I recently picked up a Ruger Blackhawk 3 Screw 357. When I took it out I was shocked at how much my eyes had changed from the last time I was shooting an open sighted handgun.......and not for the better. Anyone have any tricks to help clean up the sight picture? My vision is still good at distance but up close things get blurry without 1.25 readers.

I have a set of Rx “computer” glasses that work great. Found another use for them.

A bit slow to use, and takes a bit of practice. I have put a small piece of electrical tape with a small hole in it on my glasses. Think of a peep sight. It puts everything on the same focal plane and really sharpens the sight picture!


However, I cheated and put a red dot sight on my hunting pistol! memtb

I was amazed at how much a set of Dawson Precison fiber optic sights on my CZ 9mm improved my shooting. That was really apparent shooting indoors with subdued lighting vs. my .22 S&W with the factory sights. On that .22 I've thought about replacing the rear sight insert with a white outlined sight, but all the info here about the difficulty replacing that sight insert a week or so back had me buying a jar of white jig paint and I'll try my own insert paint job. Sure, the red dots are the cure all for aging eyes and handgun accuracy, but my handguns are close range only and open sights on those two are all I'm going to use.

In the past, I've successfully used reading glasses with a correction similar to the middle lens in my lined trifocals which is essentially the same as the computer glasses Rick mentioned. I'm wearing progressive lenses now and can make them work without needing the reading glasses, but reading glasses are still better. The ultimate solution for me is red dot sights...

I have Dawson FO front sights on several handguns and they do help a bunch...

Just do what I do..........




Squint

XS sights make a shallow "express" rear sight with a white stripe that works in conjunction with their front dot sight. I find it much easier to align than a typical notch rear sight and accurate enough for my needs.

I've quit trying to see black sights. As far as I'm concerned, ALL front sights should be fluorescent orange (or maybe a gold bead), and if at all possible, the rear is a Millett "longhorn" white outline... not so easy to do now, since they haven't been made in like 20 years or more. I can SEE these sights, even if I'm a little fuzzy.

I do like a gold bead (or dot) front sight with an "express" rear, but coming up with such a setup might not be so easy, depending on the gun.

Go see an optometrist, and bring a tape measure and a ruler.

Get in your preferred shooting stance, point your index finger at the optometrist, and tell them you want polycarbonate glasses w/ a focal point a barrel's length past the end of your finger.

My optometrist says she has trap-n-skeet shooters that bring in their shotguns.




GR

Wayne Morgan of Morgan Optical cut me a couple of lenses to go with my set of shooting glasses several years ago. I did only one lens in each of two color sets. One eye cut for longer range, one for the front sight. He recommended it, said a number of his military shooting teams’ members have done this quite successfully also. After using them a lot, I highly recommend it.

Also, all he needs is a current prescription and he can figure out the closer range lens.

https://www.morganoptical.net/

Definitely some glasses, I need them

I was talking with an optometrist about my issues, I see fine at mid and long distances, my problem is within arms reach. He told me there was a new eye drop on the market that would fix it! He then wrote me a script for it and I had it filled. Unfortunately I haven't tried them yet. I have since seen them advertised on TV and they are supposed to do exactly what we need. Aquity or something like that?

Open the rear sight blade with a file till the fuzz disappears.

Centershot: The answer to your quandary is.... - Red Dot Sights!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I have central serous retinopathy in my right (formerly dominant) eye. No fix for it. Glasses do not help.

Always used both eyes with handguns. Havent really missed a beat as the left takes over.
Rifles are another matter.....peeps and anything that cancels the periphery make things worse.

Rick,
What are these pyooter glasses you speak of?

Yep. Either that or learn to only focus on the target. Or just the front sight.
The main reason people go to RDS is because they never learned how to use iron sights.
Imho of course.

This is just one of many factory made products of which I mentioned that I made with electrical tape (poor folks have poor ways). It’s most practical for target shooting…..but perhaps could be adapted for hunting!

