Rifle Scopes Shooting a scoped rifle with/without prescription glasses

About once a year we get this question on here. Like most other things, people handle it in a different way. I just shoot with my everyday trifocal progressives. The trick is to find a balance of correct height of optic to cheek piece that allows a slightly more straight on sight picture while on the gun.

As it turns out, this is also a more comfortable set up while prone. I started, like many, with the lowest possible rings for a given scope and rifle combo. That’s what conventional wisdom was teaching. Once I realized that conventional wisdom isn’t necessarily always best and started playing with different head and eye positions, I found out the my eye comes more naturally to the sight picture if I have a somewhat higher scope and a more straight on picture.

Since my regular glasses are also transitions, it’s plus for me. Your results may vary.

tansinator said:

Should I be able to focus/adjust the eyepiece to handle this and not shoot with glasses?

Click to expand...

It seems most modern scopes have a lot of + diopter adjustment to compensate for older eyes. I'm not fully maxed out on my scopes, but getting close. I'm in the group that needs glasses all the time now. If I go beyond that point I will consider a mild single vision around +.50 diopter for scope use. When shooting iron sights I have to use +.85 single vision glasses to even see the front sight.

I shoot without my perception glass because my eye try’s to focus back and forth

I also shoot without my glasses. I just cannot maintain a proper sight picture with them. Maybe it is my head and ego that will not allow it??Dunno! I can get and maintain a good sight picture without them.

I generally shoot without any glasses. So far the diopter on my scopes has enough adjustment, though just barely. My issue is when I tilt my head I'm looking through the lenses at an angle instead of straight on and get a distorted image. Right now my stuff is set up with medium rings so I can move the scope up if I have to in the future.

Wear the glasses you would use for all your other shooting needs and just adjust the diopter on your scope.

You guys are old....

Huskydriver said:

You guys are old....

Click to expand...

and obviously blind lol

lash said:

About once a year we get this question on here. Like most other things, people handle it in a different way. I just shoot with my everyday trifocal progressives. The trick is to find a balance of correct height of optic to cheek piece that allows a slightly more straight on sight picture while on the gun.

As it turns out, this is also a more comfortable set up while prone. I started, like many, with the lowest possible rings for a given scope and rifle combo. That’s what conventional wisdom was teaching. Once I realized that conventional wisdom isn’t necessarily always best and started playing with different head and eye positions, I found out the my eye comes more naturally to the sight picture if I have a somewhat higher scope and a more straight on picture.

Since my regular glasses are also transitions, it’s plus for me. Your results may vary.

Click to expand...

Remember....you got a literal 'free lunch' waiting after helping me figure out scope/body position for prone. Not sure if there are any decent places to eat near the site, but we will find some eats gotta be a bbq joint out there somewhere. I tried transitions lenses maybe 5 years ago and I went nuts after a week and we are in the same boat my doc at Updegraff said ideally he wanted me in trifocals.....I am using -8.0 for daily with readers around neck. I'm just glad to know it can be done thanks for helping me get sorted out!

I wear progressives as well. My correction is not too severe and I only have light astigmatism. So I am fortunate enough to be able to adjust the diopter on my scope so everything is perfect without wearing glasses.

@tansinator

I would make sure you know your prescription so that you can tell if the required correction is within the range of what your scope can correct. I have seen some prescriptions that were so bad that glasses were a must behind the rifle. This being said, it is also important that your glasses are tailored for the job at hand. I have a most excellent shooting bud that had his optometrist build his progressives so that it allows him to shoot from prone without issue. When you are in a given position, your eye is not necessarily looking through the same part of the lens. That is why some people have issues with progressives. They are actually harder to shoot with than conventional bifocals. You also want to select a frame large enough so it gives no obstruction when looking through the scopes's eyepiece.

Good luck

Yes, I'm old, and everything is a blur, up close. I wear progressive bi-focal glasses most days. After a lot of round and round with the optometrist, he fitted me with monovision contacts. When shooting, I wear the up close one in my left eye and nothing in the right.
There's enough diopter adjustment in my scope to account for the difference.

