Glasses for bullseye

What shooting glasses are the most comfortable and has the best options for adjustability and accessories!

I wear Decot.

Thanks decoy! I was thinking about like the champions choice or knoblauch are other brands

PILLA shooting glasses *snif*

Depends just what exactly your eye issues are and if you need a lot of adjustability. 
For a minor script to be used for protection/shade, Decots or Randolph Rangers are probably fine. 
For a heavy or specialized script or exact placement on the face I don't think a person can beat the Knoblock type systems. The frames are infinitely adjustable and if you have Astigmatism that changes day to day the lens can be rotated to accommodate. You also only need 1 lens just for the aiming eye, with a flip up/down blinder for the other. I have used them since the 1980's for air rifle , smallbore and highpower rifle, and have different sets ready for each discipline.

Most comfortable would be whatever frames you wear in daily use with special lenses. If you don't wear glasses everyday, then it will really depend.

Decot and Randolph make good shooting glasses. I've seen Decots and I've used Randolph for many years. If I had to start over I'd probably go Decot's because custom lenses are easier to find for them. No other reason. They are reasonably comfortable.

If you don't need prescription lenses or wear contacts then you just need clear safety glasses. I find the cheap ones to be uncomfortable. I have sanded the ear arms to smooth them out. Ordering safety glasses for the trades, intended to be worn all day from an industrial supply house can yield good results, but they have cheap molded plastic ones also, usually for a lot more than box stores or online. If someone has a store in your area so you have check them out before leaving that would be good.

Champions, Knobloch etc are specialty glasses good only for shooting. I occasionally see people wear them downrange to score, but most people take them off after firing and use their regular glasses for scoring. They have the most adjustment but they are also the most fragile and the most expensive. Getting custom lenses for them can be a bit of a pain. Most any Dr's office or eyewear store can do it, but you have to seek them out and show them what you want. There really should be someone you can call or order through a website to just say "Champions 42mm +2.75" and get the lenses.

I've used cheap drugstore cheaters as test lenses and ordered the prescription I needed from one of the cheap online glasses sites with moderate success. They are cheap and fast so "good" sometimes get's left behind.

I have tried pretty much all of the currently available specialist target shooting glasses, and recently spent a lot of money getting a custom set of DECOT's (I was living not far away from their place in AZ).

My strong preference for Bullseye is Champions. (available from Champion's Choice). To me they feel more robust than Knoblochs. I prefer the 42mm lens holders. It is possible to get clear corrective lens in several different "strengths" from CC, and plain tinted lens too. 

Shooting Sight (run a search here) offer tinted corrective lens. It is also possible to find bifocal 42mm lens from a cooperative optician, or from DECOT. They are not cheap!

After getting some very helpful advice from Brenda Silva I found that green or gray tinted lens can be cery helpful. If you suffer from "floaters" in your shooting eye these light tints "mask" the floaters very well.

I continue to use an adjustable aperture (Iris) in certain light conditions, particularly indoors. It is useful for adjusting the depth of field so that I can improve the roundness of the target "blob" whilst keeping the front sight in sharp focus.

Obviously it depends on your eyes, but for iron sights I typically use a +0.50 grey tint lens. If the light is very good (e.g. outdoors in AZ) then I often do not need the iris. I keep +0.25 and +0.75 lens handy, but have not needed them so much.

DECOT (and no doubt others) offer a kind of pink/purple (Vermillion??) tint which really makes the red dot "pop" in bright light or gray overcast. Yellow/green is excellent for night driving or shooting sporting clays.

I've used Randolph Ranger Classic shooting glasses for many years. I really like the interchangeable lenses. They made prescription lenses for mine after I sent in my different prescriptions. I had to contact them by phone one time for an issue regarding a pair of their glasses that I had worn for a very, very long time. I don't remember the issue, but they were very polite and super accommodating to please me. As I recall they sent me a brand new pair of glasses.