A red dot is still probably the best option! memtb

I have been down the Red Dot road also. I have a Burris FF3 on my 686. They work, but sure take some getting used to..........at least in the way they look on a revolver. Not sure I could take a Red Dot on a Single Action. lol

Correct on all counts! I have one on my S&W 460…..it does take a bit of use to get proficient with getting quickly on target! But, from a rest I can occasionally get sub 3” groups @ 100 yards…….way, way better than I was getting with open sights! memtb

If it's simple presbyopia aka "old eyes", one of those apertures would probably be your best bet, at least the cheapest and easiest solution to try first. They work like the F stop on a camera and basically increase your depth of focus.

Presbyopia here as well, I got a Merit optical disc and use it on non-prescription shooting glasses since it can be moved around easily or swung out of the way but they are certainly more expensive than tape or any other stick on solution.

Glasses might work depending on your eyes, I tried a couple of solutions but none of them let me see the sights and the target in clear focus, it was one or the other. If you go that route it's far better to see the sights in clear focus since sight alignment is critical in handguns, if the target is slightly blurry you can still aim at the center of the blur and hit it.

Red dots are obviously good but even then if someone has an astigmatism that little dot in the sight will look like it has a tail or some oddity. I finally had some glasses made up that only correct my astigmatism and are focused at infinity like the dot sights. A side benefit is that the same glasses work well with scope sights so I don't have to keep switching glasses when going from a scoped rifle to a red dot on a rifle or handgun.


My ultimate solution was new Bausch and Lomb eyes but that's probably not a viable solution here. Had cataracts removed in both eyes last year and the B&L replacement lenses are set for "far" vision which means anything much past 28". Sights on handguns are still slightly blurry but lots better than they were and the front sights on rifles are sharp and clear so peep sights work great again. Anyway, handgun sights are clear enough to hit cans or steel or whatnot accurately enough. But when I want to really wring out a new load I still need the Merit disc on shooting glasses since it lets me see both the sights and the target 25 yards away in sharp focus.

Here's a handgun that'll put the front sight out there a ways....lol,

I have a pair of computer glasses.

Just like reading glasses but the focal length is closer to 30 inches than 14 to 16 inches as is typical of reading glasses. Your optometrist can adjust the focal length to whatever you wish.

I do not use mine for shooting as it leaves the target very unfocused for me. I use progressives or straight distance vision glasses for shooting.

LOL

I have 69 year old eyes, and discovered that shorter barrels work better for MY eyes.

That and aiming with just the front sight and ignoring the back sight.

Virgil B.

Bingo!

I had cataract surgery at 42, brought on by prednisone. Boy was I pissed after I discovered I couldn't focus on pistol sights like I used to. Can still shoot em, but takes longer to line everything up. In really good lighting it's a piece of cake, but a little dim lighting and I'm point shooting

Use a Merit Optical Attachment disc / aperature. Sharpens up the sights tremendously.

http://meritcorporation.com

Just had cataract surgery, amazing to see again.

Walmart carries some stick on lenses that are about the size of the bifocal section of prescription glass.You put a drop of water on them and stick them on you shooting glasses whichever eye you use.They come off easy if need be. You can put them higher than a bifocal would be.

Start with 1:25's or 1;50's . Not as much as your reading glass prescription. Just enough to sharpen you sights and the target gets bit blurry. About $7

Aging eyes turn you into a "Front Sight Only" shooter, believe me. I ONLY see the front sight, and it's for the better.

If you wear bifocals use the reader part of the lens. That gives pretty good focus on the sights although the target will be blurry. That works for me out to 25 yards or so.
Computer glasses work well too.

Yep.
Few new shooters understand that - probably why RDS are popular.

Yep, THIS^^^^^

It just works....

I just read this. I have no idea if it works, or will even help many of us. But, it is FDA approved, of course the “Rona” shot is medically approved.

Anyway, thought I’d share! memtb


https://www.newsbreakapp.com/n/0fjxWXY3?pd=01rIQkl8&lang=en_US&s=i4

I’m in my seventies. I have cataracts. I have far vision. I had West Nile and my left side was paralyzed for a few months. When I regained control of my left side, they took the eye patch off. My eyes don’t line up vertically from that day on.
I have safety glasses prescribed by my eye doctor that corrects for the miss-alignment. The glasses also have continuous bifocals (I think that’s what it’s called).
With those glasses I can still shoot quite well with open sights. Almost all my lever guns and a few bolt guns gave iron sights as do all but one pistol.
I don’t think I’d be good with pistol shooting w/o these glasses.
My brother and a sister-in-law had their eyes operated on and they can now see near and far w/o glasses. I would need glasses due to my vertical alignment issue, so I’m not doing the surgery. Besides I like having safety glasses on for my hobbies.
My suggestion is get these type of glasses or eye surgery.

