Old eyes

B

Bill Daniel

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My concealed carry is a steel comander sized Kimber 45. It is also my favorite target plinker. My wifes has a Crimson Trace which is great for low light but not so good in bright sun light at the range. My distance vision is 20/15 but am near blind close up. When I tilt my head back to see my front sight with my glasses the target is blurred and of course when the target is clear the sights are blurred. For self defense range I can point shoot to MOBB(minute of belt buckle) and the Heine straight 8 sights do help in low light. My question regards red dot sights. I know I will need new holsters for concealed carry but do they allow me to see the dot clearly as I focus on the target? Should I leave the CC pistol alone and use one of my other 45's to target shoot or would the red dot be any advantage on a CC self defense pistol? What red dot sight do you use and recommend?
Thanks, Bill Daniel
 
I have red dots on a number of rifles, and would not be without one now. Dont have any on my pistols (yet :) ), but they are getting smaller by the minute, and I can see them being barely noticeable before to long. You may be pleasantly surprised about the holster issue too.

Check out Gabe Suarez's web page, he's been playing with them and has a couple of write ups on them. Heres a link to about 20 pages of talk on them, and thats just one ongoing thread...

http://www.warriortalk.com/showthread.php?t=63858&highlight=dots
 
Just buy a pair of cheap reading glasses in 1:00 or 1:25 and it will cure the problem. You'll see the standard handgun sights crystal clear, and the target slightly blurred.
 
For the range, I use two different lenses in my glasses.
The dominant side is able to focus on the sights.
The other side is able to focus on the target.
The brain gets used to this arrangement real quick.
A red dot is terrific as both the target and the dot appear as the same distance, so if your longer range eyesight is decent, no prescription glasses are necessary.
The problem for defensive use is that they have to be turned on and batteries do fail.
You might also look at the types of sights that glow but need no power.
Tritium, for example from places like Trijicon.
 
I've noticed a similar age related vision loss.

Back in the day, you'd change your practice to point shooting and practice to get faster with a shotgun.

The use of readers works...but not likely to be successful in real life self defense situations.
 
If you are concerned about hitting your target with your CC gun...

forget about the sights....

Learn point and shoot techniques at about 15ft.
 
I have three dot night sights on most of my pistols. I've been using them so long now, I see the dots before, or if I even see a traditional sight picture. I never really noticed any loss of speed or accuracy using them as my arms appeared to get shorter over the years. I do notice that it takes a lot more effort to get a good traditional sight picture these days though.

I "used" to wear glasses, that is, until I broke my last pair of $400 progressives at work about four years ago. Funny thing is, I didnt replace them, and havent worn them, or anything but 1.25 cheaters for up close work, since. My eyes actually seem to be improving, and I really havent missed the prescription glasses at all. Other than trying to get a good, traditional "target" sight picture (and even here, I see improvement), shooting without the glasses hasnt been an issue either.

Bringing all this up with the eye doctor last year, he blew it off pretty quick (wonder why? :) ), but he didnt have an answer as to why my eyes seemed to be improving. More and more, I'm thinking in many cases, the eye glass industry is all a very big racket, and may be more of a detriment than a help.

When I first started using a red dot on my rifles, I quickly noticed how fast and easy it was to make good hits with them, even at extended ranges. They take any sort of sight alignment out of the equation, and your total focus is on the target. The dot just happens to appear where youre looking on the target when the gun comes up. There really is nothing faster or easier to use.

Now that they are getting them small enough to use on a pistol is a good thing. I'd still like to see them get smaller (and cheaper), and I'm sure they will before to long. Until they do, I'll stick with my three dots, but I dont think it will be a stretch to see a dot on my pistols in the near future.


forget about the sights....

Learn point and shoot techniques at about 15ft.
Click to expand...
While I agree point shooting has a place, and I do use it, or variations of it, depending on distance, but you still need sights once the distance begins to open, and especially if you want any kind of precision.
 
+1 for point shooting. From everything I've read, Bad Guys won't wait for you to change out glasses. Neither will they wait for you to focus your old tired eyes on the sights.

I past that point in my life quite a while back and discovered that now I shoot better and faster with my point & shoot method. IMHO, It won't make any difference is you shoot a 2" or a 6" group for SD, the issue is to hit the BG where it counts and hit him before he hits you.
 
I'm 61 now and for the past ten years or so my sights are blurred but not quite as blurred as the target. I make out well enough as is with the standard sights that came with any and all of my handguns. Shot a friends kel tec with the laser grip thing the other day and didn't care for it. Maybe it would just take some getting used to. I'd rather spend the $ toward another gun or on ammo. :)
 
You may want to consider adding a laser. I added a crimson trace laser to my M&P 9 compact and I really like it. Once I got used to it, I found it much easier to shoot on target accurately and quickly. I know lasers have their limitations -- i.e. difficult to see in bright lighting, but I think they are a great tool, especially for those of us with ageing eyes.

http://www.crimsontrace.com/Home/Products/1911/tabid/185/Default.aspx

http://www.shooters-resource.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?

**Edit: I just re-read the OP ... you already know about the CT Laser -- sorry for not reading more carefully.
 
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Red lasers are only good for indoors or night shooting.

Green lasers are for any time. Nice big fat bright spot of light. But at night they do lay a "green string" from the gun to the spot. It will tell the BG where you are. But it also tells the BG that he will soon be in pain... Most are a lot bigger than the red (physically)


Having poor eyes at best, I always follow these posts! Looking for the magic sites/gadgets that will help.
 
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