Recommendations for aging eyes

I carry three pairs of glasses, and had shoulder surgery and getting ready to do the other shoulder
My mind says I'm 25, my right shoulder says, 55, and now the hip is starting to think I'm 79
getting old is not for the faint of heart

Packrat said:

I carry three pairs of glasses, and had shoulder surgery and getting ready to do the other shoulder
My mind says I'm 25, my right shoulder says, 55, and now the hip is starting to think I'm 79
getting old is not for the faint of heart

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My back keeps reminding me I’m not 30!

You can get inexpensive reading glasses in .50, .75, and 1.00 and determine what you like. It will likely be .75 for a rifle.

TDM said:

I’ve tried a number of things. Peep sights definitely help. Mainly I just limit my max target range to 50 yards. And sometimes, if the sun is high, I can still shoot out to a 100, but not very often.

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I do better with a ghost ring rear. It is anatomically impossible to focus on both sights and the target at the same time. There is a reason for the maxim "Front sight. Press."

Gehman (and others) make an adjustable iris rear peep sight aperture that is screwed in to rear sights (mostly intended for target shooters where a limited overall field of vision isn't critical). They also have a version with adjustable lens on them and interchangeable filters (polarized, red, yellow, orange, green).

SOLANCO said:

I do better with a ghost ring rear. It is anatomically impossible to focus on both sights and the target at the same time. There is a reason for the maxim "Front sight. Press."

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A few years back I was an NRA rifle instructor and head coach for our junior rifle teams, I can't count the number of times I repeated that phrase! "Front sight, front sight, front sight!" Eventually it sinks into their little heads. Eventually. But, yes, the human eye can not focus on more than one thing at one time, and f you focus on the front sight the target blurs slightly. If you are using a peep rear sight you don't need to worry about "seeing" it, you just look through it, your eye will naturally center itself in the aperture. Put the front sight on the target, deer, squirrel, and press the trigger. Easy peezy! Find a pair of reading glasses that allow you to clearly see the front sight and give you a little depth of field to allow the target to be blurred but not indistinguishable from the background. It takes a little work, and time, but HEY! At our age, nothing comes easy! Be thankful you're still able to shoot, I sure am.........

**Edited for correction** I ordered some magnified safety glasses, which are rated in "diopters". There is a conversion formula, I think mine are 2 diopter or 1.5X magnification. At any rate they do help me see and focus on the front sight, way out there on my SMR and Colonial.

** I had the conversion wrong on diopter/magnification and have corrected it above.

Before I had my cataracts replaced, I used the 0.75 diopter reading glasses. These glasses put the front sight in focus while the rear sight was slightly fuzzy and the target was slightly fuzzy. Nearly perfect for shooting. Of course, I had to order the glasses through Amazon or Ebay. Reading glasses of the 2.00 diopter would bring the rear sight into focus and the target hopelessly out of focus.

flntlokr said:

I got my optometrist to give me a prescription that gave me perfect focus on the front sight, but only for my dominant eye;the other lens was the usual prescription. When sighting, the important thing is to get the front sight clear . The target and rear sight can be blurry. the altered correction is only a slight bit different than the full correction; still good enough to pass the drivers exam. I got the glasses online for about $40.

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This right here! Had my contacts set up for my dominant eye to focus on my front sight, other eye done in the usual way. Only did was, I had mine set for pistol distance, which is real close to rifle front sight anyways, so I’m good to go.
When I asked the doc to do this, she says, “It’s a shame you don’t have the pistol with you.” But I did have it with me, because I’ve always got it with me, so she was able to measure exactly to my front sight with me gripping the pistol. Wonder if I should take the flintlock in with me next time, LOL!
I have given up a bit of the long range with this set up, but out to a hundred yards is fine.
-Red, running out of funny stuff to say…

Dwight Harley said:

. . . My distant vision is now pretty good but I have to wear glasses for up close work. Looking for suggestions as to what combination of glasses or prescriptions is going to work best at the range or when hunting. My eye doc is not a shooter or hunter so she is not really sure what it is that I need. . .

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For the range, get some shooting glasses. Lens should be such that the foresight is in focus. These frames allow the lens to be positioned such that when on aim you are looking through the centre and it is perpendicular to your line of sight. Ordinary glasses seldom permit this, and the lens is then not being used to its optimum.

I shot competitively and want clarity for my sight picture. I appreciate that others may have different priorities, but, personally, I see little point in work around solutions.

David