Contact Lens Prescription for Shooting?

[hoz53]

Im a 63 year old guy whose had poor eyesight for a long time. When I was younger I could see the irons on my 1911 or .22 pretty good wearing my contacts though. Fast forward to now though and things have changed. I had cataract surgery 6 or 7 years ago and I have distance lenses. My left eye is pretty good and I can see good enough without correction. Right eye is a different story. I have Cornea damage or disease. I can still see okay with a gas permeable contact installed but its my shooting eye and it doesnt work so good for that. I am thinking of seeing about getting a special lense focusing close to the area where the front sight is when shooting a pistol. Mabie that would be better to when looking through a rifle scope. I dont know. Anyway anyone ever get a special contact made just for shooting. If so could you let me know how it worked and what your experience was with it. Thanks Much. Hozz

 

[nmkid]

I don't know if there is really anything that can help us out. I had the same surgery about 8 years ago now. I told the doctor I needed lenses to let me see the sights and crosshairs on my rifles. Well, I can see a gnat's turd at 100 yards. Up close for rifle/pistol shooting...Forget it! Anything closer than 1-2 feet is a little blurry. I got the lens implants so my options are probably limited, at best.

 

[hoz53]

I don't know if there is really anything that can help us out. I had the same surgery about 8 years ago now. I told the doctor I needed lenses to let me see the sights and crosshairs on my rifles. Well, I can see a gnat's turd at 100 yards. Up close for rifle/pistol shooting...Forget it! Anything closer than 1-2 feet is a little blurry. I got the lens implants so my options are probably limited, at best.

hey nm -- thanks i forgot i posted this for awhile. it seems to help see my pistol irons when i use reader type glasses i get at dollar store. trouble with that of coarse its hard to wear shooting glasses. they help with the rifle scope to. with me its a little different with rt eye cornea damage. i find with pistols i can switch to left eye pretty easy and i get better sight picture.

 

[Ccrider]

I have worn contacts for about 15 years. Recently started benchrest shooting. I told my doctor what I needed. He worked a a second prescription for my left eye so that I could see the windflags. I could not see them with my normal prescription which is set up for up close reading. Works like a charm.

 

[jonbearman]

I would swear we have an eye doctor on this forum, maybe he could chime in. He wrote a good article in the daily bulletin, maybe you could do a search and find it.

 

[Tim Singleton]

I have worn contacts for about 15 years. Recently started benchrest shooting. I told my doctor what I needed. He worked a a second prescription for my left eye so that I could see the windflags. I could not see them with my normal prescription which is set up for up close reading. Works like a charm.

Same here no contact right eye wear one in left to see my flags

 

[hoz53]

I have worn contacts for about 15 years. Recently started benchrest shooting. I told my doctor what I needed. He worked a a second prescription for my left eye so that I could see the windflags. I could not see them with my normal prescription which is set up for up close reading. Works like a charm.

thanks for that info

 

[hoz53]

I would swear we have an eye doctor on this forum, maybe he could chime in. He wrote a good article in the daily bulletin, maybe you could do a search and find it.

that would be great to hear from him thanks Jon

 

[hoz53]

Same here no contact right eye wear one in left to see my flags

thanks Tim

 

[jk80]

I'm like a lot of others that's getting older. Experiencing problem with seeing the front site on a pistol and crosshairs on scopes. My main sport is trapshooting so my eye doctor knows I'm a shooter. Talked things over with him and he set me up for his last appointment for the day. When the other patients were gone I bought in a pistol and aimed at a dot on the wall while he did his thing with changing lenses, better, worse routine. It worked out great. Got lenses made for my shooting glasses. If you can find an eye doctor willing to do this it would make it possible to not juggle contacts, simply put on your shooting glasses that you should be wearing anyway. He was able to bring the front site into focus and still allow me to see the targets bullseye in focus. Hope you work something out. I k own how frustrated I was getting with it.

 

[hoz53]

I'm like a lot of others that's getting older. Experiencing problem with seeing the front site on a pistol and crosshairs on scopes. My main sport is trapshooting so my eye doctor knows I'm a shooter. Talked things over with him and he set me up for his last appointment for the day. When the other patients were gone I bought in a pistol and aimed at a dot on the wall while he did his thing with changing lenses, better, worse routine. It worked out great. Got lenses made for my shooting glasses. If you can find an eye doctor willing to do this it would make it possible to not juggle contacts, simply put on your shooting glasses that you should be wearing anyway. He was able to bring the front site into focus and still allow me to see the targets bullseye in focus. Hope you work something out. I k own how frustrated I was getting with it.

thanks jk ill ask around. postvirus i guess

 

[dunraven]

I am a retired optometrist who has shot benchrest, now f class and prs, very little pistol. Regardless of age, a person can focus at only one distance at a time. So, on a pistol, the pistol sights must be focused and aligned, and this will always leave the target blurred; it has to. As we age we All lose the ability to 'accommodate'/focus on near objects. I find that wearing a pair of reading glasses is all I need for pistol shooting, power based on age, where the distance to pistol sights at arms length is about 16 inches, and that is where a +2.50 will focus. The weaker the reading glasses are, the less blurred the target will be. In PRS matches, there can be quite a number of turret changes, plus variations in lighting, so what works for me is a pair of bifocal shooting glasses. Sometimes I will buy the shooting glasses and add the press-on bifocal segs, in a +3.00, since the turret is about 13 inches away from my eye; I will position them high enough so minimal head movement is required. I have heard of shooters placing them 'upside down' on the lenses.
So for those wearing CLs or had Lasik with a distance only correction, these systems could work: readers for pistol, bifocals for rifle. I could try to address specific situations if you like. BTW, another issue I have seen mentioned is a shooter seeing a double image or ghost image, especially when looking at the reticle. Quite often this is a result of an uncorrected astigmatism(a refractive error) in the prescription. You'll need to seek out a professional to fix that one.

