Bohica said:
My eyes started going bad 5 years ago. In that 5 years I have had to go to stronger glasses 3 times. I am able to adapt each time but at this pace I could be blind in 10 or 15 years. Scary thought!
That's an argument I used to have with my optometrist every year or two. I'd be cruising along happily on a prescription for a couple of years, then he would declare that I needed to change, so he'd get new glasses made up. Within a week or two of wearing the new ones, the old ones suddenly didn't work, and usually gave me a headache. He finally retired, and my last prescription has been doing fine for about ten years.
I recently went to the optical department at the VA hospital for an eye checkup. Same deal -- new glasses are so strong they give me a headache, and they're so strongly biased toward reading that I can't use them at a computer. So I've simply set them aside. (I can probably at least get some use out of the case.) I complained to the doc at the VA that I didn't want to start wearing such a strong prescription because within weeks my eyes would adapt to them and my uncorrected vision would just get worse.
He said, and I quote, "That's impossible."
Well, it's not impossible. I'm 70 years old and I've worn glasses for reading to correct for astigmatism since I was 14. I KNOW it's possible.
YoSamTFL said:
Although it's no fun giving up accuracy by not correcting your eyesight, my answer is that you should train as you would be carrying. Self defense would be well within your capabilities, and from what they say you'd probably (and should) be point shooting anyway in a typical up close and personal encounter.
That's the direction I've chosen. While being able to claim I could shoot the whiskers off a gnat at 50 yards has its attractions, I shoot at the range primarily for practice against real world possibilities, and secondarily for fun. On occasion I may enter an informal "practical" shooting contest, but that's more for my benefit in being able to shoot and move without being stuck in a single lane. I know I can't compete with the younger guys who are there every week, and I'm content to move everyone else up a place in the standings.
Also, I shoot at an indoor range with less than optimal lighting. I can see the sights much better in daylight so I don't think I'm yet at the point where I have to wear correction to shoot. It also helps that I shoot almost exclusively 1911s, and (for me, anyway) they point so naturally that I've shot project guns to test for function without any sights, prior to finishing, and had acceptable results.