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Which glasses when shooting?

grendel2000

Private
Minuteman
Aug 30, 2022
32
6
MD
I'm 52 and have gone from 20/10 in recent years to finding that I have astigmatism and also need reading glasses.

I've recently embarked on learning rifle shooting. This weekend I shot my first NRA High Power Sporting Rifle match - I struggled a bunch over the course of the match with I fatigue. I've since realized that I have no idea what the "correct" approach is to using (or not) my glasses when I shoot with my optic (Vortex Viper PST Sen II 1-6x).

I currently have two pairs of glasses - bifocals that correct for the astigmatism and the reading/up-close issues, and a plain reading glasses. On a daily basis I use the readers only - I never got used to the bifocals and the distance issues a pretty minor.

I set up the scope with no glasses at all while shooting from a bench - so my head was pretty square to the the scope. At the match I had a ton of issues with eye fatigue. I had set up the diopter adjustment on the scope I thought, so I'm now not sure what approach I should take to try to resolve the issue?

Should I be wearing my reading glasses, distance glasses, or none at all?

If I should wear glasses, should I also adjust the diopter on the scope?

I'm not sure where to begin. In a way I feel like my lack of experience wearing glasses has left me clueless on how to resolve this. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
Sounds like your eyesight is similar to mine apart from the fact I don’t use reading glasses except when really fatigued. I’m pretty sure I’m 20/10 & I know I have an astigmatism in one eye, the astigmatism is a non issue for me apart from when using a red dot on my pistol.

I had an eye exam recently and I had the Rx filled on 2 pair of Oakley’s, one clear and one sunglasses and those are what I wear when I’m out and about, driving or shooting pistol or rifle. I just swap glasses depending on time of day / brightness.
 
Sounds like your eyesight is similar to mine apart from the fact I don’t use reading glasses except when really fatigued. I’m pretty sure I’m 20/10 & I know I have an astigmatism in one eye, the astigmatism is a non issue for me apart from when using a red dot on my pistol.

I had an eye exam recently and I had the Rx filled on 2 pair of Oakley’s, one clear and one sunglasses and those are what I wear when I’m out and about, driving or shooting pistol or rifle. I just swap glasses depending on time of day / brightness.
So your Oakley's are for your reading Rx?
 
Gotcha, thanks!

Out of curiosity, what height mount do you use with your optics? Last week I bought a Vortex Viper PST Gen II 1-6x and put it on a 1.47" mount. Prior to that I was shooting a Vortex Strike Eagle 1-6 in a 1.97" mount. I don't have much experience with either of them but I feel like my eye had less fatigue issues with the Strike Eagle / 1.97 combo, which seemed counterintuitive since I was moving to a scope with better glass in amount that I'd assumed would make moving between standing/sitting/prone positions easier/more comfortable.
 
I’m shooting service rifle so likely apples and oranges in comparison but 1.3 Geissele mount
 
Sounds like your eyesight is similar to mine apart from the fact I don’t use reading glasses except when really fatigued. I’m pretty sure I’m 20/10 & I know I have an astigmatism in one eye, the astigmatism is a non issue for me apart from when using a red dot on my pistol.

I had an eye exam recently and I had the Rx filled on 2 pair of Oakley’s, one clear and one sunglasses and those are what I wear when I’m out and about, driving or shooting pistol or rifle. I just swap glasses depending on time of day / brightness.

I've got something similar, Oakley flak jackets, one is dark, one has transition lenses. Both are progressive, slightly corrected for distance, got me better than 20/20 again, and then readers on the bottom. I use the transition lenses when shooting, the dark lenses are pretty dark which is great when out on the bike, hiking and driving in bright sun.
 
True back then and still true today, I've had this guys quote in my documentation as a constant reminder

From: http://www.opticstalk.com/adjusting-the-eye-piece-focus_topic11602.html

Poster: Dolphin

Just remember that the diopter correction of the front eye piece of your scope is doing the same thing that a pair of reading glasses is doing. If you are trying to read something up close and you are older and suffering from presbyopia, where your lens in your eye does not thicken when relaxed to refract and focus the image presented to you properly on the retina, it will be out of focus. The fast focus eyepiece or diopter correction will do this refraction for you so you will not have to use eye glasses while shooting. The reticle is within reading distance as well as the image, because you are seeing it off of the ocular lens making it in the near field, not in the far field as if you were looking at the same image without the scope.
 
