North country gal

I know there are a lot of older shooters on this forum who love to shoot, but whose aging eyes ain’t what they used to be. That makes using iron sights a challenge. I’m one of those. It hurts, because I love using iron sights - I learned on iron sights and shooting to me will always mean using iron sights, even though most of my guns now wear red dots or scopes. Yes, red dots and scopes solve the problem of aging eyes, nicely, but I refuse to give up shooting iron. Besides, on some guns, using anything but iron sights, seems, well, almost criminal.

First, about my eyes: I already wear bifocals, so my eyes have never been all that great even when I was younger. (That’s not as much of a handicap as some folks might think, because you do not have to have super vision to become an excellent shot.) I’ve also done the prescription thing for shooters, but I’ve reached an age where even that is no longer effective. To make things even worse, I have a whole boatload of allergies that can affect my vision. On bad allergy days, my eyes water and blur to the point where my front sights turn to mush. On those days, I might as well throw my gun at the target as use iron sights.

One solution that does work for me is an aperture. An aperture is simply a patch or mask over your shooting eye with a tiny hole in the center for your eye to see the target. I won’t go into why looking through a tiny hole sharpens up the front sight, but it does work. I make my own by heading to Wal-Mart and buying a cheap pair of clip on, flip up sunglasses. I then paint one side and drill a tiny hole in the middle for viewing. When I’m ready to shoot, I just flip down the aperture and start shooting. Oh, yes, with an aperture, my group sizes with iron sights shrink, considerably.

An aperture, though, is quite limited and neither practical nor safe for many types of shooting. I love an aperture for my bullseye pistol shooting at the range, but a person would be crazy to use an aperture for action shooting, self-defense or even plinking or field shooting. You need peripheral vision to be a safe shooter in all but certain controlled range conditions and you lose that with an aperture. I only mention it as a way to shrink group sizes at the range.

These old eyes still shoot peep sights, well, so my traditional lever guns and other rifles that are not stocked with scopes in mind now wear peeps. Peeps have put back a lot of that old iron sight fun into my shooting, but, unfortunately, peep sights are not a solution for all rifles and, of course, even of more limited use on pistols. Then, too, makes no sense using a peep on a gun that is specifically stocked for scope use or a gun that can shoot MOA at ranges that call for a scope.

As far as open sights go, switching to hi-viz and fiber optics or sticking with large, easy to see open sights of the type you get on most 1911s has been a big help. It’s those small, dark, super fine open sights that give me fits.

For the bulk of my shooting, then, I fight aging eyes with red dots and scopes, same as most aging shooters. Oh, yeah, I hate what scopes and red dots and bases and rings do to the looks, feel and balance of some of my guns, but without glass of one type or another, my shooting would suffer, both in terms of accuracy and my ability to shoot for any length of time at the range. Still, some of my guns will never wear anything but iron. I'd rather stop shooting them than put a scope on them.

In the end, on any given trip to the range, I take guns with iron sights and guns with red dots and scopes. I shoot iron, first, until my eyes start to get tired, assuming I’m having a day when I can even manage iron, and then finish up my range session with glass. It means buying and owning a wide variety of guns to have a lot of choices, but that’s not exactly a chore.

Hope this helps other older shooters to keep on shooting.

opos

Well....here's my deal....from a 75 year old with a "branch retinal occlusion" in the right eye, snow blindness scars in the epithelium coating on both eyes and lots of years of abuse...I need bifocals but can't wear them because of the occlusion in my right eye (that's a busted and healed artery in the retina)...so I wear a pair of "reading glasses", a pair of "look out here he comes" driving and long range glasses....Neither of these work for shooting...the 'readers" are too strong for "arms length" and the "look out here he comes" driving and seeing glasses are too weak for arms length sighting....

What I've done is have the eye doctor do a 'test" on my eyes for a pair of "shooting and aiming" glasses....they focus at about 3 feet and work pretty well....no they are not clear at 30 feet where a target might be but are reasonable and I've learned to adapt....I don't shoot quarters out of my Son's extended fingers but I can put pretty much everything in a 3-4" circle or less. I have another thing...I'm right handed and very left eyed..the left eye is the one that is not damaged by the occlusion so I can do one of three things...I can do the cross dominant sighting thing where I tilt my head or move the sight picture to that eye....I can shoot left handed which I'm getting much better at or I can shoot head up, both eyes open and just learn to relax my vision and let the eye's find their focus on the front sight...that's mostly what I do...I shoot from several stances (when I'm capable of standing up at my age)....a 2 handed hold normally settles down quickly and my eyes seem to align the front sight with the target and the rear sight sort of "falls into place"....This is my favorite for targets out to about 30-40 feet and again...3" groups are not uncommon (unless...like the last time....I'm trying out my super duper hand loads and I'm lucky to hit the wall until I get the formula right)....When I shoot "gentleman style" with one hand and turned 90 degrees to the target with my free hand properly positioned on my hip (looks really good) my eyes take just a bit longer to adjust but again the head up and both eyes open works pretty well...I'm deadly to about 20' with this...For anything closer than about 20' I just point, pull the trigger, when the gun is empty throw it and run like hell.

Biggest thing for me was having the eye lady give me a prescription that is like a pair of "computer monitor" glasses (they seem to focus at about 3 feet or so) just for shooting (and I find they work good for using the computer...funny thing). I like the idea of the aperture in a covering and I'm going to try it...it's like a camera lens..the smaller the opening the sharper the focus...narrower angle and field of view but much sharper...I think that might be a fun experiment and what the heck...it's cheap and I like cheap.

