Iron Sights for Aging Practitioners

[Pawnee]

Expounding on another thread, I am starting to have trouble seeing my front sight. I have tried Trijicon HD Night Sights, Advantage Tactical Firefly Sights, Snake Eye's Ghost Ring Sights, and most recently XS Big Dot Sights. The last two have been an improvement, but I am wondering what other options might be out there. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[specopsscout]

I found that a cheap set of readers from the pharmacy helped my aging eyes see my sights again, and significantly tighten my grouping.

[Eurodriver]

Pawnee, get a red dot for your pistol.

I have an affinity for the Trijicon HD sights, but where I used to say "I'm gonna see if I can hit this guy in the face at 10 yards" now its "I'm gonna see if I can hit this guy in the pupil at 20 yards". Literally.

You've already spent $400+ on sights by my math. An RMR milled to your slide will run you about $800.

http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w521/6234987u02/FullSizeRender_zps5wwnrchb.jpg

[T2C]

I ran into the same issue several years ago. You want a balance between better sight focus and a lesser amount of target distortion. 1.0 power reading glasses were too powerful for me to use while shooting pistol or rifle and that was the lowest power I could find at local stores. If I buy cheap reading glasses for reading newspapers, I have to buy them in the 1.25 power to 1.50 range. If you require more powerful reading glasses, 1.0 power readers may be good enough for shooting handgun.

After some searching I found safety glasses with 50mm reading lenses that work well for me when shooting with iron sights. I use 0.5 power to shoot rifle and 0.75 power for shooting handguns.

http://www.safetyglassesusa.com/bf85.html

If you search for bifocal on the website, you will find safety glasses with magnification in small areas of the lenses. If you type "reader" in the search engine box, you will find safety glasses with larger areas on the lenses with magnification.

[Hmac]

Presbyopia makes shooting with iron sights problematic. An RDS works well for rifles, is even preferable. I only have one rifle that even has iron sights (BUIS), and I never use them. For pistols, I wouldn't even consider spending the money, machining a slide and ending up with a pistol that's difficult to conceal and even harder to use.

The most practical solution is going to rest with a knowledgeable optometrist, or at least some creative experimentation with cheap drugstore reading glasses, finding a correction somewhere between what you need for reading that still allows you to focus reasonably well on infinity.

[Delta-3]

Give these guys a try. http://www.tacticalrx.com/

[FlyingHunter]

I surrendered and went with a RDS. I went with the Leupold Deltpoint Pro however there are other excellent choices available such as Trijicon and Vortex. I like the transition from rifle red dot to pistol red dot. I'm glad I finally gave up trying to focus on what I couldn't see clearly. It's worth the costs/effort in my opinion.

[specopsscout]

Oakley and WileyX also offer their ballistic glasses with prescription lenses. My Eye Doctors office stocked several versions of safety glasses applicable for shooting. While not quite as sexy or name brand as the Oakleys or Wileys, I priced out a good set at ninety dollars, vs. the two hundred twenty five for the Oakleys and the three hundred for the Wileys. So, prescription shooting glasses are always an option, too.

[LDM]

Multifocal contact lens for dominate eye, with optimal focus at 18" (you will have to tell your optometrist you want optimal focus at 18"; you want to be able to hold your arm out and see your thumbnail clearly).
This will also help with viewing computer screen.
All around, just makes life easier.
I actually wear multifocals in BOTH eyes.

[Edmo]

For my carry guns I use the Ameriglo iDot Pro sights...

They have a tritium dot-over-dot for night and for daylight the front sight has an orange circle. Both are easier for me to visually acquire and align.

They likely will be about the same as the sights you listed, but have worked well for me.

Edmo

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l223/Edmo_03/gun%20stuff/IdotPro_zps843d78b9.png

[26 Inf]

I've gone through the same thing.

What I did was take my gun to the doctor's office and have him measure pupil to front sight (checked first - he was okay with it) he gave me the script for correcting my left eye and I bought a pair of Oakley RX's with the left eye corrected. Those are my range glasses.

I see good enough - I'm 20/20ish except for presbyopia - and I can shoot okay 'socially' without correction.

The other thing I did was go with a .145 rear and and a .105 front w/fiber optic - w/o the glasses the fuzz of the front sight still allows me to center in the wider notch. I have another gun with a .135 rear and it also works.

That combination of widths is what works for me.

[yoni]

I have the same problem. I can still get the job done with Iron sights if the target is close i.e. self defense but if I needed to shoot beyond 10 meters forget it.

But with XS big dots I can extend the range to 25 meters, but I am not shooting little sized groups with these sights.

I do have a Glock with an RMR and this allows me to shoot little groups at 25 meters and beyond. My CZ P09 is going to get an RMR, very soon.