True back then and still true today, I've had this guys quote in my documentation as a constant reminder

From: http://www.opticstalk.com/adjusting-the-eye-piece-focus_topic11602.html

Poster: Dolphin

Just remember that the diopter correction of the front eye piece of your scope is doing the same thing that a pair of reading glasses is doing. If you are trying to read something up close and you are older and suffering from presbyopia, where your lens in your eye does not thicken when relaxed to refract and focus the image presented to you properly on the retina, it will be out of focus. The fast focus eyepiece or diopter correction will do this refraction for you so you will not have to use eye glasses while shooting. The reticle is within reading distance as well as the image, because you are seeing it off of the ocular lens making it in the near field, not in the far field as if you were looking at the same image without the scope.
That's great info - thank you very much!
 
(Glasses, ineligible for contacts or surgery, for around 30 years. 52 years old now. I have /all/ things wrong. Diopter, astigmatism, cylinder, etc. I have, after some other attempts, done the progressive lenses in /everything/ even my outdoors glasses. Even my shooting-specific glasses. Gotta see the turrets, the phone/book, etc.)

Whenever wearing corrective eyewear is it very important you have a dead consistent eye/optic position. Else you will do a different group at each eye position. Yes, even single vision lenses have small differences when you look through different parts, or at different angles through the same place on a lens. Related to the parallax issues we get looking through different parts of the scope.

DOUBLY so when using progressive lenses, as they On Purpose have different corrective values at different parts of the lens.

I'd make sure to shoot periodically with all your glasses, so you know how they work, how much it throws you off. You might forget, loose, break your shooting/outdoors glasses so need it. Game, match, or self defense is no time to figure out what this means.
 
(Glasses, ineligible for contacts or surgery, for around 30 years. 52 years old now. I have /all/ things wrong. Diopter, astigmatism, cylinder, etc. I have, after some other attempts, done the progressive lenses in /everything/ even my outdoors glasses. Even my shooting-specific glasses. Gotta see the turrets, the phone/book, etc.)

Whenever wearing corrective eyewear is it very important you have a dead consistent eye/optic position. Else you will do a different group at each eye position. Yes, even single vision lenses have small differences when you look through different parts, or at different angles through the same place on a lens. Related to the parallax issues we get looking through different parts of the scope.

DOUBLY so when using progressive lenses, as they On Purpose have different corrective values at different parts of the lens.

I'd make sure to shoot periodically with all your glasses, so you know how they work, how much it throws you off. You might forget, loose, break your shooting/outdoors glasses so need it. Game, match, or self defense is no time to figure out what this means.
Thanks - this is great info.

Yeah - I'm really struggling with this. I'm really just getting started learning rifle shooting "properly", and I'm a relatively recent glasses wearer (really only the last few years). I shot a few weeks ago and things went pretty well, but I don't remember if I was wearing glasses or not at the time. Oh, and I had a different optic (Vortex Strike Eagle on a 1.93" mount).

I shot again last weekend in a match (for fun) and it was terrible. I had put on a new, "better" optic (Vortex Viper PST Gen 2 1-6 on a 1.47" mount) and I had a heck of a time. I struggled all day getting bad eye fatigue pretty quickly trying to line up almost every shot. And in prone position I really struggled with the shooting glasses (non-rx) I was wearing - I seemed to always have the upper corner of the glasses, right at the edge of the frame, lined up near the reticle. It sucked.

Clearly I have a number of issues to work through. I just want to settle the Rx glasses issue first and foremost before I start working through the other issues (1.47 vs 1.93 mount, proper stance & head position, etc.). I have a lot to learn!
 
Eye fatigue could also be that you do not have the scope diopter (and parallax when relevant) dialed in right. Eyes can compensate for a lot, but... not well, and it gets tiring. So another thing to make sure you have right :)
 
Eye fatigue could also be that you do not have the scope diopter (and parallax when relevant) dialed in right. Eyes can compensate for a lot, but... not well, and it gets tiring. So another thing to make sure you have right :)
That's a great point, and one I hadn't considered with the new optic (even though I should have). I didn't spend much time making sure it was correct - I still haven't. I got so caught up at the time in trying to figure out glasses/no glasses/which glasses(?) that I forgot all about that.

