I have come to accept reality----reluctantly!

[1Shirt]

I must accept the fact that at age 74, I just plain can't see with open sights to shoot much past 50 yds at small targets.

Put a big bull out there at 100 and I can see it and do well with my 303Brit, Mosin, 6.5x55 Swede, and my K-31, BUT, I need about a 12" bull in order to have a group worth a hoot. With receiver sights I can get away with a 6" bull at 100. Now I learned this probably some time ago, but was just not willing to accept it then. However, I signed up for the CBA postal winter military bench rest match, and have been looking for the best load for my K-31 to shoot same. Well, on a 6" bull at 50 yds with just about aniy load in the 1600-1800 fps level, can keep them into 2" or under. The bull on the CBA target however is considerably smaller (probably 4" or so), and I have trouble even seeing it at 100. 10 rounds on paper, but about an 7-8" group. SO----------I wasted my entry money for the match, but learned that the reality is that if I want to shoot groups at 100, I durn well better have a scope on the rifle.

I am still capable of good groups with the right rifle and a decent scope. And I will continue to shoot open sighted Milsurps at 50 yds and be happy doing so. I am still capable of consistant (scoped rifle) 250-300 yd kills on P-dogs, with an occaisional 1-2 shot kill the 400-500 yd area. I am thankfull for the ability to get to the range frequently, and to be able to take a deer or two this past year.
I will continue to bang away with my open sighted Milsurps, because they are sort of a first love, but it will be at bigger targets than in times past. The mind says I can still shoot as well as I did in my 40's and 50's, but the body and eyes say no way Jose!
1Shirt!:D

[Jim]

I've got a lot more scoped rifles than I had a few years ago. Blind in one eye and the other one don't work.

[starreloader]

Hey Jim, seems like you and I have the same problem.... I consider a hit on a trash can at 25 yds a good afternoon for me... Glasses don't help much anymore!!

[blademasterii]

Congratulations on making it that long, I'm 32 and I have the same problem. A 2'' target at 15 yards consists of line the two back blurry things up with the front blurry thing on the orange blurry thing and squeeze. I am scoping almost everything. I can hit a man size target at 100 with a pistol open sights, but headshots are out and center mass is more of a hoped for thing. Now at 7 yards I can cut the center of the x, but beyond that i'm screwed.

[Goatwhiskers]

Yup, I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was. As someone else said: "my one shot groups are perfect, it's the following shots that foul everything up". GW

[cbrick]

Been there, done that. Kept trying to shoot long range handgun right up until the time the Ophthalmologist told me I was legally blind. That kind of explained the lousy scores.

Had cataract surgery in both eyes and that fixed the legally blind thing but it didn't help the shooting that much. Now I can see distance pretty well but use grail to find the sights. I can wear glasses to bring in the sights fairly well but that pretty much removes the target. It's one or the other, sights or targets.

Use a whole lot more scopes myself these days. Ah well, I know of only one alternative to getting older and that just ain't acceptable so old it is.

Rick

[deces]

I know for none thing medications can affect eye sight permanently.

[white eagle]

to be honest I could never shoot with irons
so I have no hangups on using glass on my rifles
make a more precise shot anyway
I decided when I was very young that scopes were for me and have been using them since then
when I get to your age I will be at home with them and then some
but like you say shooting is what its all about anaway

[Doc Highwall]

cbrick, I had lens implants two summer ago and I can see 20/20 with my left eye with out glasses. I bought a pair of progressive lens glasses for reading, and by slowly tilting my head back I am able to find a good sight picture with out blurring out the target.

[btroj]

Trust me, 1shrts rifles shoot fine with irons. At least for me they do. Must be the 28 year age difference.
I miss my eyesight of old. The hearing doesn't bother me much, allows me to ignore things easier.

[runfiverun]

I knew it was bad when the wife bought me some reading glasses.
for a while there I thought everything I cast was perfect.
at least I can cut my fingernails again. :lol:

[gon2shoot]

I just keep using bigger boolits. :roll:

[oldarkie]

i can see both the front and rear site,just not at the same time.scopes are great.

[geargnasher]

No shame in glass. If I could throw a rock a hundred yards at 2k fps with accuracy I wouldn't need to cheat by using a rifle in the first place.

Gear

[Jim]

Blind, deaf, crippled up and useless as brakes on a boat. What a bunch! And I'm right dead in the middle of it! :bigsmyl2:

That's awright, though. I tell them young boys I've seen rusty ol' trucks pull brand new ones outa' th' ditch, right guys?

[41 mag fan]

That's what shotguns are for..that way people don't know you're blind and can't see!!


