Bad eyes and gun sights

[yqtszhj]

Figured out something the other day and wondered if anyone has experienced this.

I took the wife to shoot her new to her Sig P226. I had shot it earlier and was impressed but after about 150 rounds I told her to let me see it again so I could see just how accurate it was. I sand bagged it and took about 10 shots at 8 yards. They were all mostly one ragged hole but about 1 1/2 inches left. I thought huh? It wasn't doing this earlier. I thought to myself this is just like ALL my 1911's a while back and I thought it was the ammo because they weren't like this before.

I started to look at the sights to see if they had drifted then it dawned on me, I was shooting with my left eye closed from the sand bag. Earlier I had been shooting with both eyes open. So I opened both eyes and behold, everything was back on target. Now I have to take my 1911's back out to confirm the fact with them also.

Has anyone else experienced a POI shift with one eye closed as opposed to both eyes open? The wife said when they corrected her astigmatism on her glasses it was weird for a while where circles were ovals until her brain re-learned circles.

I've also noticed since I got these glasses and started wearing bi-focals that my back sight on the Ruger 10/22 is blurred now and I'm probably going to need a peep sight. Why couldn't I have got my dad's 20/20 vision? Instead I got mom's blind as a bat vision.

The eyes are a strange thing. What have you all experienced?

[AIRret]

I don't know how old you folks are, but as time goes on shooting any significant distance without a scope has become a real challenge for Hubby and I. Iron sites beyond 25 yards are very tough!!
Have you checked your dominate eye??
I shoot with both eyes open unless I'm shooting a rifle with a scope.

[Barth]

Getting Old Sucks

I'm dyslexic, cross eye dominant and semi-ambidextrous.
Both eyes open I get double vision and can't hit anything.
I'm 60 now and use a contact in my left eye for 20/15 vision.
But I'm nearsighted and go with no correction in my weak right eye.
Can read and see the gun sights fine with the right eye.
And being semi-ambidextrous I don't even notice

Life is Good!
I am the chosen one...

[knkali]

I am fighting changing eye sight as well. Sounds like you were closing your dominant eye! Perhaps you are rt handed but left eye dominant. Anyway, eye dominance can change as your eyes change and this could be part of your situation. There are some easy ways to determine which eye is dominant-check the web for that. I saw my eye doc and asked him about this and that and he told me that guys that shoot have all kinds of problems as we age that they cannot correct for. If you are a shooter for competition or ?? you might want to try a pin hole lens for your dominant eye. It works but obviously not for a SD situation. Keep me posted on what's what. I know I need help in the eye department ...heck brain department.

[ct9kahrtoter]

Well, as I have gotten older, my eyes are such that my arms are not quite as long as they used to be! Lol. I have never shot with both eyes open, so I really don't know. If I have both eyes open, then it screws with my ability to line up my sights.

[Bawanna]

I might as well fess up to the sights getting fuzzy too. I recently put a 10-8 U notch rear sight on my CBob. I went with the widest notch they had which they said was best for weak eyes and best for speed.
It really helped. Prior to getting them I'd measured the sights and both the front and rear were .124 as I recall, so really not much gap along the side of the front site. I think this U sight is .156, so lots of gap and it really seems to help.

The front is still fuzzy, my arms have shrunk too but at least I can pick it up better.

I went all black on the back and my home made brass bead on the front. Everything measures like it should work fine, haven't shot it get to confirm but I'm confident. If not I'll put a XS standard dot on the front.

[yqtszhj]

Yeah, dominant eye (right) is as bad as the left. I'm right handed too so I can't use that as an excuse. Also just hitting 54 years old but I've had bad eyes since 10. I do need to get some more glasses. Insurance should pay some this year. My eyes have so many quirks that even with insurance the stuff I get to make glasses wearable vost a chunk of change. Thought about that laser stuff but I'm kinda chicken. I wore contacts for years but stopped about 17 years ago because it was too big a hassle.

I can still shoot long distances with pistol but not one eyed any more. I think the solution is to buy more ammo and shoot more. It may not fix the problem but I'll have more fun anyway.

