Poor eyesight (well, heading that way) and open sights

[Tanks]

Here are the guys that I use.

Hunters HD Gold - Safety Protective Eyewear, Available in Rx, Lenses Made in USA!

 

[Troubleshooter]

And here is the fellow who I use. I find his "Sharp Site" tinted lenses particularly helpful. http://rxsportoptics.com/shooting.html

This is merely to provide some ideas regarding options. I suspect that the OP can find someone closer to home.

 

[Vintageguy]

I have an old Winchester lever gun that has buckhorn style sights that I didn't want to mess with so I took a bright white flat paint for the front sight and put a bright red pen point dot at the base of the center of the back sight and my eyes pick it up well while focusing on the front sight. I just sprayed a Q-tip and for the front and then a tooth pick on the back. Made low light much better too and if you don't like it or the color combo a Q-tip, thinner and 15 seconds and it's gone.

 

[MS 9x56]

I have an old Winchester lever gun that has buckhorn style sights that I didn't want to mess with so I took a bright white flat paint for the front sight and put a bright red pen point dot at the base of the center of the back sight and my eyes pick it up well while focusing on the front sight. I just sprayed a Q-tip and for the front and then a tooth pick on the back. Made low light much better too and if you don't like it or the color combo a Q-tip, thinner and 15 seconds and it's gone.

I had a rifle with buck horn sight. I used a deemed tool to cut the horns off then ground the sides into a shallow V. Now I can see the animal and it works much better especially on moving shots.

 

[Dr Ray]

Suggest you shoot when using corrective lenses
Great open sights / fine
But
I’m not great sunlight you may not place a merciful shot

 

[Dr Ray]

Auto text
I meant not on bright sunlight

 

[Chuck Kazen]

If you wish to stick with traditional iron sights, Longwalker has offered a good solution above. Try a large aperture "ghost ring" rear with whatever type sight your eyes can pick up best out front. This way you don't need to focus on the rear sight. I just did this with an 1886 Winchester and can't believe the improvement. After that, I didn't need to do anything with the tiny bead front sight that came on the rifle.

 

[discap]

After cataract surgery in both eyes, I can see either what I'm shooting at or the sights but not both. Doktor Optic fixed the problem.

 

[R eight]

After cataract surgery in both eyes, I can see either what I'm shooting at or the sights but not both. Doktor Optic fixed the problem.

I was blessed with very good eyesight up until my mid 50’s. Glasses didn’t really fix the problem and I was just about at the stage of giving up on iron sights.
At 55 I had cataract surgery on both eyes. My new lens are Zeiss, multi focal. My vision is now better than 20/20 in both eyes. Iron sights are a joy to use again.

eye surgery is a big thing…..but I’m glad I took the plunge I’m now in my 60’s.

 

[GuttormG]

Move the rear sight forward.

 

[R eight]

Move the rear sight forward.

How does that help?

 

[Philip Glass]

After some help please.

As age progresses, my eyes can't accommodate as well as they used to and, as such, I'm finding the contrast levels between the fore and rear sight on my double an increasing problem. I'm not keen on either a scope or a reflex but was wondering what the older gents (of which I'm sure there are possibly a couple) might do to get around this.

My Fabarm double has fantastic open sights that use a clever fibre optic trick to enhance the the sight beads to make them almost glow. The foresight is yellow and the rear sight red and this makes alignment and targeting really easy. My Chapuis on the other hand - and this is the one causing the problem - has proper old school sights with a shallow V blued rear leaf and a tiny white dot foresight. I won't deny, I'm struggling with this. I wear glasses to read and my distance vision is fine but its the distance between the sight points that causing an issue. If it were an option, I'd probably fit the Fabarm sights, but, as you can imagine, Chapuis weren't wonderfully helpful with that suggestion and surprisingly short on alternatives.

Before I get out my paintbrush and slap on some luminous paint, I was wondering whether there were any wonderfully innovative suggestions as I really don't want to walk the scope path.

Thanks in advance

FN

Have the front sight replaced with a fiber optic. I am in the same boat as are most 50 year olds needing reading glasses. My eye doc gave me some eye drops that can alleviate reading distance problems for a few hours. Maybe I’ll try that.
I grew up shooting open sights so I am still ok for now.
PG

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

As PG wrote, try a fiber optic front, and here's my idea, a large aperture rear.

I shot Winchester M52's on my high school rifle team. They had Red field Olympic micrometer rear sights with apertures on front and rear sights. The targets were black circles. The human brain naturally aligned the three circles

A fat fiber optic front, with a good attitude and lots of dry fire practice should be accurate at danger-close range.

 

[Fabnosh]

Thanks for the renewed interest in the thread but I posted this:

Closing the circle on a previous question

Hi everyone Folks on here often ask for help with issues they may have or problems to which they need suggestions to resolve. Often (and I fall into the category) we are left wondering what outcome the OP ended up with and what route they took. Well, I'm going to close the circle on the...

www.africahunting.com

letting folks know what route I'd taken.

Thanks

FN

 

[zephyr]

Can you re-move and re-place the Front Sight on your Double easily??
If so a Green or Red Fiber Optic Front sight might help and prolong the agony of putting a Red Dot on your Double...
I just had built a 505 Gibbs, Iron Sights only Very mush like the Green Fiber Optic Front Sight but have been playing with a Silver Front Sight which I have filed at a 45* angle which has gotten rid of shadows and

 

[Flipper Dude]

IOL surgery. Without a doubt the best money I ever spent. Couldn’t see squat and now I can drop a BB in the grass and pick it up right away. 61 here

 

[MS 9x56]

This coming season both my guns next up are open sighted one a peep and the other shallow v.

 

[MS 9x56]

And now another open sighted gun a 7x57 Mauser guild gun built in 1939 or 40.

 

[GuttormG]

How does that help?

For the correct explanation-ask a optician or docter, but it works.As you get older you get farsighted (you need readingglasses or hold your newspaper as far out as you can..) Same thing with the rear sight, if it is to close your eye has trouble to focus. On my 404 I have the rear sight a bit more forward then "standard", makes a world of diffeence!

 

[Tom Leoni]

If you don't want to go with an optic sight, there are several solutions, all of which I've experimented with. Here they are, most effective first:

1 - Adapt a peep-sight to your rifle. This can be done either behind the tang safety, or at the very rear of the rib. By far the best solution.

2 - Move the rear sight forward. A gunsmith can cut the rib of your Chapuis a few inches forward and fill the now-empty part. The focal plane of the two sights is therefore no longer as far, and your eyes will find this combination much more congenial. Best of all, you can experiment with distances between the front and rear sight before you commit to your gunsmith altering the rifle.

3 - Take the rifle to your eye doctor (I've done it) and have him make you a pair of glasses that will enable you to see the existing sights. You can hunt without them and only put them on when it's time to shoot.

Best of luck!