Corrected Vision Shooting

[Jusme]

Another thread, regarding shooting without hearing protection, got me to thinking about those of us who have to wear either eyeglasses, or contact lenses ( I wear bifocals) , ever practice shooting, without without them? Fortunately for me, my vision is not to the point that I can't shoot without my glasses, my distance vision is still very good, but my near vision is getting worse all the time. I can still focus on my sights, both front and rear, without my glasses, but I know there are those here who must wear corrective lenses to shoot. Some have even had shooting glasses made to their prescription. I was just wondering if any of those folks, ever try to shoot without them? I know that I won't be grabbing my glasses, in the middle of the night, if my four legged alarm system goes off.
I will continue to shoot without my bifocals as long as I a able, but, I also plan to practice without them, even if the sights become blurry, so that I will at least, be able to hit a human size target, if I have to do so in the middle of the night, or they get knocked off in a scuffle. Any thoughts?

[Salty1]

why would you not be grabbing your glasses? I would think if there was time to grab a firearm then there should also be time to grab glasses to see what or who you are shooting at. My glasses are right next to me on my bedside table, my gun is in the drawer right below my glasses. Have you practiced point shooting with only the front sight on the target? Give it a try, you might be surprised what you can hit at 30 feeet....

[Jusme]

why would you not be grabbing your glasses? I would think if there was time to grab a firearm then there should also be time to grab glasses to see what or who you are shooting at. My glasses are right next to me on my bedside table, my gun is in the drawer right below my glasses. Have you practiced point shooting with only the front sight on the target? Give it a try, you might be surprised what you can hit at 30 feeet....

Just in my situation, my vision is still good enough that I can see, without correction, except for reading, or close up work on small items. So my glasses, are not something I grab when I first get up. I know others who's vision is worse,who may have to do that, and I just wondered, if those folks ever tried shooting without them.

[Lynyrd]

I can't see the rear sight anymore. I still can see the post. When I realized that, I got a laser sight and drew with it thousands of times until I learned to point shoot. I would draw and point without looking at the sights, then flick the laser on with the tip of my forefinger. I was pretty bad at first. But with lots of practice I learned to point shoot and hit a silhouette target with acceptable accuracy from any position. I would never depend on a laser, but they are a good training tool.

[flowrie]

Tough problem for me, without bifocals, I can’t see the front sight.
Always have my head tilted back to focus on the front post, but then the target is very blurred.
Still do not have good solution yet.

[Pawpaw]

I can actually see my sights better without my glasses. My no-line bifocals help with up close up and far away, but actually degrade my mid-range vision.

When shooting a rifle with a scope, I generally remove my glasses. I can see the reticle just fine and the scope changes the focal plane of distant objects, so it works out just fine.

One day, when sighting in the irons on my AR (with my glasses off), I just couldn't see those little .22 caliber holes 100 yards away. One of the ROs used the spotting scope to help me out. Surprised at my accuracy, he said, "If you can't see that well, how do you shoot like that?" I explained that I could see the front sight just fine... all I had to do was put it in the middle of that blur 100 yards away.

[Tex1961]

I wear progressive lens and have for years. I went to my eye doctor last week and explained to him my issues with shooting. He had a unique solution that he has done for other shooters in the past.. It was a reverse progressive lens, In other words instead of the closeup part being at the bottom, it was at the top. That way when you tilted your head down to look through the sights you focused on the top close up part of your glasses. I thought about doing that as a second pair of glasses just for shooting.. But let's just say I could have purchased a Dan Wesson Special for the same price...

I have to chime in and agree with one of the other replies as well... Point and shoot... Train, train and then train some more... I do a lot of quick low ready to snap up double taps at the range. I can usually get all rounds on a standard 12 x 18 target out to around 15 feet. Many think that pointing and shooting is a natural talent.. IT'S NOT... I would also recommend some low light training as well... Go to your range and wear your sun glasses inside and practice your point and shoot double taps....

