TargetTalk

Ok,
So after watching a little bit of the NCAA rifle champ. I have come to the conclusion that most if not all the shooters were wearing glasses. So I will throw out a few questions.... Obviously not all needed corrective lens as many had the lens on non-dominant eye as a blinder. The pro and cons of the glasses? Air and sb crossover??? Does the size of the lens make a ton of difference? If a shooter has contacts should they not wear the contact and just the glasses w/ an rx lens? Of the major brands CC, Varga, knob: are there any major positive or negative issues? Any ideas of help would be appreciated. Thanks!!

Shooting frames are extremely usefully for people who wear prescription glasses. If you tried wearing your regular glasses you will notice that most of the time your not able to see through the center of the glass to the rear sight. It is really important to look through the exact center because that's how the prescription works. Contact lenses are probably your best bet as the lens moves with your eye and is always centering. The only negative is that most ranges require eye protection. You can wear regular plastic safety glasses but the same issue arises where the nose bridge or something gets in the way. I use the same frames, champion, for bot air and SB.

I use knobloch glasses for all my rifle shooting.
I find them easy to setup on the fly between positions.

I've tried champion glasses - they allow fine tuning of the lens position by having the frame threaded, but it means that moving the lens around is a very slow process.


As far as I know, you shouldn't wear contact lenses when shooting SB, as the smoke sticks to the lens and it's not healthy for your eyes.

I never had a problem with "smoke" on my contacts especially for .22, theres hardly any if that. You may have a problem if your shooting blackpowder in no ventilation, lol.

I started wearing glasses when I was 10. My eyesight was so bad that I could barely read the blackboard from the front row. I was given bifocals immediately. I have used & use Decot Hy-Wyd, Varga and Champion frames. My prescription has changed from -6.0 to -4.5 over the past 10 years. I also have developed an astigmatism ..... yes, seeing sights clearly has been a royal pain until ..... I read Dr Wong's article, printed it off & took it to my optometrist. He was very interested, inciteful and very helpfull.

For pistol shooting, I currently use an old pair of glasses with a prescription from three years ago(RE: Dr Wong & it proved true). For prone HP rifle shooting(scope) I use my DeCot Hy-Wyd, when shooting air rifle or 3-P(irons) I use two Varga frames. One for prone/kneeling and one for standing. Both have same prescription but by using a different set of glasses, I don't have to move the lense holder around.

The Varga frames are relatively inexpensive and for the price one one Champion, you can get two complete sets of the Varga (at least back in 2007 you could).

My champion frames are also prone only as they are an ancient pair with limited adjustments. Found them on e-bay for $30 in the jewelry loupe section.....

Summary:
If you are a position shooter, get two sets of frames, lenses etc ....
If you are only a prone shooter, get one pair.
If you are a pistol shooter as well, get a second pair because the prescription will vary between rifle and pistol front sight.

You definitely need to be looking through the focal center(?) of the lens. Anywhere else will cause simulated astigmatism....

Great info so far.... How about the use of the glasses for shooters that do not need a corrective lens ( eye sight is fine)- Using the glasses to decrease distractions????

I'm looking to get my first pair of glasses but I need to have a lens made. My eyesight is quite horrible, -7.50 in my shooting eye. I've tried to explain what I need to my optometrist, however I do not know enough on the subject to sufficiently explain. Does anyone have a link to an article(s) that might help explain to an optometrist exactly what shooters need?

chrisk wrote:...Contact lenses are probably your best bet as the lens moves with your eye and is always centering. The only negative is that most ranges require eye protection. You can wear regular plastic safety glasses but the same issue arises where the nose bridge or something gets in the way. I use the same frames, champion, for bot air and SB.

I have tried shooting with contacts and some of the kids I coach have tried and the problem we have had is that they dry out so fast that everything blurs out after a few seconds and after awhile not even blinking enough helps without stopping to put in eye drops. The low humidity of 35 to 40% is not of great help either.

Dr. Wong's Articles:

http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/nwongarts.html

Cheers,