Glasses and open sights

D

dyl

New member
Ever notice this?

I was at the range yesterday shooting with open sights. My glasses rest a little lower on my face than I'd like. I stayed very still, kept my cheek weld, and pushed my glasses up. I noticed that the front sight had risen up after I pushed my glasses up!!! And over to one side (I forget which). This is repeatable. I hope a scope solves this but what I think is happening is that since I tuck my chin down to get to the sights, I'm using the top portion of my glasses to see then. I'm probably "seeing out of" the top of my glasses rather than the portion of the glasses directly in front of my eyeball. When I raise my glasses, I raise my "eye". This might be affect the zero if I ever get glasses that sit differently or my wife uses the rifle.

Any advice?
 
Most of my shooting is with traditional muzzle loaders. Almost all of our shooting is with open sights. What you describe is a problem with aging shooters. Part of what you describe can be tracked to fit of the rifle for you. Adding height to the comb might help. There are special shooting glasses but in prescription they are expensive. And, finding an optometrist or opthamologist who can fit properly can be difficult. You need one who is a shooter and understands the issue.
Part of the solution can be fixed with an eyeglass peep attachment. Like this one: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/978528/merit-optical-attachment-with-suction-cup
There are less expensive options on the market. You have to look for them.
 
I have had an additional lens glued to the upper/inner lens for my master eye. An oval, about 1/2" x 3/4". It gives the same correction as the center portion of my tri-focals. Perfect for IPSC pistol, and quite good for seeing the front sight of a rifle. While the rear sight isn't perfect, it still is adequately sharp. For iron sights on a rifle, then, the sights are sharp and I shoot to the center of the slightly blurred target.
 
Well as we age a lot of things go south.:D I tried the added lens but for me it was a hassle. It is now in my box of recommended holsters stored in the garage.
 
Peeps sights fix everything for me. However it is possible to see distortions in the image no matter how round the aperture is. Usually the smaller the peep aperture the more the light bends inside it causing "barrel distortion" (not the gun bbl... "barrel distortion" is the name of this type of optical distortion/illusion... the image is distorted evenly out from the center. It can actually be your friend as it encourages you to center the post. There is less of it with thinner disc apertures and more with apertures which take on more of a tube shape.
-SS-
 
If I read your description correctly, it sounds like the sights are too low for the height of the stock.
If so, the cost of changing either one can be prohibitive.
How about shouldering the gun a little higher in the pocket and see if that helps?
 
quick reply

I've only got a moment for now so this will be quick:

I'm not THAT old :D but my glasses are a bit thicker than they used to be. I can only see crystal clear about 6 inches from my face w/out them.

I was shooting from a low bench with a rest that wasn't high enough - maybe that forced me to hunch over too much. Now I'm excited to go out and try again to see if that changes things. I might be able to use the center of my lenses. (I love excuses to go to the range... all in the name of science)

I saw the "peeprib" offered by EABCO for my rifle (muzzle loader). Sorry mods, even though it's a muzzle loader I thought I'd have this issue on future rifles regarding iron sights in general.
 
I recall Charlie Askins saying it was wortwhile to speak to your optician, explain your needs as a shooter, have glasses ground to see the sights at a certain distance, etc. Years ago I met an appliance repairman, he had bifocals with the close section on top since he was often looking up while doing close work.
 
Years ago there was an optician here who was a shooter ! He knew exactly what I needed for my shotgun as my head would be down on the stock.Worked perfectly with the lense centered to the upper left .
 
Yep. Noticed this more with contact lenses and my free pistol. I would have it zeroed and shooting well, go home, take lenses out of eyes, sleep. Replace. Return to range, and have to slide the rear sight several clicks one way or other to get it zero'd again.

Sigh.
 
Eyes

I had a set of shooting glasses made for me that solved the problem. Actually....I had one lense made for my shooting eye that allowed clear vision of the front sight on both rifle and pistol. The other lense was a plano. The frames were large Zeiss frames that I got on sale from !
Midwayusa. They work.
Pete
 
What you describe is called refraction. By moving your glasses up you're changing the angle at which the light from what you're looking at (in this case the sights) enters the glasses. By changing that angle your eye is seeing the light that's striking the glasses at a different spot. This is why your front sight seems to be moving upward. Just line the sights up again and shoot - as long as the sights are lined up with the target you'll hit what you're shooting at (all else being equal).
 
Yes, I was thinking: wouldn't it be nice to have some kind of prescription shooting goggles or glasses - maybe something with a bit more coverage than my glasses but something that didn't quite look as strange as swimming goggles.... I've put a bit of money into the new rifle though so that will have to wait.

I tried aligning the sights at home again. In theory when the glasses go up the front sight appears higher - but the actual point of aim and impact haven't changed. So it's a GOOD thing the front sight changes position when my glasses do otherwise I wouldn't be able to know when I need to re-align my sight picture.

So I've come to the conclusion that 1) sights moving with glasses does not necessarily affect accuracy. 2) the rifle fit forces me to use the top edge of my glasses which makes things blurry. 3) this rifle stock has a high comb and very little drop in the stock, I think Thompson Center wanted me to wring out every bit of accuracy with a scope. So I will :)
 
Hello dyl. I have used Baush & Lomb shooting glasses for years..they are designed to sit higher..so when looking thru rifle sights..your eye is closer to center of lens. I have always had them in perscription..though now that I need bi-focals, I did not have them put in these..which means I have to use a mag. glass when adjusting vernier tang sights.
The biggest pain in getting older is that open sights are no longer sharp..or sometimes even visable! But there is a fix for this too..either the Merit attatchment or I use a Gehmer clip on adj. appa. over shooting lens..it's like magic..turn that appa. down smaller..and suddenly it's like your 20 again! sights nice sharp & black!
 
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