Like I said - I'm new. Oh, and not very bright sometimes!
 
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I had some very similar problems, decided to buy some 'daily' contact pairs - best I've ever seen through an optic. I tried altering diopter for my bare eye, no glasses, and it'd work...but finding the initial target became a big issue lol.
 
Check out HuntersHD Gold. They can be done is prescription as well.
Brian Connelly is a great guy and supports the shooting community. You will not find better customer service anywhere!
 
Last week I bought a Vortex Viper PST Gen II 1-6x and put it on a 1.47" mount. Prior to that I was shooting a Vortex Strike Eagle 1-6 in a 1.97" mount. I don't have much experience with either of them but I feel like my eye had less fatigue issues with the Strike Eagle / 1.97 combo, which seemed counterintuitive since I was moving to a scope with better glass in amount that I'd assumed would make moving between standing/sitting/prone positions easier/more comfortable.
So, there’s some things to unpack here.

My background is with -9 & -10 eyes (nearsighted), which is pretty extreme. Now it’s worse due to cataracts, which I’ll be fixing early next year.

One thing that you’ve noticed is the higher the scope, the easier it is on your “glassed” eyes. This is because of the buttstock canting your head; you wind up looking through the scope via the upper left hand corner of your glasses (if right handed). And the higher the scope, the less head canting, and the more centrally your eyes can look through your glasses.

And the more centrally you look through your eyeglasses, the sharper the view. As another fellow mentioned, the doctor or tech can choose where they place the “focal point” (if that’s the right word) of your glasses. With single vision glasses, typically they place it a bit lower than dead on center to aid reading up close.

You’ll never be able to look through a scope through the dead center of your glasses unless you saw your buttstock off and get your jaw right behind the rifle with your head straight up. Not a great idea. So moving the focal point to dead center of your glasses will help, but not fix the problem.

Perhaps they could move the the dominant eye’s focal point more towards the upper left? I’m not sure. I think I’ve read of firearm-friendly optometrists actually having you bring a gun in to see exactly where you’re looking through your glasses (but don’t quote me).

I imagine glasses like that would not be pleasant to wear when off the gun. Two pairs, normal and rifle-adjusted, would probably be necessary.

I think the better idea is to get contacts but keep the high rings. That’s what I’ve done, and it makes a big difference. With contacts, obviously your eyes are always looking through the perfect focal point. And high rings make my neck and shoulders more relaxed.

And yes, as others have said, dial the eyepiece in while wearing the eye-aid you’re planning on shooting with.

Edit: get daily-use contacts. You throw them away after each use. You’ll thank me later. And if wearing glasses, wear the distance ones.
 
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I use Roka GP-1x shooting glasses. Otherwise, in the prone position the top of the eyeglass frame limits my vision.

Whatever glasses you wear, those are the ones you should wear when setting the diopter adjustment on the optic.
 
right or wrong with my rifle my scope are my glasses w/ pistol I have a pair of shooting glasses
 
I am set up with glasses on. Maybe not optimal but better than taking glasses on/off to read kestrel/notes/range finder/etc.
 
I use America's Best 2 pair for $150 with bifocals and they work fine. Never saw a need for some super fancy glasses and spend thousands. I have astigmatism too. Before those I used to get them at Walmart. LOL
 
I'm 52 and have gone from 20/10 in recent years to finding that I have astigmatism and also need reading glasses.

I've recently embarked on learning rifle shooting. This weekend I shot my first NRA High Power Sporting Rifle match - I struggled a bunch over the course of the match with I fatigue. I've since realized that I have no idea what the "correct" approach is to using (or not) my glasses when I shoot with my optic (Vortex Viper PST Sen II 1-6x).

I currently have two pairs of glasses - bifocals that correct for the astigmatism and the reading/up-close issues, and a plain reading glasses. On a daily basis I use the readers only - I never got used to the bifocals and the distance issues a pretty minor.

I set up the scope with no glasses at all while shooting from a bench - so my head was pretty square to the the scope. At the match I had a ton of issues with eye fatigue. I had set up the diopter adjustment on the scope I thought, so I'm now not sure what approach I should take to try to resolve the issue?

