Reticle gets blurry after a few minutes

D

divil

New member
Any time I pick up my rifle and look through the scope, both the target area and the reticle are crystal clear. But after shooting for a few minutes, I have trouble getting the reticle to look sharp.

I've tried setting the reticle focus for me eye. Is this a sign that I haven't got it quite in focus yet, so my eye is adjusting automatically until it gets too tired?
 
Eye strain. You have to look at something far away to rest your eye muscles when that happens. Make sure that your scope is well focused to reduce eye strain.
 
Depending on your age (I'm 54), you could be having some vision issues. I recently found out I had a broken blood vessel in my dominate eye (right), that caused pressure in the rest of the eye . It was making it difficult to focus and the clarity just was not there. Much better now with a series of shots in the eye. Just a thought.
 
I have found that I can shoot much longer with less eye fatigue if I shoot with both eyes open. Takes some getting use to but becomes second nature after some practice.
 
"...both the target area and the reticle..." Shouldn't be. Your eye cannot focus on two things at once. If you're trying to do that, it's probably why your eyes are getting strained.
The point of a scope is to eliminate multiple focusing. And to be able to see the target better. Look through the scope at the target and put the reticle on the target without focusing on the reticle.
 
"...both the target area and the reticle..." Shouldn't be. Your eye cannot focus on two things at once. If you're trying to do that, it's probably why your eyes are getting strained.
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While it is true that the eye can not focus at more than one distance at once, scopes are designed to put the reticle and the target into focus at the same time. So the eye should be able to see them both with perfect clarity assuming the scope is adjusted properly.
 
reticle focus

I can remember clearly coming off the 600 yd line one time after a typical poor showing, and after a string, a better shooter coaching me to "focus on the reticle, just as on a front iron sight."

Whether this was sage advice or not, my shooting improved for the rest of the day.
 
One possibility is parallax. Say a scope has fixed parallax of 100yd. The image of a target at 100yd coincides with the reticle, so everything is clear. However when the target is moved to 200yd, this is no longer true. Target will become blurry while the reticle is clear. If your try to focus on the target, the reticle may be ever so slightly out of focus.

It is correct to always focus on the reticle and keep your eye inline with the scope's axis, unless the scope has parallax adjustment.

-TL

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
 
Any time I pick up my rifle and look through the scope, both the target area and the reticle are crystal clear. But after shooting for a few minutes, I have trouble getting the reticle to look sharp.
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After shooting for a "few minutes" your barrel is probably heating up and your lack of focus is the heat shimmer from the barrel. Just like a road in the summer.
 
With the reticle properly focused, and the parallax correctly adjusted both will be in the same focal plane and should be sharp.

Did you focus the reticle (rear objective ring)?
Does your scope have side parallax adjustment, or a front Adjustable Objective (AO)?

Move your head side to side or up/down slightly. If the reticle moves, you have parallax.

http://www.vortexoptics.com/video/sighting_in_your_riflescope
 
The brand and quality of scope you are using also play a factor in eye strain/fatigue.
Coating on the lenses, quality/clarity of the lenses, etc., will play a big factor in how long it takes to the eye to become fatigued. It’s always a question of when/how long, not if.

I’ve found that shooting with both eyes open but only focusing the one eye through the scope helps tremendously with prolonging fatigue.
 
I've had the same problem. In my case it was due to trash on the back of my shooting eye's lens. I've got artificial lenses and they get dirty. When that happens I'd compensate with muscle control and fatigue would eventually set in. I too would stop and focus on something further away thus resting my eye strain. Eventually my eye wouldn't clearly focus on anything and I had to get a laser cleaning done.
 
As part of my shooting preparation I put a couple of drops of Visine eyedrops into my shooting eye and put on a Breathe Saver nose strip. The eyedrops help flush away possible particulates from my eye pocket. The nose strip opens my nasal passages permitting more air flow/oxygen to get through. I find that while looking through the scope I tend to breathe shallower and that may lead to less oxygen to the brain and eyes. Oxygen deprivation to the eyes would cause degration to your vision.
 
Agree wholeheartedly with Precision Shooter! Both eyes open works best for me, though I may close the left eye to shoot at long distances/higher powers.
 
Ya know, if someone simply can't shoot with both eye's open, there's no reason to worry about it. I'm 70 + and wear glass's. All my life I have shot with one eye closed, left eye dominate. Shot at a local turkey shoot years ago and some of them there complained I shoot to much and should have to shoot left handed. Fine with me, I shot left handed, right eye close. Won every thing I shot in including the handgun. These days I've got into CC handgun's, have two. Never shoot more than about 20<+/- and have learned to shoot both eyes open but then I don't aim at all, I point!

Seem's a lot is made of shooting both eye's open and there does seem to be people that can do it, I'm not one. But for shooting using sight's, one eye open is fine. If you prefer two eye's open, that's fine too. If you can't hit a watermelon at 100yds, it won't matter if it's one eye open or two. The problem there is you need to learn to shoot!
 
I've tried setting the reticle focus for me eye. Is this a sign that I haven't got it quite in focus yet, so my eye is adjusting automatically until it gets too tired?
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YES, Exactly correct. That is a very subtle adjustment. And judging by the response, not well understood. Although you are 100% correct.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone! I will keep trying to get the reticle focus just right and see where that gets me.
 
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