Gehmann Clip-on Iris for EIC

I have shot a lot of dot sight BE. Am now getting into EIC shoots. I use a Browning Buckmark Field Model with open sight of course. I usually practice 2X a week with both a dot and the open sights. I find myself having difficulty staying focused on the front sight. My eye focus changes back and forth especially in TF and RF and the concentration to stay focused on the front sight hinders my ability to get all my shots off. I know that a rushed shot on target is better than a saved round.

I have looked at the Gehmann clip on iris and read as much as I could find. I like the flip up feature and repeatability of positioning. 

I am asking the forum for thoughts and experience with any iris adjustable systems.

Thank you

I found that the clip-on is too easily knocked out of alignment, especially during sustained fire. I recently invested in the Champion glasses with the iris attachment and now I get the repeatability that you're looking for.

Are you sure you want an iris that increases depth of field.i would think that a thing you really wanted to avoid was being focused in no mans land (the area between the sight and the target). I found that the Iris, I have used Varga and thetype that sticks onto my regular glasses, gave me too much depth.


Part of the reason that I say this is that I just received a shooting lens Saturday that brings the front sight of my 1911 into excellent focus. 

That said try it and see how the iris works for you.

I tried an EyePal and it was great for slow fire, but it totally messed up recovery in timed and rapid. If you have a perfect, repeatable hold, well maybe. Use the largest aperture you can.

I agree with jmdavis. Having both the front sight and target in sharp focus will likely increase the tendency to move back and forth. Might be better to make sure you have the vision or proper correction so the front sight is perfectly sharp. The fuzzy target can help you here. No offense but, at your age, your distance prescription will probably not allow you to focus on the front sight (I'm right there with you) and your regular reading glasses or bifocal will be too strong. Progressives are also not ideal. For example, I recently had laser surgery so my distance is sharp with no glasses. For reading I use +1.5 readers. For front sight it's +.75.

Hope this helps.

Maintaining a hard focus on the front sight is, for all purposes, impossible to maintain even for the ten second strings of rapid fire.  Your eyes just don’t work that way.  Your eyes try to focus at some place where everything is more or less in focus.  That’s how your brain works.  So increasing depth of field artificially with an aperture allows the brain to process the image and not re-focus your eye.

Wobbley wrote:Maintaining a hard focus on the front sight is, for all purposes, impossible to maintain even for the ten second strings of rapid fire.  Your eyes just don’t work that way.  Your eyes try to focus at some place where everything is more or less in focus.  That’s how your brain works.  So increasing depth of field artificially with an aperture allows the brain to process the image and not re-focus your eye.

I respectfully disagree.  Except for the case where your resting focus is far away from your front sight causing fatigue, you should be able to hold focus for a long time on a single point. What causes refocus is a shift in point.  I can stare at a point for far longer than ten seconds with no change in focus.  But any slight point change and my eye(s) refocus. In terms of sights, bouncing back and forth between the target and the front sight does cause a refocus.  Also changing the point on the front sight will cause a refocus (e.g. looking at the top left corner and then changing to the top right corner).  And, yes, recoil causes a refocus.

As to the aperture issue, I use a very small aperture and diopter to deepen the field and I have a pretty clear target as well as sight, but I've been shooting for a long time.  The diopter is to set resting focus at the front sight.  I still look at the front sight to keep it aligned with the rear, which is much more important than where it is in the area of aim.

Ed, Do you recommend focusing on a specific spot on the front sight to focus on? I like to focus on the top right point of the front sight. That way I can judge the vertical and horizontal alignment at the same time.

mspingeld wrote:Ed, Do you recommend focusing on a specific spot on the front sight to focus on? I like to focus on the top right point of the front sight. That way I can judge the vertical and horizontal alignment at the same time.

That's a personal preference.  Some shooters recommend adding a scratch to focus on.  You should avoid bouncing around.  It will help to do "staring" exercises where you focus your eye intensely on the single point, but allow the periphery to enlarge enough to include the gaps of the rear sight around that point, to observe alignment.  You should avoid moving your point of focus to all the gaps and especially refrain from bouncing around.  Even moving the physical point of focus from one corner to the other will trigger a refocus. Bouncing to the target and back really delays the refocus, but even a slight shift triggers it.

I have experimented with various designs* for focus points on the front sight, but most cause a point change while you try to evaluate perfection.  This is a bad thing.  In fact, any evaluation causes hesitation.  Your focus should provide assurance the process is unfolding correctly.

* One of the designs I thought of was to place a white (or scratch color) "T" on the front sight, with the ends of the letter continuing onto the rear sight.  But, this was too busy and distracted from just letting the sights sit aligned.

One of the issues that I encounter is that standing under a covered area and shooting at a target in the bright sunlight causes the front sight to become just a silhouette with no detail and very hard to focus on for that reason. I have a small white mark on my front sight that is quite visible if I am in bright light, but disappears otherwise.

I have used the Merit with suction cup, works great, everything is in focus. I do have the clip on eye patch (Blinder) both International allowed and full round. Full round fell apart. They are Champion Choice but clip-on part looks the same as used on Gehmann adjustable irus.
 Simply put looking thru a small hole on the shooting glasses does keep everything in focus.

I've found that single vision computer glasses that move the focus to about 30-34" from my eyes help a lot.  I also use a Merit attachment that significantly sharpens the target.  Without it, indoors at 25 yards, the bull is exceedingly fuzzy and becomes almost a double image.  With the Merit, the bull becomes a single, much darker image that makes it far easier to maintain a consistent aiming point.  Also, having an iris of any type keeps you looking through the same spot on your glasses, which, when your correction is as much as mine, results in more a consistent view.

I wonder if a yellow, light tan or white (if they exist) sharpie, just placed along the front sight blade right across the top edge towards the shooter could provide a focus point.

Might experiment. Maybe even a dab of white out might do.

Be careful as light colors may result in aligning the rear sight with the darkest part of the front sight

My theory on seeing the front sight is not looking at a spot or some part on the sight.  On a well lighted sight I see the sight as a whole squarish block "framed" by the rear notch and some portion of the bull.  Long ago with no lens needed, this was a lot easier.  Seeing the front sight texture helps a lot.  All this is not unlike the concentric circle thing.  Ultimately my mind is looking for an acceptable sight picture.  This mental concept transfers easily to when the sight is more in silhouette.  Doing the trigger right is much easier when the sight "picture" is good.

Just my opinion.

I can not believe I spelled silhouette corectly on the first try.

james r chapman wrote:Be careful as light colors may result in aligning the rear sight with the darkest part of the front sight

  I agree with you there Jim, it's kind of like the sunshine effect.
Stan

xman wrote:I have shot a lot of dot sight BE. Am now getting into EIC shoots. I use a Browning Buckmark Field Model with open sight of course. I usually practice 2X a week with both a dot and the open sights. I find myself having difficulty staying focused on the front sight. My eye focus changes back and forth especially in TF and RF and the concentration to stay focused on the front sight hinders my ability to get all my shots off. I know that a rushed shot on target is better than a saved round.

I have looked at the Gehmann clip on iris and read as much as I could find. I like the flip up feature and repeatability of positioning. 

I am asking the forum for thoughts and experience with any iris adjustable systems.

Thank you

I've used one for a couple years and like it.  My right lens I use it on is prescription focused at 34 inches, the front post is clear and the target while a bit blurred is a lot more defined than without it.  I use the smallest aperture which is easily adjustable, it is secure as long as you don't toss your glasses around.  If you can borrow one try it and see what you think, if not it's not that expensive compared to all your other shooting gear.