shooting glasses, airpistol

[yana]

Hi all
I'm considering shooting glasses. However, I never liked the feel of earprotectors over glasses so I like the headband type with the lenses in front.
However, several say they're not useable because they're non-adjustable?? I this so?
I probably need a considerable correction, my normal eye deviation is about +2/+3.
Or maybe safety glasses with built in correction are an option?
Is adjustment the only downside of such built-in glasses?
If the above should not be suited for my needs and it has to be a real shooting frame I was thinking about a Varga.
I'm now shooting about 4mnts, highest sofar 352 ex 400. Normally I shoot in the high 340's(last week 348, higher score ruined by 1 stupid 6..). So I'm not a topshot but I'd like to improve. But I dont need topend glasses at my level me thinks.
The vision problems I have are the following:
- double vision of rearsight. My left eye aims too as my right is quite weak as well. I can cover my left ofcourse but than there's not enough vision left I think
- easily tired eyes
- sights getting blurry or front sight becomes 1 with rear sight, they kinda blurr, flow together..

[GaryN]

With my regular glasses I could NOT focus on the front sight.
So I had to get a special pair of glasses to shoot AP. It is NOT an adjustable shooting glasses like a Varga, it is in an old B&L frame. I decided on a regular frame with a LARGE lens, for eye protection. I had a pellet fragment hit me in the cheek just below my eye...scared the heck out of me. Glasses like Varga and others do not provide enough eye protection for me. I need protection for BOTH eyes.

My eye doc was real good, and let me bring my AP into her office to figure out the proper prescription. Warrens article turned out to be accurate.
http://www.pilkguns.com/c16.shtml
The doc tried different lenses, and distance +.5 diopter turned out to be the best compromise (for me), to focus on the front sight and still be able to see the target.

When do this with the doc, tell them to mark where your pupil is on the frame you will be using when aiming, and locate the optical center of the lens at that spot.
BTW you need to have an upright shooting posture to do this right. If you lower your head to your shoulder to aim, you will be looking out the upper portion of your lens.

From your description, it sounds like your right eye is pretty bad. You might consider shooting with the left eye as the aiming eye.

[seamaster]

headband lens holder is fully adjustable 360 degree just like shooting frame glasses. You can adjust headband up and down, rotate left and right around your forehead, lens could be tilted inward and outward.

You might have to adjust it every time you put it on, but it is still fully adjustable.

[RobStubbs]

Another option is to forego the ear defenders and instead use the smaller ones that you place in your ears.

Rob.

[yana]

My left eye is even worse, around +2.75 against about 2.25 for my right eye! And I'm right eye dominant.
I shoot between large bores too so earplugs arent an option, they dont protect enough.(yeah maybe those made to fit but I dont have these).

I tried normal +1 and +2 glasses today, that feels SO weird..like the room is turning, feels very unstable. Probably because I'm not used to glasses..
Does this go away in time? Even if you only wear the glasses during shooting?

[ken4all]

I can confirm that earplugs made to fit are the best.
They offer far more protection than any other 'classic' protectors I've used.

[Peter Skov]

I have -10 on my right eye, and -12 on the left one.
The glass has to be in exactly the same position from time to time, if I want to hit what I'm aiming fore. So I use shooting glasses.

And also shoot between bigbores, so I also use external cubs.
Because they simply dampens whit more Db than plugs, and the surroundings of the outer ear is also covered.

My glasses is a model from Champion, and they are rather slim, so the comfort is OK.

[David Levene]

However, I never liked the feel of earprotectors over glasses so I like the headband type with the lenses in front.

Have you tried with the thin side pieces of most shooting glasses or just with the thicker sidepieces of safety glasses.

You have already identified that you have an eyesight problem. If you need a lens then it needs to be in the right place, every time.

I don't think there can be much doubt that shooting glasses offer the most accurate, stable and consistant answer to correct lens placement.

[BobRI]

My left eye is even worse, around +2.75 against about 2.25 for my right eye! And I'm right eye dominant.
I shoot between large bores too so earplugs arent an option, they dont protect enough.(yeah maybe those made to fit but I dont have these).

I tried normal +1 and +2 glasses today, that feels SO weird..like the room is turning, feels very unstable. Probably because I'm not used to glasses..
Does this go away in time? Even if you only wear the glasses during shooting?

