"My eyes aren't what they used to be."

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baddarryl

New member
At what point do you reach or even recognize this? I have always had 20/20 vision. A few years ago I started needing reading glasses, but seem to be able to see at long distance just fine. At what point do you realize you are being hampered by your vision for shooting? We all know it is difficult to measure change over an extended time period and fool ourselves with things. I am 46 and maybe it is time. I don't know.
 
I'm 63, recently I added a new rifle to the stable, one fitted with iron peep sights. Most of my rifles have scopes of some sort.

Then I realized I could not focus on the front sight at all, even with new glasses. When it happens to you you'll know. If you don't know it hasn't happened yet.:D

Changing vision, as you describe is an ongoing process as you age, but just that won't do it, as it can be corrected with glasses easily.
 
My ophthalmologist told me that 46 was pretty much the average age for the need for glasses if you didn't need them beforehand, and for bifocals if you didn't wear them. I was 47 at the time.
 
For me it was the moment when I realized I could no longer focus on the front sight. :( Peep sights help, so do glasses with a somewhat longer focal point than reading glasses. Now all my rifles have scopes.

Aging isn't for sissies. ;)
 
Vanya said:
For me it was the moment when I realized I could no longer focus on the front sight.
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^^^ Exactly. According to the eye docs at the local VA hospital my vision is still 20/20. Problem is, the front sight isn't twenty feet away, it's more like eighteen inches to two feet. I've found (to my great unhappiness) that I shoot better if I wear drug store reading glasses with a strength of about 2.00 (which is less than I would wear for reading).

My dilemma is that I carry for self defense, and I don't wear glasses on the street or when driving. So ... do I practice with no glasses and tell myself I'm "good to go" as long as I can stay within center-of-mass at 25 feet, or do I wear the cheaters and try to hone my aging marksmanship, knowing that I'm not training the way I would fight (if I ever had to fight)?

Decisions ... decisions.
 
For me it was when I realized that while driving at night tail lights were fuzzy and my depth perception was shot.

I had 20/15 as a kid. Now, without corrective contacts I can't even see the big E on the doc's chart. I shoot rifles with scopes, but handguns I shoot like a shotgun. That is it becomes a point and shoot weapon. Maybe why I prefer to shoot clay targets over pistol targets;)
 
I just drew my Glock and can still focus on the front sight, but honestly it took a little concentration. Maybe getting real close to time.
 
Funny thing here. My Hawken B/P Carbine has open sights, a notch rear & "dot on a post" front. I can still use that, but when I switch to the aperture rear I fitted I can't. Odd but true, its something to do with the distance between the front & rear sights.
 
definitely practice some point shooting. I would still want to wear glasses and practice marksmanship, but I think point shooting would have to become a big part of my training.
 
Pushing 80, I can no longer see the front sight. I have begun to look at the target and get a familiar picture of the back of my pistol. ( I just keep the shots on the paper of a standard target at 50 feet)

My rifles are scoped, so not a problem, but I have a Marlin 39 with no scope that I can barely keep on the paper at 50 ft. It started when I was 50 or so but I can no long compensate for the deterioration.
 
Almost 57. I don't have any trouble seeing anything more than about 2-3 feet away. About arms length, any closer and I put on reading glasses. Anything farther and I'm still 20/20. I can still see iron sights just fine, but use optics on all my rifles. I found out years ago that they do everything better even with perfect vision.
 
My dilemma is that I carry for self defense, and I don't wear glasses on the street or when driving. So ... do I practice with no glasses and tell myself I'm "good to go" as long as I can stay within center-of-mass at 25 feet, or do I wear the cheaters and try to hone my aging marksmanship, knowing that I'm not training the way I would fight (if I ever had to fight)?
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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. I'm no expert, but that makes sense to me. I like to use my SD guns on the range and try for accuracy, but that's just me enjoying my practice rather than working on what would be more likely in the real world. Which I intend to change.
 
I just turned 58 today. I have been using reading glasses for about 4 years. I have progressed to a 1.75 power to read small print, but I can get buy with a 1.5 for normal every day stuff.

When I shoot my handguns I cannot see the sights for crap without my reading glasses. With +1.75 and the target is a total blur, +1.5 and the sights are clear, but the target is a little blurry, +1.25 and I can see the sights well (not perfect) and the target is clear (not perfect).

So, when I go shooting I wear my +1.25 safety glasses and I can do OK, not great, but OK. I have a Kimber Ultra Compact with Crimson grips that I used to carry at night mostly because of my poor eyes. My son decided it was his, so now I carry a DW 10MM or a PO-6, I'm thinking of lazering these two as well.

All my rifles have scopes except my 5.56 AR with detachable carry handle. If I use the carry handle and the peep sights I can do OK, for now. I'm sure in a few years that will no longer be an option.
 
It hit me in my late 40's. My optometrist recommended progressive lenses. It takes some getting used to but you can tilt your head to get the "sweet spot" so that handgun sights are in focus. Getting old sucks but the lenses let me stay in the top 5% in my department qualification shoots.
 
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!
 
At age 46, you haven't even begun to seriously deteriorate, yet.
As skizzums suggests, the better your form, the less important sights are.
The less one can rely on clearly defined sights, the more they have to depend on other things.
With age, even scopes get fuzzy, too.
Having full confidence in good form, (including point / instinctive shooting), the more sights, even fuzzy ones, can be a reference tool, rather than the main ingredient in accuracy.
But it usually takes expert instruction to develop that good form, especially after decades of mostly relying on sights and scopes.
 
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!
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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.
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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.
 
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It became obvious that relying on glasses could be a hindrance after driving a long way to an important match and forgetting to even bring those precious glasses.
And then, at the same match, one of the top shooters had the scope fail on his open class gun - and it didn't make any difference.
He won the match without it - no sights whatsoever.
Quite an eye opener. :p
 
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