Rifle Scopes Scope recomendadtions for someone with an eye injury.

[lwnemesis]

Hi guys,

When I was a kid I had an injury to my right eye. Basically a kid shot a rock from a slingshot into my eye and I spent 2 months in the hospital recovering. From what I have been told I an extremely lucky to get over 90% of my vision back. It is not however perfect and I don't see everything as sharp as my left eye. Surgery is not really an option due to risks. I had a Bushnell Elite 3-12x44 FFP scope and it did pretty good. I have since sold it and picked up a Weaver 3-15x50 FFP. I went out for the first time to shoot it at 100 yards and it was very difficult to see the reticle for me. I had to use full magnification and I had to strain alot. So my questions are: Should I stay away from FFP reticles? Should I learn to shoot as a leftie? What decent scopes are out there with slightly thicker reticles. I don't like the current crop of insanely large zoom range scopes due to the reticle being so tiny. I would like to stay with FFP for ranging. Help.

Public service announcement. DO NOT play with slingshots. You could put someones eye out.

 

[bp7178]

Something in the 6-24x range for a FFP is pretty useable on the 6x side of things. From what you're writing though, it sounds like a SFP scope would serve you better.

Did you adequately adjust the ocular focus and parallax?

 

[lwnemesis]

Something in the 6-24x range for a FFP is pretty useable on the 6x side of things. From what you're writing though, it sounds like a SFP scope would serve you better.

Did you adequately adjust the ocular focus and parallax?

I do remember adjusting the ocular focus and parallax. I was pressed for time so it's possible that I did not adjust it properly. I will try again this weekend.

 

[delfuego]

SWFA 5-20HD has a thicker reticle (FFP) and very good glass. I don't have great vision and think that good glass helps a lot. Better glass helps eye strain when behind the scope for prolonged periods.

 

[Redmanss]

It really sounds like you have a focus issue on the scope itself, but I'm sure your past injury isn't helping either. Finding a scope with a solid reticle will certainly help you, and I don't believe it's necessarily a FFP vs. SFP case here as many SFP reticles are rather thin anyhow. Maybe seeing the smaller tic marks for .5/1 mil would still be an issue, but not otherwise.

For focusing, make sure you max out the parallax to infinity, aim it at a blank sky and adjust the ocular lens until the reticle is clear for you. This takes time to do properly, pulling your eye out of the scope to relax it and coming back into the scope to see if it naturally rests its focus onto the reticle. Test finally on target adjusting the parallax to see if you have it right, again coming out and in the scope to see where your focus naturally rests at, and repeating if you are still having difficulty observing both target and reticle clearly. Hopefully this works and will save you the shopping around.

If it doesn't... It does sound like you're in the $1k budget region, and the SWFA 5-20x50 [MENTION=56732]delfuego[/MENTION] recommended above is a very good recommendation. They have a solid reticle that would be quite bold for you, along with prominent diamonds at the 1mil markings that should be easy enough for you to identify. The HD glass clarity is excellent as well aiding you in sighting on the target with little strain. When I use mine I sometimes wonder why I spend twice as much for other scopes with little to gain.

 

[TorF]

Lwnwmwsis:

Before you do anything radical you must try to shoot right handed with left eye. I have actually been issued with a sniperrifle configured like this on purpose and it works much better than you would think. There are quite a few match shooters, using open sights, that shoot right hand/left eye as eyesight is more critical with open sights. Off set bases for open sights on 11mm dovetail (AI, Anschutz, etc.) are "off the shelf" hardware for these guys.

Here's a picture of a Mauser KV59F1 sniperrifle I was issued with in the stone age. No worries about mirage from the barrel and clip loading is a great bonus

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I recently saw a scope mount conversion that uses 45 degree offset mounting components for use with the offset eye. Or, you might choose to shoot lefty; but that can be frustrating, especially at first. Finding a scope that employs a fast focus eyepiece/ocular has become a modern better option.

If you are going to use a scope with more than 10x magnification, it could be a benefit to use a variable with a much lower bottom magnification power.

Target reticles tend to be thinner/finer in nature and depend on better eyesight. Hunting reticles are intended to also provide faster sight picture acquisition and may be better for your purposes. Multiplex/duplex reticles employ crosshairs that are thicker at the far ends and can also aid faster sight picture acquisition. Some illuminated reticle scopes offer a selection of more modern reticle configurations and could be helpful, too.

In your case, the additional expense of a FFP reticle may not deliver the results you seek.

I purchased a pair of these scopes in the 3-12x40 version for my AR and Mossberg MVP over this past year and am very comfortable with them. The reticles are configured almost completely of heavier lines, there are drop points that are set for .223, but could be ballpark accurate for other cartridges, the left side knob allows for a much easier to reach target focus/parallax adjustment, and the eyepiece/ocular has a fast focus feature for resolving the reticle far more easily. They are also priced reasonably.

My vision (so far, I'm 68) is still correctable OK, but I have also done some youth marksmanship instruction that included youth with visual impairment. In the most extreme instance, we found success with a dot scope. I own and like a Vortex S.P.A.R.C. scope that could provide a more aggressive resolution to your issue.

Greg

 

[lwnemesis]

Lwnwmwsis:

Before you do anything radical you must try to shoot right handed with left eye. I have actually been issued with a sniperrifle configured like this on purpose and it works much better than you would think. There are quite a few match shooters, using open sights, that shoot right hand/left eye as eyesight is more critical with open sights. Off set bases for open sights on 11mm dovetail (AI, Anschutz, etc.) are "off the shelf" hardware for these guys.

Here's a picture of a Mauser KV59F1 sniperrifle I was issued with in the stone age. No worries about mirage from the barrel and clip loading is a great bonus

Because of my injury I became left eye dominant. This might be a good solution.

 

[TorF]

Here's a link with a lot of pictures:

Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk - Skarpskytter - M/59F1 m/kikkert - Bolt