Should I be wearing my reading glasses, distance glasses, or none at all?

If I should wear glasses, should I also adjust the diopter on the scope?

I'm not sure where to begin. In a way I feel like my lack of experience wearing glasses has left me clueless on how to resolve this. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I tried a number of approaches and ended up using a set of plano Randolph Ranger shooting glasses I have used for clay target shooting (because I always wear eye pro when doing any kind of shooting) with stick on magnifiers in the bottom of the lens for seeing the turret markings.

I then adjusted the ocular, as @Glassaholic mentioned, to correct my vision when looking at the reticle and use the parallax adjustment to bring the target into the same focal plane and hence the same correction. I did put flip caps on my scope and knew where the hinge should be located (i.e. top dead center) for the ocular to be correctly adjusted as until recently I did not have a locking ocular (which I do now on a ZCO and this is a feature I think all scopes should have) Worked brilliantly and far better than trying to use my distance prescription glasses.

Now, however, I have had cataract surgery and I'm back to 20/20 in both eyes. I just readjusted my ocular (and the flip cap hinge! haha) and I'm good to go. I still have the stick on magnifiers on the bottom of the lenses to see turret markings but that's not big deal.

Question wrt to eye fatigue...do you shoot both eyes open or just one? Just one will contribute to eye fatigue, IMO.

Chees
 
True back then and still true today, I've had this guys quote in my documentation as a constant reminder

From: http://www.opticstalk.com/adjusting-the-eye-piece-focus_topic11602.html

Poster: Dolphin

Just remember that the diopter correction of the front eye piece of your scope is doing the same thing that a pair of reading glasses is doing. If you are trying to read something up close and you are older and suffering from presbyopia, where your lens in your eye does not thicken when relaxed to refract and focus the image presented to you properly on the retina, it will be out of focus. The fast focus eyepiece or diopter correction will do this refraction for you so you will not have to use eye glasses while shooting. The reticle is within reading distance as well as the image, because you are seeing it off of the ocular lens making it in the near field, not in the far field as if you were looking at the same image without the scope.
+100...this is what I do
 
+100...this is what I do
That only works if your vision isn’t very poor.

For example, without my glasses I cannot see the big E on the eye chart. I can’t even see the chart. Or the face of the optician. Or my face in the mirror. Or my shoes. Or my watch. Everything is a blur.

My clear “vision,” if you can call it that, is approx 4”-5” from ye olde Mark I eyeball. Been this way for decades, long before I got cataracts.

Thank the heavens for glasses and contacts!

The only advantage of my condition is that without my glasses I can see extremely close. A side effect of this is that I don’t need bifocals. If I pull my glasses down my nose a little bit (still looking through them, not over them) I can read that restaurant menu or my phone no problem. A fluke of optics.

One trick with contacts that you can try is called monovision. One eye is corrected for distance (shooting eye) and the other eye is set up for near vision. About 15-20% of people have brains that can merge those two pictures without strain, giving them something closer to a young person’s focus range.

Doesn't work with glasses, at least with my rx. Something about the differing sizes of the projected images on the back of the eye. Too much difference for a brain to merge.

Anyway, in preparing for choosing replacement lenses for my eyes due to cataracts, by testing this contact monovision I found that I can handle it. So that’s how I’m going to have my permanently installed lenses set up too.
 
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I do not have astigmatism but I do wear no-line bifocals. 1.50 on the bottom, .75 on the top. I wear them for everything, including shooting. Sometimes, I don't need them for my Diamondback X binocs. But I do need them for focusing on the reticle in a scope.

Per Ryan Cleckner, Sniper Team Leader in the US Army Rangers 1st Ranger Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment in Iraq and Afghanistan, "focus on the reticle, not the target."
 
That only works if your vision isn’t very poor.

For example, without my glasses I cannot see the big E on the eye chart. I can’t even see the chart. Or the face of the optician. Or my face in the mirror. Or my shoes. Or my watch. Everything is a blur.

My clear “vision,” if you can call it that, is approx 4”-5” from ye olde Mark I eyeball. Been this way for decades, long before I got cataracts.

Thank the heavens for glasses and contacts!