Blind, deaf, crippled up and useless as brakes on a boat. What a bunch! And I'm right dead in the middle of it! :bigsmyl2:

That's awright, though. I tell them young boys I've seen rusty ol' trucks pull brand new ones outa' th' ditch, right guys?

That aint a rusty truck Jim...that's just mud on it!! [smilie=1:

[TJF1]

blind, deaf, crippled up and useless as brakes on a boat. What a bunch! And i'm right dead in the middle of it! :bigsmyl2:

That's awright, though. I tell them young boys i've seen rusty ol' trucks pull brand new ones outa' th' ditch, right guys?

you are not alone jim terry

[PS Paul]

Tough pill to swallow, I know. I have a corneal transplant in my left eye and about 20-35 on a good day in my dominant "shootin' eye"!! I can still focus on the front sight on a revolver if the barrel isn't much longer than 6", but any further and I get nothin' but disappointment. A big, steamin' bowl of disappointment. Makes me hyper-sensitive to keepin' flying objects OUT of my remaining good eye, so glasses when shooting are 100% mandatory for me.

Otherwise, ain't gettin' ol just great! har har!!

[Ed Barrett]

Merit makes a little gizmo you put on your shooting glasses or prescription glasses with a suction cup and swing this disk with a small hole over your eye. I works like a camera aperture and brings the sights and target into Focus. They used to be very popular with pistol shooters and are legal to use. Th Ozark method is to take a piece of electrical tape and make a small hole in it and tape it on the lens of a spare pair of glasses. Looks like hell but the sights and target are in focus. I'm only 71 so my sight is still as good as when I was on the Navy Rifle team in 1962. (If you believe that I've got some rare stuff to sell you).

[wallenba]

I'm a bit better after my cataract surguries, but I have some 'floaters' that cruise around in my eyeballs. For you young guys that don't know what they are, they are shadows that fall on your retina from detached vitrious gel that lines the back of your eye. As you get older the gel thickens, sloughs off and floats around.
I have one of those peep aperature gadgets that stick to your safety glasses lens. Forget what the call them, but it helps.

Just came to me..a diopter is what it's called.

[Mal Paso]

And Daylight! The more light the better.

[cbrick]

My Champion shooting glasses with all the extra lens inserts has the diopter built in. The Merit is called the Merit Optical and yes they help, used one for years but any more it's hail to and long live the scope. The scope has to be decent quality, if it's dark at all or not at least 6X even that doesn't help much.

Rick

[xs11jack]

I got a good surprize at the eye doc's two months ago. 5 year ago my eyes were 20 35, then 2 years ago they were 20 30 now at age 70 they are 20 25. the doc said you don't need glasses for distance any more. I immediately went to the range to check it out and found the 100 yards clearer without glasses than the glasses I got 2 years ago. I do have catarcts coming though and one day soon they will catch up with me. Got to enjoy what I have till then.
Jack

[tommag]

I don't know the details, but I have a 70 yr old friend who recently had cataract surgery. He had flexible lenses put in and can change his focus at will, just like he could at twenty.

[Artful]

1Shirt, If it was me - I'd make up a ring - center it over the smaller 4 inch bull and make the outer ring the size you need - after shooting your small group just pull off the ring.

Your shooting on their target, but is there anything in the rules that would disallow enlarging
or putting up something to shoot thru before getting to their target?

[1Shirt]

Well Artful, the thought of doing that had crossed my mind briefly. However the CBA postal match is an honor system shoot, and in reality, you are shooting against yourself. If I can't do it like all the others do, I will pass on an alternative. Appreciate the thought however.
1Shirt

[Blacksmith]

Here is a link to the Merit devise:
http://www.meritcorporation.com/products.html

[Doc Highwall]

Here is something else to consider.
http://www.sinclairintl.com/optics/sights/sight-accessories/aos-microsight-prod44975.aspx

[Harter66]

At the ripe old age of 46 i am feeling the pinch too.

At 30 15/20 and 18/20 at 35 the left dominate eye colapsed and left me 20/30 -18/20 at 39 i gave into bifocals being out of arm extention to read the mics,I've stablized for a while at 20/40 and 20/20 . The progressive lenses have been a God send for me . The best thing to come out of it ? While the MDs and ODs were in denile I learned to shoot ambidexously . The right side still takes focus to not get cross eyed and the snap shot just comes to the left because.

Its about the hunt not the harvest though.

[Ed Barrett]

Here is something else to consider.
http://www.sinclairintl.com/optics/sights/sight-accessories/aos-microsight-prod44975.aspx

This device has lenses in it so you cant use it for iron sight matches. The Merit is just an aperture (Small hole).

