at 400-800 yards.

How do you sight-challenged folks handle this problem?

Should I consider mounting a replica scope (with magnification)?  Or maybe get the Creedmoor modified to allow me to adjust the pinhole size?

Jon

I'll be interested in answers to this myself...

Bill

[Pitspitr]

Yeah, I'm having the same problems I put an RHO scope on my Pedersoli sharps. I love it. The problem is that there are just some of my rifles that I just can't put a scope on. (Trapdoor, Krag, ect.)

[Kent Shootwell]

After my rifles started shooting larger groups I got my first pair of glasses and bingo! Them single lens glasses cured both the open sights as well as the tang and globe equiped rifles. Now at tri focals I got a pair made up to focus at arms length held out to the side. This allows the front sight to be sharp and that is key as NO eyes can focus at three places at the same time. Mine have a slight bronze tint. The adjustable eye cup for a tang sight will help in varying light conditions and you may find it useful to clear up the front sight some.

[Ranch 13]

 You need to work with your optometrist to get the rx in your shooting fine tuned for shooting. Also if you use bifocals have a set of regular lined bifocals cut with the bifocal part just as low in the lense as you can get. No lined bifocals will give you fits.
Also stay away from photogrey and go into the brownish tones, and not much tint. Clear is best but not practical on super bright days.
I've often comtemplated a scope, but unless and until I start seeing scope shooters actually winning overall high scores at matches,and doing it regular, I don't think the 1000$ spent on a scope is worth it.

[jolasa]

Does a Creedmoor rear sight with adjustable peephole sizes help focus the front sight and target?

Or does one still need prescription eyeglasses?

Jon

[Will Sellit]

I do not know what your corrective vision situation is but this is what I experienced.

Ever since I was young I have needed corrective glasses or contact lenses so that I could see at distances. As i got older even though I wore contacts for distance I started having problems seeing close, particularly for reading, so I also had to wear reading glasses with my distant contacts. When I started to have difficulty with my revolver and rifle sights being clear I talked to my optometrist and he fitted me with a right eye (predominate) contact lens that cleared the sights right up. So the left eye was for distance and the right eye was for the rifle and revolver sight distance.
This worked fine until I got my Shiloh Sharps with the tang sight. For what ever reason i could not see clearly through the peep on the tang sight with the contact lens that I used for the open rifle sights. As soon as I switched the contact back to the regular distance contact lens, I could see through the tang sight just fine. I also shoot a compound bow with a peep sight in the string and again I can only use the regular distant contact to see clearly.
I do not know what your vision correction is and if you wear glasses with a bifocal, but if you do it might be the correction in the bifocal that is causing the difficulty seeing through the tang sight.
This was my experience and I thought I would pass it on.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Are you using an aperture pattern front sight insert?  If so, you might find that looking THROUGH both rear and front sight will allow you to concentrate on focusing on the target.

[Reverend P. Babcock Chase]

Howdy Vision Impaired,

Maybe my experience will help. As time progressed my nearsightedness got to the point that I couldn't focus on the front sight with my current prescription. As luck would have it, when I embarked on a cowboy shooting effort I dragged out a very old pair of "Granny Glasses" I had made up for shooting at rendezvous. I thought that they would look vintage for my cowboy outfit. That prescription was about 20-30 years old. The result was I could now see the front sight on both rifles and pistols clearly again. I could also make out the target well enough to aim effectively.

It seems that that the older prescription was "weak" enough to become a compromise between distance and sight clarity. Talk to an optometrist about this and he/she may be able to generate a compromise prescription for for you. Also you might try to find an old pair of your glasses with and earlier, "weaker' prescription and see if they offer an improvement. In addition, play around with different size apertures in the "peep" sight. That also helped. The foregoing worked out great for me. Good luck and that's all I understand about what I know know about it.

Reverend Chase

[Short Knife Johnson]

I'd like to know how you went 20 years without shooting your Shiloh?  A day without shooting mine is a day without sunshine. 