I don't think that spinning sensation is normal, at least not going by my own experience. I have several pairs of glasses because I spend most of my day in front of a monitor screen, which BTW is about the distance of the front pistol sight. I use reduced correction glasses for this close up work because otherwise, just the way my eyes are I've found, my shortsightedness would rapidly deteriorate. But I've never experienced any spinning or other strange sensations when I went to weaker glasses for close up work, only that distance objects appear slightly fuzzy, which is to be expected given the weaker correction.

I was able to experiment with several pairs because I bought them online which makes them much more affordable. I have progressive focals that work well with decent quality construction for under $80 delivered. Other single focal I've bought average around $25 to $40, all with coated plastic lens, one with Ti frame, and one tinted. Some have come from a vendor in China, but the last couple from California.

[tenex]

If your problem with hearing protectors is the feel of the ear seal on the glass frame, you could try a pair of David Clark 10A hearing protectors with the optional gel ear seals. The seals make the head phones much more comfortable, and fit better over glasses. They also make little wedges to fit on your glass frames that enable a better seal, but the sound reduction is probably not necessary for AP.

Steve.

[RobStubbs]

My left eye is even worse, around +2.75 against about 2.25 for my right eye! And I'm right eye dominant.
I shoot between large bores too so earplugs arent an option, they dont protect enough.(yeah maybe those made to fit but I dont have these).

So don't wear the ear plugs for rifle. If you're not wearing glasses for rifle it doesn't matter what you wear then so use your proper ear defenders for rifle.

Rob.

[yana]

Rifles are not the problem we dont have large bore rifles at our gunclub. Those are largebore pistols. Normal earplugs dont help enough against largebore noise..

[Shooting glasses]

Yana
I use Varga glasses and find that the thin side arms are perfectly comfortable under ear defenders.
Much more difficult is getting the correct prescription, forget the non sighting eye wether you keep it open or not, either have no lens or your normal prescription and use a blinder. I have no left lens and also use a blinder. The prescription for the shooting eye is best set at the focal length of your sights from your eye whilst on aim.
At best it requires a good sympathetic optician who understands shooting and take your pistol with you. Mine even set up 10 mts across the shop to help me get a ballance against the target!! And this is in England, the home of anti gun!!
We got the sharpest sight picture possible, and then used an adjustable iris to get some degree of vision to the aiming mark, the fuzzier it is at the target the better. I have since stopped using the iris as I found it encouraged my vision to be drawn to the aiming mark and not focused on the sights. The aiming mark is a blur but I average 9.
The only problem I have had was that on one occasion I put a pellet in backwards (incidently it was a 10! then to test I shot a string of 5 backwards, grouped the same as forwards, just the holes a tiny touch ragged!)
There is some good guidance to take to you optician on the Knobloch website.
Best of luck,
Robin

[sciguy191]

I shoot between large bores too so earplugs arent an option, they dont protect enough.(yeah maybe those made to fit but I dont have these).

If you do a bit of checking you will find that the inexpensive foam earplugs (the kind you roll between your fingers before inserting) decrease sound by ~30db. This is better than nearly all of the earmuff style hearing protectors that I have seen rated.

Hugh

[yana]

So you feel an adjustable iris is a wothwhile addition as well?
This works about the same as a variable diopter hole of a rifle?
You think england is anti gun, here in holland they lóve guns as well...
To be able to find the perfect correction for my eye, my stance should be quite stable isnt it? Cause with a straight stance, the sightline eye-pistol ís a tad larger or is that too little to worry about?
I'm just shooting about 4mnts now and dont have a very regular stance yet, I still make changes quite often..

[David Levene]

So you feel an adjustable iris is a wothwhile addition as well?

IMHO the most useful way to use an adjustable iris is to leave it fairly open; say 4-5mm.

That way you can use it to make sure your head position is the same each time.

[RobinC]

Yana
As I said I used an iris solely to help gain enough focus for the old tired eyes to find the aiming mark, as David suggested I only used it fully open, any lower adjustement and I found it caused too much focus on the aiming mark and drew me away from the sight picture. Ultimately I took it off and it now sits in my shooting bag.
It's a tool which can be used to fine tune vision, is it an advantage? depends on your eyesight, light, concentration, etc, in some circumstances it could be, or with others it may not! Sorry I can't be more definitive. Get one ,they are not expensive, as I said its a vision tool which may help but they are not the holy grail.
In my view I don't think its a device you should use some times and other times not such as different light, if you use one you can adjust for diferent conditions but I would not recomend fitting and removing for diferent conditions. Change causes problems, and you should aim for consistancy in all things related to your shooting.
Best of luck
Robin