I’m sure this topic has come up before, but I’m hoping their may be some new information floating around out there. Or maybe new people with old information that hasn’t been posted here. Either way works for me.
Even after cataract surgery and new glasses I just can’t get a clear sight picture. Either the rear sight or front sight (or both) blurs enough that I can’t get them into proper alignment. Even when I do make a good shot I can’t seem to repeat it. I’ve tried various tricks, techniques, training regimens, and dry-fire laser system, all to no avail. The pistols I own are no blessed with much in the way of aftermarket sights (or anything else) made for them.
Red dots haven’t done much for me for a variety or reasons, not least of which is the cost of a quality RMR sight and proper mounting would easily exceed the original cost of the pistol itself. That just isn’t in the budget, now or ever. Neither is a new pistol ready-made to accept the RMR.
All of my sights have a square notch rear and post front sight, with one pistol having a fiber optic front sight. I’m currently considering filing the rear notch into a -v- notch. The idea is to move the sides of the notch further away from the front post in order to reduce the blur factor. That’s going to end u making a pretty wide ‘V’, but maybe it’ll work? If I could find someone who sells rear sight blanks with a close-enough dovetail I’d buy a few and try filing out different notch shapes/sizes in hopes of devising one that works for me.
Ooh; maybe try a full buckhorn sight like I used to have on my old muzzleloading rifle? Of course, my eyes were younger then.
I just had a Holosun 507C green dot sight added to a revolver, for somewhat the same reason. It already had a fiber-optic front sight, but I couldn’t see it well except in bright sunlight. The green dot, on the other hand, is very visible, with a circle around a central dot helping me see to aim.
Another option is a Crimson Trace laser. Those work extremely well except in bright sunlight.
@David38 WOW! OK! Hmm! You have really given me something to think about, great post. Now, my eyes are still ok, and my cataracts are still small, but that’s not to say that at some point, there WILL be that time. My wife had hers done, and given a choice, she preferred to see far, but for reading, she uses reading glasses. Now reading your post, this had NEVER crossed my mind. I do have an eye doctor’s appointment next month so I’m going to ask questions about cataracts surgery, sight, and the effect of sight being out at the firing range, and what’s the best course of action, IF it’s ever been questioned by anyone in this kind of activity. So. in your situation, can you see far but need reading glasses? The way I’m thinking, now I don’t know if you’re firing a handgun or a rifle, but when you bring it up and looking through the sights, maybe with glasses on, you may see through the sights ok, but you can’t see down range with the glasses (blurred), so, without the glasses, looking down range, you can see your target, but your eye on the sight is blurred. Is this what you are referring to? Once a Lense is a replacement on the eyes (artificial), for the most part, changes everything, and not the same as the eyesight of the younger years (my thought). I don’t know if your surgery had been recent, but adjustments may have to be made. I hope you find a remedy for adjusting to time on the range, just hope it’s not something we (future cataract recipients) are going to have to give up the gun sport! This sure will open up some great conversations, and can’t wait for others who have experienced this, to chime in. Thanks for this great conversation. Very informative!
We all have challenges with our vision as we age. My personal solutions have changed from a child to currently 69 years old.
As a child I was extremely near-sighted with astigmatism in the right eye. I could see every vain in a leaf, but a tree looked like a green blob on a brown stick. I shot long guns then, so my solution was to wrap my neck over the top and shot right handed, but used left eye to aim.
My vision transitioned thru the years to becoming far-sighted and needing glasses to read. My biggest problem with shooting today is seeing the front sight in lower light. My 1st change of pistol sights from white dots was to Truglo TFX tritium/fiber combination. I have been very pleased with them. This was on a duty size.
The one I am working on now is a short radius micro compact with factory tritium night sights. I didn’t want to lose sight radius to the TFX sights, so I am trying out HiViz fiber optic front sight. It is amazingly brighter than the TFX sights. And the bonus, the HiViz was $27 on Amazon. There is of course added expense if you have to pay a gunsmith or buy tools.
I’ve never had anything on handguns except the basic iron sights. However, my low light vision is not very good anymore. For my basic EDC I’ve practiced point shooting so much that I don’t really need the sights.
However, I have used my wife’s revolver that has a Crimsonn Trace laser. Her gun is small and black, and the sights are honestly hard to see. The laser is stupid-easy, and allows you to keep focus on the threat, not even looking at your gun or sights. I realize there are disadvantages to the laser, like poor visibilty of the red dot in bright light, but in those cases the sights are visible, anyway.
I have the same problem. Everything I look at within arm’s reach is blurry. A few inches outside of that, everything is clear. I had never used a red dot because I’m 100% color blind and didn’t know whether I could see the dot correctly. I went to a gun show and saw a Canik and the red dot sight was only $190 so I bought them both and tried it. I was pleasantly surprised. The only problem I have with it is my color blindness. Sometimes the dot looks like what I see as green, sometimes red, and sometimes pink, but it is there and dead on all the time.
Slightly funny story, I looked at two different Caniks and one had a red dot on it and one didn’t. I looked through the red dot sight but liked the MC9L better because it was a bigger gun. I told the salesman that I wanted the MC9L but I wanted a green dot sight on it like the other Canik had on it. He told me that the sight only came in red dot. I told him I just looked at the other one and it was green. He picked it up and looked and said nope it’s red. I looked at it again and it was red. While he was putting the red dot on the pistol I purchased, I picked up the other one again. The dot looked green. I didn’t say a word. Just walked out with my fairly cheap green, red, pink dot and called it a day.
Simple, cheap, train your eyes to focus. Do you remember your Ophthalmologist using something like this when your cataracts started, and your focus improved? One of the ways he tested your eyes.
