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Adding an APERTURE to your glasses so you can SEE the sights!

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Well, like many of us I'm sure, my vision - even corrected with eyeglasses - is NOT what it used to be. You may have seen these Merit Company optical apertures that stick onto your eyeglasses or shooting glasses, like shown below. To me they have a few drawbacks, including that they are expensive, are tough to position or re-position and most importantly, they fall off in cccccccolder climates or in temp changes. like when you leave the cold range to go inside to a warmer environment.

View attachment 202987

Here's my solution, and what I've done to improve my ability to "see the sights"! One caveat - You may find better results with NON-progressive lenses, as neither of these pairs of my personal shooting glasses to follow are 'no line progressives'. On those, the optical center is soooooooo tight and narrow, that even without the attached aperture, seeing the sights can be problematic. With progressives of any higher stregnth, if you don't look straight on to a subject ... you can't see it clearly. If you yourself do OK with progressives ... then God bless you and consider yourself VERY lucky!

View attachment 202992

Note I am left-handed, hence the aperture of electrical tape is placed on my left eye, my master eye. The modern pair above are a single-line bifocal and I use them shooting high-power shoots on SATs with an ... uhmmmmmm, an M1 Garand. My ability to see the sights now places me in the top 3 shooters each week, usually rotating who got the #1 spot only by the # of X's shot. The other pair is a set of fairly period correct (less the plastic nose pads) glasses from Avalon Forge that just have a single distance (I am near-sighted) Rx prescription in them.

I have never had one of my homemade apertures come off, but if they did, I also made a 'cheat sheet' template for each pair to allow me to quickly affix a replacement aperture right in the same spot. I just overlay my glasses to the template and position it so that the 'hole" is over the black dot as shown. This aperture goes on the inside of the lens and I've had no issues with movement or falling off, even when shooting in temps < 20-degrees F and going into warmer places, nor when cleaning the glasses.

View attachment 202993

Note the 'red dot' on these other pictures. This is the optical center of the lens, and whether they tell you or not, the optical house grinds the Rx prescription to this point for where YOU look through, when they take that measurement for 'how far' yor pupils are apart. However, whilst shooting for the majority of the shooters, we do not and cannot, look through the optical center whilst shooting, due to how we cheek the stock. That is why the aperture once affixed is positioned closer to your nose, whether you are RH'd or LH'd.

View attachment 202994

Tip - I make a smaller hole on the modern glasses I use for all shooting, less that strictly for my MZL events or those where I have period clothing on. The smaller holes improves my sight picture, but gives me a narrower field of view, but it is excellent for ‘fixed distance/open range use. I find the larger field of view via a little bit larger aperture hole works better with the round lens of the ‘old time' glasses and is much better for use in the woods, like whilst on MZL woodswalks, also where conditions could be shades to dark(er).

Anyways ... I sure hope this info helps someone else out! Tight groups!
I'm an optometrist. Progressive lenses aren't all the same, just like guns and cars. Older and cheaper ones will have more distortion when looking through the lens at an angle, but all lenses do, especially in higher prescriptions, and the optical center will have less forgiveness. The newer designs of lenses will have less. If you got your lenses from a place that offers cheap/ free exam and cheap glasses, don't expect great performance from them.
 
Where can I get a set-up like this??
Look up jeweler's clip-on eye loupe. I made one of these and it works. You just unscrew the screw holding the lens and replace it with a thin piece of dark plastic with a 1/16" hole drilled in it. I like it because it was cheap, did the job, and you can move the arm to where you need the hole over your eye. Also you can raise and lower the loupe as you need to. Very Borg-like. Expect questions at the range.
 
I'm an optometrist. Progressive lenses aren't all the same, just like guns and cars. Older and cheaper ones will have more distortion when looking through the lens at an angle, but all lenses do, especially in higher prescriptions, and the optical center will have less forgiveness. The newer designs of lenses will have less. If you got your lenses from a place that offers cheap/ free exam and cheap glasses, don't expect great performance from them.
I ditched the progressive lenses for shooting (distortion unless head on viewing). My prescription is pretty weak. I’m going to get eye exam/prescription update next week so I can get new glasses. Any brand you recommend for progressive lenses so I can try to get a better pair this go around?
 
To me … not being an optometrist mind you … but progressive lenses are not so much about the brand … but more so:
  • Your specific Rx/strength/astigmatism, etc.
  • Where the optical center is, in relation to your forward-looking view, and then
  • Just how much distortion do YOU get when you don’t look through the exact optical center?
 
This is a unit I designed for myself about 50 years ago & have posted on the forum 2-3 times over the past couple years on how to make a similar jewelers loupe unit off Amazon or Harbor Frt. & use bottom off of a 35mm film canister for the eyepiece.
I used it to correct vision issues & cleared up my vision in competition & big game hunting & flips up out of your line of vision when not needed & made a few for fellow competitors as well.
Placing tape on your lens also works but leaves a sticky mess.
Relic shooter
 

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