Fun but frustrating day at the range

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Bottom_Feeder

Bottom_Feeder

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I'm a novice shooter who has always wanted to get into shooting sports, specifically pistol shooting for quite a few years now. I took a handgun safety course about 15 years ago, and went shooting with a coworker and two of his friends about five years ago. I enjoyed both experiences quite a bit but never got around to doing it again.

Fast-forward a few years to now and my boss wants to take me shooting with his friends since he knows I've been wanting to do so for a long time now. But he also knows I've been complaining how bad my eyesight has been getting, specifically my need for reading glasses to see anything within arm's reach. I tell him I should be fine, it's not that bad.

Well, I was wrong. With the safety glasses on, sights on the gun were a blur but the target was clear. Swap them out for my cheaters and the sights were perfect but the target was mush. It was very disheartening to have waited this long to go shooting again only to have this problem. It wasn't dangerous but I sure couldn't work on improving my accuracy. As I said, frustrating. Time for a long-delayed trip to the eye doctor.

The good thing is that I got to shoot a few different guns. A customized 1911, a 4" revolver in .44 Special, an HK VP9, a S&W M&P M2.0, and believe it or not, a genuine fully automatic Uzi. That thing was interesting to say the least!
 
When shooting handguns you're looking at the front sight. It should be sharp and the target is going to be fuzzy for most people. What distance? New shooters should be shooting 10 yards or less.
 
Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
Well, I was wrong. With the safety glasses on, sights on the gun were a blur but the target was clear. Swap them out for my cheaters and the sights were perfect but the target was mush.


This is what you want. Actually only the front sight needs to be in focus. Put it on the same part of the mush every time.

Young people can focus so quickly between near & far that they think they keep everything in focus at once. As we get older we learn it's not always necessary.
 
Well the problem is that I've become increasingly farsighted over the years at an alarming rate. I'm 46 now and I think it started literally the day I turned 40. The difference between glasses and no glasses at the range was too far to the extremes between near and far. Right in the middle would have been perfect. Time for some prescription glasses before I go shooting again. But at least I'm confident enough to go there by myself now. I'm looking forward to shooting some of their rentals.
 
Just compromise with a pair of reading glasses that are just good enough that the front sight is slioghtly blurry and same with the target. I am 71 and farsighted. I use a 1.5 diopter. I shoot at between 25ft. and 27 feet. I can put 50% of my shots on a 3" circle and that is SD shooting. If I take my time..easily 2 out of 3 shots on the 3". You should get training to avoid bad habits that will make things worse.

I bought sports glasses at Staples for like $15. Good luck.
 
My glasses have the bifocal lens for my shooting eye adjusted for front sight distance. The top edge of the reading (shooting) lenses are higher than usual. Coincidence?
wink.gif


Bottom_Feeder didn't mention if he was shooting indoors or outdoors. If indoors give outdoors a try. Sunlight will greatly increase your depth of field.
 
You can get pair of "flip up" lenses in .75 or 1.0 diopter to clamp on your prescription or sun glasses from champion shooters supply. Sights get CLEAR and your target stays sharp enough to hit with no problem.

I hit a Steel sillouette @ 800 yards last month 14 times out of 20 shots with my iron sighted 1908 Mauser to win our milsurp clubs iron sight "sniper" match. Could not have done that without my flip up lenses.
 
AZjeff, I was a marksmanship instructor in the Army Reserve. Our training material, and subsequent research, explain that the reason one can't keep both a target and the front sight post in focus simultaneously is the depth of field. As many posters have said, you keep the front sight in focus, and put the top of the post onto the fuzzy target where you want to hit it.
 
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