Best scenario at 2am is you hear a noise.. You have time to wake up, put your PJ's on, grab a cup of Joe, turn on all the lights and nicely ask the bad guy to lay flat with hands behind his back.. Or... wake up at 2am groggy, low light and have seconds to determine where the bad guy is and take action....

[OlBill]

I wear progressive lens and have for years. I went to my eye doctor last week and explained to him my issues with shooting. He had a unique solution that he has done for other shooters in the past.. It was a reverse progressive lens, In other words instead of the closeup part being at the bottom, it was at the top. That way when you tilted your head down to look through the sights you focused on the top close up part of your glasses. I thought about doing that as a second pair of glasses just for shooting.. But let's just say I could have purchased a Dan Wesson Special for the same price...

I have to chime in and agree with one of the other replies as well... Point and shoot... Train, train and then train some more... I do a lot of quick low ready to snap up double taps at the range. I can usually get all rounds on a standard 12 x 18 target out to around 15 feet. Many think that pointing and shooting is a natural talent.. IT'S NOT... I would also recommend some low light training as well... Go to your range and wear your sun glasses inside and practice your point and shoot double taps....

Best scenario at 2am is you hear a noise.. You have time to wake up, put your PJ's on, grab a cup of Joe, turn on all the lights and nicely ask the bad guy to lay flat with hands behind his back.. Or... wake up at 2am groggy, low light and have seconds to determine where the bad guy is and take action....

I have two cow dogs, a blue heeler and an aussie, who take of everything except the coffee.

[Deitz83]

Inside my house, I do not need my glasses nor hearing protection. Pistol in hand and determine the threat. I know all of my distances in my home. We have gone through this exercise several times. We have 2 emergency kits to treat wounds. I have targets on several walls that use for dry fire, so there is no need for my glasses. Wife goes to the closet and calls 911 and will shoot anything that goes not give the correct code before opening the closet door. Anything outside the house my wife calls 911 ( as she has done in the past). I put my glasses on and grab the rifle and wait for police. This is not my first rodeo. Been there done that.

[dino9832]

I wear tri-focals! I've thought about getting eye surgery, but I have an astigmatism. I'm not sure, but I'd heard that you have to pick either far sight correction or up close. I really need to look into it myself.

For the time being, I should probably train some without glasses.

And to the owner of the cow dogs. Blue heelers and Australian shepards are an awesome breed! I had a blue heeler that wouldn't let the Bexar county sheriff out of his car!..lol. He was trying to find someone on our country road, and the dog was literally chewing on his bumper.

[equin]

I would only try shooting without corrected vision if it were no more than 7 yards away at a pistol bay. My vision is really bad, so bad that I’d be considered “legally blind” uncorrected (thank God for contacts and eyeglasses!). At arms length, I can’t even see the front sight, and can only see a blurry rear sight and a real blurry target if it’s big enough and close enough.

I tried shooting archery at around 10-15 yards uncorrected and was surprised my shots weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be. But for safety reasons I wouldn’t want to try that distance with a firearm.

Now if I had Zatoichi’s skills....

[JRG]

I've got a green CT laser on my 9mm Shield. It helps tremendously with aiming. My 64 year old eyes are not near as good as they used to be. I've ordered the red CT lasers for my Shield 45 and my Mod 2 subcompact 9mm also. Hopefully they will be here before Christmas. I am of the opinion that anything that will help me hit my target is what I need to get.

Joe

[Jusme]

For me, my bifocals, are a detriment when shooting long guns, with anything other than iron sights. Even my red dot, has two dots if I look through it with bifocals. A scope is an excercise in futility. There are two reticles, and any other markings are a jumble of dashes, almost like a kaleidoscope. This is probably due to the fact that my head is tilted. I hope that it is a long time before I require corrective lenses, to use an optic.
I hadn't considered, the benefit of a laser, for less than perfect vision, but thinking about it, that does make sense. I may have to consider getting one and adding it to my training, just to have that option.