handgun shooting with bifocals

[ray h]

I went to the range the other day, for the first time since I got bifocals last year. I was very disappointed that I had real trouble focusing on the front sight post. I was looking above my bifocal line and didnt even think about it, it just seemed natural to do that but I was having real trouble aiming. It didnt occur to me to try looking through my bifocal until after I got home that night and started thinking about why I had such trouble. So I picked up a couple of guns and tried to sight through my bifocal and the front sight seemed alot clearer.
I could use input from other vision challenged shooters on what works for you.

[stevew58]

One solution is to have a pair of single vision glasses set up for intermediate vision. This will put the front sight in focus but your near and far will be a bit blurry. This will work well for pistol.. In order to get this done correctly you will need to someone who actually understands what you need. This can be a bit challenging. The folks (Link follows) I used although not local or inexpensive did a great job. Shooting glasses is all they do and they know the business. www.decot.com

[rkrcpa]

I have found that progressive lenses work for me. As my vision worsened it became more difficult to focus on the front sight, so much so that I was leaning my head so far back to look through the reading portion of the lens that it was no longer functional.

The solution was a new prescription and now I'm back to "normal". I've seen others recommend a second pair of glasses but I dismissed that as unworkable. I just couldn't see calling time out in a firefight so that I could switch to my "shooting" glasses. I needed a 24/7 real life solution, not a workaround for when I'm at the range.

[Sparks]

Have to agree. Second pair of glasses is OK, for competition, for defensive training / shooting, get your regular glasses working.
Maybe a perscription change. You could get a tri-focal, that has the intermediate focus at the top of the lens. It's a little more natural to put the head down when shooting. You could get that done in just the dominent eye side, leave the other one as a bi-focal.

[capitolcop]

Progressive works really well for me.

[ddefazio]

I would probably focus more on Center of Mass shooting and use muscle memory than trying to make sure you are focusing out of the right area of your glasses.

[steelerfan]

Having the same problem myself I've tried many things that all help to some degree,Sometimes I aim over the top of my glasses,sometimes through the blended lens, & sometimes I just take them off & put on non-precsription safety glasses, but most of all I just miss the good vision I used to have

[donm]

I wear both progressive bifocals and contacts.

As it turns out, my right (shooting) eye without correction focuses pretty well on the front sight so I can simply replace my prescription glasses with uncorrected shooting glasses. Shooting through the bottom part of the bifocals (head way back) just doesn't work for me.

My contacts are set up for "monovision" -- which in my case means that my right (shooting) eye is "under-corrected" to improve closer-in (dashboard-in-the-car distance) vision, and focuses reasonably well on the front sight. It's an added advantage that my left eye is corrected for distance. Again, just add shooting glasses.

[GrumpyBear]

Having the same problem myself I've tried many things that all help to some degree,Sometimes I aim over the top of my glasses,sometimes through the blended lens, & sometimes I just take them off & put on non-precsription safety glasses, but most of all I just miss the good vision I used to have

I have the same problem.My optometrist said she could make a "dominant eye" lense that should work for me,but only from measurements not allowing me to bring a firearm in to see if it would work for me or not,so I declined for now.

[capitolcop]

I was afforded the opportunity of bringing my duty weapon in and having the progressive lens set so that head straight forward at the proper distance was achieved...this was after a few tries without the weapon were unsuccesful.

Hell take a plastic gun with you...it really helps in the long run.