Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters How to shoot with glasses???

I have had glasses for two years. Bifocals. When I look through a scope I see two horizonal and two vertical reticles. I have to move the glasses down or take them off to see correctly through the scope. I addition I used to be a very good shot with a shotgun and with the glasses on I see double front beads. Can't shoot for crap! Even miss woodcock which rarely happened. My dog doesn't even like me anymore as he just turns and looks at me. And binoculars are not a pleasure to use any more since I see much better with glasses off but I need them on to see other things. I have tried adjusting the binos with my glasses on but it still isn't as clear as using my naked eye and adjusted as such.

I think it is time for contacts but I don't know. What are ya'lls thoughts??

I wasn't sure where to post this so I put it here.

Adjust your scope to match your required eye sight and wear shooting glasses.I have found no solution for binos except take my glasses off

I tried that. Doesn't work. I still see double reticles. I think part of my eye looks though the top part of the glasses and part through the bifocal. And I have the double shotgun bead.

Truth, I can’t shoot for beans wearing bi focal or progressive lenses, my Optometrist who also was a shooter suggested single (distance) correction shooting glasses, problem is that I have to change glasses as I can’t read for beans but it made a big difference in scope clarity.

CWT, I've experienced the same thing. I went from excellent vision my whole life to needing progressive tri-focals two years ago. I can't use my regular prescription to shoot. I did something similar as to what Swifty52 mentioned. I got shooting glasses with 1.5 magnification (I think). I can read reasonably well and I can shoot using them. If there is a better solution, I'm in. Right now, that's what works for me.

My problem exactly. Well I guess it is either shooting glasses or contacts. Then carry reading glasses in case I need to look at the phone or map or something. Dang.

Perhaps the bi-focal glasses you have do not fit you.

I use progressive's with no issue, when fitted I was asked what I do, vocation, sports etc.

This can have a bearing on where the transition line is on the lens.

Mine are set low, so it does not interfere with a rifle scope or anything else for that matter.

BTW they where $1300 so they should function with out reservation, and do.

Another thing is 'double vision' when looking at the retical. This may be a result of a cataract that is slowly getting worse, happened to me. New lens and everything is back to normal.

It sounds like you need the bifocal line moved lower. Or a dedicated pair of shooing glasses with the line way lower so you can still read with them if ya need to , like a scope adjustment or something.

For a try with contacts, monovision might be worth a looksee. A close up lens in one eye & distance in the other. I used to wear bifocals(progressives) & was near the need for tri-focals. I got monovision Lasik's instead. The mono really confused my shotgun shooting at first, but I got used to it. Rifle shooting was fine from the start, & pistol shooting took some getting used to but not much.

First rule in shotgunning is to look at the target, not the end of your barrel. That solves your shotgun shooting issue.

For the rifle scope, you'll just have to try things to get around it. I shoot with glasses. I set my scopes up to do so by wearing the glasses while focusing the reticle and eliminating parallax.

This mirrors my experience too. I simply went back to contacts and carry reading glasses and life was good again.

I've been wearing glasses my whole life and would more than likely poke out an eye if I went to contact as I'm used to having glasses protect my eyes. I have my lined bifocal set low in the glass so I have no trouble looking over them. I will say that when I had cataract surgery I had double vision for a couple years until my brain figured it out. The first season after the surgery I missed 16 ducks in a row and it always pissed me off when I would close one eye and half the flock would disappear. It did end my International skeet shooting as I was at the age where a two year break and I lost the edge..

As a bifocal eye glasses wearer, I have played with this issue a bit and found ways around my early troubles. I have single line bifocals, with the line relatively low, such that when shooting a scoped rifle I am naturally looking through the top portion.

I also have dedicated bifocal shooting glasses, two pairs with several sets of lenses. The reading portion of these glasses is small and very low, and is not noticeable during shooting, shotgun, rifle or handgun. Very easy to get used to these and easy to read a scorecard, etc.

With respect to using a binocular, I learned a very hard lesson many years ago that there is a wide disparity among binoculars in eye relief. I now have two with eye relief of 20mm which fill the bill. The glasses off business with a binocular is a bad idea, and I paid dearly for it many years ago in a missed opportunity.

Then get rid of the bifocal and use shooting glasses..99.9999% of the best shots in the world use shooting glasses, and don't have the problem. If you want bifocals for shooting glasses they can place them low and out of the way..

However, as Rick said...and believe me he knows....if you are looking at the bead you are doing it wrong.

To try first,go to Walmart and buy a pair of their cheap glasses. 1:25 or 1:50 power. They also have some cheap stick on ones in various powers that you can put on your shooting glasses,with a drop of water

I wear contacts most of the time, When I look through a scope with glasses on , the reticle does not look square, meaning the horizontal and vertical do not look square to each other. Never tried to shoot with them on to see, but wonder if there is something I could do to correct it.