[country gent]

I shot NRA high power for years. One sunday the wife and I were at a range in Mich for a High power match. I had drove there. We got set up side by side I was going to spot her first few shots and get her zeroed. I tried to look thry the spotting scope and nothing was there with the right eye. Got on my rifle couldnt see the rear appeture right in front of my eye. She shot I didnt. She drove home. It did finally come back some but it was the results of Multiple Schklrocis working on the right optic nerve. I now shoot scopes or recently have been able to "see" apetures again on my sharps. But I need a much bigger rear appeture than before, Thanks for hadleys eye cups.
Use a black you can see dont make shooting a vision contest, I used to put 3/4" target pasters on shipping paper for 50 yd targets LOL not any more.

[Doc Highwall]

This device has lenses in it so you cant use it for iron sight matches. The Merit is just an aperture (Small hole).

This devise is legal for Iron sight NRA/CMP matches as it is really a single lens (Fresnel) not much different them wearing glasses. But it does have it's drawbacks that the front sight has to be a certain distance from the rear to work. I do not know about if it would be legal in schutzen matches or CBA.

[wallenba]

Here's the one I have, and it's under $20. http://www.midwayusa.com/product/936878/lyman-hawkeye-shooters-diopter-optic-aid

[1Shirt]

Just ordered one! Might be a good cheap investment! Thanks Wallenba!
1Shirt!

[popper]

diopter optic aid - is a pinhole lens. If it works for you, great. I just need an aid for double vision & generally old eyes. Been thinking a peep or holo sight. I don't shoot competition though.

[km101]

Vision is shot, hearing's about gone, but of all the things that I have lost, I miss my mind the most! :)

I've been shooting scopes so long that I dont really mind any more. At least I am able to shoot!

[Hamish]

Just ordered one! Might be a good cheap investment! Thanks Wallenba!
1Shirt!

I think you will be pleased, glad you are going to give it a shot!

[Boyscout]

This is not my idea but here are some pictures of the diopters I made last week. I used my old single lens prescription, a Fiskars 1/16" hole punch, a circle cutter and blue masking tape. I also have a 1/8" hole punch.6578265783

[Doc Highwall]

This is what I have that clamp on my regular glasses.
http://www.champchoice.com/prod-GEHMANN_IRIS___DISC_FOR_REGULAR_GLASSES-1088.aspx

And this for my shooting glasses.
http://www.champchoice.com/detail.aspx?ID=124
These are my shooting glasses.
http://www.champchoice.com/prod-KNOBLOCH_FRAMES_W_37mm_LENS_HOLDER,ADJ_NOSE_PIECE, CARRY_CASE-1699.aspx

[Chicken Thief]

What a bunch of sad old pharts ;)
And at 48 i'm in the club.

[Tazman1602]

Get some bifocals ya' old coot!!!

Art


I've got a lot more scoped rifles than I had a few years ago. Blind in one eye and the other one don't work.

[fecmech]

I use the Merit adjustable aperture with a .6 diopter lens in it. I swap it back and forth to all my peep sighted levers and it only takes a couple seconds. I'm 70 now and between the mild diopter lens and the adjustable aperture I can see the front sight pretty good even on my little 16" Henry .22. Handguns with the exception of carry and home defense have dots on them. I went to them about 15 yrs ago because I couldn't see the irons well enough.

[TXGunNut]

Youth is indeed wasted on the young. Back when I could see well enough to shoot open sights I didn't have much use for leverguns and my hunting rifles generally wore scopes. Soon after I started wearing progressive lenses I learned to appreciate rifles without scopes, especially leverguns. Nowadays I need peeps, an 8" bull and a sunny day to put anything meaningful on paper @ 100 yds, often have to be content to plink @ 50. Funny thing is, some of those youngsters with their tacticool rifles and scopes can't keep up with an old guy with a levergun that damn near needs a seeing-eye dog to find the target.

[cbrick]

Funny thing is, some of those youngsters with their tacticool rifles and scopes can't keep up with an old guy with a levergun that damn near needs a seeing-eye dog to find the target.

Ya could do what I finally did . . . Sign up for lessons at the Helen Keller school of shooting. :mrgreen:

Rick

[geargnasher]

I have floaters so bad that diopters don't help. Some days everything looks like driving in the rain with the wipers off. Magnification, and lots of it, is the solution. Handguns with combat or three-dot sights (particularly the super-neat new fiber optic/tritium combo sights) are still fine for now. If it gets any worse I'm going for at least one vitrectomy.