The only advantage of my condition is that without my glasses I can see extremely close. A side effect of this is that I don’t need bifocals. If I pull my glasses down my nose a little bit (still looking through them, not over them) I can read that restaurant menu or my phone no problem. A fluke of optics.

One trick with contacts that you can try is called monovision. One eye is corrected for distance (shooting eye) and the other eye is set up for near vision. About 15-20% of people have brains that can merge those two pictures without strain, giving them something closer to a young person’s focus range.

Doesn't work with glasses, at least with my rx. Something about the differing sizes of the projected images on the back of the eye. Too much difference for a brain to merge.

Anyway, in preparing for choosing replacement lenses for my eyes due to cataracts, by testing this contact monovision I found that I can handle it. So that’s how I’m going to have my permanently installed lenses set up too.
Agreed...my uncorrected vision is not that bad.
 
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One trick with contacts that you can try is called monovision. One eye is corrected for distance (shooting eye) and the other eye is set up for near vision. About 15-20% of people have brains that can merge those two pictures without strain, giving them something closer to a young person’s focus range.
That is an interesting thought, I need to get in to see the eye doctor, my right eye is much better at focusing at distance than my left eye and I would be curious if something like this is going on...
 
That is an interesting thought, I need to get in to see the eye doctor, my right eye is much better at focusing at distance than my left eye and I would be curious if something like this is going on...
Hmmmm, you mean your eyes just do this without any glasses or contacts? That sounds a bit odd, but I’m no doctor.
 
Which glasses?
1670425343953.png
 
Hmmmm, you mean your eyes just do this without any glasses or contacts? That sounds a bit odd, but I’m no doctor.
Yes, I used to have excellent 20/15 vision up until around 47 and then presbyopia began to set in (I only noticed when the turret numbers started becoming really blurry). Last prescription was for both eyes to correct a bit, haven't been in to see the eye doc for a couple years, but got something in my eye last month and went in to have it checked out, they did a cursory eye test and I could read the second to the last line with my right eye and couldn't read any of the lines with my left eye - I had no idea my right eye was compensating so much for my left (or that my left eye had gotten so bad). As I'm writing this I realize I should probably readjust the diopters on my bino's, shouldn't affect riflescope so much (I use my right eye) but bino's probably.

I should add that I do not use prescription glasses when shooting
 
Zeiss scopz shooting glasses from this guy, great!
He made a prescription that let me see both the front blade
(I was shooting irons - Service Rifle), and the aiming black.

 
Yes, I used to have excellent 20/15 vision up until around 47 and then presbyopia began to set in (I only noticed when the turret numbers started becoming really blurry). Last prescription was for both eyes to correct a bit, haven't been in to see the eye doc for a couple years, but got something in my eye last month and went in to have it checked out, they did a cursory eye test and I could read the second to the last line with my right eye and couldn't read any of the lines with my left eye - I had no idea my right eye was compensating so much for my left (or that my left eye had gotten so bad). As I'm writing this I realize I should probably readjust the diopters on my bino's, shouldn't affect riflescope so much (I use my right eye) but bino's probably.

I should add that I do not use prescription glasses when shooting
Cursory check eh? Hmmm.

I’m now 52, and at 50 I noticed some odd blurriness. Started in left eye. Doc couldn’t correct my rx to 20/20. Guess what? Cataracts.

Pro tip: go see an actual optometrist or ophthalmologist at a bonafide clinic, not some tech at some cheapie mall glasses store.

Get ‘em checked and I hope it’s just rx changing or a surface scratch that will heal perfectly and not something like cataracts. Don’t delay.
 
Cursory check eh? Hmmm.

I’m now 52, and at 50 I noticed some odd blurriness. Started in left eye. Doc couldn’t correct my rx to 20/20. Guess what? Cataracts.

Pro tip: go see an actual optometrist or ophthalmologist at a bonafide clinic, not some tech at some cheapie mall glasses store.