I can shoot better without prescription glasses, but I can't see anything like my turrets, Kestrel, table my stuff is on etc, I went and got a new pair of glasses with the largest frame I could find so now I do not peek over the top of my glasses in prone and it seems to work OK now.

8pointer said:

Remember....you got a literal 'free lunch' waiting after helping me figure out scope/body position for prone. Not sure if there are any decent places to eat near the site, but we will find some eats gotta be a bbq joint out there somewhere. I tried transitions lenses maybe 5 years ago and I went nuts after a week and we are in the same boat my doc at Updegraff said ideally he wanted me in trifocals.....I am using -8.0 for daily with readers around neck. I'm just glad to know it can be done thanks for helping me get sorted out!

Click to expand...

I’m just glad you got it all sorted out. Come on over east one day to shoot LR at one of our practices. Bring one or some of your buds and we’ll go out to the Half Wall in Smyrna afterwards for a bite.

lash said:

I’m just glad you got it all sorted out. Come on over east one day to shoot LR at one of our practices. Bring one or some of your buds and we’ll go out to the Half Wall in Smyrna afterwards for a bite.

Click to expand...

Outstanding we might just do that....where is your facility again? Want to look at the club calendar if they have one. Appreciate all your help. Would still like to get your eyes on my prone position....it's struggle bus and I know it will take time, but want to make sure I'm not fighting myself with a setup problem. Thanks

Rear ocular adjustment (reticle focus) on most scopes is +/- 3 diopters. If your DISTANCE prescription is beyond this, then you won't be able to focus the reticle.

Also the ocular does not correct for astigmatism, so if you have a lot of it then you will also still see a distorted reticle. A little (under a diopter) I find acceptable.

47guy said:

and obviously blind lol

Click to expand...

Your mother warned you this would happen if you didnt stop that..

8pointer said:

Outstanding we might just do that....where is your facility again? Want to look at the club calendar if they have one. Appreciate all your help. Would still like to get your eyes on my prone position....it's struggle bus and I know it will take time, but want to make sure I'm not fighting myself with a setup problem. Thanks

Click to expand...

Birddog6424 said:

Your mother warned you this would happen if you didnt stop that..

Click to expand...

It’s just the right eye I’m still working on the left...I’m still not sure I believe her.

47guy said:

It’s just the right eye I’m still working on the left...I’m still not sure I believe her.

Click to expand...

You've obviously been using your right hand all these years.

Always believe mom..

recently had both CATs removed and non astigmatism lenses implanted. finally got post op RX pogressive glasses. i have tried both with and without glasses post op. still not sure which is best. glad i had the surgery but it was not some kind of medical miracle. still have some cloudy vision,esp midrange,but thru a scope i believe it is a mirage issue. will post more as i learn and experiment.

I’m almost blind without my glasses. However, a friend recommended to Aim my scope to a blank (white paper) with max zoom. Focus the reticle so you can see the reticle clearly without your glasses.

Then adjust the parallax when you zoom onto your target. It made a world of difference and I now shot without my glasses and have drastically improved my accuracy.

Parallax adjustment has nothing to do with reticle focus. Adjusting the rear ocular effects both reticle focus and down range image clarity. After setting the ocular, then set your parallax to the current shooting distance or some middle ground for the range of distances you intend to shoot.

tansinator said:

I have hit the age where I have to use readers to see anything up close. It is causing a problem when shooting a scoped rifle. The reticle is no longer clear/double vision. I can get a perfect sight picture/clear reticle with my prescription glasses when on a bench but positional shooting causes problems. Glasses have progressive lenses, so any movement things change

How are all you old guys handling this?

Should I be able to focus/adjust the eyepiece to handle this and not shoot with glasses?


Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

IDK, have you adjusted your reticle to where it's visually sharp and clear as it should be? If you have and it's not fixed for you. You might have to find and explain your vision dilemma while shooting a scoped rifle to an Optometrist. An Optometrist, that shoots and understands what you do while shooting. Then ask if your issue could be corrected by making you some specialized glasses just for shooting or offer you some other recommendations. Contacts perhaps? Like I said, IDK, but you'll never know until you ask an Optometrist. That's what I would do...good luck.

U.S.M.C.

