Shooting Glasses For Prone

BountyHunter

Hi Everbody, hope we're all enjoyng the long weekend?

I've realised I need to get shooting glasses, at the moment I use contacts but find even if there's a light wind my eye waters and the contact tends to distort slightly..then I need to look away, take a few blinks and start again...this may happen a number of times consecutively and wastes a lot of time...

I do have one question, when I get the glasses I presume it would be best to set them up as close as I can (I realise there wont be any lenses in them) in position with the aid of a second person, then go to the optician, and get my eyes tested with them on? Can anyone recommend a good optician who might have experience in this, in the Dublin area preferably?
Any advise would be really appreciated.

BountyHunter.

It wasn't me!

I've also been advised to get shooting frames, so I'll need to find an optician too. I'm going to have a word with a guy in Blessington who's meant to be quite good, see whether he'll allow me bring in my rifle and such so he can see exactly what I want to achieve. Probably a little out of your way, but I can let you know how I get on if it'd help you at all.

Gerri

BountyHunter wrote: »

Hi Everbody, hope we're all enjoyng the long weekend?

I've realised I need to get shooting glasses, at the moment I use contacts but find even if there's a light wind my eye waters and the contact tends to distort slightly..then I need to look away, take a few blinks and start again...this may happen a number of times consecutively and wastes a lot of time...

I do have one question, when I get the glasses I presume it would be best to set them up as close as I can (I realise there wont be any lenses in them) in position with the aid of a second person, then go to the optician, and get my eyes tested with them on? Can anyone recommend a good optician who might have experience in this, in the Dublin area preferably?
Any advise would be really appreciated.


BountyHunter.

Two possibilities, ordinary wrap around shooting glasses with the contact lens or shooting glasses with prescription inserts www.eppelopticians.com in Crumlin do them for all sports.

rrpc

Gerri wrote: »

Two possibilities, ordinary wrap around shooting glasses with the contact lens or shooting glasses with prescription inserts www.eppelopticians.com in Crumlin do them for all sports.

These aren't the sort of shooting glasses the OP is talking about. When you're shooting prone, you're looking out at the top of your eye and the lens needs to be in that position. Ordinary glasses will distort your vision because you'll be looking out near the top edge of them and they'll be angled in the wrong direction.

Something like this:

BountyHunter

It wasn't me! wrote: »

I've also been advised to get shooting frames, so I'll need to find an optician too. I'm going to have a word with a guy in Blessington who's meant to be quite good, see whether he'll allow me bring in my rifle and such so he can see exactly what I want to achieve. Probably a little out of your way, but I can let you know how I get on if it'd help you at all.

That would be great, I'll be contacting a few myself during the week and will keep you informed also..

rrpc wrote: »

These aren't the sort of shooting glasses the OP is talking about. When you're shooting prone, you're looking out at the top of your eye and the lens needs to be in that position. Ordinary glasses will distort your vision because you'll be looking out near the top edge of them and they'll be angled in the wrong direction.

Something like this:

Thats exactly what I'm talking about..

BountyHunter.

It wasn't me!

Cheers, that'd be great.

I've got my eye on the Varga 2000 ones here, so just need to sort out an optician to do a lens for the frame and I'll be sorted. If this chap in Blessington will do the job, I'll let you know.

Sparks

Champion frames are good, so are Varga and a few others - but one word of advice would be to not buy top-of-the-line champions. All the adjustments look great up to the point where you have to set them up (or the point where they get a knock and drift out of position). And if you're shooting prone and standing, it's far better to get two cheap pairs than one more expensive adjustable set because the wear and tear of going between the two positions is significant.

It wasn't me!

Since the head is more upright for standing, would it be possible to use regular glasses for standing/air rifle and just use the frames for prone?

Sparks

In a pinch, you can use regular glasses for both - instead of letting the bridge sit on the nose as normal, you put your nose between the bridge and the lens. It's not as good as the frames, which will keep the lens parallel to the back of the rearsight and give the best sight picture; but it will be better than nothing.

Oh, and it probably goes without saying but since I've heard of worse, don't forget that the lens has to be ground so that you can clearly focus on the foresight, not the target. If you're shortsighted and can't see the target as anything but a grey fuzz, but can see the foresight clearly, you don't need shooting lenses. It's almost invariably longsighted shooters who need lenses (very shortsighted shooters as well I suppose).

And for those who don't really shoot competitively, frames aren't needed. You can't use it in an ISSF match (and so can't use it in any Open match run by the NTSA), but in club matches, this little gadget is cheaper and easier than frames:



(they run to £40 in the UK, and probably cheaper if you bought from the continent)

It wasn't me!

If I crane my neck so I can look through the sight perfectly straight, the sight picture is generally okay, but it's not something that can be sustained, whereas if I look up through them with the neck in a more comfortable orientation, it tends to distort, get a little fuzzy and look more oblong, which makes getting a well defined centre more difficult.

BountyHunter

[quote=Sparks;
If you're shortsighted and can't see the target as anything but a grey fuzz, but can see the foresight clearly, you don't need shooting lenses. It's almost invariably longsighted shooters who need lenses (very shortsighted shooters as well I suppose). [/quote]

I'm very short sighted and have astigmatism (picked the right sport alright ) Anyway if I look thru my sights with my normal glasses while the rifle is supported I can get a great sight picture, so I was going to setup my glasses as close as I can while in position, go to an optician and get tested normally while wearing the new glasses, does this sound like an ok plan?

BountyHunter.

Sorry messed up the quote..but you get the idea...

Sparks

Shortsighted and astigmatisic? Ouch. But if you've got a great sight picture, what's the problem? If you're shooting tens, you're shooting tens. There's no eleven on the target

If you do want to get them though, don't bother with fancy setups, just tell the optician you need a perfectly circular lens to let you focus on a point a metre or so away (get someone to measure from your eye to the foresight while you're in position). Any decent optician can take it from there. (make sure he puts an alignment mark on the lens so you can get it the right way up if you've got astigmatism).