Get ‘em checked and I hope it’s just rx changing or a surface scratch that will heal perfectly and not something like cataracts. Don’t delay.
Thanks for the tip, I probably should, at 53 I'm at the age where my body just starts breaking down - like how does unloading the dishwasher cause my back to go out 🤪 🤣
 
I have the same issues at 58 and have been dealing with it for years. Cheaters (reading glasses) do work but I've notcied faster eye fatigue with them so I use them sparingly. I can shoot either glasses on or off, it seems like it just depends on the day. So I've since learned to adjust my scope for either prescription glasses on or off. Fast focus eye objectives really helps with this. On my older Leupold LR Tactical, without fast focus, I just set it for prescription glasses and shoot accordingly.
 
I would personally not wear "glass" glasses. I'd go polycarbonate or something that isn't going to shatter when dealing with firearms. Even with a long gun at a bench.

If you need corrective lenses, then use them, just not shatterable glass. Not useful to shoot things at distance with bad vision.

Diopter, I'll leave you to better hands:





Diopter Adjustment
By: glassaholic
Here is my recommendation, but I don’t take all the credit, much of this comes from advice provided by hk dave, ILya and my eye doctor:
  1. Initial setup: Set magnification to highest setting and set side focus to infinity. Loosen the lock ring in front of the eyepiece (if it has a lock ring) and while looking at a blank wall or the sky, rotate the diopter several turns counterclockwise (in the positive + direction) until the reticle is visibly out of focus. One of the most important things is to not stare continuously through the scope. Make sure you have something distant to look at when you look away from the scope. Then glance through the scope for no more than a few seconds. Then stare out at a distant object again while making a small adjustment. Then rotate diopter back clockwise until the reticle is focused as sharply as possible.
  2. Fine tuning: Find a target that is very far away, so that it looks sharpest when the side focus is at the infinity setting. As you look through the scope (important that it remains steady) you can mess with the diopter by making minute adjustments either CW/CCW and see if the reticle and/or image improves any. You can also check parallax to ensure that small head movements don’t cause the POA to shift. When the target is in the best focus there should be no parallax movement, if there is parallax movement with slight movement of your position behind the scope then try to fine tune so the reticle stays locked on target with no movement.
  3. Closeup tuning: Now find a target that is closeup, say 100 yards away, set your side focus until the object comes into best focus, does the reticle still look sharp? Check parallax to make sure there is no shift. Make minute adjustments to diopter if necessary. Check back at long distance and make sure parallax and focus are still good to go.
  4. Final reticle adjustment: This should be done when you have nothing else to focus on within the FOV other than the reticle. Set your magnification to the lowest setting where you can still define all the hash marks of your reticle. You can either do it while pointing at a blank light-colored wall (keep the side focus at the infinity setting, so any of the minute features on the wall are blurred out) or at the blue sky. One of the most important things is to not stare continuously through the scope. Make sure you have something distant to look at when you look away from the scope. Then glance through the scope for no more than a few seconds. Then stare out at a distant object again while making small adjustments.
Once you’ve performed the above 4 steps you should be set with your scope, it might be wise to mark your ocular and the scope tube with a pen or marker (especially if you don’t have a locking diopter) so you can return to this position if your scope is ever bumped out of alignment.
By: hk dave
I feel like it is important to note that with First Focal Plane reticle scopes, your diopter setting can be
crucial. It can make the final difference in image quality and whether your optimum point of optical
sharpness coincides with it also being parallax free.
page1image26894464

There are quite a few posts and “tutorials” on how to do this correctly, from pointing the scope at a clear
page1image26892176

blue sky to using the illumination in a dark environment.
page1image26897376

The only issue I’ve had with these methods is that despite being middle aged, my eyes still focus very
page1image26892800

quickly and it’s difficult for me to NOT get a sharp reticle.
page2image26936128

I reached out to a snipershide member about a problem I was having with my TT, and he explained how
page2image26938416

he set his up.
So following his lead, I essentially set up a target and used the parallax knob to get the sharpest image
possible. I then adjust the diopter to get the sharpest reticle possible then check for parallax. I did this
back and forth until I got a parallax free image with the sharpest image possible and sharp reticle. Then
tested parallax at different distances to be certain.
page2image26945280

I’ve found great success with this method and gave me some relief as I was starting to get concerned that
page2image26945904