[berettabone]

I am a right hand shooter, left eye dominant. Nearsighted with astigmatism. Progressive lenses. I can only shoot with my left eye. When eyes start to age, there really is no cure, just adjustments. If you do an eye dominance test, you will see that you basically see double with both eyes open, and you will see that if you use your right eye, your shots will be to the left. I tried different glasses, different colored sights, etc. The only thing that works for me, as has been mentioned is XS Big Dots. If you can't see the damn sights, make them the size of a house Really have helped me and made me a much more accurate shooter. Making that front sight larger has been my savior. I don't have them on my Kahr, because I like the sights the way they are. Pretty much like the dots, except smaller. Have no need to put them on the Kahr, but I have them on other firearms, and they've helped immensely, plus it makes it easier to transition from my Kahr to my other firearms because I really don't care for 3 dot sights. It's a faster transition for me with the dot the eye sights. The second to last time I was at an eye doctors office, she told me I had the start of cataracts. I told her that no one has told me that before. She said that almost everyone she sees over the age of 50 has the start of cataracts. They usually don't mention this because they don't want to put worry in to their customers. I asked if this was an issue and she said not now, but in about 10 yrs. it will be. One more damn thing to worry about

[deadeye]

I had 20 -20 up to 70 yrs old. The last three years have been rough. Have had to take the Fred Sanford approach. 3 different pairs of WallyWorld glasses for different distances. Have to use a scope and the right glasses for anything over 25yds. It has been quite hard to get used to after all those years of perfect vision.

[yqtszhj]

I am a right hand shooter, left eye dominant. Nearsighted with astigmatism. Progressive lenses. I can only shoot with my left eye. When eyes start to age, there really is no cure, just adjustments. If you do an eye dominance test, you will see that you basically see double with both eyes open, and you will see that if you use your right eye, your shots will be to the left. I tried different glasses, different colored sights, etc. The only thing that works for me, as has been mentioned is XS Big Dots. If you can't see the damn sights, make them the size of a house Really have helped me and made me a much more accurate shooter. Making that front sight larger has been my savior. I don't have them on my Kahr, because I like the sights the way they are. Pretty much like the dots, except smaller. Have no need to put them on the Kahr, but I have them on other firearms, and they've helped immensely, plus it makes it easier to transition from my Kahr to my other firearms because I really don't care for 3 dot sights. It's a faster transition for me with the dot the eye sights. The second to last time I was at an eye doctors office, she told me I had the start of cataracts. I told her that no one has told me that before. She said that almost everyone she sees over the age of 50 has the start of cataracts. They usually don't mention this because they don't want to put worry in to their customers. I asked if this was an issue and she said not now, but in about 10 yrs. it will be. One more damn thing to worry about

you just described a lot of what's going on eys my eyes right there.

Hey, I saw a episode of the rifleman one time where Chuck Connors was blind and was practicing shooting blind. I could always go that route. Hmmm...

[Harrylee]

Eyes and age, hum. That do sound familiar and so do reading glasses, I can see pretty good at distance but the sights on a handgun are a blur. So I tried this a few times at the range, got the weakest reading glasses I could find with the full eye cover. Say like a 1X and a whole world opened up, I could see the sights and the gap on the front post and yeah the target was out of focus but the human eye can’t focus at two different distances at the same time. I’d like to find a pair of readers like .5 if they exist, then I think you’ll get the best of two worlds.
With that setup I could drill out the center of the target, but then again I practice point shooting a lot for more real world. So what are you saying we’re getting old?

[dustnchips]

For me it is glasses and clear sights, or no glasses and clear target. I can't have bot h at the same time. I shoot both ways when I go to the range.

[Bawanna]

I shoot without since I rarely roll around wearing my reading glasses. If like wandering through a swap meet or something and I happen to be wearing them to look at stuff closer it's just a bonus.

[Bills1873]

Fred Sandford! Hahaha! I have varying powers of readers stashed everywhere! Shoot crappy with my $700 prescription glasses, but give me some cheap, low powered readers and I can drill them fairly well.