How many DIFFERENT pairs of eye glasses do I need?

[gnm]

Hello all,

I am having a lot of difficulties finding the right glasses.

I shoot 22LR rifle at 50 feet and 25 yards indoors.
I shoot air rifle and air pistol at 10 meters outdoors and 8.5 meters indoors (scaled down targets).

I am in my 60's and wear intermediate progressive at home and full progressive driving.

I measured the distance from my eyeball to the front sight:
diana CO2 pistol 35 inches
av46m pistol 37.5 inches
daisy 853 air rifle 28 inches
anschutz match 54 rifle 34 inches

I tried every pair of glasses including progressive, bifocal, readers and all glasses that I accumulated over the last 25 years.

The best glasses for rimfire are my intermediate bifocal (basically distance +.5), followed by intermediate progressive.
The best glasses for air rifle are my intermediate progressive. I actually see better in daisy with crappy sights than in anschutz with really nice sights.

However, nothing works with pistols. I tried painting the front sight and the rear blade in various colors; I tried red dot - totally useless. I even tried a scope on a pistol - I can see very well, but I am not shooting any better (and I just want to use iron sights). I tried from distance to reading in .25 increments. For now, i am using my intermediate progressive mostly because they are already on my nose and do have very high quality lenses.

The only other thing I noticed is that I see much better with peep sights and round front insert than with a front post and rear blade.

Any recommendations or suggestions? I am planning an annual visit to my optometrist soon.

Thank you.

[UnGe]

I have a lot of glasses.
1. Reading. Not for shooting, too close focus
2. Computer
3. Distance - never use in real life, just weirdness of my vision
4. Iron sights. I use computer prescription, never understood why safety glasses work differently, had to order special safety ones (with the same prescription)!
5. Red dot ones - same as distance. The problem - I cannot see anything close.

Finally trying to get used to bifocals. Results are pretty encouraging, bot for sure I will not use progressives - too many variables based on head position.

General advice:
- measure distance in meters, not inches :)
- for your desired focus distance, you need adjustment to your _distance_ prescription +1/(Distance in meters).
- FORGET ABOUT SEEING TARGET.

This is very simple for us (still young, but aging people). If we still try to shot irons - tune our glasses for the front sight. If red dot - distance, but mot progresive

[Rover]

First, you need to get rid of astigmatism. If you don't have a clean, round red dot, brother you got it. This means prescription.

Second, lose the progressive lenses. They WILL confuse you.

Third, have your scrip made so that you naturally focus on, or slightly in front of, the front sight.

Fourth, block your non-sighting eye. I like Scotch tape on the INSIDE of the non-aiming eye lens.

Fifth, an iris is NOT to increase depth of field. It is to ensure a uniform "pupil" size under varying lighting conditions.

"Yes, I see!", said the blind man.

[gnm]

Thank you for the suggestions!

@UnGe: - for your desired focus distance, you need adjustment to your _distance_ prescription +1/(Distance in meters)
I will take this formula to my optometrist.

@Rover: I do have slight astigmatism; my progressives and bifocals correct it.

Sounds like 1 pair should cover my pistols and anschutz, but a second pair is for daisy.

Now a follow-up question: if i forget about seeing the target, I understand that with rifles I just need to center the fuzzy target "blob" in the aperture consistently from shot to shot. But how do I focus with a pistol post/blade? (I use "sub-6" hold.) Do I need to switch to a post that appears as wide as the bull or even wider?

[David M]

For pistol glasses.
Print a copy of Dr Wong's Bulleye shooter eye care doc and take it to your optometrist to read and get an eye check.
https://starreloaders.com/edhall/nwongm ... guide.html

[OdieRedmond]

Hello all,

I am having a lot of difficulties finding the right glasses.

I shoot 22LR rifle at 50 feet and 25 yards indoors.
I shoot air rifle and air pistol at 10 meters outdoors and 8.5 meters indoors (scaled down targets).

I am in my 60's and wear intermediate progressive at home and full progressive driving.

I measured the distance from my eyeball to the front sight:
diana CO2 pistol 35 inches
av46m pistol 37.5 inches
daisy 853 air rifle 28 inches
anschutz match 54 rifle 34 inches


I tried every pair of glasses including progressive, bifocal, readers and all glasses that I accumulated over the last 25 years.

The best glasses for rimfire are my intermediate bifocal (basically distance +.5), followed by intermediate progressive.
The best glasses for air rifle are my intermediate progressive. I actually see better in daisy with crappy sights than in anschutz with really nice sights.

However, nothing works with pistols. I tried painting the front sight and the rear blade in various colors; I tried red dot - totally useless. I even tried a scope on a pistol - I can see very well, but I am not shooting any better (and I just want to use iron sights). I tried from distance to reading in .25 increments. For now, i am using my intermediate progressive mostly because they are already on my nose and do have very high quality lenses.

The only other thing I noticed is that I see much better with peep sights and round front insert than with a front post and rear blade.

Any recommendations or suggestions? I am planning an annual visit to my optometrist soon.

Thank you

I have no pistol experience, rimfire years ago and now, and HP years ago. Struggling with cataracts, which is a losing battle with irons. Just curious as to what you would consider intermediate distance?

[gnm]

@David M: Thank you! Very helpful. I will take this to my optometrist.

@OdieRedmond: according to my optometrist, my intermediate bifocals are reading on bottom and about 7 feet focal distance on top (distance + .5). My intermediate progressives have the largest portion of the lenses for computer, bottom for reading. I am not sure what the top is but I was told is just enough for e.g. watching TV at 10-12 feet. (My lenses are different for each eye and correct slight astigmatism as well).

[Rover]

"I am planning an annual visit to my optometrist soon."

Well, did you order some dedicated shooting glasses, or did you screw yourself up again with some multi-use contraption?

[gnm]

I am definitely going to order dedicated pistol glasses. My trip to the optometrist is postponed due to 2 covid rounds in 2 weeks (paxlovid rebound).

Before I got sick, I spent a few hours testing. The best results for the pistols were at distance +1.0. In the morning distance +.75 was also very good. In the afternoon, or after about 1 hour of shooting, I needed stronger glasses. I will give all of this info to my optometrist.

I was also reading all the posts that discuss the size of the front post and rear notch and sight pictures. I use sub-6 hold. Looks like I benefit from the widest rear notch.