Shooting with Bi-foculs

[Danmc]

I wear bi-foculs, and shooting can be a real drag. And because it's a drag I don't practice as much as I should. If I look through the top of my glasses the target is clear but the sights are fuzzy. On the flip side if I look through the bottom of my glasses the sights are clear but the target is fuzzy. I find myself looking up then down then up then down a few times before I pull the trigger. Just wondering if laser sights might help me out? Don't get me wrong, I am not blind...if somebody comes busting in to my house to cause me harm and I have to shoot, chances are more than good that they're going down. So if you wear bi-foculs, what has worked for you?

 

[Tucker's Mom]

My optometrist gave me a script for shooting. It works very well. I have a 6-month supply each time so since I only use it 2x a week, it last a long time. Oh btw, I wear contacts instead of actual eyeglasses.

 

[Firefighterchen]

I had bifocals before....I'm not sure that's the issue. I am blind without corrective lenses. I also have an astigmatism. My glasses allow me to have normal vision, just like everyone else.

The top lens is just like any other pair of glasses, brings your vision back to 20/20 or something similar. The lower lens is almost always for near view (reading). The top lens makes your vision like everyone else's, that is why I do not believe its the glasses. I don't know your prescription, how far can you see through the lower lens? When I tried bifocals I couldn't see much farther than arms length without a lot of strain. Can you still focus on objects within two feet through your upper lens? If not, you should check to see if the upper lens is correct.

I can't speak for everyone, but I believe most have a fuzzy target when we focus on the sights, especially the farther the target is. Or a fuzzy sight picture when we focus on the target. I don't know anyone who can have two focal points at that great of a difference in distance, with one being so close to your eyes. While closing one eye is impractical for self defense training, it does clean up the sight picture.

I do not believe you are doing anything wrong, and just need more range time like all of us to increase all aspects of your shooting skills. Just focus your training on the focus of your eyes til you are comfortable. Training should be hard, because its making you better.

As far as laser sights, it may help since you can focus on the target. A lot of people move to laser when their sight begins to fade. I believe there are core fundamentals, iron sites being one of them, that you should become proficient in before relying on other forms of sighting.

 

[jeepgal1961]

I bought some mono vision glasses. My dominant eye (left) is focused on the front sight and the right eye is focused on the target. Takes a minute or two to get used to them, but they work great.

 

[Eddie_Car]

Its not possible to focus on rear sight, front sight and target. Your focus should be on th front sight and the other two should be blurry.
A laser sight is a good idea. In a high stress situation just look for the red dot.

 

[Everclear]

My complaint is wearing protective shooting goggles over my glasses. It's uncomfortable & a pain. Especially in the summer. sweat dripping on the lens, etc.

 

[White Doberman]

Front Sights Only for Handguns

Its not possible to focus on rear sight, front sight and target. Your focus should be on th front sight and the other two should be blurry.
A laser sight is a good idea. In a high stress situation just look for the red dot.

FirefighterChen is also correct. You can't do what you are trying to do. Period. I would follow the above advice and get a lot more practice time in at the range.

 

[missoak]

I have to use tri-focals. Had my optom. make me a set with safety lenses & a sturdy frame. I can use the iron sights on all of my guns with a little trial & error. Having said that 90% of all my guns have lasers or red dots also. Costs a bit to outfit them, but I do like to hit what I'm aiming at.

 

[Saltcreek]

My complaint is wearing protective shooting goggles over my glasses. It's uncomfortable & a pain. Especially in the summer. sweat dripping on the lens, etc.

I use my glasses also as shooting glasses. When I order my prescription glasses, I get polycarbonate instead of glass or regular plastic. then I can see "safely".

 

[NCIC105]

I worry about front sight and let everything else get fuzzy...


I also have an astigmatism and require bi-focal.




I don't add anything to my glasses or have special glasses made for shooting because in real life I'm not going to have time to put them on.




In fact, I practice allotting without my glasses as I'm sure if I ask an intruder to hold on while I get my glasses, he will decide that is not in his best interest.


Now I'm a decent shot...Not the best and not the worse...I don't know of anyone who does not need to practice...

My Father was a friend of Bill Jordan's. He gave me a signed copy of his book when I was younger. He said if you don't practice at least twice a month you skills will get rusty. He also said if you have great hand eye coordination it is a gift.

 

[dick99344]

I am right eye dominate. I have tri-focal lenses. I use a device sold by Lyman called a Diopter that has a small suction cup that attaches to my eyeglasses that allow me to focus on the target and the rear and front sights. You can find it on the Lyman website under the sights search bar. Works great for me.

 

[Art S.]

I use my glasses also as shooting glasses. When I order my prescription glasses, I get polycarbonate instead of glass or regular plastic. then I can see "safely".