Another option for CL wearers is monovision, one eye for distance the other for near. Many like this system, tho you lose depth perception.

 

[dc.fireman]

Just some info on what position shooters use:

http://www.precision-sports.com/qchamp.htm

 

[jk80]

. I find that wearing a pair of reading glasses is all I need for pistol shooting, power based on age, where the distance to pistol sights at arms length is about 16 inches, and that is where a +2.50 will focus

I sure hope those readers are shatter proof. I've had target pieces and got lenses chipped from shot with a ricochet of the front of a trap house. Anything can happen and I don't think I'd trust otc readers to protect my vision.

 

[dunraven]

I sure hope those readers are shatter proof. I've had target pieces and got lenses chipped from shot with a ricochet of the front of a trap house. Anything can happen and I don't think I'd trust otc readers to protect my vision.

I don't believe I recommended otc readers. Go back and reread. But the fact is reading lenses of any kind are made many times thicker, and therefore more impact resistant than any off-the-shelf shooting glasses, so you could make the argument that they are 'safer'. Did not expect criticism. Just trying to help those willing to accept it.

 

[kvd]

A few years back, my optometrist, who is a friend of mine, set me up with a pair of safety/shooting glasses with a right lens specifically designed for see the front sight in clear focus on a service rifle. I told him the approximate distance between my eye and the front sight I couldn't focus with my normal glasses or no glasses and he made a few quick calculations for an optimal lens shape for my right eye which has an astigmatism. With these safety glasses the front sight is in sharp focus. He even took into account the fact I wouldn't be looking through the right lens straight on but on an angle when in a shooting position. The science of optics is fairly well understood and if you know the focal distance that is to be in sharp focus, once the particulars of your shooting eye are known, a lens can be designed for what you want. I suppose this can be done with contact lenses - I've never worn them but it should be doable.

 

[hoz53]

I am a retired optometrist who has shot benchrest, now f class and prs, very little pistol. Regardless of age, a person can focus at only one distance at a time. So, on a pistol, the pistol sights must be focused and aligned, and this will always leave the target blurred; it has to. As we age we All lose the ability to 'accommodate'/focus on near objects. I find that wearing a pair of reading glasses is all I need for pistol shooting, power based on age, where the distance to pistol sights at arms length is about 16 inches, and that is where a +2.50 will focus. The weaker the reading glasses are, the less blurred the target will be. In PRS matches, there can be quite a number of turret changes, plus variations in lighting, so what works for me is a pair of bifocal shooting glasses. Sometimes I will buy the shooting glasses and add the press-on bifocal segs, in a +3.00, since the turret is about 13 inches away from my eye; I will position them high enough so minimal head movement is required. I have heard of shooters placing them 'upside down' on the lenses.
So for those wearing CLs or had Lasik with a distance only correction, these systems could work: readers for pistol, bifocals for rifle. I could try to address specific situations if you like. BTW, another issue I have seen mentioned is a shooter seeing a double image or ghost image, especially when looking at the reticle. Quite often this is a result of an uncorrected astigmatism(a refractive error) in the prescription. You'll need to seek out a professional to fix that one.

thats alot of great info Dunraven. Thank You-- I also have kerataconus or cornea damage in my right ( shooting eye. ). sometimes the target appears to jump around shooting rifle with a scope. I find i need to use NF scopes or better to see very good. i was very nearsighted since 4th grade but when i was younger correction enabled me to see the sights well. Of coarse that changes. ill read through ur post several more times to make sure i get all i can out of it. thanks again

 

[hoz53]

Just some info on what position shooters use:

http://www.precision-sports.com/qchamp.htm

thanks for that dc-- i will read through that stuff

 

[hoz53]

A few years back, my optometrist, who is a friend of mine, set me up with a pair of safety/shooting glasses with a right lens specifically designed for see the front sight in clear focus on a service rifle. I told him the approximate distance between my eye and the front sight I couldn't focus with my normal glasses or no glasses and he made a few quick calculations for an optimal lens shape for my right eye which has an astigmatism. With these safety glasses the front sight is in sharp focus. He even took into account the fact I wouldn't be looking through the right lens straight on but on an angle when in a shooting position. The science of optics is fairly well understood and if you know the focal distance that is to be in sharp focus, once the particulars of your shooting eye are known, a lens can be designed for what you want. I suppose this can be done with contact lenses - I've never worn them but it should be doable.

Thanks kvd-- thats interesting-- i do have the cornea damage which makes my eye blurry and the only real fix for that is a cornea transplant. i will check around though now that ive heard from guys like you to see wat i can find. You got me thinking wat happened to those bob jones inserts. i have some of them around somewhere.

 

[dunraven]

I presume that with keratoconus(for others, 'bulging/thinning of the front surface of the eye) you already have experience with CLs; there are a number of options, including a 'piggy-back' system where a gas perm lens is fitted atop a soft lens; I have used this system. Keratoconus is always a challenge, as perfect results are often just not achieveable. Transplant is often unavoidable, but with a capable surgeon, results are often satisfactory.

thats alot of great info Dunraven. Thank You-- I also have kerataconus or cornea damage in my right ( shooting eye. ). sometimes the target appears to jump around shooting rifle with a scope. I find i need to use NF scopes or better to see very good. i was very nearsighted since 4th grade but when i was younger correction enabled me to see the sights well. Of coarse that changes. ill read through ur post several more times to make sure i get all i can out of it. thanks again[/QUOT