TargetTalk

Hi:
When I am shooting with my AP usually at night with artificial light down in the clubs 10m range the front sight of my pistol becomes fuzzy, what do you recommend an adjustable iris or a plus lens to fix the problem?

Thank you,

Jigmeb.

The lens you NEED (not somebody's suggestion) - go to an optometrist that understands the sighting process for pistol.

Corrective lens/es that include any needed cylinder correction (astigmatism) as well as spherical (focus) will need to be set up for the distance to the front sight AND the distance from the eye to the lens - if you are going to use specialist shooting frames the lens might not be the same as for 'normal' spectacles

an iris will help a bit as the smaller apeture increses the depth of field

odd factors also come in to play - diet, sleep patterns, pollution, etc.

not getting the effects of getting older would help :>)

Regards,
Spencer C

A fuzzy front sight may also be symptomatic of yet another problem.

As you know, you're focus should ALWAYS be on the front sight. It's not as easy as it sounds. Many of us have to work very hard to make sure that as the sights settle into the aiming area, that our focus on the front sight doesnt break down. What happens to many of us is that as the sights and bull all come into view, we end up unintentionally shifting our focus from the front sight to the target or somewhere in between the two. This is referred to as optical hopping.


One of the signs of optical hopping is a fuzzy front sight. I would suggest some simple experimentation to determine whether the cause for your problem is lighting, visual acuity or losing focus.

Next time your at the suspect range, put up a target with the back of it facing you or just put up a piece of plain paper. Bring your sights into alignment on the blank paper and FOCUS on that front sight. If it starts out fuzzy and stays that way, you probably need a better prescription or better lighting. On the other hand, if the front sight stays in good focus as you keep it aligned on the blank paper- it's very likely you need to work on your focus.

Hope this helps

F. Paul in Denver

F. Paul ,

Very good advice which I have not heard before.
I will use it myself.
Thanks.

This problem also uccurs with rifle shooters at night.
At my local club in Haarlem (the netherlands) we have a 50m outdoor range. At night oly the shooting bays and the targets are lit, while the remaining part of the range stays dark. This causes the iris in the eye to open up (low light level = large iris opening). The depth of focus becomes much less while the part of the target that is lit stays very bright. Result is an overdosis of light at the exact spot of the target in the eye. After only a view seconds of aiming the sightpicture becomes blurred - just like it is burned into the retina like when you are looking into the sun.
We counteract by moving the diopter (peepsight) forward by 1/2 a centimeter. That way less area of the diopter blocks the light falling into the eye - more surrounding light enters the eye - the iris of the eye becomes smaller and the depth of focus increases to normal.
Although a pistol does not have these options, you can try to change the size of the rearsight - increasing the space between post and gap of rearsight to compensate for the decreasing depth of focus.

Just my two eurocents...

Albert
(The Netherlands)