I have a set of single vision glasses with interchangeable lenses of different colors. They work really well for shotgun. I have trifocals glasses. With a scope I just have to push them a touch up on my nose to get rid of the split vision effect. Just have to take them off for binoculars.

In Marine boot camp, recruits with glasses were instructed to tape an earplug to the bridge of their glasses. We would tape the plug on with medical/athletic tape and then paint the tape black with a sharpie.

Get a good set of dedicated shooting glasses and try them on while in shooting positions to see how they will look while your head is tilted forward. Or, get an earplug and some tape.

The point is to be looking through the center of your lenses and not through the top of the lenses.

As far as using binoculars go, I would recommend a good “brain strap”. A good retention strap for your glasses will be useful when you want to take the glasses off to use the binos without having to worry about setting the glasses down or losing the glasses.

Give these folks a call. They may be able to help you. I have shooting glasses from them where the bifocal is a small half moon at the bottom. I can use it to read close things.


https://www.decot.com/

That's what I do when wearing my contacts for distance and wish to shoot with iron sights. Focuses the sights to usable definition, and doesn't blur the target badly. The technique that allows me to hunt with a primitive muzzle loader is to perch a pair of 1.25x readers down on the tip of my nose and when I shoulder the rifle I push them up in front of my eye with my right thumb with the same motion.

I wear progressives. I use medium height rings and set for the top of my glasses. I shot F-Class that way.

This.

I've been wearing glasses for over 60 years and progressives for almost 20. Your optometrist set the transition on your lenses too high. You need to get new lenses.
As far as the binocular situation, as a lifelong eyeglass wearer I have struggled with that situation a lot. The first binocular that gave me adequate eye relief to be able to keep my glasses on and get full FOV are my Tract 8x42's.

Thanks for the responses. Good info

I've been using binoculars and scopes while wearing glasses since I was a teenager. My vision is not particularly good, but I've never had a problem shooting with either eye, and I currently wear lineless bifocals. I would make sure you have the eyepiece of the scope adjusted correctly for your eye. Beyond that, I'm not sure what would help.

Evnin, some binoculars are made with a longer eye relief, don't remember wich off hand but cousin has some bushnell ones about $400.00 up here so you should pay about $2.95! I've looked through these and Swarovski, there's a difference but dam the price diff is like wow. Heard a rumour that bushnell bought a small comp. to get this new tech??? Anyone hear the same? Bill. 🐾👣🐾👣🇨🇦

https://www.bausch.com/our-products/surgical-products/cataract-surgery/crystalens-ao-lens I had the same problem with my vision. I am retired now but I worked as a firefighter/paramedic for 25 years. I had a problem because I had to wear a pair of reading glasses to read the map book responding to calls. Then I had to wear safety glasses when working on patients. Then when responding to fire calls I would have to pack out wearing bunker gear and a self contained breathing apparatus mask. I would have to wear reading glasses, safety glasses and during the day, sunglasses around my neck all at the same time. It was a real pain in the ass. I tried contact lens and that didn't work out for me. I went to the eye doctor to see if Lasik surgery would help. He recommended this crystalens. Check it out. solved all my problems. Works great for shooting too. I see like I did when I was 20 years old again. I have had the lens for about 15 years now. To give you an idea of my vision, When I would drive I could not read the numbers on my speedometer without glasses. 15 minutes after implanting the crystal lens I could read the fine print on a newspaper. The lens allows you to focus near and far like a normal eye works. you don't have to choose if you want to see near or far. I haven't worn glasses since the lens implant.

I started wearing glasses a couple of years ago too. Bifocals as well. I leave them in my pocket when rifle hunting with a scope. Fortunately I can still spot animals without glasses.

I wear progressives and have found the work better for me than bifocals. One eye has a different prescription than the other and with binoculars I take my glasses off, sight the right eye on a fixed object and bring it into focus then I close my right eye and adjust the focal ring on the left tube into focus. If that makes sense.

I had that problem myself. I forced myself to shoot my scopes with both eyes open. With both eyes open it makes picking up on target a lot easier. That has made shooting squirrels that can't sit still less of a problem.

Shoot with out glasses.There are diopter adjustments on rifle scopes and bino`s.You can adjust what you are using for your vision and wear no glasses.I have my glasses on a cord and drop them around my neck when shooting or glassing.

If there is eye astigmatism, then the scope or bino will not correct.