Decot and Randolf use oversize lenses, so you can only get replacement lenses through them.  Knobloch, Champion, or Bob Jones glasses use smaller lenses that you can source.  Another benefit for astigmatism is that with round lenses, you can rotate the lens slightly to tune your astigmatism.  For mild astigmatism correction, the doctor's measured axis is probably good enough, but for moderate to strong corrections, even a few degrees of error can be seen, so I find that clocking it yourself is the best way.

There are two things that will produce optical distortion when looking through a lens: looking through a spot that is off-center, which will cause a prismatic shift of the image; and looking diagonally through the lens, which will produce an astigmatic error.

For rifle, this is a big deal, especially in prone, as you look diagonally through the top inside corner of your lens when you form a cheek weld.  For pistol, this is not as big a deal, as you typically hold your head to look more or less straight at the sights.  So for rifle, Decot and Randolf are at a disadvantage - they can shift the optical center, but the lens remains parallel to your face.  Knobloch, etc can twist the lens so it is perpendicular to your line of sight.

Cost wise, the cheapest is to go on-line and order a pair of dedicated single strength glasses from Zenni Optical.  You typically want to add +0.75 diopters to your distance prescription for irons, add nothing for a red dot.  Get upgrades for polycarbonate or trivex lenses, which are impact resistant, and pay for premium AR coatings on the lenses.  As discussed, I recommend getting frames with round lenses, so you can loosen and rotate the lens slightly if you want to tune your astigmatism.  Total cost is about $60 delivered.  A close alternative is Bob Jones glasses, which I think are $35, and then you need to get a custom lens made for the shooting eye - I make them for $45, opticians are probably more than that, so this is a $80 to 100 solution.  Knobloch, MEC, and Champion setups get into several hundred dollars.  I have not priced Randolf or Decot recently.

There are two other cheap options: if you have 20/20 distance or wear contacts, I sell molded safety glasses with +0.50 and +0.75 molded in.  At $25 with free shipping, they are basic, but work.  Next up is an ophthalmic quality eyeglass lens on a flip-up clip that you can attach to your regular glasses.  At $50 it is a little cheaper than the dedicated pair of glasses from Zenni, so really a wash as to which option is better.

Final note: if you go to Zenni, they need a PD, or pupillary distance.  Some eye doctors will measure this for you, though a lot insist the optician will do this when they fit you for your glasses.  This is part of the scam the doctors run to try to prevent you from ordering on line.  PD is nothing more than the distance between your pupils, in millimeters.  For shooting glasses, just look into the distance and have a friend hold a ruler up to your face and measure.  Or, just use 65mm as an estimate for most men - you are only using one eye to aim, so it is not important, and even if you use both eyes, a few millimeters of error is not a big deal.

Knobloch and Champion are very nice except that they don't protect the eyes as well as other shooting glasses. I use them for air guns, though.

I had my eye Dr. grind the (front sight) prescription in the upper half of my safety glasses frame with side shields. 
Safer that those air pistol glasses that don't protect your eyes. 

I've seen a 38amu case grenade, shooting molten brass out the back of its 1911 slide leaving it's shooter with a bloody face.
In a Highpower match an M1a barrel separated spraying wood splinters all over those of us next to it.
And not to mention all of the ricochets off target frames (or other things) coming back to the firing points. 
Just saying

You can also have a pair of glasses made for you, with the exact prescription for your eye, either for front sight or infinity (red dot use), and have them made from polycarbonate.  Then you can buy the side shields from Amazon.  If you want tinted, or scratch protection, or whatever, just ask for it.

They work well, they're comfortable, and the cost will be for getting a prescription, a frame you like, and getting the lenses made - which nowadays is minimal.  If you're right-eyed, your right lens could have your shooting prescription, and your left lens could be to see the workbench, for adjusting sights on your gun

Here's a photo of one of mine:



I have two pair of these, one for use with red dot sights, and one for open sights.  The front sight will be in perfect focus.

