Question to older shooters.

[M1911]

Getting old sucks, but it beats the alternative.

 

[meh]

I don't know if it's fair to say that I'm still an amateur astronomer or not since I only occasionally drag out the telescope when the Clear Sky Chart ( Clear Sky Chart Homepage ) for the nearest observatory to me alerts me to particularly good conditions. Anyway, while cataracts and yellowing of the crystalline lens can affect what you can see through the eyepiece, you don't have to worry about presbyopia. The younger you are, the wider the range of focuser positions that you can use and still see a focused image. But only one focuser position will throw up an image that is focused at infinity for your eyeball. You'll just be forced to get closer to that is all, and it's the best position, anyway. I suppose we can connect it back to shooting if the topic is how to adjust the diopter on your rifle scope. Same deal. You can adjust your scope so that your eye is straining to focus as if looking at something close to your face when looking through the scope, or you can adjust it so that the eye is relaxed as if viewing a distant object. The trick is to find the point where the adjustment is racked as far out as possible and still gives you a focused image.

 

[Uzi2]

I just received two pairs of ELVEX magnifying safety glasses, one pair is 1 diopter magnification and the other is 2 diopter.

I was amazed at how clear and crisp the front sights were with the 1 power pair and can still see the target pretty clearly at 25 feet or so.These were $5 a pair on Amazon. I bought them to test.

Now that I know that a single diopter correction works, I'll be ordering some SSP Top Focal glasses with replaceable lenses.
Non corrected for my non dominant eye and 1.0 for my dominant eye. This will allow me to to focus on both as needed.

 

[Spanz]

shooting gloves help with the big iron
Uncle Mike's Shooting Gloves Fingerless Leather Black Large

and when practicing...stop if you notice yourself developing a flinch. start up again next day.

as far as eyesight...well...old eyes focus poorly. You COULD try eye exercises, like the Brock String:

https://www.amazon.com/Brock-String...s=gateway&sprefix=brock+string,aps,225&sr=8-4

or you could increase your depth of field using a device. can not find it online easily, but it is a small black rubber cup you attach to your shooting glasses. It has a pinhole you look thru. The pinhole makes your eyes focus over a wider range of distances...kind of like stopping down your camera to f22 aperture

 

[Spanz]

here you go

Lyman Hawkeye Shooter's Diopter Optic Aid

 

[cjmass]

Crimson trace laser sights/grips are a great cure for weak eyes!

 

[Buck F]

There are several posts mentioning eye dominance, to those I would add: Check your eye dominance as it can and often does change as you get older. I used to be right eye dominant, thought I still was until I took a pistol class recently and found out I’m now left eye dominant. Makes a big difference.

 

[quinnjalan]

Everything I shoot a lot have red dots. Get glasses that correct your distance vision. Go 9mm or .22, no point hurting yourself now. When you get back into it more go big again. Another option on eye docs is Steven A. Gibeau of Salem Vision Center.

 

[mac1911]

Sorry I meant is it bad reading vision that causes shooting problems or something else? Cause my bad reading vision hasn’t seemed to affect my shooting yet.

Basically your eyes are still able to focus at your front sight distance and also your rear notch. My vision not "bad" but i can no longer clearly see a rear notch or thin front sights in focus. Down range is fine.
My daily "reading" is +1.75 now vs 4 years ago it was a + 1.25.
Now the fun.
The front sight is clear and crisp with a +1.75 but if I look down range its hard and gives me headaches and seasick feeling.
Now for the past 4 years or so a nice +.50 lense in my shooting glasses aiming eye was all I needed to keep in focus and eyes not getting tired. End of last season i started having problems again. Last Dr visit confirms it. Going through all the Dr trial lenses we found +1.0 gave me the best focus.
But now trying to function with a +1.0 in one eye will strain the other eye so im going with +1.0 in aiming eye and a +1.25 in my non aiming eye. This will even out the work my eyes do and help see my score sheet and ofher up close stuff.

Today i shot a 80 round match at 200 , 300 and 600.
My new Rx lens did not come in yet so i had to do with my old +.50 By the mid way point and at 600 my eyes where washed out. i could not make out the front sight clearly and it showed in my 600 slow fire score.

 

[Waher]

Fiberoptic or big dot tritium sights can help. On a budget white nail polish on the front sight can work wonders.

 

[MarkT]

There are several posts mentioning eye dominance, to those I would add: Check your eye dominance as it can and often does change as you get older. I used to be right eye dominant, thought I still was until I took a pistol class recently and found out I’m now left eye dominant. Makes a big difference.

That's good to know. I had no idea that could happen.

 

[whatluck]

I’m trying to get back into shooting after about a 9 year hiatus...

First off my eyesight is not what it was, I find that at 15 or 25 yards that even with my glasses while I can see the sights fine the center of the target is pretty fuzzy...

Also I’m finding myself more sensitive to recoil, the normal stuff is fine but I’m now finding .44 Magnum, .454, and .50 AE unpleasant and painful to shoot.

What strategies have you found to compensate for old age?

You know, I love me pistols with combat sights, and the way I use them is front sight clear target fuzzy. Works pretty good for me.

 

[BrianWilson]

What strategies have you found to compensate for old age?

Throw a dot on a full size 9 and shoot like it was 20 years ago.