Shooting with Bi-foculs

[dick99344]

I am right eye dominate. I have tri-focal lenses. I use a device sold by Lyman called a Diopter that has a small suction cup that attaches to my eyeglasses that allow me to focus on the target and the rear and front sights. You can find it on the Lyman website under the sights search bar. Works great for me.

[Art S.]

I use my glasses also as shooting glasses. When I order my prescription glasses, I get polycarbonate instead of glass or regular plastic. then I can see "safely".

When you go in for glasses tell them you want Z87 safety lens and frames. they come with side shields. if you need they can tint for shooting.

[BluesStringer]

I am just now getting my sight on an even keel after having cataract surgery in both eyes between August and November of last year. I wore bifocals before, but they didn't tell me that the surgery would drastically increase my need for close-up correction, and getting that dialed in has been a royal, time-consuming pain in the keester. Tonight is my first shift with what I think is my last pair of glasses until a "normal" period of time between prescriptions. But I did learn quite a bit along the way about close-up correction that I didn't know before.

First, to the OP, when you say you're wearing bifocals, I take it you mean actual bifocals where you can see the line between two very different scripts from top to bottom of the lens, is that correct? If you can't see the line, then you're actually wearing progressive lenses, and they are very different. Assuming you mean bifocals though, consider having your eye doctor use a lower power reading lens. It was counter-intuitive to me when my doc explained how reading lenses work. I thought that if a lower power wasn't cutting it, then I should go to the next higher power, but it's actually the exact opposite, because +1.00 is supposed to correct for one meter from your eye, a +1.25 corrects 90 mm, +1.50 80 mm etc. etc. So you may have a high power in your bifocals that are for reading pretty close, like maybe 50 or 60 mm. Lower that power to correct for about arm's length, and the transition between your top lens and bottom lens will be fairly natural, more like when you didn't have to rely on bifocals at all.

Following this advice may require a dedicated pair of shooting glasses if you find that you can't read well with a pair that works well for shooting. Run this by your doctor and see if it makes sense to him/her. My doc could be full of crap! LOL But once he explained how the high and low power lenses are supposed to work, I was able to dial in my reading glasses pretty easy while I was waiting for my eyes to "settle" after the surgeries. I am wearing progressive lenses now, and haven't shot with them yet. Will do that next Monday or Tuesday. Anyway, hope that helps.

Blues

[DarrellM5]

I'm having the same problem as the original poster. Note that he said when he was looking through the bottom of his glasses the front sight was clear and the target blurry. It's the same for me. The issue is that the target is EXTREMELY blurry when looking through the bottom of the glasses. A crystal clear front sight picture is worthless if you can't see where you're putting it on the target.

I don't wear prescription glasses. I have normal sunglasses with built in reading lenses. I started wearing reading glasses a couple of years ago and my pistol accuracy has diminished significantly. I'm going to have to figure out a solution; maybe a different type of sights or some special glasses.

[Woody1960]

I also have tri- foculs. I "point shoot" alot of the time. As long as I am with in an inch or so of the center I am happy.Besides, in a real life situation,your not going to be able to say, hold still mister bad guy so I can get you in my sites.

[Matte Black]

I wear bifocals. Upper for computer...lower for close reading such as newspaper. My distance vision is excellent...I use Crimson Trace laser grips on my carry firearm and they work extremely well both at the range and at home...day or night. I highly recommend them. Google Laser Tactical for best prices.

[S&W645]

Bifocals here too. 20/400 in left eye and 20/50 in right for distance corrected to 20/20 in both eyes at close and distance. But there is a bad spot at >3 ft in the close in lens while distance part has it at <2 ft.

[golocx4]

So if you wear bi-foculs, what has worked for you?

My question to you is what kind of shooting are you talking about.
Self Defense (can you hit center mass with in the size of a dinner plate)
Competition grouping in the size of a quarter to a coffee cup.

This is my story and I'm stickin to it.
Former LE. Shot well for yearly qualification etc. Silhouette target high 90's
then went into private work, gun sat unmolested for 20 years.
Retired, took up shooting again, soon realized that I did not wear glasses back in the day,
Noticed the difference with iron sights so went to red dot. Improved.
Started shooting competition. Bifocals and red dot weren't good enough. Put on my prescription sun glasses, more improvement.
ONly problem is shooting with sunglasses on in an indoor range,
Still I felt I was shooting pretty well.
Then got back into a PPC competition. Iron sights. Sunglasses did ok for Police quantification but in Competition not good enough.
Went to a specialist, he made some safety glasses that allow me to focus with my right eye on the front sight and allows me to look downrange with left eye,
20 percent more improvement. Target and rear sight are out of focus but at least I can see the target instead of a big fuzzy blob.
I feel like I have 18 year old eyes, and they are safety glass.
Cost was around $300.00
If you are into precision shooting with iron sights consider investing in shooting glasses,
If you can hit center mass with bifocals just continue practicing.
Or just convert to a red dot.

And just a note to you young guys,,,,,Your day is a comin.

[X-Beast]

You should be looking thru the top part of the lens and focusing on the front sight. Everything else should be blurry. IMO a laser is a crutch and it will fail you at a time when you will need it the most. I've had nothing but bad luck with lasers. The damn things are always breaking down so got away from them and just rely on the tryed and true iron sights. Get proficient with them and you won't need a laser. I'm left handed and right eye dominent and I wear bifocals. All you need is more range time with your glasses on and you'll soon get comfortable with it.

[Danmc]

My question to you is what kind of shooting are you talking about.
Self Defense (can you hit center mass with in the size of a dinner plate)

Ya, that's all I am talking about. No competition shooting. I can hit the dinner plate just fine, just not bulls-eye perfect.