TargetTalk

My normal glasses aren't really up to the task for olympic style shooting. I'm taking a survey of what's out there, and I'm turning out everything from $80 lens holders to well over $500. Does anyone have a personal recommendation on what works wells for them?

-Jenrick

Knobloch! Get the centering device, and make sure your prescription is adjusted for both astigmatism and seeing the front sight clearly. See Norman Wong's article at http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/nwo ... guide.html and make sure your optometrist sees it, too.

Champion or Knobloch. I would recommend the Champion Olympic frames if you have a bit of disposable income and are playing for keeps.

I have an old set of Champion frames - they smell funny, I think the plastic is degrading; but they are still solid and with good care I figure they will last the rest of my shooting career.

Varga are good price point but of a lesser quality and slightly different fittings.

If you are in the US, one of the best deals are the Varga's from Pilkington. I have a pair of Varga 2000's that I have been using for 3 years. But, for Bullseye use, I have round lens glasses from Zenni Optical. I bought these cheap glasses to experiment and fine tune my prescriptions for irons and red dot sights. My best RX is a bit higher than what Dr. Wong recommends, but I know a lot of people that do better than me with his recommended script.

All of that said, you cannot go wrong with Champions or Knoblochs. They make quality gear. But Varga's and even cheap Chinese glasses from Zenni have their uses as well.


Mike Davis

I use Bob Jones glasses and have been very happy with them. At under $100 complete with bifocal prescription they are hard to beat. You will get a lot of "Harry Potter" comments, but they stop when you out shoot them.
http://www.bjonessights.com/glasses.html

I'm not planning on making the olympic team currently, so the Champion ones are probably a bit much for my needs. The Knoblochs were what I had been looking at. I'll do some comparing to the Varga's now and see which I prefer.

Yes the next trick will be seeing how well my optometrist does with all this.

-Jenrick

I use vargas. I fail to see how paying the extra money for champions helps your shooting in any way. They may be easier to set up the first time but once set they are no different

In Texas, you should think about contacting Neal Stepp at ISS, he may be able to direct you toward an Optimetrist that is shooter knowledgeable.

If you were shooting rifle with relatively mild correction, I would recommend his Junker frames. The work really well for me in rifle.

Mike

I have a pair of these. http://www.intershoot.co.uk/acatalog/Va ... --339.html They're very good for the money.

for pistol, go for the 37mm lens and holder; the 23mm lenses are great for rifle, but do not provide a lot of eye protection for pistol.

Agreed on the 37. I use the size for prone rifle too.

Yes, 37mm is for pistol, 23mm for rifle. I have both.

jmdavis wrote:Agreed on the 37. I use the size for prone rifle too.

I use 23 for both

Awesome thanks guys, I think I'll pick up a pair of Varga's.

-Jenrick

Champion World Champion 4
They work OK for me, the plastic parts - such as the occluder holder - are a little soft, they are a little tall at the front which makes wearing a baseball cap difficult, the curly arms are a little tight and hurt my sensitive ears, the side-blinders are awkward and I haven't worked out a way to fit them satisfactorily.

jenrick wrote:Awesome thanks guys, I think I'll pick up a pair of Varga's.

-Jenrick

Pick up the ones with the aluminium pieces. Try will last a lot more that the blue plastic ones.

Hope this helps

If you normally wear prescription glasses, it's really worth getting a second lens holder with a standard prescription lens fitted for your non-aiming eye. I use knoblochs and usefully they offer a small strut called the "special adjusting slide" (part number 3071). This enables a blinder to be stacked in front of a non-aiming lens as this second lens uses the locking link which would normally would have been used by the blinder. It enables me to flip-up the blinder and still be able to see properly out of both eyes when it comes to loading, going forward to score and patch targets etc. The only disadvantage of using the strut is that the glasses no longer fit into rather cool little carrying case that comes with the glasses (they didn't think through the case design very well...), but I just use a small plastic food container that I've lined with a thin layer of foam rubber instead.
I'm not sure what Varga offer in this regard.

I’m coming form the optometrist. I got a pair of shooting glasses yesterday. After the check, I could choose the frames. I had the choice between Champion, Jäggi, Knobloch and Varga. For quality I understand fit and finish, performance is the ease of adjustability. I got the impression they all where the same when it comes to fit and finish. The price difference makes materials and provenance. There is a price difference between German silver and titanium and a price difference between something made in Germany, Switzerland or the Czech Republic.
Adjustability makes the other part of the price. Champion was offering the most advanced method for fine adjustment. Knobloch was close second. The problem is you have to dare to do it during match. The other thought is, whatever can be adjusted has to be readjusted on day. Jäggi and Varga are not as refined, take a little bit more effort for to adjust the glass, but the lack of all the adjustability makes them less fragile IMO.
I chose Jäggi Nova. For me it was the best compromise between price, performance and budget. I got a extra set of keepers with it as spare parts plus a yellow filter for diffuse light conditions in the morning. Malus is accessory. The common Champion style blinder will not fit the Jäggi keepers.

The glasses are less important than getting the correct lens power. When you do the optical math to determine hyperfocal distances for a pistol, and calculate the resulting lens power, the answer is that your pistol lens ought to be +0.75 diopters stronger than your distance vision.

Art Neergaard
ShootingSight llc

OTD wrote: Champion was offering the most advanced method for fine adjustment. Knobloch was close second. The problem is you have to dare to do it during match.

Once adjusted it can be a check on what you're changing - the harder I try the more I tip my head forward, changing the sight picture, wrist position and point of impact, proper shooting glasses caused me to notice this - finally.