TargetTalk

I just went to the Optometrist and she stated that I need a +.5 diopter lens for shooting. I went with my air pistol and she perfomed the exam while I was in the shooting position.

Now I am pondering, should I have some glasses made up with the lens appropriate lens in them or should I go with the "olympic" Vargas, Champion, Knobloch style glasses with the covers and stuff.

The other thing, I donot see in the ISSF manuals if glasses fitted with on frosted lens is legal. All it says is that the cover on the non dominent eye has to the the 30mm width.

What about if the frosted lens on the glasses is wider than 30mm?

I would appreciste if the shooters on this forum could give me thier opinion on what has worked for them.

Thanks

Ernie the Eyeball

Shooting glasses are best as they allow you to position the lens correctly. As for which brand it depends on what you want to spend. Champions are probably the best and most expensive, Knobloch and Vargas are at the lower end.

The cover on the the other eye can only be 30mm wide so if you are using a lens on that eye it must be clear and what ever you use as a blinder can only be 30mm wide.

I started out with Knoblochs and then moved to Champions they are much mor comfortable and offer more adjustment, the quality of the other filter that you can get are far better optically than the plastic filters you get for the Knoblochs.

Ensure that your lens is glass with anti-reflective coating.

I would go for some form of shooting glasses - I don't think there's any make that's best - as long as they do what you need them to. That means you need to be able to angle the lens in all directions. Ordinary glasses generally won't have the lens in the right place or at the right angle although you can probably force yourself into that position - that's not recommended. You need to be able to look through the middle of the lens and have the lens perpendicular to the line of sight when looking at the sights on aim. As also mentioned if you shoot ISSF you need to comply with the rules on blinders - notably the 30mm over the non shooting eye.

Rob.

All the above is good advice. I have champions but with a plastic lens. Optically indistinguishable from glass, but lighter and shatter-proof. The down side of plastic is that it scratches easily.

One thing you may want to consider is the size of your head! I have a wide head - so wide that most off-the-shelf glassess are a bit too snug. The Champions and MEC glassess have spring-loaded arms that move in and out in the horizontal plane making the fit snug without pinching. VERY comfortable. I dont think the knoblochs do this (they rely on the springyness of the arms themselves). I am VERY fussy when it comes to the fit of my normal glasses, and I am very happy with my Champion olympic champions.

I have only just bought a pair of champions after using Gehmans for years. The thing I hate is the arms of the glasses where they wrap around your ears (and then dig in mine) - I find that very uncomfortable - hence the change. I haven't swapped lenses yet but I'll do that after my competitions this weekend.

Rob.

I'll repeat the mantra...get shooting glasses. I have Knoblochs and Vargas. The best feature of the Vargas over the Knoblochs is that the adjustable iris on the Vargas has a set screw that locks the position in place. The Knobloch adjustable iris has a little lever that can easily be moved out of the desired position. The shooting glass frames will last forever and all the major parts are replaceable, so I'd think that in the long run they are less expensive than regular eye glasses.

If you use an adjustable iris then you will probably want to fiddle with it depending on light conditions - so a lever is no bad thing (especially as you can adjust them in your normal shooting position). That said you can use other manufacturers bit's on your glasses (do 'try before you buy' though). I have knobloch bits on my gehmans and will shortly be transferring them to my new champions. I don't however use an iris having discarded it a few years ago - as advised by my coach.

Rob.

I think that the adjustable iris is a must piece of equipment for the "over the hill" crowd. It has certainly made shooting iron sights a possibility for me. I noticed in the last several years of Don Nygords shooting career, that he used an adjustable iris. The Varga iris is easily adjustable. It simply can be locked into position. I find this feature superior to the Knobloch adjustable iris.

RobStubbs wrote: I don't however use an iris having discarded it a few years ago - as advised by my coach.

Rob.

Why did your coach advise you to discard it?

Fred,

I wont speak for Rob but I ditched mine after realizing that the iris not only makes the front sight clearer, it has the same effect on the bull.

I found that the greatly increased clarity of the bull made it even more difficult to glue my focus to the front sight where it belongs. This is because there is a great temptation to start looking THROUGH the sights at the now much clearer bull rather than just the front sight.

I suppose with some extra effort one can overcome this natural tendency.

F. Paul in Denver

Interesting some of the comments on this subject. Some comments by people who own on product trash the other products like they are getting some Money to sell one product over the other and completly miss the question by Ernie.

Erine,

I do not think you MUST have "shooting" glasses. Some of the benifits of having the shooting glasses are the built in blinder and you can have a specific lens made to focus on your front site. I have used the same pair of Knobloch glasses for ~15 years. The only thing I have noticed is when trying to use a hat parts of the lense holder and blinder holder prevented the bill of my hat from sitting as low as I wanted it to. I cut them off and solved that problem. I picked up a set of Vargas a few years ago. The champions I have never used but I can tell you that I do not think any one brand is "superior" to another they just have different features which make one brand fit the needs of one person vs. another.

As for the question about the frosted lens I would ask someone at ISSF or other official who can give you an official ruling.