Gear

[x101airborne]

I am starting to have the same problem with open sights. Until joining here, I never contemplated anything but scoped rifles. And I still use them, but they are not as interesting as they used to be.
For me, if I am not blind or getting there, I am shaking like a leaf. If I am not shaking, my carpal tunnel is making my hand go numb. It just seems like there is another physical obstacle to overcome and I am thrilled to be here to do it. Thank you God for another day!

[cat223]

7 Stages of Grief (Loss)...

1. SHOCK & DENIAL-
2. PAIN & GUILT-
3. ANGER & BARGAINING-
4. "DEPRESSION", REFLECTION, LONELINESS-
5. THE UPWARD TURN-
6. RECONSTRUCTION & WORKING THROUGH-
7. ACCEPTANCE & HOPE-

I'm fairly comfortable here in denial so just back off. Besides, I really don't like pain so I fear I'll move rapidly to anger. I like scopes. They're really nice.

[dakotashooter2]

You mean we are supposed to be able to see our targets to shoot at them? I thought just shooting in the direction of the sound was acceptable.......................................


;)

[OeldeWolf]

It has been taking me time to come to accept all the health things that have started happening.
But as someone else said, the alternative to growing older is not acceptable. And I am too darned stubborn to give up.

No open range to try shooting at tomorrow (I had forgoten or lost track of when Easter is, sheesh!), but next weekend I aim to find out if I can still handle my favorite arms. If not, I have been thinking of blasck powder cartridge, and maybe one of eugene stoner's designs.

Giving up shooting and firearms is not an acceptable alternative. Especially not at only 54, lol.

[Superfly]

Hey first shirt Do you have a pic of the 6.5x55 i miss mine alot i was a dumb broke young and married kid and had to sell mine to pay for food so well i sure miss mine it was a real swede un touched and accurate as hell I was a dumb *** to sell it. I am going to see if the guy that bought it will sell it back if he still has it or if he has not Basterized it.

[1Shirt]

Superfly, never posted a picture on this forum, so maybe it is about time I learned the process. Just don't hold your breath till you see it on line however. And as to Bifocals, forget them-----have been in Trifocals now for well over 35 years and counting (for whoever made that suggestion). Have 2 Swed's, both issue, one 1907 the other 09. Both good cast shooters, one scoped w/long eye relief scope, the other straight as issue.
1Shirt!

[Superfly]

Must see these pictures I need to call howard and see if he will sell my old one back but knwing him it wont happen.

[FISH4BUGS]

This is one reason I shoot machine guns........who cares if you can't see the target? You are bound to hit it with one of thirty shots anyway.........three round bursts are great from raising the hit percentage. But machine guns are really, really, really, really (did I mention REALLY?) fun to shoot.
Blind in my right eye and right handed, but shoot handguns slightly moved over the the left to shoot from my left eye, and I shoot rifles left handed.
Works for me.......

[Doc Highwall]

FISHFORBUGS, I have the same problem and do the same thing with the hand gun.

[oldfart1956]

Ahhh...the old coots curse. I'm with the rest of you guys. Found out bifocals suck. See the front sight or the rear...pick one. See the target or the sights...pick one. Working with the trapdoor I'm also trying bigger and more contrast on the target. Now up to 4ft.X4ft. backer boards and an 8in. white bull at 100yds. and they're sorta kinda visible. I really like the 3-spot targets the archers use. Bright yellow bull with surrounding blue...or is it red circle. (eyes aren't the only thing going...) Put a red fibre-optic front sight on the trapdoor and with the lower peep it's borderline amazing. I still can't actually see the bulls...mostly a white blob at 100yds. but I can get puddy good groups. (best so far 2in. with 20gr. of 2400) Handguns...open sights? Fuggetaboudit. 25yds. max on good sunny days. Audie....the Oldfart..

[smokeywolf]

Went to the range day before yesterday and managed to put holes in the paper, but holes in the black were more luck than anything else. Did OK with the one and only rifle I have with a scope; a 218 bee with an original Winchester A5 scope on it.
After punishing our shoulders with the '86 45-70 BIL says lets move over to the pistol end of the range and try our luck. My luck wasn't so good. My hands shake. A LOT! shooting off-hand I was lucky to hit the 18" metal targets at 30 yards.

Getting old may make it a bunch more challenging, but it's still just as much fun.

smokeywolf

[GaryN]

If I only want to see one target I have to wear contacts or glasses. I went out last year to shoot and there were two targets. But I only set out one. I always had perfect vision. I guess I was spoiled. What happened first was I needed reading glasses. I had to carry glasses in my pack so I could punch my tag if I shot something. Now I need glasses to see far away. My eyes are changing. I tried the progressive contact lenses but I have never liked anything progressive.