Are my eyes just garbage anymore? Can't hit a thing. Advice?

[typetwelve]

I'll try to sum up a long story short...but for the life of me, I just can't shoot a pistol at any distance worth a darn anymore.

I've worn glasses since I was 10, I'm now 40. I have fairly nasty astigmatism, more correction for that than actual focus adjustment. The past 5 years I've been creeping more and more into needing bi-focals as my ability to focus near through my glasses is garbage. I can focus close without them, just not through them.

Anyway, after purchasing a 629, I decided it was time to stretch my shooting of the thing out to 25 yds or better. For years, I've shot pistol at 7-10yds tops...I have no want to do any further than that.

I could hit the broad side of a barn. We're talking 3-4" group with some flyers at 12-24". I'm talking terrible.

So I move the target to 10 yds...just fine, my group tightens to a respectable amount (I actually managed one 4 round group in a really nice 1" circle). I try my other pistols at either 7-10 yds...just fine. I think I must be doing something wrong so I move the target back to 25 yds...and my groups are total garbage again.

I decided to use a rest to see what my deal was, my group tightens but my L-R is still all over the place. I figure out that I cannot see the rear sight with my glasses on...I just cannot focus on it. I'm drifting L to R and not even knowing it. I start putting my front where I want it, looking over my glasses and then adjusting the rear...my group tightens right up.

This is when I broke out my 627 that has a Burris red dot on it...25yds...nice tight, respectable group. Standing, resting, all nice and tidy like I used to shoot.

I think I may just have **** eyes anymore. I may just add a red dot on the 629 and call it a day.

Sorry for the long post...I guess my question is this, anyone else deal with this? Any advice other than just popping red dots on everything?

 

[arjay]

I've had the same problem for several years (near sighted) but I keep shooting while wearing glasses.Next time,I'm ditching them so I can focus on the front sight and maybe that will help

 

[Scorpion520AZ]

This is when I broke out my 627 that has a Burris red dot on it...25yds...nice tight, respectable group. Standing, resting, all nice and tidy....

You're a good shot and you're shooting well. Slap a Red Dot on that 629 and you'll be launching accurate .44 Magnums as far out as you desire.

 

[500SNW]

It happens. You are not alone. When younger, I used to be a decent shot. Now, at age 50, in addition to the usual effects of age, I've got ocular histoplasmosis in my left eye. I now consistently shoot high and way, way far to the left. When shooting with both eyes open, the front sight (both of them) are blurry and the bottom notch of my rear sight is not level-horizontal but looks slanted like this /...though not so severe an angle as that. I suppose I could try adjusting my sights to compensate. Glasses help, but then the target becomes a blur. Sorry to not be able to offer any other advice, but I think that optics become mandatory for a long gun, and as for your handguns, did you ever consider an XS Ghost Ring style sight...assuming such is made for or adaptable to a revolver frame?

XS Sight Systems, Inc. - Products - 586, 686, 625, 629, 329, & others

 

[Golddollar]

I was having problems focusing on iron sights and was slowly converting to optical sights. But I didn't want to drill and tap any more guns and spend a fortune on more optical sights. One day I was at Staples and in the reading glasses rack I found trifocal reading glasses with the top band being at half the rated power and focused at a distance stated to be across a desk. A few mental calculations determined that would be just about where a front sight would be while bullseye shooting. They aren't cheap, but when I took them home I discovered they did just what I wanted by putting the front sight in focus. Since that band was in the top of the lens, there is an additional benefit of not having to bend my head back. Those glasses are in my shooting box for good now.

 

[rustythread]

Add bayonet lug?

 

[rockquarry]

I'm 69 and just had cataract surgery and lens implants on both eyes. For the first time in more than twenty years, I'm able to read and shoot open-sighted guns, handgun and rifle, without glasses.

However, I had no problem shooting with prescription glasses prior to surgery. I wish I could say my shooting has improved, but it hasn't.

 

[pharmer]

I'm 65 and very farsighted. I'm using 3.25x readers and this helps at all ranges. 3" 25 yard groups are in my distant past as is 120/70 blood pressure. Joe

 

[dscampbell]

I had a similar issue. I had shooting safety glasses made up bifocal. Top is my normal distance and the bottom is for mid range like computer and gun sights.


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[cherrypointmarine]

I am 60 and in the same boat also . I found I can't shoot with bifocals . You look through the bottom , and the top is blurry , and when you look through the top , the bottom is blurry . I got a pair of progressive lens , and that took care of it . There's no line to blur your vision , just find the right spot on the lens for the distance , and blast away . It took a little while to get used to them , but it works for me .

