Bi-Focals and pistols

[tdyoung58]

someone reminded me of this after asking about my bi-focals at the doctors office yesterday.

I blacken the rear sights on pistols (just flat black hobby paint) and get a high visibility front sight, might need to widen the rear sight depending on the front sight you choose. I had a gunsmith widen mine to match the front sight.

It works for me

[Rogue River]

Great tip. Thanks fo sharing.

[Hawk]

I'm confused. What is the correlation of bifocals and your pistol sights?

[tdyoung58]

I'm confused. What is the correlation of bifocals and your pistol sights?

it's more how your eyes have to focus more than the bifocals, sometimes it can be more difficult to pick up the sights. I have over +800 in both eyes, (left much worse, close to 1000) it's more the strenght of the perscription as well.

[Hawk]

it's more how your eyes have to focus more than the bifocals, sometimes it can be more difficult to pick up the sights. I have over +800 in both eyes, (left much worse, close to 1000) it's more the strenght of the perscription as well.

One fellow pistol shooter uses a device that is attached to his glasses that has a small aperture that increases the depth of field, to bring into focus items that were out of focus before. Similar to what a small peep sight does on a rifle. To show you what I mean, take a piece of paper and punch a very small hole in it with a paper clip (make the hole about 2 times as large as the paper clip). Put on your glasses and look at an object that is out of focus. Then hold up the piece of paper and look at the same object through the hole in the paper, it should come into focus. Link to the device:
https://www.championshooters.com/sto...cat=268&page=1

[greener]

The description on ability to focus is correct, but it doesn't quite give the flavor of the fun shooting with bifocals. The nearsighted correction on the glasses does the distance thing, but it makes close-in objects smaller. Try reading with glasses with nearsighted corrections and then take them off, the print gets bigger. When the ability to see close diminishes you add the bifocal correction. Except that correction is set for a certain distance, usually reading. Farther out tends to blur.

The "correct" sight picture is focused front sight with the rear sight and target slightly blurred. Except you now are trying to focus on the front sight with glasses not set for that distance, it gets blurry and the rear sight and target gets blurrier. You also may be trying to look over the transition line on the glasses, which tends to impart a bit of head bobbing. Some days I don't shoot the same sight picture because I can't see the sights and target all that well.

Luckily, I found an optometrist who understood shooting and set the transition so I could see the front sight of the pistol. Probably getting time to visit him again, or start investing in red dots and rails.

[synergy]

Big Dots work here, too.