Shooting with Bi-focal glasses

[Cookiemann]

I wear progressive bi-focals.  I find that on barrels over 22in I have a problem with the the Bead going blurry when I shoulder my gun quickly.  I have the same problem with the small front sites and the inserts on the aperture sites.  Does anyone else have problems with shooting while wearing bi-focals?  How did you eliminate the problem?  Do I need to wear single vision glasses?  Does anyone wear the Contact lenses that work like bi-focal glasses?  I would really appreciate any input from those who may have had these problems and found solutions.  
I can't be the only one who has had to deal with this aspect of GETTING OLDER as it relates to shooting.
 :shock:  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:

[offhand35]

Hello, Cookieman!
I have been living & shooting with multi focal glasses for a few years. I have tried scoping my rifles, but I found that the parallax  effect seems to be exaggerated, and have to be VERY careful that everything gets lined up at the same point on my glasses every time.....this shows up particularly with my Sportster 22LR....

For my scoped Sportster 22LR and 7mm-08 Rem I've been trying to focus the eyepiece of my scopes to look through them over the top of my glasses, and looking through my glasses off the rifle, but this does not seem real comfortable. I have not tried my older single focus glasses....that may be next.

I prefer open sights, I hunt squirrel with shotgun & 22LR,  and deer  with  12ga Tracker II  and with a custom 16ga slug gun.

I  have found that the square notch sights that come on the Tracker II  (24" bbl) to work very well.  It seems to be easy to know when the sight picture is right. The  big square top of the front sight lining up with the square top of the rear sight, with equal air space on each side of the front sight in the square rear notch seem to become "right"  almost as easily as the Williams peep on my custom 16ga.  I'm able to keep the sabot slug that shoots for me in a 2-3" group from the bench, and on the pie plate standing from the shoulder, all at 100 yds.  The 2  deer that I've gotten in the past 4 years of  hunting will also attest that  it's working .....

For bead sighted shotguns, I've been hunting squirrel in the September season  with a 28" Pardner bbl on the Tracker II frame, and I also shoot trap with a 32" full choke bbl on the same frame. I just got a 26" .410 H&R that I hope to hunt squirrel with this Fall, but I have not shot that yet...

This only tells you WHAT I do, but no so much how..... :?

There was a time that I thought that mounting scopes on everything that I had would solve the  eyeglass problem,  but that does not necessarily seem to be so.

I've spent a lot of my shooting time with the NEF's to the point where I have become very comfortable . When I pick up one of my other guns that my sons have been shooting , a Win Mdl 12 or Rem Mdl 11 or Browning BPS Trap model, I  feel that I have to learn how to shoot all over again....when I put them down and pick up the NEF again, I get that  .....aahhh...feeling of "rightness" from the gun.....

When I'm shooting trap or blasting a squirrel leaping from one tree to next, I'm not even aware of the bead on shotgun bbl anymore.......

Again, this only describes what, but not how......It seems to me it took time to figure out what I want from my gun, and then more time for the NEF's/H&R's to work into my system.....

[Cookiemann]

I know what ya mean about the Tracker open sights.  I was immediatly comfortable with them the first time I picked one up in a store.  I was also comfortable with a BC I checked out that had the Williams peep and Lyman aperture front.  It was like both those guns were already sited in when I shouldered them in the store.  Although on the Lyman the bulls eye aperture did look a little fuzzy I knew where it was and could have put it on target.  I'm not glad about the fact you have to deal with this but I am glad I'm not alone.  LOL
Thanks

[Woodbutcher]

Dear Cookieman:
 Try a diopter. Fancy name for a little dohickey, bout as big as a dime, that sticks to your eyeglass lens. Where you buy them and how much, I don't know.
 The easy way to try one is to stick a little square of piece of black tape to your lens. Put a pin hole thru the middle first, and try different sizes of pin holes. Locate the thing where your eye will see thru the hole when you aim. You'll be amazed how the sights sharpen up when viewed thru that little peeper.
 Won't cost anything to try it.                            Woodbutcher

[Nightrain52]

I have heard of a lot of people having good luck with a "ghost ring" sight system. It is similar to the aperture sight except the hole is bigger that you look thru. Also the Red Dots that look like a real short scope may be worth checking into. Some have no magnification or low magnification.

[savageT]

Cookieman,
I by no means have all the answers, but let me say, if you are bothered by a fuzzy aperture sight, don't fret!  That's actually supposed to happen!  Really, the natural instinct for the sighting eye is to self align the eye to the center of the hole.

Now with my eye problems, about the only iron sights that work are aperture sights.  I've used Red Dot scopes (because they're 1x magnification) you keep both eyes open and trained on the target, and conventional scopes and they are the best answer.
Of late, I purchased an adjustable aperture sighting device sold by a company in Schenectady NY and it's not cheap!!!!  It attaches to the lens of your eye glasses by suction cup on a hinged, swing away arm (much like a Jeweler's Loop).  I haven't used it yet but it should work well as I have used the black electrical tape patch w/ peep hole stuck to your eye glasses. It really sharpens the images of the sights and target.  What you give up is the brightness loss.  Try the electrical tape, it takes a little experimenting to get it lined up correctly to your eye and sights.

Jim