Blurry front sight or blurry target, what's your choice?

[paplinker]

I am also just starting to have the issue described above. I have found I am shooting my 6 o’clock hold guns with better groups

 

[bigggbbruce]

I wore glasses since I was 10 years old. In my early 60s I quit wearing them. At the time my prescription was +2.00 and +2.50 with astigmatism. I just simply exercised my ability to focus. Now 8 years later, I don't wear and don't need them. Pass dmv no problem. Last exam I was told 20/20 and 20/40, and no need for glasses, not bad.

Both eyes open
I focus on the targets. Front sight is slightly blurry. I can shoot some pretty small stuff pretty far off.

 

[Autonomous]

I got a new eyeglasses RX, bought new frames and wanted new lenses in the old frames.
My excellent optometrist asked if I wanted a different focal point in the 2nd pair.
Yes please!
I was gearing up for camping in brown bear country so chose the distance to the front sight on my Mossberg.
He wrote the RX with a note "For shooting brown bears around the house."

 

[fiasconva]

I don't know why they started making firearms with fuzzy sights the last few years. They weren't like that when I bought guns when I was younger.

 

[Tazman11]

Front sight clear always.

 

[Krogen]

I asked my now-retired ophthalmologist about this. I wanted a prescription for shooting glasses so I could focus on the front sight. Doc shot on a Navy pistol team and had an interesting viewpoint. He said compromise. Don't go for a super sharp front sight because that makes the target too blurry. He said to go for crisp focus 1 or 2 feet in front of the gun. That way the sights are sharp enough and the target is clear enough. Having said that, he told to first try my computer glasses. They focus a bit beyond arm's length. If that didn't work, he said come back and we'll try something different. He was spot-on. The computer glasses work great. Of course this applies to competition or casual shooting. Nobody in a self-defense situation is going to say "wait a sec while I put on my computer glasses."

 

[Rustyt1953]

My dad taught me to point shoot when I was a pup. I have never drifted from that path.

 

[Krogen]

This is the same point the video I posted above is making. I suspect most good shooters — and we have some very good bullseye/target shooters here — know this, or do this, intuitively.

I'm not sure if we have many gamers, IDPA, IPSC, etc., here, but it would be interesting to hear their take on it.

I shoot ISSA plate matches. The faster I try to shoot, the more I start looking at the target. Sight alignment goes out the window. Sight alignment is more critical than target alignment, so my scores suffer when I do that. A red dot solves that problem nicely.

 

[Neumann]

Always the front sight, for best precision and accuracy. I train with both eyes open (right eye dominant, although I can switch readily). A red dot sight is the best of both worlds - two eyes open, sharp dot and sharp target.

 

[45Smashemflat]

I’m probably the odd ball. Or, as my wife says, “my eyes are broken.”

I am extremely near sighted, can’t see past my outstretched hands without glasses. I can read without glasses.

Compounding this, I’m cross eye dominant. (Right handed, left “eyed.)

Then, just to make it worse, I have monocular vision. I only see with one eye at a time. None of the “ghost image” “Biden Aiming Concept” blended views and aiming techniques work for me.

So, I’m front sight focused for the most part, but training on a red dot now.

 

[mtgianni]

I have gone with lined bifocals with the lower focus at my front sight and the upper set for distance. This gets me a very small move of the head between focusing on either target or sight. I try to have the hammer fall when the front sight is crisp.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

One of Jeff Cooper's mantras was "FRONT SIGHT-PRESS !!", Ed McGivern emphasized in fast shooting the sights ARE used.

 

[Muddyboot]

I have gone with lined bifocals with the lower focus at my front sight and the upper set for distance. This gets me a very small move of the head between focusing on either target or sight. I try to have the hammer fall when the front sight is crisp.

I tried my bifocals also, but it felt like an awkward movement while trying to focus on target and sight.

 

[Harv 24]

I thought focusing on the front sight was common knowledge. The human eye cannot focus on two objects at once. I always told my students your eye is like a camera lens, and can only focus on one thing. So it has to be the front sight.

Red dots have changed that and that's what I've been using for a few years now.

 

[fatcat3]

" Focus on that front sight so you could see a gnat fart" Dept. shooting instructor.
Like Rustyt1953, Dad taught me to point shoot all those years ago. 25 years of qualification for the state, modified speed rock inside 5 yards, 15-20 point, 25-30 flash sight. Will admit at 50 yards I used the sights. Never did see a gnat though

 

[steelslaver]

I focus on the sights, after all I am shooting the gun, NOT the target. A 1/32 of sight misalignment over 8" sight radius will move the impact point almost 3" at 20 yards. Holding my sights off an inch at 20 yard will cause the bullet to be off that 1"