I'm in my early seventies. I came here about ten years ago because vision problems had made shotgun sports no fun. I could still see a scope picture ok and the same with irons as long as I kept my non-dominant eye closed. Fast forward ten years and a one inch target was fuzzy at fifty yards and the diamond in the center was barely visible if at all. In addition I saw two reticles that appeared superimposed. The problems were cataracts both eyes, astigmatism both and retinopathy.

I had cataract surgery on my right eye in June and the left in July. By August I was done with the course of eyedrops and had my prescriptions in for distance and near vision glasses. Because of the shape of the astigmatisms they could not use toric lenses so the astigmatisms had to be corrected with glasses.

Here are the results. After the cataract surgery I could see at night again. I've tried to avoid any night driving for a couple of years and now I'm good to go. I can read without any glasses and my near vision glasses actually make it worse, it's back to the optometrist. My far vision, without glasses was tremendously improved. I have a PMII, with the euro style quick adjust ocular, so I set up at fifty. I adjusted the ocular and the picture was not perfect but again way better. The target edges were pretty clear and the diamond was visible. My distance glasses came in and BAM I could see detail at two four, five hundred yards that I can't even remember being able to see. Straight back to the S&B and adjust the ocular with glasses and everything is as it should be. To long on the scope and I start to see a shadow of the crosshairs but if I look away from the target it corrects it. I'm 6'2" and have a long neck. My pull length is long and I tip my head a little bit forward. I instructed the optometrist to not center the correction but put it a little above center. It worked out great.

If your finding night driving difficult see an ophthalmologist. Wearing distance glasses and adjusting the ocular to them worked best for me. If you use VA for eye care there are a couple of points to remember. You have to be referred to an ophthalmologist by an optometrist. When I got my yearly exam I told my optometrist that I wanted to see ophthalmology regarding my cataracts and that I could no longer see a target clearly. Apparently my cataracts did not meet the level that would require surgery therefore it might be considered elective surgery. He said I wouldn't much improvement in night vision. The improvements are dramatic.

I'm hovering on the edge. I wear progressives but not a ton of adjustment....yet. I just prefer to shoot without prescriptions for now, adjust my diopter and wear a pair of magnetic/split glasses behind me for adjustments.

Anyone try those shooting glasses, advertised on FB. With the vocals on top?

have a pair of glasses to walk and read use ess shooting glasses and scope to shoot . the scope adjusts so I can see really tiny holes easy and clear .

The formula that I have been using for 10 years was originally applied to match sights on NRA XTC rifle. Later I found that it worked perfectly for a scope so I soldier on in F-Class with my same setup.

I have pretty bad astigmatism so shooting with out glasses is completely off the table. What I found out was to take my out of date pair of glasses and replace the right lens insert (I am right handed) with my new distance prescription + .75 diopters as a single focus lens. You also keep all of the astigmatism correction when you add the .75 diopter. I stayed with poly-carbonate lens so I kept the shatter resistance and thereby protect my eyes. I also kept my progressive lens in my left so I could still see numbers.

Effectively what this does it that it sets my at rest (infinite disance) to about 52 inches. I can pull it in for closer focusing but only so far. By using a single focus lens for my shooting eye, no matter what head position/check weld I have, the reticle stays in focus.

For a small cost I have for me the perfect solution.

David

My search-fu is getting strong. I knew there’d be a thread. Thanks everyone.
-Pickles

tansinator said:

I have hit the age where I have to use readers to see anything up close. It is causing a problem when shooting a scoped rifle. The reticle is no longer clear/double vision. I can get a perfect sight picture/clear reticle with my prescription glasses when on a bench but positional shooting causes problems. Glasses have progressive lenses, so any movement things change

How are all you old guys handling this?

Should I be able to focus/adjust the eyepiece to handle this and not shoot with glasses?


Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

I have a prescription that falls within diopter adjustment in my scopes so I do that and wear Plano lenses.

Reading glass type function (magnifiers) are of course a diff story so I bought a set of stick on magnifiers (Amazon and a million other places) and put them on the bottom of the lenses.

I wear Randolf Rangers which have plenty of vertical for the mag stick ons without interfering with my view forward.

works for me.