Flip-Up Blinder?

Has anyone tried one of these flip-up blinders?

http://www.champchoice.com/store/main.aspx?p=ItemDetailOptions&item=CC100B

They come in black and white.  Any advantage in using the translucent white?

Yes I used one, now I just put tape on my left lens.

Get the white the black blocks out the light and BOTH your pupils will try an adjust to the lack of light.

- Dave

Use the white one all the time to be able to keep both eyes open and it lets in light also to not fatigue the eyeballs.

I used to shoot years ago with my off eye closed.
After about 20 minutes my dominate eye had double vision(one target stacked above the other).

Really weird picture but it was there.

Keep both eyes open using a clearish blinder and all is well.

A piece of tape in the right location on your glasses will do the same thing.

Clarence

Tape works but gets in the way when trying to see while scoring and I don't know the effect it may have on coated lenses in the long term. I like attaching the flip up blinder to the bill of my ball cap. Not my idea. I copied it.

Tape for irons (actually a 3/4 inch buff paster in the right spot) that leaves plenty of room in the lens to see the scope. 

For the dot, I use the USMC method and tuck a piece of ammo box in my hatband (or more often, the envelope with my overlays). Either way, I can see out of the side of it to check the scope.

I use the white one but went over one side with black magic marker because it let too much light through.  The black was no good, it blocks too much light.  I put mine on the brim of my hat, not on my glasses.

OK, I'll try one of the white flip-ups.  Any suggestions besides the one mentioned from Champion's Choice?

I tried taping a piece of cardboard (flap from .22lr box) to one lens but it felt awkward after shooting - depth perception.  That's when I thought some flip-up blinder might be better.

Champions has the better price.
Bullseye gear has the same thing for slightly more.

http://www.bullseyegear.com/bullseyepistol/product.php?productid=67&cat=2&page=1

beeser wrote:Has anyone tried one of these flip-up blinders?

http://www.champchoice.com/store/main.aspx?p=ItemDetailOptions&item=CC100B

Yes.

beeser wrote:They come in black and white.  Any advantage in using the translucent white?

Yes.

I have never used a flip-up blinder. I often use a flip-down blinder in white. How do the flip-up ones work?

I use a white one every match, the black tends to darken everything including the target, try putting it on the brim of your hat if you wear one it works better for me,

I ordered a white blinder this morning from Champions Choice and will try putting it on the brim of a hat, which I should be wearing anyway when out in our Arizona sun.

That done and as a separate issue, has anyone used a pair of those olympic style frames from Knobloch, etc?  Or is that a bit of an overkill?  On the surface I can see some advantages.

I had the Knobloch but my one son borrowed them. Many features I liked but they don't offer good protection especially when shooting next to a lead spitting revolver. I took my gun to the eye doctor and he set me up with a good pair of glasses, later the lens was checked by that guy at Camp Perry and he made colored lenses that will easily change in the frame.

beeser wrote:I ordered a white blinder this morning from Champions Choice and will try putting it on the brim of a hat, which I should be wearing anyway when out in our Arizona sun.

That done and as a separate issue, has anyone used a pair of those olympic style frames from Knobloch, etc?  Or is that a bit of an overkill?  On the surface I can see some advantages.

I use Knoblocks for air pistol and I have used them for bullseye but didn't feel comfortable with the eye protection. I did like the iris I had on them for shooting irons, it made the front sight crystal clear.

I'm currently using Rydon's (Rudy Project) with corrected lens inserts.

- Dave

You can always attach side shields to the knoblochs, champions, and vargas. Another option if you know your prescription is to buy pair or a couple of pairs of cheap glasses from Zenni Optical to try some different things. I buy the round lenses, so that I can adjust for my minor astigmatism, and they work ok. They are not the quality of a good pair of glasses though.

I like the round lenses.


Mike

I tried the translucent flip-up blinder from Champions Choice today and it really helped me focus better on the front sight.  As others have mentioned it works equally well clipped on glasses or the bill of a cap.  As a follow-up to this, does anyone find it better when the front sight is lit better?

Actually Beeser everyone finds it better if the front sight is lit better.

OldMaster65 wrote:Actually Beeser everyone finds it better if the front sight is lit better.

+1

Anything you can do to improve your chances of a better lit sight or are you just at the mercy of conditions?

I have found that for most conditions a +1 diopter (+1 over any normal prescription) work well. Outdoors it works great. Indoors with good sight lights, it works pretty good. Indoors when it's dim, and I don't have a good solution, though a +1.25 seems to help in 25yard matches and dimmer lighting. 

The older we get, the tougher irons become. At least that is my experience with rifles and pistols.

There is something that you could try that I have been experimenting with for the airgun. I marked the sight with a simple dot of white paint. I helps to focus my attention, but I can't say that it is the solution. 

Another thing I have found is that well blackened sights are a bit easier to use indoors than grayer sights.

beeser wrote:Has anyone tried one of these flip-up blinders?

http://www.champchoice.com/store/main.aspx?p=ItemDetailOptions&item=CC100B

They come in black and white.  Any advantage in using the translucent white?

I found that clear welder's lens, softly bead blasted to frost it, allowed plenty of light to pass thru, but obscures vision.
There are three ways to shoot irons.. The shooter looks at the sight , sees the sight, or focuses on the sight. There were several ways we insured focus..
One, was to use a sharp scribe, to scratch a line on the face of the front sight after we smoked it. When the scratch is in full focus, the eye is concentrating at the proper distance. We also put a magic marker dot on the web of our hand near the hammer. Bring total focus to that dot, and then ease that focus to the front sight.  By moving the location of the scratch at different matches, the eye/brain did not get as lazy, as it would keeping the mark in the same area. Learn that the brain is lazy, and will accept some focal point between the front sight and target which gives the impression or illusion of focus on the sight.

Jerry, 

Lou S. had told me about the dot on the hand and I had completely forgotten it, thanks. I will be trying it at the All Navy Pistol match. 

I learned with the rifle that just because the target is blurry, the front sight isn't necessarily the point of focus. That was a lesson learned the hard way at 600 yards. This is great iron sight advice. 

On good days with rested eyes and good light, my .22 scores are within a point of each other, irons and red dot. But when my eyes are tired or the light is bad they are not. I have never shot a .45 with a dot, so I don't know that it is the same, but I would guess that it is. 

Thanks.

This is very promising news.  I was able for the first time today to see the lines on the front sight when the gun was in sunlight.  The firing line is covered and depending on the time of day lighting conditions obviously change.  All I remember seeing before was an outline of the front sight.  Maybe the difference was the first time use of the blinder or the lighting conditions being just right.  Regardless, I was able to see the the lines and my sighting seemed to improve.  I will try the scratched line and dot in attempt to gain more focus.  Any more advice or suggestions along these lines would be appreciated.

PS  In the Askins book that I just read he mentions using some special type of red paint to highlight the front sight in low light situations.  Any modern equivalent to this advice?

If you want the front sight to be clearer you need to practice focusing your eye at the distance of the front sight.  I hung a piece of foam core poster board in front of my shooting bench in the basement.  Dry fire with the poster board right up against the muzzle.  This keeps your eye from being able to focus beyond the front sight because you literally cant see further.  Do this for about 30 minutes then remove it and dry fire where you have more distance in front of the gun.  You will be surprised as to how crisp the front sight will look.  It will also show you what it looks like when you truly focus on the front sight.  I have also thought that a magnet holding a piece of card stock to the muzzle would work also if the gun is steel.

Scott