I had a bad TT.
page2image26946112

All 5 scopes have euro style fast diopter adjustments. What this means is, it only takes a few turns to
page2image26946320

adjust the diopter, as opposed to 30+ turns.
page2image26946528

I prefer the euro style adjustments considerably more as I have a difficult time even get a reticle to turn
page2image26946736

blurry on the slower/finer adjustment type diopters.
The TT, Minox and NF have locking diopters, which I think is nice to have so they definitely have an
advantage over the others. The S&B and Vortex lack this option however I simply use a sharpie to make a
witness mark on the scope so if I ever turn the diopter by mistake, It’s easy to get back to the exact point I
want it to be.
HK Dave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
page2image26948192

I would start with finding a target that is very far away, so that it looks sharpest when the side focus is at
the infinity setting.
page2image26948400
page2image26948608

Then, you can mess with the diopter a little to get the reticle into focus. This gets you in the ballpark, but
not all the way there.
page2image26948816

Final reticle adjustment should be done when you have nothing else to focus on within the FOV other than
the reticle. You can either do it while pointing at a blank light-colored wall (keep the side focus at the
infinity setting, so any of the minute features on the wall are blurred out) or at the blue sky.
One of the most important things is to not stare continuously through the scope. Make sure you have
something distant to look at when you look away from the scope. Then glance through the scope for no
more than a few seconds. Then stare out into the distance again while making a small adjustment. Then
glance through the scope again for a few seconds. That should tell you if the reticle got blurrier or sharper
and if you are adjusting in the right direction.
Nice scope choice, by the way.
ILya
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recommendation on rotating counter clockwise and then going in:
Simply loosen the lock ring in front of the eyepiece and while looking at a blank wall or the sky, rotate the
eyepiece several turns counterclockwise until the reticle is visibly out of focus. Then turn back clockwise
until the reticle is focused as sharply as possible. Verify the focus on a distant target and make fine
adjustments from there. Then, tighten the lock ring and you're done.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: http://www.opticstalk.com/adjusting-the-eye-piece-focus_topic11602.html
Poster: Dolphin
Just remember that the diopter correction of the front eye piece of your scope is doing the same thing that a pair of reading glasses is doing. If you are trying to read something up close and you are older and suffering from presbyopia, where your lens in your eye does not thicken when relaxed to refract and focus the image presented to you properly on the retina, it will be out of focus. The fast focus eyepiece or diopter correction will do this refraction for you so you will not have to use eye glasses while shooting. The reticle is within reading distance as well as the image, because you are seeing it off of the ocular lens making it in the near field, not in the far field as if you were looking at the same image without the scope.
 
Thanks for the tip, I probably should, at 53 I'm at the age where my body just starts breaking down - like how does unloading the dishwasher cause my back to go out 🤪 🤣
Or, as I like to say, we are over the hill and now going downhill. And picking up speed.

My grandparents used to say, "If it doesn't hurt, it doesn't work anymore."

I have not had a headache in years. Wait a minute...
 
http://www.opticstalk.com/adjusting-the-eye-piece-focus_topic11602.html
Poster: Dolphin
Just remember that the diopter correction of the front eye piece of your scope is doing the same thing that a pair of reading glasses is doing. If you are trying to read something up close and you are older and suffering from presbyopia, where your lens in your eye does not thicken when relaxed to refract and focus the image presented to you properly on the retina, it will be out of focus. The fast focus eyepiece or diopter correction will do this refraction for you so you will not have to use eye glasses while shooting. The reticle is within reading distance as well as the image, because you are seeing it off of the ocular lens making it in the near field, not in the far field as if you were looking at the same image without the scope.
So is this suggesting it’s better to shoot without corrective glasses? I do mostly bench shooting (and wear glasses) and find that looking through the corner of my lenses is not ideal. Anyone cross this bridge before?
 
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Why are you looking through the corner of your lens and not the same place you normally look? You might need to set your rifle up differently if you can only look through the corner of your glasses.
 
I wear no-line bifocals. And I wear them while shooting. They count as eye protection. And it allows me to see the reticle and target correctly.
 
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I wear no-line bifocals. And I wear them while shooting. They count as eye protection. And it allows me to see the reticle and target correctly.

This ^^^^ I dont wear bifocals but I wear corrective lenses always and corrective gargoyles glasses when shooting.
 
