Shooting with glasses.

[Mick Smith]

Getting older is a pain in the rear end.

My once 20/20 vision is now a distant memory. These days I need glasses for reading as well as for seeing distant objects.

I've often thought that the wearing of glasses somehow changed they way I shoot. A couple of times, during a tournament, I've taken off my glasses and started to shoot much better, even though I could hardly make out where the target was.

I've got 2 different glasses that I sometimes wear when shooting, a pair of presciption sunglasses for distant viewing and a pair of of graduated lens glasses which have a reading section in the lower part of the lens which gradually changes to the distant viewing upper part of the lens. I've got reading glasses too, but I don't wear them when shooting.

Tonight I tried a few experiements in the backyard and I've come to the conclusion that the wearing of the different glasses, or not wearing glasses at all, all have a major impact on my shooting.

I started off wearing my graduated lens glasses and I shot some very nice groups at 20 metres, but they were about one foot to the left (and slightly low) of the bullseye. I then changed over to my prescription sunglasses and immediately started shooting about 6 inches to the right (and slightly high) of the target. Without wearing any glasses at all, my arrows grouped roughly around the bullseye. I say roughly because I couldn't even see the bullseye at all with my naked eyes, so I was just pumping them into the centre of the blur that was my whole target butt.

I think I'll ditch the graduated lenses in future shooting sessions. It's nice to be able to read the score sheets as well as seeing the target, but it's just not worth it. I've found that the graduated lens glasses are also dangerous when hunting in rough terrain because when I glance down to check my footing, everything is blurred as I'm looking through the reading part of the lens. I've tripped over a few times when wearing these glasses.

I think the solution will be to buy myself a pair of plain, clear, distance viewing prescription glasses, but with what they call 'transitional' lenses, which darken when exposed to strong sunlight. These glasses will become my 'shooting' glasses (I won't shoot without them) and hopefully by removing the inconsistances of wearing different glasses and having to compensate for their effects, I'll shooting decently again.

Has anyone else experienced similar problems shooting with their glasses on? If so, did you find a solution and what was it?

Mick

[Anysia]

I have found that there is a big difference when I wear glasses vs contacts. Since I am nearsighted, my glasses appear to reduce the size of the target. When I wear my contacts, since they rest on the eyes, that distortion doesn't happen, and it does effect my 'targeting sensors'.

The only thing I offer as a suggestion, is to practice with each type of eyewear you have to use. I know that isn't much of a suggestion, but it's the only thing I found that works for me.

[pommy chris]

i wear glasses myself.but i found out it wasnt so much the lenses or my own eyesight but the shape of the frames that made difference to me.i now prefer a narrow rectangular shape which allows me to get the arrow as close to my line of sight as possible.when im at my normal draw the knuckle of my bent thumb high on my cheek bone sitting in the gap behind the lens and the side frame on the glasses i have a frame on the top and the narrow lenses underwired. if you see what i mean.this works for me.
i also had the same style glasses in prescription sunglasses with green lenses as it was a 2 for 1 deal at the time.
the green lenses are very good they filter out the bright sun but still allow you to see natural colour definition. as oppose to the black or brown tints you usually get with sunglasses.

[buzz]

I'm posting to get in on the replies....

I also wear glasses, and have been wondering if/how it effects things because I am not overly happy with the prescription, particularly in what should be my dominant eye. I do notice that due to the optical distortion effect that when I look at a vertical line through the part of my glasses that I use to line up arrows, targets and the bowstring, that the line I can see through the glasses is really out of whack with the line over and under the glasses. But, I tried lining up something to a point off in the distance when I was looking through that part of the glasses then I went back and checked it looking both without glasses and through the centre of the lenses and it was lined up perfectly... so it makes me wonder if it in fact really matters.

Will be interested to read comments.

[greybeard]

Hi Mick,

Getting older is certainly a pain in the rear end.
Some 25 years ago I was relegated to wearing half moon glasses for reading. As time progressed the vision deteriorated and I found that when I was shooting targets at 20 to 30meters I saw two targets. I had the option of shooting between the two images and hopefully hit the target or focus on one of the two images for 20 or so seconds until they became one.
The bifocal glasses have helped resolve the issue but the most off putting thing initally was that the bow string may catch the frame of the glasses and they would beat the arrow to the target.
Following Anysia's advice may help.

Daryl.

[GrahameA]

Hi Mick , et al

I also wear spectacles and shoot both with and without them.

Like many I have a pair of prescription spectales and often shoot wth them on, I seem to haven gotten use to shooting with them and cope reasonably well.

My other spectacles have graduated lenses and are not the best for shooting with. But once again can use them, albeit with some concentration.

From what I have been told part of the issue with them when shooting is that you may be not looking through the centre of the lens but rather through the edges. Thus you can get distortion occuring plus you may have parts of the frame blocking your view.

I seem to remember that there is a fix for this but I do not know what it is but I may know who to ask. Will see what I can find out. Anyhow my Optometrist is a fallen archer and I need to vist him in the next few months so I will ask the question of him.

p.s. Are those who once were archers but no longer practice fallen archers akin to fallen catholics?.

[Mick Smith]

I think I now realise why there's a 'Master's' games, us older blokes really find it difficult to compete with fully functioning people.

