TargetTalk

Is it legal under ISSF rules to attach a lens to the front of your glasses in order to focus on the front sight?

If legal, what is a good lens holder to purchase?

If not, what are my alternatives? My vision is 20/300 so a single diopter lens is useless if I can't see the target at all.

I now have progressive lenses and cannot find a location on the lens where the front sight is clear.

mld wrote:Is it legal under ISSF rules to attach a lens to the front of your glasses in order to focus on the front sight?

Yes, completely legal.

mld wrote:...If not, what are my alternatives?...

Simple - a proper set of shooting glasses (Knobloch, Champion, Varga, etc.) with a 30+mm lens set up by an optician who understands ISSF pistol.

Thanks for the info.

My optometrist says I cannot wear conventional shooting glasses. Prisms and such.

Does anybody know if the "Clearsight" attachment is still being manufactured? A google search produces bits and pieces of info but no website.

You can get custom corrective lenses made for the shooting glasses that will correct for anything you can do with conventional glasses. The "off the shelf" lenses won't correct for things like astigmatism, so you just need to get them made for your prescription.

I wear contact lenses, but they don't completely correct my astigmatism. I has a lens made that set my focus on my front sight, AND removed the residual astigmatism.

Pardon me if I'm mistaken, but I believe "prism" in eyeglasses is intended to correct for the inability of the eyes to converge on a single point. Since you are only using one eye to shoot, I don't see that it would be relevant. As long as the optical center of the lens is in line with the eye and the sights the shooting glasses will work. Are you sure that your ophthalmologist understands the function of shooting glasses?

Roger

No, I am not convinced he understands what I'm after. He recommended a +1 diopter to focus on the front sight, but did not understand that I also have to see the target 25 or 50 yards downrange.

I've read on this site that I should start with a +0.5 diopter and work from there, and I understand that. With a +1 diopter I can't see past the front sight.

Perhaps I'll have better luck with the optician...

Murray

Actually, you don't need to focus on the target and shouldn't try. Since it is not possible to keep all 3 elements (rear sight, front sight and target) in focus at the same time, when you focus on the target, the front sight is necessarily out of focus.

I hope I can explain this clearly. If the sight picture is exactly right and the target is out of focus, then the barrel may be laterally displaced from the center and so will the point of impact. If you imagine how much the barrel can move but still maintain sight alignment, you will see that it's not much. But if the target is clear, even momentarily, then the sights are out of focus and you will not be able to see if there is an angular displacement of the front and rear sights which will throw the point of impact much further away from the center. It may be easier to visualize with the gun in your hand.

The glasses should ideally allow a sharp focus on the front sight. A little fuzziness about the rear sight will still allow you to center the front sight in the notch. Then you just get the correct sight arrangement into a consistent relationship with the fuzzball that is the target and Bob's your uncle.

At least, that's the theory. And I've found that if I allow my focus to shift to the target as the shot breaks, I can't call it and it's going to end who knows where, so there is something to it.

Roger

Just to be clear, It is impossible to focus on both the front sight AND the target. Standard technique with irons is to focus on the front sight and let the target be a big fuzzy ball. If you are looking at the target you will never get a decent score, nor will you if flipping from sight to target. The only system that requires focus on the target is a "red-dot" that puts the dot out at infinity focus. And about plus .5 to plus .75 diopter is the usual range for bringing the front sight into focus.

Dr Jim

I understand that I should not be trying to focus on the target. I am trying to focus on the front sight.

When I was shooting back in the 70's and early 80's my glasses were a straight prescription and I could focus on the front sight.

Now I have progressive lenses and I cannot "quite" find an area of the lens to focus on the front sight. Close, but not quite.

If I take my glasses off and look at my AP target from 10 metres I can't see anything other than what looks like a blurry piece of paper. No black fuzzy circle.

Murray

mld

Progressive lenses change every time you move your head slightly. Many of us have gone to standard lined bi-focal or tri-focal lenses.

I had a pair of single strength glasses made up using my tri-focal prescription, and see the front sight fine (while the bull is a blurry spot on the target).

I am the originator of the ClearsighT. Sadly, the advent of Red Dot sights and the inability to source the Loupes caused the demise.

To achieve the same effect, have a set of glasses made with the sighting eye single vision corrected to the front sight... prism no matter.

Start by having the optician dial in your 20/20 distance vision in the machine. Then have him add +0.75 spherical to that correction and look at the front sight. He can add some + or remove some until the front sight focus is crisp. He can accomplish the same thing by adding little portable lenses in the same powers over your existing glasses.

Then have that prescription cut single vision into the shooting side. The non-shooting lens can be progressive or multifocal in your regular script.

Tillman

mld wrote:Thanks for the info.

My optometrist says I cannot wear conventional shooting glasses. Prisms and such.

Does anybody know if the "Clearsight" attachment is still being manufactured? A google search produces bits and pieces of info but no website.

Thank you for the feedback.

I will take these ideas to my optometrist and come up with a solution.

Murray

Recently had a new multifocus pair of spectacles made and at the same time got a new lens for my shooting glasses. The new lens puts the front sight in perfect focus but the black dot is far too fuzzy.
Annoyed with the lens, I decided to shoot air pistol with the multifocals. Amazingly, the front sight as seen through the midpart of the lens is in good focus and because I use area aim at about four ring height, the black dot is also in focus because I am looking at it through the upper part of the lens.
Scores have gone up and it has given me confidence. I just have to make sure that I am concentrating on the front sight.

mld:
You should take a look at: "A Site For Sore Eyes ( http://www.pilkguns.com/c16.shtml ) which was posted by our host. A good article regarding this topic.

Another site to look at for more information is by Dr. Norman Wong, OD, out of CA. ( http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/nwongarts.html ).

For those of you interested in experimenting with different eyeglass corrections, like adding +0.50 diopters to your shooting eye correction, in order to move your infinite focal point to the front sight, check out this web page:

www.zennioptical.com

where you can get a pair of glasses for as little as $6.95 plus $5 shipping; they make them in China, and you can get them in about 2 weeks. Cheapest way I know to experiment with vision corrections for shooting. I have had double cataracts fixed, and the +0.50 diopters makes all the difference in a sharp front sight picture. Tested this with a child's father-in-law, group size shrunk by at least a factor of two immediately.

You can have a custom set of shooting glasses made up by your optician, I did.
I worked w the eye doctor, brought my AP into her office. We validated that the recommendation that Warren Potter gave in the article "a site for sore eyes" worked, at least for me.
Then I had them do up a special glasses:
Left lens: non aiming eye, bifocal, distance + reading.
Right lens: aiming eye, bifocal, special Rx to focus on front sight and see the target + reading.

Why the reading Rx, cuz I need a reading Rx to be able to read stuff up close, like my note and the combo of my combination lock, etc.

If you are over 40, besides the corrective lens, you may want an adjustable peep hole attached to the glasses. This lets me focus on the front sight while having a specific bullseye reference on the target. Caution: the target will be so clear that it will always be luring your focus to it rather than the front sight.

I'm selling a set of lenses to fit Champion glasses (in the Buy/Sell). If you have good vision they would be all you need. If not, you could have your scrip fitted to the glasses and then use these.

I have a new prescription and Progressive lens glasses. For shooting I have gone back to my old single vision. I would like to try the Zenni order, but not sure how to interpret the +.50 diopter bit. My prescription shows Sphere, Cyl, Axis, but has blanks for Prism and Base. What do I change to get +.50 diopter?