 

[paulh]

I had a similar issue. I had shooting safety glasses made up bifocal. Top is my normal distance and the bottom is for mid range like computer and gun sights.


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Impossible. How do you correlate the two? Front sight bifocal, target upper. Can't see target thru bifocal, can't see sight thru upper. Went Crimson on my S&W 357 and SIG P320. If I was back at PI today I'd get maggies drawers all day.

 

[dscampbell]

Impossible. How do you correlate the two? Front sight bifocal, target upper. Can't see target thru bifocal, can't see sight thru upper. Went Crimson on my S&W 357 and SIG P320. If I was back at PI today I'd get maggies drawers all day.

Sounds impossible to you but it does work for me why I do not know but it does


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[mtgianni]

Get a good optometrist that allows you to bring in a pistol. A SA revolver is best because you don't need the cylinder. Get a pair of glasses just for shooting that are lined bifocals not progressives. You want the close focus to be on the front sight and the rear on the target. If he/she doesn't want a gun in his office, use a cutout but sights are better.
it is said that practice makes perfect but that is false, perfect practice makes perfect. Don't handicap yourself for shooting longer ranges because of vision issues. We all loose it as we age but you can compensate. When you can see the sights well go back to slow single action shooting at 25 yards, calling your shots and being critical about them. Have someone video you from the side with an empty gun dry firing.Improved groups at 25 and 50 yards will result in improved groups at 7 and 10 but I do not believe the reverse is true.

 

[Whitwabit]

How long ago have you had your eyes checked to see if the glasses you have are still good for what your eyes have changed too ..

I got new script for mine and improved my groups ..

 

[URIT]

I found myself needing glasses for reading, computer work, and shooting shortly after turning 44. Then, I used cheap readers from WalMart and had their vision center make computer - shooting glasses with the focus point that measured to the front sight post of my duty revolver. Solved both my computer eye strain and front sight focus issues with just a single prescription. Since then, over a quarter century has passed, and I now have trifocals with the top for distance, middle for computer/shooting, and lower for reading. Today, I put all 11 rounds from my 4046 on a 2"X1.5" Post-it at 7 yards with both eyes open. Poor results may be from compensating for the loss of visual focus. Glasses will help!

 

[dave1918a2]

Post #13 has the answer. You really don't need bifocals, just ask for the focal point placed where you need it. I took a flintlock and a 6 inch barreled pistol to My eye Doctor and He measured the front sight distance of each and wrote a prescription that worked for both. They will be just shooting glasses and the target will be fuzzy but not so You can't see it OK to shoot. " When shooting a pistol the front sight is second only to God." Col. Cooper.

 

[Farmer17]

I'm going to start trying fiber optic handgun sights then I can just line up the three glowing dots. My Rossi Lever Action .357 rifle has a bead front and semi buckhorn rear which I never really liked but now that I'm older I just focus on the bright bead and I can hit an 8" plate at 80 yards pretty quickly and easily.

 

[Filo McShoe]

in my mid 60s glasses and all bullseye shooting or anything that calls for shooting a group with a pistol regardless of sights or dots is pretty much out. I can still hit 10" plates out to 35 yards so steel challenge is still in. I just hope they don't go to smaller plates.
anything requiring any display of accuracy is rifle with optics or if close enough and moving shotgun stuff.

 

[rwsmith]

It definitely sounds like.....

Between the Red Dot sight doing well and doing well looking over your glasses it sounds like a vision problem.

It would be good to tell your ophthamologist what you need to see when you are shooting.

I'm lucky. Always had and still have awful eyes. BUT after surgery for cataracts in both eyes, the sights on my gun are in focus. So I just aim into the middle of the red piece of mush that's supposed to be a target.

 

[rwsmith]

My favorite iron sight.....

in my mid 60s glasses and all bullseye shooting or anything that calls for shooting a group with a pistol regardless of sights or dots is pretty much out. I can still hit 10" plates out to 35 yards so steel challenge is still in. I just hope they don't go to smaller plates.
anything requiring any display of accuracy is rifle with optics or if close enough and moving shotgun stuff.

My favorite iron sight is an open V-notch simply because I can see better with them than any other configuration. That's one reason I really like shooting my Mosin Nagent. Peep sights are VERY hard for me to see through. I get them lined up, can see the target good, but after a few shots my eyes get tired and I can't see through it any more.