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Why are you looking through the corner of your lens and not the same place you normally look? You might need to set your rifle up differently if you can only look through the corner of your glasses.
I can't see how I could position my head without looking through the corner somewhat. Unless I had much higher rings (I currently use ARC 1.1"). I have to tilt my head in to get a cheek weld and get my eye "behind" the scope resulting in a line of sight correction. I guess I do tilt my head down and in somewhat trying to get a good cheek weld, is that a mistake? Thanks
 
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I can't see how I could position my head without looking through the corner somewhat. Unless I had much higher rings (I currently use ARC 1.1") I have to tilt my head in to get a cheek weld and get my eye "behind" the scope resulting in a line of sight correction. I guess I do tilt my head down and in somewhat trying to get a good cheek weld, is that a mistake? Thanks

Yeah you should be trying to have your head straight up and down and not tilted. 1.1" should be plenty high. Below is a pic of 1.125" height mount. I'm looking straight through my glasses where my prescription is perfect and straight through the scope. Try to reposition your head and adjust your comb height to get you more squared up to the scope. It's tough to help too much through the computer unfortunately.

IMG_3369 (2).jpg
 
I just tried it in my garage and it seems my lop might be too long and my scope set up too far forward, I'm pushing my neck out too far I think. Going to make some adjustments and see how it goes.
Thanks for the info, this could make a huge difference. I would often struggle looking through the scope (eyebox) causing me to keep buying more expensive glass...lol. Just ordered a T6xi and Rzr gen 3... oh well
 
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Glad it helped some and yeah getting everything set up right so that when you lay your head on the stock you are looking straight through and not fighting it. Move some stuff around and hopefully it helps. Just moving the scope back might be all you need to do.
 
I just tried it in my garage and it seems my lop might be too long and my scope set up too far forward, I'm pushing my neck out too far I think. Going to make some adjustments and see how it goes.
Thanks for the info, this could make a huge difference. I would often struggle looking through the scope (eyebox) causing me to keep buying more expensive glass...lol. Just ordered a T6xi and Rzr gen 3... oh well
Also, try...once in position on the gun...to turn your nose a bit into the comb (that is, rotate your head a bit to the right if you are right handed, for example). You should be able to feel your eye tooth against the comb. This will bring your on-eye in toward the center line of the rifle/scope.
 
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Before my cataract surgery, I wore glasses for about 46 years. I had a very high rx for nearsightedness, about -10/-11.

I think being able to see through the center of your glasses when using a riflescope has at least two considerations. One is your head shape/eye position.

The other consideration is your rx. With nearsightedness, at least, the worse your vision the smaller ideal area you have on the eyeglass lens to look through.

In my case, due to my glasses’ rx (small ideal area) and my head shape/eye position there was no way for me to not look through the crappy upper left-ish portion of my eyeglasses (I’m right-handed).

I had the scope all the way to the rear on the pic rail. A “chin weld” was easier to get my head straighter with some rifles than a cheek weld.

I shoot off benches mainly and never prone.

For me, contacts was the answer for a better view through the scope. YMMV.
 
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what carbonbased said pretty much describes my situation. I’ve not shot prone yet and I wonder if that would make a difference? Seems like the butt pad of the stock, as well as your shoulder, would be more in line with your face as opposed to shooting from a bench where your head and shoulders are oriented more vertically. I’ll have to check it out tomorrow
 
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what carbonbased said pretty much describes my situation. I’ve not shot prone yet and I wonder if that would make a difference? Seems like the butt pad of the stock, as well as your shoulder, would be more in line with your face as opposed to shooting from a bench where your head and shoulders are oriented more vertically. I’ll have to check it out tomorrow
I forgot to add two things: the first is that with a high nearsightedness rx, looking through the upper left corner of the right eye’s eyeglass lens results in subpar sharpness and alignment. That was implied but I didn’t state that clearly for those who don’t use glasses…I have updated my post.

The second thing I forgot to say is besides one’s head/eye configuration and rx, the other thing I noticed was that higher rings made it way easier for me to get my head up straighter behind the scope.

So you might also want to try some higher rings.

If you hate contacts, consider finding a gun-friendly optometrist who will make you a special pair of shooting-only glasses with a modified focal point (i.e. for a right-hander, upper left corner for right eye). I should note this is what I’ve read and have never had such a pair of glasses made.
 
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