If you do get a scope, I'd have to suggest an MVA.  They do cost more, but they have to be the nicest ones I've looked through.  The worst part about any optics is you get what you pay for - there are no short cuts.

[Lucky R. K.]

Howdy Vision Impaired,

As luck would have it, when I embarked on a cowboy shooting effort I dragged out a very old pair of "Granny Glasses" I had made up for shooting at rendezvous. I thought that they would look vintage for my cowboy outfit. That prescription was about 20-30 years old. The result was I could now see the front sight on both rifles and pistols clearly again. I could also make out the target well enough to aim effectively.

I experienced the same thing a couple of years ago.  I went from being competitive in long range shooting to not doing very well.  I could not focus on my front sight.  Trying an old pair of shooting glasses help improve my scores.

It is most important to be able to focus on the front sight.

Lucky

[john boy]

http://www.shilohrifle.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16033
*  If you go the bifocal route, have the optician place the bifocal glass at 10mm instead of 8 mm.  Precludes having to raise your head looking down the sight plane

[Fiddler Green]

All targets are "Fuzzy targets" focus on your sights and you''l hit them the just same.

Bruce

[cpt dan blodgett]

An adustable rear apperture will help some.
If shooting at bullseyes apperture front sight helps.

When everything is aligned properly the target bull will actually get clear and black.  - Bust the cap
As far as glasses go you need a pair that allows you to see the front sight clearly.

For prone shooting the optical center needs to be high and to the inside (the part of your lense you actually look thru) 

For pistol shooting optical center needs to be in the center (wow a person could need 2 pairs of glasses)

Merit used to make a suction cup adjustable apperture thing you could use to help see sights clearly.  An apperture acts kinda like a lense purists will disagree because the is a difference between defraction and refraction but the result is the same changing the point where light gets focused in the eye.

[wildman1]

I found that the lowest power of reading glasses 1-1.25 power that you can buy makes the sights clear and you can still see the target. Capt. Dan, dioptic? WM

[cpt dan blodgett]

merit deluxe optical attachment  (found real name on another forum)
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=8767/source=CJ/Product/DELUXE_OPTICAL_ATTACHMENT
out of stock with back orders ok at both midway and bronells
at midwayusa.com search merit deluxe optical attachment

[Jayhawker]

You need to work with your optometrist to get the rx in your shooting fine tuned for shooting. Also if you use bifocals have a set of regular lined bifocals cut with the bifocal part just as low in the lense as you can get. No lined bifocals will give you fits.
Also stay away from photogrey and go into the brownish tones, and not much tint. Clear is best but not practical on super bright days.
I've often comtemplated a scope, but unless and until I start seeing scope shooters actually winning overall high scores at matches,and doing it regular, I don't think the 1000$ spent on a scope is worth it.

Spot on advice...tell your optometrist exactly what you're using your glasses for...I know once I told mine what I was having trouble with, he had the problem fixed in nothing flat...

[Ranch 13]

 Hopefully after payday this fall , we'll go down to town and get checked and fit for new spectacles, and I'll send in an order for the Hansens Ranger frames with yellow lenses, and those will be kept striclty for shooting.

[Skyrider]

I have an 1874 Pederosoli in the Q-Down Under model with 34 inch barrel, caliber is 45/120. I always start off by putting drops in both my eyes. I try real hard to keep my blood sugar around 110 to 140 when shooting. This helps my eyes focus better and stops exess sugar from causing a blurry picture. I have diabetes and this is tuff nut to crack!

I also focus so that my front sight is always at 6 o'clock at the target everytime I shoot, having my bullet strike some 4 to 8 inches higher depending on the target size and the distance down range.

[Major 2]

I found some safety glasses, they come in clear or tented
they are not PC being the wrap around style.
But they have a bi-focal lenses about ranges 1.00 -1.25 -1.50. (Wildmans 1 suggestion )

PC wise no !   shoot wise they work !  

They are in a catalog at work... any interest and I'll chime back in with the order info...

http://www.uline.com/BL_8953/Safety-Readers?pricode=wj880&gclid=CL6-nq6OtqsCFZBb7AodCm04iA