Getting older is not much fun (maybe it is....I forgot) but can be overcome with some work....If I try and shoot the way the "you tube" instructors try and teach I'm apt to shoot myself so I just find what works best....I also have serious breathing issues so if indoors I wear a surgical mask...that's a daunting sight....6'2"...250#....ear plugs and ear muffs over them, glasses and a mask....little children run screaming for their folks but at least I'm comfortable. I've been messing with firearms since the 40's when I got my first 22...hunted and shot and loaded for years....quit for some years and started up again a number of years ago....it aint the same as shooting quail out of the bushes when I was 15 with a .410 but it's still fun and who cares if I'm shooting 3 or 4 inch groups indoors with a mask....The Border Patrol office near where I live shoots at one of the pistol ranges and no kidding...I can shoot better than many of them..it's no wonder we have so many illegals in San Diego...shooting 40 semi auto's and having 6-8" groups at about 20'...

I'm off to buy some clip on's and a needle to punch a little hole in them and see how it works...thanks for the tip...and like Clint Eastwood said..."Man's got to know his limitations"....or a woman.

Waveform

Thanks to both of you for the tips and frank discussion of aging eyesight. My 50th birthday is tomorrow and I aready wear "cheaters" (drugstore reading glasses) to read with and can get by for now with front sights that are not black (XS, Hi-Viz, etc. are good for me). But I realize things will only be changing for the worse as time goes by. Good eyesight is a blessing and we take it for granted until we start to lose it. A friend of mine lost an eye years ago but is still a very good shot, especially shooting skeet. Now he is dealing with the early stages of macular degeneration in his remaining eye and the spector of blindness is looming. No more shooting, driving his sports car or boat or being able to see his grandkids grow up is a very real possibility. So I'm thankful for the eyesight I do have, weaker though it may be, and will just have to adapt accordingly. Thanks again for the info.

Jack D

This has been my problem for many years now. I've used red dots with success and now use laser grips or other lasers on all of my handguns and my only remaining hunting rifle. This rifle also has a red dot and a scope, both on QD rings. A scope also works well and my 10/22 wears a scope.

Recently, I had an opportunity to try a Marlin lever with a Ghost ring appurature and it worked well for me, too. Not sure why, it was blurry, but it worked.

North country gal

Peeps work for me the same way - the front sight is still a bit fuzzy, but I shoot a peep much better than open sights, probably because I can concentrate all my efforts on the front sight without having to worry about the rear. Love my Marlin 39A with it's Skinner peep. Also have an old 10/22 setup with a peep and one setup with a good scope. That way I have a choice.

jon p

i wear tri-focal glasses. iron sights are just a thing in the past for me, i lost intrest in shooting and then discovered red dots sights!! WOW,i am back in it hot and heavy and i am really enjoying it again. i saw a red dot demo at a gun show back in jan 2012, i had not seen one before, bought my first one then. it was the holo screen type and i also have a couple of the tube types, 1x30, 1x40 and1x50. i like them fine BUT i dont like the added bulk over the screen type size. shooting is so much fun AGAIN!!!

terry_p

With the exception of bird guns my long guns are scoped. My SBH has a red dot scope and all other handguns have open sights. My GP has the fiber optic front sights, P94 has a 3 dot system and the rest I use orange paint and nail polish to get better visability or they have a red insert. I wear the no line bifocals and can raise or lower my chin to get the sights in focus. Everything works well for a while and then my eyes tire quickly. A scope helps because it keeps everything in the same focal plane but even firing with a scope puts a strain on my eyes eventually.

jaxrider14

Thanks to all for the ideas. I'm 64, wear bifocals, and recently started shooting again (mostly handguns) after 35 years away from the hobby. Back then I had great eyesight, but not now.

I recently bought a Henry 22 lever rifle and although some say it will not look "period correct" it will soon have a red dot sight.

I have been looking at a Ruger Single Ten with a long barrel and that bright green front sight. I think that will work for me.

I also have my original Ruger Mark I 22 with a long target barrel. I can see the front sight way out there on that one, and I do pretty well with it.

North country gal

Those Williams sights on the Single Ten are definitely an improvement over regular iron for old eyes. Still, I broke down and bought a Weigand mount for my Single Ten now shoot it with a red dot. Okay, not very traditional, but on some days, that red dot makes the difference between being able to shoot my ST and not shoot it. That's gold to me because the ST is one of my favorite Rugers, ever.

Nick308

Great to see most of you have found a way to still enjoy your shooting! Aperture sights can work really well, but as you all have seen a scope or a red dot/ holographic sight can work wonders.....
Nick (Ruger fan and optometrist)

ZommyGun

Hey Granny...

This should improve your accuracy some...



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North country gal

Never been more than fair shot with a scattergun and Lord knows I've hunted birds enough with them. Rifles and, especially, pistols, I took to very naturally from the start. Rifled bores are just in my blood, I guess. Haven't met too many shooters that had a super talent for both wing shooting and pistol shooting, but I'm sure they're out there.

jon p

red dot sights have given me back my fun with plinking .22 style. i had about quit shooting until i saw a red dot halo sight demo at a local gun show. wow, now i dont have to try to line up fuzzy sights and target anymore!! i also shoot with the tube type red dot AND various scopes. my iron sights days may be behind me but i am REALLY enjoying plinking AGAIN!!

Leadbelly

When I was trying to make the US Olympic Pistol Team for the 1988 olympics.
We tried everything in the world. This is one that can really help.





KNOBLOCH LARGE IRIS SHUTTER FOR 37MM HOLDER
Knobloch Shooting Glasses
$73.00

I have more info if you want it.

dV8r

For the same reason an aperture works the peep sight on a rifle is the best for failing eyes. Although a good scope helps, I just always preferred iron sites over optics but I do plan to try a red-dot soon.