glasses for levergunning?

[Rusty]

I've been using reading glasses for a few years now but I want to buy a pair of glasses with bi focals in them. I didn't want to hijack another thread so I'm wondering if y'all have any sugestions. One thing I knwo is that it has to improve my shooting. It makes little sense to me to buy a $400 scope to put on a rifle and then look at the scope thru a $4 pair of plastic glasses.

what's to look for in frames and lenses?

thanks,
Rusty <><

[jnyork]

Best thing to do is consult with your optomotrist. Tell him what you need to do. A good set of safety glasses with your prescription should not be hard to come up with.

[jeepnik]

Glasses with iron sights is why I'm switich to holographic, red dots, or scopes on just about all my rilfe, pistols and shotguns. There are a bunch of options out there today. This is probably due to the fact that the baby boomes are loosing their visual acuity and have the money to do something about it. Also, if you ever decide to do laser vision correction, plan on not shooting anything with much recoil for a while. While you eyes may heal welle enough for general purposes in a few days, accoriding to the doc I spoke with (a shooter) you need to give them a few months to fully heal before you want to expose them to the forces of heavy recoil.

[Rusty]

Nope, no surgery for me. My dad was an old General Practitioner. It was drilled into my head earlier on. There's no such thing as elective surgery. If you can elect to not have it at all you don't need it. It might not be popular now but some things are hard to get over.

No laser for this boy. If I ever need cataract surgery that's different.

[JerryB]

Rusty my boy I am 69 and still shoot Iron sights. I have had bifocals for along time. When I shoot rifle or handgun I do not see the sights through the bifocals,I thought that would be a problem but when I shut my eyes and throw a rifle to my shoulder, open my eyes and I am looking through the top of the lens so I am seeing with that correction and not the lower one.Don't know if this helps but by all means get the bifocals, they are a blessing for reading as much as we do in the book by Larkin.

[dr walker]

Rusty,
I have no experience with Bi-focals.

I have worn glasses for just a few years. I spent extra money for the best lenses and I take care of my glasses. I could have bought 3 pair of glasses with cheap lenses for the same price. I dont know which is better but my glasses are full of light scrathes and if they are not positioned exactly right on my head there is distortion.

As far as what to look for in frames and lenses; the next time for me I am going as cheap as possible and find out if I can tell the difference.

I am with you 100%, no surgery for me, family members keep trying to talk me into surgery, but I will never give in.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Rusty,
It's sounds like you are far sighted like me. I see well at a distance but not well up close like for reading. If you are far sighted and you need reading glasses to read try this and see if it helps with iron sights. Take a #2 standard yellow pencil with you to Walmart. With the #2 pencil held at arms length you want to find the weakest pair of reading glass that you allow you to read the writing on the pencil with that pencil held out at arms length. Buy those. What this does is make your front sight crystal clear with the least amount of blur at target distance. Remember, blurry targets are still a he!! of alot bigger than your front site.

For CAS I buy full size glasses with plastic lens in that power.
The single lens readers take a bit to get used to, but usually only one or two stages, but I think it works better than the Bi-focals, Tri-focals and no lines that make the shooters look like bobble head dolls until they find the right combo to start shooting.

For hunting I can see where special glasses made with the correction in the upper or high postion would allow a person to hunt looking straight ahead but when on the sights and your head down the high mounted correction would take over.

[Old Ironsights]

Nope, no surgery for me. My dad was an old General Practitioner. It was drilled into my head earlier on. There's no such thing as elective surgery. If you can elect to not have it at all you don't need it. It might not be popular now but some things are hard to get over.

No laser for this boy. If I ever need cataract surgery that's different.

I dunno. I could have "elected" to continue wearing contact lenses under my bi-focals...

But with my anisometropia and "lazy eye" it was getting more and more difficult to make that work.

I still have a "lazy eye", but my anisometropia and extreme nearsightedness in by "good" eye has been so well corrected I haven't worn glasses for over a year... and I've worn one cokebottle since I was 3.

Of course, at 40, I'm starting to need readers, but I expected that.

LASIK from a HOSPITAL done by a Corneal Specialist (not just a general OS) is safer than driving.

[Griff]

I use "no-line" glasses. Vision is still 20/15 in both eyes, but... cant see to read unless it's held farther away than my fingertips. I went to the optomitrist and got my reading prescription so I can read. I can now either have the rear sight, front sight (both if on a short gun) or the target "in focus." I don't worry about it too much. I just shoot. Target work on paper is much more difficult than it used to be... but I don't do as much of that as I used to. And hunting, I see game clearly, the sights do their thing without any conscience effort on my part. Let's see... 5 deer over the last 3 years, with 5 shots fired. Must be working.

