Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Old eyes and iron sights...

Hi folks,

I'm 47, and the old eyes don't focus like they used to. I've been near-sighted since grade school, and with glasses my eyesight was better than 20/20. I prefer iron sights, and I've noticed lately that I'm having trouble getting the front sight bead in focus. I still out shot the yahoos around my position with my trusty 99R/250 savage at the 100yd range, who were all using scopes Still, my eyes were tired at the end of the shooting session from trying to focus.

I used to be able to read with my glasses on, now I have to take them off to read.

I see that both Lyman and Merit produce diopter optical aids which attach to your eyeglass lense with a suction cup and are supposed to help old eyes focus.

Lyman at midway

Merit at midway

Has anyone tried these aids? Also, if you have suggestions for better forums to ask this question, I'm all ears. I tried searching the more likely ones, and came up empty.

TIA,
Mike

Mike... welcome to the Forum...


I was in about the same situation at your age... the front sight was getting hard to keep in focus... and I had to take my glasses OFF to read.

Two OBVIOUS things come to mind....

1) For shooting, put a scope on the Savage.

2) For reading, get bifocals.

Sorry, son... but it's "that time" for you. You can "fight it", but ol' Mother Nature wins EVERY "fight", trust me.

Jus' be happy you're still above ground... and vertical !


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

mikec24, my brother has something he attaches to his eyeglass lense, thin plastic with a small hole it allows him to see the rear sight clear, without it the sight is blurry, could be the same thing. Don

I'd go visit my optician and ask his advice.It would likely be better than some of these fellas guessing?

LASIK and reading glasses...

fiber optic front sight and a peep rear?

Seriously consider LASIK...you're only 47...you've got that many years of 20/20 vision if you get LASIK...its as safe if not safer than any other surgery, many insurance plans cover part of the operation now, and the cost has gone down significantly since it first came out. It will pay for its self in the long run. My father had it done at 51 and has not looked back...and it was big risk to him as an airline pilot...

I have one of the Merit attatchments that I use when trying to see pistol sights. It does sharpen the sights and does cut down on the brightness of the target so it's better to use on sunny days.

Well, I think I'll try a Merit and see if it helps.

Don't need bifocals yet - the Ophthalmologist says I don't need correction to read - just take the glasses off.

LASIK? Hmm. I'll discuss this with my ophthalmologist.

I'll post my experiences re: using the merit.

Thanks folks,
Mike

Might search the other forums.. seems I recall this being discussed in one of them not too long ago.

Try sticking a piece of electricians tape with a tiny (1/16" or so) hole in it on the lens of your shooting glasses, over your dominant eye. It works for me and will tell you whether or not a Merit Diopter would work for you. I also sometimes use an old weak pair of reading glasses that happen to let me focus on the front sight and the target simultaneously.

I am at the stage where I don't need glasses but can't see without them.
We shoot offhand at a gong shoot twice a year (2x3 foot gong at 225 yards) and I always shoot a Savage 99 of some type with open sights. Most others shoot Winchester 38-55s with a tang peep. all rifles are close to the 100 year old mark.
I usually hit 3 or 4 out of the first 5 and 1 out of the next 5.
The problem is my eyes actually change on me, after 5 shots I can't pick up the rear sight and simply put the bead on target as if shooting a shotgun.
Very frustrating ..(no scopes allowed)
BillR

LASIK won't help you with the iron sights. I wore glasses for nearsightedness for over 40 years, no problems with my iron sights. Three years ago I had PRK (a form of LASIK), I now see 20-15 without glasses but need reading glasses. Rear leaf sights are out. Peep sights are OK as long as I use a large disk. Ghost rings don't have enough meat to them and get blurry.

Rob

I'm in the same boat. I wear contacts due to being nearsighted and reading glasses over them to read, also, I just turned 49. Anyway, I have one of the Lyman attachments and it's a pain to get it centered on your glasses but it does work ,though I'd only recommend it for the range.I have gone to tang and receiver sights for my really old rifles that I don't want to tap and that works great.As far as Savages go, I now have three F's because they were factory tapped and have mounted scopes on two of them.So far a vintage Weaver K3 that I had rebuilt and an old Leupold 4X with German #4 reticle. Not sure what scope I'm putting on the third one yet, the older scopes do look nice on them though.

Ya know, I've found that those old scopes, if in good condition, are perfectly capable of 95% of the shots that you'll have the opportunity to take while actually hunting. That's not to say that the newer scopes aren't better. Just that the difference isn't that noticeable until after legal hunting hours in most cases. JMO. OOMV.

Tried the adjustable widget on the shooting glasses, and it worked for a while; then reading glasses, peep sights, etc. You youngsters in your 40's still have lots of time left with pretty good (and correctible) vision.
At the age of 72, I now shoot only in matches where scopes on rifles and red dots/magnifier scopes on pistols are allowed. At some point, it just don't make any sense in fighting the inevitable. Just part of the fun of staying on the right side of the grass

Mike ,

I'm 39 years old and do not need spectacles . But I still use these sight aids because they work awesome . It forces your eye to focus .

Try these . They are called " Eyepals " ..... they are made of material that uses static cling to adhere to your shooting glasses ..... Just yesterday , I bought one pistol set and one rifle set . The difference being aperture size . The pistol set comes with 2 ( different size holes ) and the rifle set comes with 2 ( different size holes ) .

Because they are not bulky objects hanging off your glasses , you can leave these on your shooting specs with out having to re-adjust everytime you shoot . This is provided you put your glasses on the same way everytime . They also come with contact lens containers to keep the clean and protected .

Get this - the owner said that if I'm not totally satisfied , he will buy them back . I meet him yesterday at the gun show I attended .....

click on me - Eyepals : the link may ask you to download the free Adobe flashplayer program if you don't have it already . If you don't want to install the program , click " no " each time and you will still be able to navigate the site as a generic version .



I did own the Lyman Hawkeye with some degree of satisfaction , but I lost the set because the suction cup no longer suctioned and it fell off somewhere ...... also the peep hole was never very clear .

I would like to get one of those Merit's for my peep sights . Being adjustable makes alot of sense .