TargetTalk

Can anyone recommend a shooter-friendly eye doctor in the mid-Atlantic area? I've seen Dr. Wong's writings, which he recommends getting your eye doctor to read prior to your appointment. Given the assembly-line nature of my optometrist's practice, I would be very surprised if she would be willing to take the time to read it. It would be nice to find a doctor who has already been down that path.

Thanks,
Tom A.

Hey Tom
That's a great request. I would like to ask about the lower New England area... are there any eye doctors that understand a shooter's needs? I have been using Dr David Gaudreau in Putnam CT. He undersands the needs but I am not sure that he is the best.
CC

coolcruiser wrote:Hey Tom
That's a great request. I would like to ask about the lower New England area... are there any eye doctors that understand a shooter's needs? I have been using Dr David Gaudreau in Putnam CT. He undersands the needs but I am not sure that he is the best.
CC

I'll 2nd that request, as I'm from southwestern CT.

Tom, in Richmond, VA, we have Alan Toler who can help. I have worked with him. The other option is to get lenses ade up that are about +0.5 your normal prescription, and perhaps another lense or two, and jsut see what works for you. But Alan is a competitive shooter



http://www.drtoler.com/

http://customsightpicture.com/sight%20picture-nra.html


Pete in Powhatan

Go with Dr. Toler. Accept NO substitutes.

Go see Dr. Tolar. He's double Distinguished, President's Hundred, has shot on a winning National Trophy pistol team, is captain of the U.S. Army Reserve Pistol Team, etc, etc, in addition to being an eye doctor. He has more than a clue about the eye care that a shooter needs to be competitive.

I've used him for over 10 years now. I made pistol Distinguished and President's Hundred in my mid-50s -- to go along with my Distinguished and President's Hundred in rifle -- and I'm still a competitive pistol shot in my early 60s. I could not have done it without the eye care I have received from him. You can't shot if you can't see.

Regards,
Don

Sounds like he's the man to see. Just to verify - there are 2 Dr. Tolars (elder and younger). Is the younger one the one to see? The elder's first initial is "A", so I assume he may be "Alan" as well.

Is there much more to it than simply getting the correct lens value? I've still got 20/20 vision, and no apparent deformities of the eye. Can a good eye doctor add value beyond what I'd get with a decent assortment of lenses (+0.25 and +0.50)?

You want the younger Dr. Tolar. Just tell the receptionist that you're a shooter when you make the appointment.

Just being able to see "20/20" isn't good enough. Thirty-five years ago, I was shooting international smallbore, and was in a plateau. The Anschutz 1413 seemed to be working all right when I put a scope on it, and I thought that my head was in pretty good shape. The easiest thing to check was my eyes. So, I went to the Army clinic at the Pentagon, and told the young, female specialist that I was a shooter, that I was having problems, and wanted to see one of her eye doctors. She screened me with the type of machine that they use at the DMV, told me that I was seeing 20/20, and she wasn't going to waste her doctor's time with me. The discussion was getting quite heated, when an older, white haired colonel appeared. He looked at me and said "Is there a problem lieutenant?", and I responded that I was a shooter. Before I could say any more, he said "Follow me" and took me to an examining room. It turned out that he was the former head of the optometry clinic at Fort Benning, and had treated the Army Marksmanship Unit shooters. He wasn't a shooter, but was very familiar with the eye problems of shooters. When he was done with the examination, he said that either the astigmatism in my master eye had changed, or the doctor who had done my current refraction had gotten it wrong. Consequently, I was probably seeing oval rather than round bullseyes. The prescription he gave me worked, and my scores went up substantially.

If you are older, you have another problem. A regular eye doctor will give you a prescription for distance [infinity], or a prescription for reading. Both will give you "20/20" within their focal limitations. What they will not do is give you a clear front sight. You need a third [shooting] prescription for that.

Dr. Tolar grinds his lenses in 1/8th diopter increments. Most optical shops will only give you .25 diopter increments at best. Eye doctors also set your lenses up so that the center of the prescription is located in the center of the lens. Whether you are a rifle or a pistol shooter, when you are in position you never look through the optical center of the lens, so you are never getting the full benefit of your prescription. If you follow the directions that come with Dr. Tolar's trial kit, he will locate the center of your prescription at the point where you look through the lens when you are in position. Consequently, I have a set of glasses for pistol, another set for short range rifle [50-300 yards], and another for long range rifle [600-1,000 yards]. You locate the spot for the center of the prescription by getting into shooting position(s), gun in hand, in front of a mirror. You then mark the spot on your lenses that you are seeing through when in position. The short range rifle lenses were a compromise with three or four dots on the lens. For that, Dr. Tolar locates the center of the prescription in the center of the cluster of dots. I should point out that I use Junker frames rather than Knoblock type frames. Every high power shooter I ever knew who used Knoblocks sooner or later got too close to the rear sight and got them knocked out of alignment during a rapid fire string.

Your can't believe how good this system is until you try it. These are not glasses for living. They are purpose designed for shooting.

Regards,
Don

I work with a Dr. in Va Beach who's really good at making sure your vision is right for your shooting game. He's made positive correction lenses for me in any power I've requested, including any fraction.

Stan

The advantage of Dr. Toler's kit is that you can tweak the prescription to match your precise needs. A pistol shooter will have slightly different requirements than a rifle shooter. Sometimes, you will need slightly different lenses for different events...if I get much more serious about AP, I will wind up buying a dedicated AP lens. And you can pick the tint that gives the best contrast. It's really quite an impressive setup.

Me? I went to Dr. Toler (~120mi each way), got him to do up my base prescription, then borrowed the kit. Which meant that the prescription in my shooting glasses was validated on my own gun, at my own range.