As I’m getting longer in the tooth I’ve needed glasses to read and due to West Nile my eyes no longer line up vertically. I need glasses.
I have one set of bi-focals. I have several pair of continuous change glasses. The bottom is good for reading and the glasses correct how my eyes line up.
With these continuous change glasses shooting is easy especially for iron sights.
Ditch the bifocals except for reading and other things. Get the continuous change glasses for shooting.

That isn’t good advice. I have a friend who lost an eye when the rifle went boom instead of bang. Doc told him flat out that the only thing that saved him when the bolt came back was his safety glasses.

Never ever shoot without safety glasses. All of mine are.

Happy B Day

I can probably help answer a few of these things, but, I need some clarification, so, as you ask questions, please refer to the terminology below.:

1. Progressive lenses have no line.

2. Bi-focals have 1 line.

3. Tri-Focals have 2 lines.

4. "Transitions" are lenses that darken in the sun and get lighter inside, they have nothing to do with your lens power.

Progressive lenses will always have some manner of "hourglass" shape as you "progress" through ever increasing + power to get to your full reading add power. Think of an hourglass, now, as it applies to lenses, you can only see clearly through the part of the hourglass that the sand can be in, everything outside the hourglass is "soft-focus" or blurry. Typically, the more you spend on a set of progressive lenses, the further into the periphery the "soft-focus" portion of the hourglass can be pushed, or, the wider the "waist" of the hourglass can be made. There are dozens of progressive lens designs and many of them have multiple manipulation options that an optician can choose to help customize the lens for your specific needs.

Bifocals have 2 powers, and 1 line separating your distance, and your reading. There is little to no peripheral soft-focus, but, if you're catching the line you'll see double and one of those images will be significantly out of focus.

Trifocals have 3 powers and 2 lines. Your distance vision is on top, your "intermediate" say our to 30" or so, like the distance to a computer screen will be the middle, and the bottom will be your reading for up close like reading a book or your phone.

Start your questions under the premise that NOTHING is going to allow you to have your 20yr old eyes back short of a multifocal IOL and few are going to implant those prior to your needing cataract surgery.

When I have glasses made I tell the person setting them up to lower where the progressive area starts 1 mm. They tend to argue but I them it's for shooting with a scope and I have had glasses made this way for years.

Sorry,I meant shoot with out prescription lenses,not with out safety glasses.

That will work for some lens designs, won't work for others. The tighter you pack the add/reading area towards the bottom, the narrower the "waist" of the hourglass is going to be and the soft-focus moves in.

There are progressive lens designs specifically to maximize your distance vision. None of the "progressive" portion of the lens will begin until you get below the 180 line (half-way). You'll get a huge distance zone, the compromise is a short and narrow corridor of intermediate vision so your "sweet-spot" of clear vision @ computer/dashboard vision is narrow and then the close in/reading is wide again.

As others have already said, you may need your lenses modified. Trifocals here, no double reticles or similar issues.

Have worn glasses since 3rd grade, no issues for many years (into my early 50’s).

Then I had the same problem OP described with bifocals. Had to get the progressive lowered. That worked on shotguns and one rifle but not on the rest of my scoped rifles. Went back a second time to the eye doctor and got a pair of specs with no bifocals. That solved the rifle and shotgun issues.

But! I could not see handgun sights without bifocals. Still can’t.

Solved the handgun sight issue by accident. I wore prescription safety glasses for work (retired now) that had lines. They also had two sets of bifocals, called occupational bifocals. There is a slot between the two sets with normal vision. One day I went to the range after work and forgot to change my eyewear. Found that the line made it easy to tilt my head back so I could see the revolver sights in the bifocal part. Good enough for 25 yards or so. Playing around, I found I could also tilt my head forward, use the upper bifocals, and got a more natural feeling stance. The lines were very helpful.

Next trip to the range, I brought a rifle and could shoot it and my revolver. Other trips found that the safety glasses could be used on all my scoped rifles, shotgun, and revolver. Great, except those safety glasses are heavy and the slot with normal vision is too narrow for outdoor use like hunting. The one thing I learned is the lines are thinner than the progressive and are readily apparent. So yet another trip to the eye doctor got a set of glasses with lines. Those worked.

None of this solved the issue with binoculars and glasses. The best work-around I have is to use binoculars that have independent focus. I have a set of 10X Bushnell that moves both eyepieces with the main adjustment. One eyepiece can be adjusted independently. So I close one eye, adjust, then close the other eye and adjust the independent side. Works, but is not ideal. Best use is when scanning the same range panoramically. Jumping far/near requires readjustment. And it is NOT fast!

It was interesting to see this thread today. Went to eye doctor this morning and found that I have glaucoma. Will get in the queue for lens replacement. Doctor is a shooter, he thinks scoped rifle and shotgun will be fine but is not confident about irons on rifle or pistol. Guess I will find out for myself.