Clear then burry reticle

[King_beardsly]

So this evening while doing some dry fire practice in the back yard I started to notice a weird thing happening with a scope I’ve been running on my PRS22 rig this season and need a little input. So I get behind the glass, get on target and the reticle is crisp but the longer I look at the target the reticle starts to go out of focus but target stays super crisp. Now I quickly close my eye and reopen it then reticle is sharp again, but will begin to go back out of focus, now is this a diopter issue or should I look somewhere else like maybe my eyes are tired or I need my contacts in rather then my glasses.

Now I’ve never consciously noticed this before but then again I don’t typically stare through my scope looking at targets on the clock and for I’ll I know I’ve just been compensating for it unknowingly.

 

[Huskydriver]

Diopter isn't set up correctly more than likely and your eye is getting tired

 

[Precision Underground]

Sounds like your eye is getting fatigued. It could be poor diopter adjustment or Father Time telling you your eyes are getting old.

Diopter adjustment can be tricky. The old look at a blank wall thing doesn’t work for me. What I do is spend some time on a 200-300 yard target adjusting the side focus and diopter until I’m 100% sure they match up. If they don’t match up your eye will be fighting itself and get fatigued.

 

[Chris1972]

I vote Father Time. If it was the diopter setting it would be the opposite. It would start blurry and then your eye would focus to it. I have this issue and the optometrist said there’s nothing that could be done about it. She said my eyes are weak. Poor girl stomped my ego and didn’t even know it. Lol

 

[lash]

I vote Father Time. If it was the diopter setting it would be the opposite. It would start blurry and then your eye would focus to it. I have this issue and the optometrist said there’s nothing that could be done about it. She said my eyes are weak. Poor girl stomped my ego and didn’t even know it. Lol

True enough, but better glass and a very good diopter setting do make a difference. Even for old guy’s eyes. It’s worth taking the time to get your diopter set up just right. Different scopes handle this better or worse, meaning some scopes are easy to get a good diopter setting and some are very finicky, but great once you get them set right for your eyes.

 

[King_beardsly]

I vote Father Time. If it was the diopter setting it would be the opposite. It would start blurry and then your eye would focus to it. I have this issue and the optometrist said there’s nothing that could be done about it. She said my eyes are weak. Poor girl stomped my ego and didn’t even know it. Lol

Well I am cross eye dominant, so that could be a reason

 

[acudaowner]

you could try eye exercises to help strengthen the muscles in the eye things like the brock string test might also help you over time .

 

[JBoomhauer]

Well I am cross eye dominant, so that could be a reason

Same here. Left eye dominant, right handed shooter. Same struggle. One day ill buy a left handed action.

 

[King_beardsly]

Same here. Left eye dominant, right handed shooter. Same struggle. One day ill buy a left handed action.

I tried the left handed action and couldn’t get used to it but then again I didn’t really put a ton of effort into it.

 

[Chris1972]

I’m left eye dominant and right handed. I started shooting left handed 25ish years ago and haven’t looked back. Before that I could only focus for a few seconds before my eye started wandering around aimlessly. Not just the reticle, it was useless.

 

[OREGUN]

Does your scope “focus” as close as you were trying to aim in your dry fire practice? I have some dots in my yard that are just slightly out of focus with my parallax adjustment set as close as it will go. I notice that at first, my eyes compensate and the dots appear in focus. Then as my eyes get tired, I get a lot of the dot or reticle fading in and out of focus. It’s a problem of not being able to get the extremely close targets on the same focal plane as the target….”parallax”. Could be a diopter problem too but if it doesn’t happen at 100, I wouldn’t worry about it….and I would try to put some dry fire targets farther away.

 

[King_beardsly]

Does your scope “focus” as close as you were trying to aim in your dry fire practice? I have some dots in my yard that are just slightly out of focus with my parallax adjustment set as close as it will go. I notice that at first, my eyes compensate and the dots appear in focus. Then as my eyes get tired, I get a lot of the dot or reticle fading in and out of focus. It’s a problem of not being able to get the extremely close targets on the same focal plane as the target….”parallax”. Could be a diopter problem too but if it doesn’t happen at 100, I wouldn’t worry about it….and I would try to put some dry fire targets farther away.

It probably 20-25 yards which is a little short for the razor since it only goes down to 32 yards, I actually thought about that but disregarded for some reason. Maybe I’ll see if I can stretch it out a bit longer and see if it’s improves

 

[OREGUN]

It probably 20-25 yards which is a little short for the razor since it only goes down to 32 yards, I actually thought about that but disregarded for some reason. Maybe I’ll see if I can stretch it out a bit longer and see if it’s improves

I wouldn’t go messing with the diopter if you don’t have the same issue when the parallax is carefully dialed out at 100, for example. I’m willing to bet the problem is with the distance to the near targets being “inside” the adjustment range of the scope.

 

[Precision Underground]

I tried the left handed action and couldn’t get used to it but then again I didn’t really put a ton of effort into it.

I’m cross dominant and have seen exactly what you’re describing. You can train your right eye to get better. Mine has come miles from where it was a few years ago. What really helped me was learning to keep both eyes open(or at the least not squeezing my left eye tightly closed), and not LOOKING so hard with my right eye. It sounds weird but you want to observe through the scope vs laser focusing onto a single point. Think of it like the difference between casually watching TV vs staring at a laser pointer. One will tire your eye out quickly and the other won’t.

Start with either covering your left eye and keeping it open or just softly closing the eye 3/4 of the way. Make sure your face and eyes are relaxed and just casually observe what you see in the scope. Don’t look at the reticle or the target, just see the whole picture. Feel like the image is coming to your eye vs your eye reaching out to find the image. Once you can feel the difference between the two, adjust your side focus and diopter until they match perfectly. Only spend 5 to 7 minutes doing it and then walk away and come back little while later. Once you can feel the difference between straining your eye and keeping your eye relaxed you’ll be able to get it adjusted and won’t tire out as easily. That’s assuming of course that your eye isn’t just old and worn out lol.

 

[King_beardsly]

I wouldn’t go messing with the diopter if you don’t have the same issue when the parallax is carefully dialed out at 100, for example. I’m willing to bet the problem is with the distance to the near targets being “inside” the adjustment range of the scope.

I just checked this theory off my back deck on some stuff I knows right around 500 yards and the reticle along with the background stayed crisp. So I’ll just set stuff out a bit further next time I’m getting some reps in before thinking something has gone cattywampus.

 

[Darryle]

Any astigmatism?

Before corrective surgery, I had very similar experiences.

 

[King_beardsly]

Any astigmatism?

Before corrective surgery, I had very similar experiences.

A tiny bit which might be why I’ve never noticed it with contacts vs glass since I’m looking through the glasses at a weird angle to get a good sight picture from the position I was in.

 

[koshkin]

I wouldn’t go messing with the diopter if you don’t have the same issue when the parallax is carefully dialed out at 100, for example. I’m willing to bet the problem is with the distance to the near targets being “inside” the adjustment range of the scope.

This is very likely accurate. The eye starts shifting focus from the reticle as it gets tired.

ILya