You do not want glasses made for your front sight - the target will be too blurry to see.  What you want is to focus at the hyperfocal distance of the rear sight, which is the optical average between perfect focus on the rear sight, and perfect focus on the target.  For iron sights, this is almost always +0.75 diopters added to your distance vision correction.

No, the front sight is supposed to be PERFECTLY sharp, and both the target and rear sight are not.

Here's a video that may help:

More info - I found that shooting in competition is stressful, and I was making silly mistakes. By comparison, doing the same thing dry-firing, or just practicing, the stress vanishes.  Here's another video that might be useful, once you've mastered the earlier video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTiI6rfdt8E&list=PLedIMbuaWFoX5LnzptIGFnpjzs_PLR3CL

I had cataract surgery many years ago, meaning that my eyes no longer focus.  So I had a pair of glasses made for me that showed my distance vision perfectly sharp, and another pair that showed the front sight perfectly sharp.  That took care of the physical focusing, but it wasn't until I watched the first video that my groups suddenly decreased in size.

Something else I did, someone in this forum sent me an "occluder" which covered my non-shooting eye - an opaque piece of plastic flips down to cover my left eye.  Light still comes through, but no detail.  For a while, that was a big help, but eventually I could leave the occluder up, and ignore what my non-shooting eye was seeing.

Whatever glasses I wear, I always use the plastic clip-on "shields" to close the open area around my glasses.  Between "stuff" coming back at me from my own gun, and empty brass coming at me from shooters alongside me, and once coming close to something hitting my eye, those shields minimize that issue.  I can post a link on Amazon for them if anyone. is interested, but they're easy to find.

Also, it is important to get lenses made from "safety glass" or polycarbonate plastic that won't shatter.  It adds very little to the cost.  Get the anti-scratch coating too, and if you want, tinting.

I don't think it's possible to shoot with a prescription that makes the front sight perfectly in focus. For me, that would wash out anything down range so there would be no aiming reference. The ideal open sights prescription will make the front sight as clear as possible while still having enough of a bullseye to give the shooter an area to aim for.

shootingsight posted this excellent picture in another topic (link). You would need +1.5-2.0 to bring the focus all the way back to the front sight and the sight picture would look even worse than the image in the lower left corner.

When shooting 10m the prescription can be a little stronger than when shooting 50 yards, but if you want one pair of glasses to work across all disciplines then +0.75 is a very good place to start.

SteveT wrote:I don't think it's possible to shoot with a prescription that makes the front sight perfectly in focus. For me, that would wash out anything down range so there would be no aiming reference. .......

The front sight is supposed to be perfectly sharp.
The target is supposed to be blurry.
 
If you look at the target for aiming, you will not get the best results.

Go to page 39 of the Pistol Shooter's Treasury:

If you're still not convinced:

mikemyers wrote:You can also have a pair of glasses made for you, with the exact prescription for your eye, either for front sight or infinity (red dot use), and have them made from polycarbonate.  Then you can buy the side shields from Amazon.  If you want tinted, or scratch protection, or whatever, just ask for it.

They work well, they're comfortable, and the cost will be for getting a prescription, a frame you like, and getting the lenses made - which nowadays is minimal.  If you're right-eyed, your right lens could have your shooting prescription, and your left lens could be to see the workbench, for adjusting sights on your gun

Here's a photo of one of mine:



I have two pair of these, one for use with red dot sights, and one for open sights.  The front sight will be in perfect focus.

May I ask what frames those are?  I like them - simple and look sturdy.

I think the distinction I am trying to make, and it might be semantics to the average person, is that 'concentrate on', 'focus on', and 'in focus' may sound like the same thing, they are not when you are talking to an eye doctor or a lens maker.