Let me add a little detail: My cataract surgery was 18 months ago and went extremely well–no complications then or since. Recent eye exam confirmed that all is well and my current prescription is correct. I need my glasses for reading and, while there is some small correction for distance vision, they’re really not necessary.
My shooting these days is probably 95% handgun, all semi-auto with barrel lengths from 4” -4-1/2”. Both at home and at the range I have tried shooting with my glasses and without them but can tell almost no difference in the sight picture either way. I have also tried some yellow tinted shooting glasses without any improvement except to protect my eyeballs from flying debris. (Not a bad thing.)
A little of each. The cost for a QUALITY optic is usually prohibitive, and the red dots I have tried seem to be just too foreign to me. Plus, I see mounting a red dots or laser as adding a potential point of failure, based on a working life of building, modifying, and repairing industrial machinery. I am devoted to the KISS principle.
Thanks! These have also been recommended to me by a trusted friend and I am ready to buy. XS offers them to fit only one of my pistols (not my EDC) and that item has been listed as “not currently available” for about six months now.
The one one the left is exactly the setup I have on my EDC. It offers a small improvement, but not enough for me.
I’ve never seen anything like this in over 50 years of optometrist visits. Are they intended to develop a permanent improvement in vision or are they more of a diagnostic tool or temporary aid?
Thanks again for all the suggestions. I’ll report on future progress, or lack therof.
Well, life is about tradeoffs. Optics do indeed take some getting used to if you grew up with irons, they Do introduce another potential point of failure, and they DO cost more than they probably should.
Having said all that, I bit the bullet so to speak, and have never looked back. They are rapidly becoming the standard sighting aid, the build quality of a good optic has been trusted by millions now, and, in my experience, the difference in target acquisition speed & accuracy is astonishing.
It all comes down to what we’re willing to trade off for what we want. For me, it was money, versus optimal (GREEN DOT) functionality.
I don’t know why I didn’t think about it, but a Laser may be good for you. That way the sight picture is whatever you are shooting at. As long as you can see it, you can hit it. I have one on my EDC and I prefer it over any other sight I have.
If you are more concerned about being able to accurately aim while at the range or target shooting, then by all means consider the suggestions you have been given so far.
However, if you are also (or more) concerned about self defense, may I suggest that you practice seriously with being able to draw, shoot, and hit your target without even aiming at all? And also include being able to do so with only a partial draw and shoot?
Many defense situations happen so fast that what you have learned at the range simply doesn’t apply. Practicing to shoot ‘quickly and instinctively’, especially at short range, is something everyone concerned about defense situations should practice. It won’t help people trying to get the best results at long distances, or in competition. But it is vital for shooting on the streets.
@Ron43xMOS , Thank you for that helpful perspective. I’m beginning to at least re-investigate the idea of red dots.
I do practice point shooting at close range and can pretty much hold “Minute-of-bad-guy” accuracy. But not all shooting, even in defensive situations, happens at such short distances. Also, in any public sort of scenario I need to be DAMN sure I hit what I aim at and NOTHING ELSE. I need to be just as confident at 10 or twenty yards as I am at 10 or twenty feet.
Plus, I’m old school. It gets harder every year to forge new pathways in this old brain.
Does anyone have experience with the Vortex Viper 1x24 Reflex red dot sight? It is one of the models which will fit the Galloway Precision mounting plate.
So if you would like to use optic you don’t need to spend a lot of money these days.
Right now you can find a plate mounted in rear sight cutout. Good optics can be found for less than $200.
I don’t know what are your financial limits, but such combo replacing rear iron sights might be a good option for you.
Mine had me hold a paddle over my eyes that looked like those glasses. Then everything was clear, making me focus and see clearly. I was complaining about seeing 3 red dots in my scope. She told me I have cataracts starting.
A pinhole test for cataracts, known as the Potential Acuity Pinhole (PAP) test, is a diagnostic tool that estimates visual outcomes after cataract surgery by using a pinhole aperture to increase light focus and reduce scattering from the cataract.
Ive got a viper. I just dont have alot of time on it. I wish it was shake awake and dont like the bottom mounted battery. I prefer a top or side mount battery, I just dont like taking a sight off once its set. Just my preference.
I feel you on the eyes, close up rifles generally run red dots or LPVO’s, i used to be an irons guy.
I see the sights enough to know they are on the intended target out to 20 yards. This will help in most circumstances beyond that with a hand gun. No muss, no fuss. The dot on the target. No aligning a window.
Hmm! You have really given me something to think about, great post. Now, my eyes are still ok, and my cataracts are still small, but that’s not to say that at some point, there WILL be that time. My wife had hers done, and given a choice, she preferred to see far, but for reading, she uses reading glasses. Now reading your post, this had NEVER crossed my mind. I do have an eye doctor’s appointment next month so I’m going to ask questions about cataracts surgery, sight, and the effect of sight being out at the firing range, and what’s the best course of action, IF it’s ever been questioned by anyone in this kind of activity. So. in your situation, can you see far but need reading glasses? The way I’m thinking, now I don’t know if you’re firing a handgun or a rifle, but when you bring it up and looking through the sights, maybe with glasses on, you may see through the sights ok, but you can’t see down range with the glasses (blurred), so, without the glasses, looking down range, you can see your target, but your eye on the sight is blurred. Is this what you are referring to? Once a Lense is a replacement on the eyes (artificial), for the most part, changes everything, and not the same as the eyesight of the younger years (my thought). I don’t know if your surgery had been recent, but adjustments may have to be made. I hope you find a remedy for adjusting to time on the range, just hope it’s not something we (future cataract recipients) are going to have to give up the gun sport! 
This sure will open up some great conversations, and can’t wait for others who have experienced this, to chime in. Thanks for this great conversation. Very informative!