Shooting a bow while wearing glasses creates a whole new variable to the equation (as if there wasn't enough already ). An image you see through your glasses may or may not actually be where it appears and this phenomenon becomes more and more acute as the angle that you're looking through your lenses increases. So, in effect you must keep your head at exactly the same angle for each and every shot. Is it any wonder my shooting has deteriorated at the same rate as my vision?

I've noticed that my prescription sunglasses are much better for shooting and I think it's because they have quite a curved surface. I've noticed that images remain clear and focused through my sunglasses much more so than what they do when I'm wearing my graduated lens glasses, which are quite flat.

I will get a special pair of shooting glasses made up. I'll talk to the optometrist and stress the need to minimise distortion when looking through the lens at different angles. I believe that different types of lenses are better in this regard, so it's not entirely due to the curvature of the lenses.

I'd probably be happy enough to wear my sunglasses for all my shooting except they're a handicap when shooting on cloudy days or just before nightfall, that's why I want to have my new glasses made with transitional lenses, they should be good under all conditions.

Once I get these new glasses, I will practice, hunt and shoot in tournaments with them on. Once I've got these vision problems settled, I won't be able to blame my mediocre shooting on anything else but my own lack of skill.

Mick

[TomW]

Mick

I have eyesight problems as well both distant and near.

When I was rifle and pistol shooting I had prescription shooting lenses made which were fitted to specialist shooting frames. I still have a set which I have used for archery but to be honest, they annoy me. They are however effective.

There are two views about aiming. I subscribe to the rifle/pistol shooters view, in that I focus on the foresight and not the target. In rifle shooting the task is somewhat easier, as with adjustable eyepiece irises, adjustable foresight apertures and various filters, even with poor eyesight you can nearly get both the foresight and the target in focus. However, my preference has always been to focus on the forefight.

I won't go into the technical reasons for this here but there should be plenty of reading on the web in relation to this matter.

As things stand at the moment I generally shoot with my prescriprion sunglasses on which have progressive lenses in them. These put the foresight element of my compound sight clearly in focus and the target is somewhat blurred. All of my best scores have been attained wearing these glasses.

That said, there are days when I have shot without glasses and the foresight element is blurred, but discernable and the target is clearly in focus. Curiously my performance in this case is not greatly different from when I am wearing my glasses. Don't ask me why - I haven't a clue.

If you are really having a problem you might want to think about shooting frames and get a special lens made for the purpose of shooting. Type in rifle shooting glasses in Google and you'll get a whole range of stuff that may be of interest.

Hope this is of some use to you

best regards

Tom

[kerrille]

i gave up pistol shooting for the same reasons if i could see the target i couldnt see the sights if i put my reading glasses on i couldnt see the target it just got too hard.

[Dennis La Varenne]

Mick,

Grahame A is onto something here. I have been wearing glasses for about 14 years because of hypermetropia and the usual presbyopia of middle age.

The lenses are all ground for straight-ahead vision with the head in the normal straight-ahead position. Right eye dominant shooters look through the top left section of the frame which does distort the alignment picture.

Anysia's solution is perhaps the best one short of getting laser surgery done - wear contacts. They have come a long way since the early days and can be left in for prolonged periods.

Blokes have trouble with them because we are not used to doing things with our eyes where the girls are (make-up, eyeshadow, cosmetically coloured contacts, mascara, etc.).

I have an additional problem in that I am right-eye dominant, but my left eye cannot turn to the left because of surgery which was done when I was 3 years old, so I always have double vision when I shoot - my dominant aiming eye looks at the target but my left eye looks at the ground about 3 - 4 metres to my front right. My brain has learnt to ignore this second image over the years but as I get older, it copes less and less with it. Consequently, my instinctive shooting ability has deteriorated because both eyes have never been able to look at the spot, but my a distance estimate was imprinted on my brain when I looked directly at the spot just before I anchored.

Nowadays, the second image is much stronger than previously and if I don't wink my left eye closed, I shoot between the two images way to the left. Consequently, I have had to relearn to gap shoot with a closed left eye.

If I had the money, I would have laser surgery to correct the hypermetropia because I know people who have had it done with astonishing results, particularly for myopia (no glasses at all), and I looked into it extensively, but I would still have to wink my left eye closed and use readers for close stuff - Daryl's 'half-moons'.

In the meantime, I use the graduated lenses which you have problems with. They are the only kind I have ever worn, so my brain has gotten used to them, especially in the looking down position. It was a problem at first, but my brain adjusts easily whenever I have to renew my prescription.

Dennis La Varenne

PS: The laser surgery people tried me out with contacts for an afternoon in a special way. My dominant eye was set up for long vision, and my left eye was set up for close/reading distance. My poor brain had to do a lot of work deciding which picture to take notice of, but by the end of the afternoon it was coping pretty well and I reckon it would have coped with a couple of days practice in the same way it had to cope with selecting which picture to take notice of with my unmoving left eye. It learned to 'look at' the image I intended it to look at and was suppressing the one I did not want it to look at.

It is the brain which looks at images, not the eyes. The eyes just let in the light wave frequencies. It is the brain that interprets (sees) them and converts them to pictures. People don't realise this.