To start with, your eye has a depth of field.  For an eye doctor, that depth of field is considered to be about +/- 1/8 diopters when your pupil is dilated.  With a constricted pupil that is likely +/- 3/16.  So if you focus ON the front sight, which mathematically requires a +1.25 diopter lens, everything from about 1.1 diopters to about 1.4 diopters will be in focus.  However if your focus in front of your sight at 1.1 diopters, the front sight at 1.25 diopters will still be in focus, but your target will be sharper.  If you focus just a little bit further out, blur on the front sight is still almost zero, but the target is more distinct.

In my experience testing hundreds of pistol shooters, especially older shooters who struggle to pull their focus in close (ie they have presbiopia and need reading glasses), the preferred lens that gives them a sharp front sight without too much target blur is +0.75.  Since the eye can add extra power, but not subtract, I'm guessing they are actually focused at about +0.85 diopters.  I know that +1.00 is too much - the target is gone.

Net, concentrate on the front sight, and keep the front sight in good focus are both fine.  But when you say 'focus ON the front sight' to an eye doctor, it means something else, and I have talked to more shooters who gave up irons, exactly because they asked the doctor to focus ON the front sight, and their resultant prescription was too strong to use.

shootingsight wrote:........However if your focus in front of your sight at 1.1 diopters, the front sight at 1.25 diopters will still be in focus, but your target will be sharper.  If you focus just a little bit further out, blur on the front sight is still almost zero, but the target is more distinct.........

I disagree - you WANT the target to be blurred, the less sharp the better.  

What you describe is technically correct, but the more blurry the target is, the better.

When the target is sharper, it is more difficult to ignore it and put 100% of your concentration on the front sight (only!).

I guess if you're just having fun at the range shooting, none of this matters.  But this being a Bullseye Forum, we should encourage shooters what gets the best results.

shootingsight wrote: I have talked to more shooters who gave up irons, exactly because they asked the doctor to focus ON the front sight, and their resultant prescription was too strong to use.

Iron sights: front sight focus is everything, as you don't need a black bullseye to shoot awesome groups. Prove it to yourself - put a target up backwards and shoot at it.....if you're not shooting groups, you have a problem.
My ISU coach instructed that the black bullseye is there to distract you from what you really want to concentrate on - which are trigger control and front sight focus. Target is a blurry mess.

As athletes, we need to unlearn everything we learned growing up playing sports, which was to focus on the target. Hockey, Football, Baseball, and Soccer (to name a few) requires the athlete to "look/focus" on the target - not the puck or ball. As pistol shooters this is a hard task to unlearn, as it's etched into our brains. 
I bet pro golfers would make great national pistol champions - think about it.

All I want to know,
What did the 2670+ iron sight club use?

Wes Lorenz wrote:

shootingsight wrote: I have talked to more shooters who gave up irons, exactly because they asked the doctor to focus ON the front sight, and their resultant prescription was too strong to use.

Iron sights: front sight focus is everything, as you don't need a black bullseye to shoot awesome groups. Prove it to yourself - put a target up backwards and shoot at it.....if you're not shooting groups, you have a problem.
My ISU coach instructed that the black bullseye is there to distract you from what you really want to concentrate on - which are trigger control and front sight focus. Target is a blurry mess.

As athletes, we need to unlearn everything we learned growing up playing sports, which was to focus on the target. Hockey, Football, Baseball, and Soccer (to name a few) requires the athlete to "look/focus" on the target - not the puck or ball. As pistol shooters this is a hard task to unlearn, as it's etched into our brains. 
I bet pro golfers would make great national pistol champions - think about it.

I think most people's issue with irons (optics too) is their focus (not in a visual sense) is outcome based rather than process. This is easily seen when people shoot slowfire, the shot breaks and before recoil is completed they are scoping the shot.

As far as vision is concerned, I have "front sight glasses" and I found them problematic as I would either need to switch glasses and up getting the lenses dirty or live with the vision difference with them when scoring. I shoot with my typical prescription with comfortable frames with shatterproof lenses.