When you go in for glasses tell them you want Z87 safety lens and frames. they come with side shields. if you need they can tint for shooting.:smile:

 

[BluesStringer]

I am just now getting my sight on an even keel after having cataract surgery in both eyes between August and November of last year. I wore bifocals before, but they didn't tell me that the surgery would drastically increase my need for close-up correction, and getting that dialed in has been a royal, time-consuming pain in the keester. Tonight is my first shift with what I think is my last pair of glasses until a "normal" period of time between prescriptions. But I did learn quite a bit along the way about close-up correction that I didn't know before.

First, to the OP, when you say you're wearing bifocals, I take it you mean actual bifocals where you can see the line between two very different scripts from top to bottom of the lens, is that correct? If you can't see the line, then you're actually wearing progressive lenses, and they are very different. Assuming you mean bifocals though, consider having your eye doctor use a lower power reading lens. It was counter-intuitive to me when my doc explained how reading lenses work. I thought that if a lower power wasn't cutting it, then I should go to the next higher power, but it's actually the exact opposite, because +1.00 is supposed to correct for one meter from your eye, a +1.25 corrects 90 mm, +1.50 80 mm etc. etc. So you may have a high power in your bifocals that are for reading pretty close, like maybe 50 or 60 mm. Lower that power to correct for about arm's length, and the transition between your top lens and bottom lens will be fairly natural, more like when you didn't have to rely on bifocals at all.

Following this advice may require a dedicated pair of shooting glasses if you find that you can't read well with a pair that works well for shooting. Run this by your doctor and see if it makes sense to him/her. My doc could be full of crap! LOL But once he explained how the high and low power lenses are supposed to work, I was able to dial in my reading glasses pretty easy while I was waiting for my eyes to "settle" after the surgeries. I am wearing progressive lenses now, and haven't shot with them yet. Will do that next Monday or Tuesday. Anyway, hope that helps.

Blues

 

[DarrellM5]

I'm having the same problem as the original poster. Note that he said when he was looking through the bottom of his glasses the front sight was clear and the target blurry. It's the same for me. The issue is that the target is EXTREMELY blurry when looking through the bottom of the glasses. A crystal clear front sight picture is worthless if you can't see where you're putting it on the target.

I don't wear prescription glasses. I have normal sunglasses with built in reading lenses. I started wearing reading glasses a couple of years ago and my pistol accuracy has diminished significantly. I'm going to have to figure out a solution; maybe a different type of sights or some special glasses.

 

[Woody1960]

I also have tri- foculs. I "point shoot" alot of the time. As long as I am with in an inch or so of the center I am happy.Besides, in a real life situation,your not going to be able to say, hold still mister bad guy so I can get you in my sites.

 

[Matte Black]

I wear bifocals. Upper for computer...lower for close reading such as newspaper. My distance vision is excellent...I use Crimson Trace laser grips on my carry firearm and they work extremely well both at the range and at home...day or night. I highly recommend them. Google Laser Tactical for best prices.

 

[S&W645]

Bifocals here too. 20/400 in left eye and 20/50 in right for distance corrected to 20/20 in both eyes at close and distance. But there is a bad spot at >3 ft in the close in lens while distance part has it at <2 ft.

 

[golocx4]

So if you wear bi-foculs, what has worked for you?

My question to you is what kind of shooting are you talking about.
Self Defense (can you hit center mass with in the size of a dinner plate)
Competition grouping in the size of a quarter to a coffee cup.

This is my story and I'm stickin to it.
Former LE. Shot well for yearly qualification etc. Silhouette target high 90's
then went into private work, gun sat unmolested for 20 years.
Retired, took up shooting again, soon realized that I did not wear glasses back in the day,
Noticed the difference with iron sights so went to red dot. Improved.
Started shooting competition. Bifocals and red dot weren't good enough. Put on my prescription sun glasses, more improvement.
ONly problem is shooting with sunglasses on in an indoor range,
Still I felt I was shooting pretty well.
Then got back into a PPC competition. Iron sights. Sunglasses did ok for Police quantification but in Competition not good enough.
Went to a specialist, he made some safety glasses that allow me to focus with my right eye on the front sight and allows me to look downrange with left eye,
20 percent more improvement. Target and rear sight are out of focus but at least I can see the target instead of a big fuzzy blob.
I feel like I have 18 year old eyes, and they are safety glass.
Cost was around $300.00
If you are into precision shooting with iron sights consider investing in shooting glasses,
If you can hit center mass with bifocals just continue practicing.
Or just convert to a red dot.

And just a note to you young guys,,,,,Your day is a comin.

 

[X-Beast]

You should be looking thru the top part of the lens and focusing on the front sight. Everything else should be blurry. IMO a laser is a crutch and it will fail you at a time when you will need it the most. I've had nothing but bad luck with lasers. The damn things are always breaking down so got away from them and just rely on the tryed and true iron sights. Get proficient with them and you won't need a laser. I'm left handed and right eye dominent and I wear bifocals. All you need is more range time with your glasses on and you'll soon get comfortable with it.

 

[Danmc]

My question to you is what kind of shooting are you talking about.
Self Defense (can you hit center mass with in the size of a dinner plate)

Ya, that's all I am talking about. No competition shooting. I can hit the dinner plate just fine, just not bulls-eye perfect.