pistol sight picture acquisition

[bdickens]

I have 20/20 vision as well, yet I have trouble seeing clearly at long distances (300M +).

Aside from that, being cross-dominant, I find the Chapman stance more conducive to rapid sight acquisition than even the Isosceles.

[stillwaiting08]

Ever considered laser grips?

[mr.72]

Glasses?

well, now. I have 20/20 vision.

Not to sound facetious, but are you absolutely sure?

Yep. Ophthalmologist confirmed this 6 months ago.

Actually my vision is better now than it was when I was younger.

[saj111]

sounds like you may be having the same problem my daughter had. you should leave both eyes open but you are sighting with your dominant eye not both. always focus on the front sight.
practice at home. dryfire, dryfire, dryfire!!!!

[jpierce30]

I have had the same issues all my life. I finally just started practicing and forcing myself to focus only on the front sight. After alot of dry fire at home, my sight is getting in focus the majority of the time. When I start losing the front sight focus, I tell myself to stop, slow down, and re-focus on the front sight. I also painted my entire front sight bright white and blacked out the rear. Now when I draw and aim, all I see is the white block at the front of my pistol. I also painted the front sight on my AR-15.

Just lots and lots of practice.

Seems to be working.

[mr.72]

well i painted the front sight bright orange. let's see if that helps.

sometimes I get it easy, sometimes I just can't acquire the sights at all without blinking my left eye.

slow down, relax, and then re-acquire the sight picture may work on the range but I don't want to rely on that technique under stress.

[KBCraig]

Remember, 20/20 only applies at distances of 20 feet. My father had better than 20/20 his whole life (20/10 in one eye, 20/15 in the other), but couldn't see anything closer than 6 feet without glasses.

I'm the other way, being mildly myopic. I can see fine without glasses, but I'm devoted (okay, "obsessive") about crisp vision at all distances. That's one of the reasons why I don't wear contacts: they just can't be as crisp as glasses.

I'm 45, have worn glasses since I was 15, and until a couple of years ago never took my glasses off during waking hours, even when doing close-up work. About a year ago the optometrist told me I needed bifocals, which I just laughed off: "And what's my near-vision correction, again?" "Um, zero." "Mmmmkthanks, I'll stick with single vision."

I do find myself either taking my glasses off, or looking around them, simply because of the biological fact that aging makes it harder to change focus to compensate for the far-vision correction in my lenses. Since I don't need glasses at close distances, it's simpler (and much cheaper) to just take them off when I'm at the computer or reading (which the doc told me I would have to do 30 years ago; my eyes finally caught up with science!) Even in those cases I only have to do it when I'm tired; if my eyes are fresh, I can leave my glasses on for detail work from 12-30 inches. Front sights are still well within my focal range, with glasses or without.

[mr.72]

Front sights are still well within my focal range, with glasses or without.

Well that's the key I guess. My problem is not seeing the sights, it's aligning the front sight in the notch of the rear sight because when I focus on the front sight, I have a "double" image of the rear sight. So there are two notches that I could align the front sight in, one for my left eye and one for my right eye.

So the problem is getting it aligned. Sometimes it tries to get aligned with the left eye's notch, and sometimes the right. Sometimes I find that I end up obscuring the front sight with the sides of the rear sight and don't know which direction I need to move to get it right because one way is the left eye's notch, and the other way is the right eye's notch.

As of now, the only way I can pick up the sight is to first focus on the target and "point" at it with the gun, then once the front sight is on the target I can change my focus from the target to the front sight and I get a good sight picture most of the time like this. However I can almost never just start by looking at the front sight, if so the double vision image of the rear sights totally screws me up. I know people say to ignore the rear sight but I can't: it is in the way!

[flintknapper]

Front sights are still well within my focal range, with glasses or without.

Well that's the key I guess. My problem is not seeing the sights, it's aligning the front sight in the notch of the rear sight because when I focus on the front sight, I have a "double" image of the rear sight. So there are two notches that I could align the front sight in, one for my left eye and one for my right eye.

So the problem is getting it aligned. Sometimes it tries to get aligned with the left eye's notch, and sometimes the right. Sometimes I find that I end up obscuring the front sight with the sides of the rear sight and don't know which direction I need to move to get it right because one way is the left eye's notch, and the other way is the right eye's notch.

As of now, the only way I can pick up the sight is to first focus on the target and "point" at it with the gun, then once the front sight is on the target I can change my focus from the target to the front sight and I get a good sight picture most of the time like this. However I can almost never just start by looking at the front sight, if so the double vision image of the rear sights totally screws me up. I know people say to ignore the rear sight but I can't: it is in the way!

Sounds as if your eye "dominance" is marginal. In other words your eyes are "competing" for a dominant sight picture. My younger brother has this problem.

We had to change his shooting style from Isosceles to a very bladed Weaver...and train him to "squint" his left eye slightly in order for him to reliably acquire a sight picture. He is right handed, right eye dominant...but barely (he can also shoot left handed/left eye very well).

A prominent front sight (either larger or brightly colored) may be of some benefit to you...as it will almost certainly provide a ghost sight picture if your tendency is to focus on the target (as mine is).

You are aware of course, that the human eye can not focus on all three objects at once (target, front sight, rear sight).

Sounds like you "point shoot" very well...(a critical skill at close distances), so you already have what you need for most defensive situations. Don't be afraid to experiment a little and see what is necessary for YOU to shoot accurately and with confidence. It doesn't matter what the majority of folks do...or what the so called "experts" recommend. Just find what will work for you and practice it until it becomes committed to muscle memory.

Good luck,

Flint.

[Skiprr]

I do find myself either taking my glasses off, or looking around them, simply because of the biological fact that aging makes it harder to change focus to compensate for the far-vision correction in my lenses. Since I don't need glasses at close distances...

You youngsters; I swear.

But I hear ya on the visual acuity aspect. I tried contacts many years ago and never liked the results. So now--in your future, young Padawan--my daily-wear glasses are progressive focus lenses (I'd be in trifocals otherwise); I own a pair of single-vision reading glasses which are much better for dedicated reading of more than 15 minutes or so; and I have two pairs of shooting glasses that are single-vision distance focused for my non-dominant eye, and single-vision focused at 24" for my dominant eye. The latter work fine for handguns and rifles with optics; iron-sight rifles I gotta go to my regular glasses. And for about half-and-half of my handgun practice, I use my regular glasses then dip my head to look over the top of the rims to get a sight picture...my rear sight is crisper than the front this way, but it's better than trying to find that thin strip near the bottom of my progressive lenses that brings the front sight into clear focus.

See what you have to look forward to?