I don’t recall the company name
But I bought shooting glasses with the corrective lense in the top of the glasses instead of the bottom

So when you are getting ready to shoot you look straight on
When I shoot I tilt my head down a bit it seems to help quite a bit

Very happy with these

Hank

I just bumped my previous thread that talked about the "One Hole" ghost ring sight that made a big difference for me......here are the pics:

[/quote]

I went thru this journey a few years back. First I tried a stick on lens at the top of my glasses on my dominant eye and that worked. It worked well enough that I had a pair of readers made with R eye correction and Left eye clear. (Cheap at readingglasses.com). I shot one of my best matches shortly after that. The front sight was exquisitely clear and made me realize how bad things had gotten. The only problem was I am super right eye dominant and my left eye basically shuts off so the targets were fuzzy. So super crisp front sight but blurry target is ok, but certainly not for concealed carry.

I shot a 3 gun match using these glasses and on a prone firing stage my rifle kicked up a lot of dust. It was east to adjust the scope to the glasses beforehand but the unrecognized problem was that the dust I kicked up was now all in focus and I could not see any semblance of the distant target. Remember left eye shuts off.

After that I switched to left eye correction and right eye was clear. I discovered the left eye added some visibility of the front FO for matches which made it ok for a while.

Finally I gave in to red dots.

Red dot sight or optic would be my suggestion.

When all else fails, use the back of the slide to point to target.

Try it.

Works every time.

When I had cataract surgery, I got monovision lenses. Left eye or reading, dominant eye for distance. Target and iron sights are in sharp focus with both eyes open. Also don't need any reading glasses.

I shoot with what God gave me and handguns for me are mostly defensive tools. I'm not walking around town with computer reading glasses or a merit aperture attached to a lens.

Cataract surgery

I shoot right handed most of the time. I just knocked the left lens out of a pair of my reading glasses. Works like a charm. Right eye sees s clear set of sights. Left eye sees a clear target.

I use continuous bifocal glasses. I tilt my head automatically the sight are in focus and the target is pretty good too.

Don't really know. That is coming for me. I'm still very adequate with a plain blade sight with a flat top and parallel sides but some days I can't see a bead front sight anymore, rifle or handgun. Getting old sucks. Stopping getting older still seems to suck more though.

Yes, amazing how well I can see now. I put it off for years, big dummy!!!

I've given up on plain iron sights for anything close to precision. Fiber optic sights aren't as precise as irons, but they're more precise than the blur of black. If I can put an optic on it, it's getting an optic. Having used all three convinces me which way to go. Eyes aren't getting better, but sighting systems sure are.

This! Red Dots are out due to astigmatism issues. The VA docs haven't given me any other choices. So it's a scope for me. Yeah its heavy and cumbersome but I can hit what I want rather than hope the bullet will go where I want.

I put the One Hole ghost-ring sight on my Ruger Super Blackhawk Bisley, .480 Ruger. Makes a world of difference on quick and accurate sight acquisition.

That's an interesting sight option, Bighorn. Where did you buy it?

I bought a set for the 7.5" SBH 41 mag. Either aperture worked for me. But it was just an experiment and a learning tool.

The revolver is now equipped with the original Ruger blade.

I found the aperture quicker to acquire, but less precise than the factory sight.

www.warrencustomoutdoor.com

Just installed this on my old MK-II bull barrel - Installed the larger orifice to start. Looking forward to seeing how it works. Handy tip - To install it use a punch through the adjustment hole to compress the sight adjustment spring while you slip the new blade into place.

I had cataract surgery on both eyes, two weeks apart last month…..YUGE 😊 difference. Whites are whiter and everything is brighter 😊. I’m probably going to still need glasses to correct for some astigmatism and for reading in lower light but right now I’m not using my “cheaters” on my Ipad.