Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Old eyes and open sights

For most of my life I was blessed with uncorrected 20/15 eyesight, I can still spot game at a distance but now as I near 66 I can not read print or see small detail without my reading glasses.

I wanted a Winchester 94 in 32 spl like dad had when I was young, found a late model with a hooded sight and standard rear sight in 32 spl.

Gun shoots fine but my eyes will not focus on both sights and game at the same time, are there any type of sight that might help? Otherwise I will soon be listing it in the classifieds.

Peep sight should help.

Peep sight and red, white, or gold bead on the front. Fluorescent & light gathering red works well on some of my shotguns.

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This plus remove your front sight hood. Its there to protect the sight, not to be shot with ( Hence the old moniker "quick Detachable hood")


You may also need to install a higher or lower front bead, and a flat faced bead is the best...keeps you from "shooting away from the light"

Right at 73 here, and last fall began having issues with my small aperture peeps and seeing fine detail at distance. Things like counting points on racks or ground squirrel heads out at 100 yds. Went in for a check and the diagnosis was cataracts with the worst in the right eye. Had right eye surgery 6 weeks ago, and the sights are sharper than ever. Was supposed to do the left about 3 weeks back, but for some mysterious reason all is on hold at our local hospital.

Same problem here. And I think I am developing cataracts, but have put off having a fix. Now it’ll be a while.

Human optics no matter how good can't and never have had the ability to focus on two or more objects simultaneously..One of the most common stumbling road blocks to deal with while I was a USAF rifle/pistol instructor.

I recommend a peep with appropriate magnification helpers aka" Readers", Concentrate on the front blade ONLY your eye will naturally center it in the rear aperture.

.I've been using this combo for many years it works, just experiment with different reader power until you find one that offers the best sight picture and rock on !

Hope the peep sight works out for you. I never knew those front sight hoods were made for quick detach. It makes sense Though .


I picked up a bolt action with factory irons. I think I’m giving it a go without an optic. I can get a real good sight picture it appears.

I got bifocals this yr (age 55).
Was 20/15 in my 40's (degraded to).

This totally sucks.

No cataracts though.

I just said screw handgun hunting irons (will add reflex) and scoped my long guns.

I am in the same boat as you. This is what I got to fix the problem. A little pricey......but it works great for me. The white from post is the key IMHO.

https://www.xssights.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=993346&CAT=8503

Get a tang mounted peep sight.

My Marlin 22 has Skinners,35 Gibbs is scoped in detachables with Talley peep in pocket, 411 KDF scoped in detachables with New England peep in pocket, and Big Horn Armory has peeps, all are dependable have been used in follow-ups and close work. I trust myself to shoot perfectly at 75yds with peeps, peeps are great!!

Actually the main function of the hood is to act as a sunshade, to stop or minimise the problem of shooting away from the light.

Personally though, I prefer a blade foresight, which doesn't need a hood (as long as it isn't shiny), on a hunting rifle. You can get versions with various white lines, white squares or fibre optic inserts too.

For the rear sight a peep is a good plan. There's a bit of a trade-off with the size of the peep: a smaller hole gives you better depth of field, and thus a sharper image, but at the cost of needing more light and perhaps being a mite slower. Thus if your interest is in hunting you will usually be better off with a big ghost ring, but for shooting inanimate targets in good light you might do rather better with a smaller insert screwed into the peep. A good number of peep sight units allow you to screw in an insert for targets/zeroing, and then simply remove it leaving the hole into which it fits to use as a ghost ring.

I’d choose the Ranger Point Red and a Skinner dovetail ghost

https://www.rangerpointstore.com/fiber-optic-front-sights

http://www.skinnersights.com/barrel_mount_6.html

If you hunt during high sunny days the green sight can vanish, green works better in low light in the open than the red but man it can get gone quick in sunny leaves.

Goodluck

I'm in my mid 70's and have the same problem.Cataract surgery got postponed.
I 've been cleaning rifles during the stay at home and have 2 Win 94's that I don't carry any more because of my eye sight.

Trying to decide on Skinner, XO, or putting a Burris red dot on these.

https://www.turnbullrestoration.com/gun/fastfire-receiver-mount-model-1894/

I use a Williams Reveiver on my 336 and had to get a taller front sight post. The Skinner 1/2” front is much much better. Squared off nicely unlike the factory round bead from 1948! And centers up nicely. 2-3” groups off the bench aren’t uncommon.

I am only 53 but the eyesight sucks with plain irons. I have found a peep sight works wonders. I put a Redfield peep sight on my Winchester 71 and it works great. I am comfortable to 300 yards with a good rest now with this gun.

After I bought a used Marlin 336C 30-30, I took it to the local gun club to sight it in. While there some members came by to see what I bought and I told them I am going to get rid of the front sight hood so I can see the target better. A couple of the old seasoned shooters told me it functions as a sunshade for the reason as stated above. So I listened to my elders.



Sights were a little bit fuzzy so later I consulted with fire member eyeball, aka jaguartx and he advised starting out with 1:50 cheaters. That did the trick.

This is all great until you have less light, such as at dawn and dusk, No matter what, all irons are useless then. Just cant see. Middle of the day though....no worries!

I've never seen a "quick detachable" front sight hood. In my experience, they are quick to install, but a pain in the azz to remove. I've always had to use a pair of snap ring pliers to expand them before I could get them off.

I have used, and still do (with my 72 year old eyes) use the X/S ghost ring rear and white stripe front sights. I've tried all available front sight colors, fiber optic included, and none are more visible under all conditions, than white stripe. And I am much more accurate with a flat top post than with any bead front sight. I have used them since the original owner, Ashley Emerson, started the company that is now X/S Sights. RJ

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