[kimwcook]

I had perfect vision until I hit 50 and it fell apart. I now have bifocals (almost 52). I have the plastic lenses with no line and I don't like'em. I'm going to get standard, line, bifocals next time.

The problem with the no lines is like Nate said, I have to hunt around until I find the right strength for the length of whatever I'm looking at. I have to also turn my head and look at whatever I'm looking at straight on. It's a pain.

Just wearing glasses suck.

[S.B.]

I like the idea of progressive lenses. Seems like a tilt of the head would bring anything into focus?

[Hobie]

I wear progressive lens now and shoot iron sights. Takes some adaptation. See the doctor, get the prescription, order the glasses, and have the cardiac specialist ready when you get the bill. Mine were the price of a new rifle. So were the wife's...

[S.B.]

Thanks Hobie, always wondered about the price of these things.

[El Chivo]

your best bet for keeping everything sharp is to use the smallest peep possible. If you have glasses that focus just beyond your front sight, the small aperture is probably going to give you a sharp front sight and a sharp target. In bright light, your pupils close down and help sharpness tremendously.

In dim light this is all going to fall apart. Yesterday I was shooting in the fog - and mist. Anyway, the small aperture shuts out light and with a wide open pupil the inherent lack of sharpness shows up.

One answer is to set up a double peep situation, where you don't have to focus on either the rear sight or the front sight, just look through them. Then your distance glasses keep the target sharp and you would have two "ghost rings". The Lyman globe is good for this, and you can use the inserts that have a hole in the middle. If you don't like the way it obscures the target, try the set of inserts from Brownell's that are very thin. I have one that gives me some ghostly crosshairs with a circle in the middle, and the target is sharp in the center of that.

Other than that, lined bifocals are a good choice, if you can position the line so that your post sits under the line and your target sits over the line. Your optometrist can even make them tilted so they are straight when you put your cheek on the stock. And you can try getting the bifocal on one side only, your shooting eye. You'll save money that way, too. Just make sure to get them polycarbonate 2.0 mm or more for impact resistance.

[jeepnik]

Hobie's got the right idea. I wear progressives, but still have a heck of a time with iron sights. I can use them, but glass of some type is much better for me.

[rroberts]

I also use progressive lens. (Hobie is right about the cardiologist, these dang things are high.) I tossed around the idea of having them made with the reading prescription on top and the distance on the bottom. I shoot a lot more handgun than rifle. I just never figured the cost was worth the experimentation. +1 on the polycarbonate lens and even go 3mm if you can.

[ursavus.elemensis]

Print this out and take it with you to the eye doctor: http://www.bullseyepistol.com/wong1.htm

Polycarbonate lenses make it hard to read because the light refracts so many times going through the various layers. Safer than regular plastic for shooting? Sure. But don't count on reading anything.

[Old Ironsights]

I wear progressive lens now and shoot iron sights. Takes some adaptation. See the doctor, get the prescription, order the glasses, and have the cardiac specialist ready when you get the bill. Mine were the price of a new rifle. So were the wife's...

My one eye was the price of a Guild Drilling... or a couple of 1886s.

Well worth it.

And I won't have to worry about how to get my oscenely difficult to grind lenses when the economy collapses.

IMO corrective eye surgery is more important than which gun you squirrel away for a bad times scenerio...

[Tycer]

Merit corporation has an adjustable aperture with a fitting for a corrective lens.

[gamekeeper]

Rusty,
It's sounds like you are far sighted like me. I see well at a distance but not well up close like for reading. If you are far sighted and you need reading glasses to read try this and see if it helps with iron sights. Take a #2 standard yellow pencil with you to Walmart. With the #2 pencil held at arms length you want to find the weakest pair of reading glass that you allow you to read the writing on the pencil with that pencil held out at arms length. Buy those. What this does is make your front sight crystal clear with the least amount of blur at target distance. Remember, blurry targets are still a he!! of alot bigger than your front site.

.

I wear progressive lens and find them awkward for rifle shooting so I buy a cheap pair of weak reading glasses and find them much better!
Never thought of the pencil trick. Thanks for the tip.

[blackhawk44]

Had to go to bifocals 17 years ago. Screwed up my handgun and iron sight work. On the second pair, had the tech who makes the glasses add a step in the center to became a trifocal. Top lens is for distance (and scopes and binos), bottom lens for reading and the center was adjusted for handgun sights. Center also works great with rifle sights and my work computer, which sets back some. For me, lined lenses are the only way. Progressives take too long for me to locate the sweet spot and upset my tummy while doing it. The tri's have really proven handy for me. May be worth a try.