Any tips progressive eyeglasses wearers and scopes?

[JulianD]

I am looking into purchasing my first scope and after getting behind two scopes (I know one of them as a Leupold), binoculars, and a spotting scope, I noticed some issues when I was shooting several weeks ago...

1. Cheek weld and visual clarity because of my progressive Len with my glasses. I find myself trying to look at the bottom of the lens.
2. Being that it was my first attempt looking through the glass with various devices, the image looked slightly blurry and pixelated?

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated

j

 

[_Windrider_]

I am looking into purchasing my first scope and after getting behind two scopes (I know one of them as a Leupold), binoculars, and a spotting scope, I noticed some issues when I was shooting several weeks ago...

1. Cheek weld and visual clarity because of my progressive Len with my glasses. I find myself trying to look at the bottom of the lens.
2. Being that it was my first attempt looking through the glass with various devices, the image looked slightly blurry and pixelated?

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated

j

Don’t wear progressives. Get a distance only script for shooting. Other than that practice so you are looking through the middle of the lens.

 

[shoobe01]

Total consistency. I can muddle through with RDSs, magnifiers, and LPVOs up to 8x with indifferent form, get good hits to as far as 600 yds on weird positions etc.

For real precision, for 900 yds and out, etc I found that my earpro and my glasses messed with me and I just need to practice to be absolutely repeatable. Me, for some reason, I was doing not random but two specific positions so would get parallax effects, and 25% of the time hit about 20 moa low all of a sudden. Mostly fixed it now but it took a class and someone looking at me to fix it.

Anyway, I also CANNOT take the "do not use progressive lenses" advice I get from many because there's a reason they are prescribed. I cannot see turrets, charts, levels, logbooks, etc if use distance-only glasses. That ship sailed 20 years ago.

My "outside glasses" are much bigger than normal at work glasses, so the focus bands are much larger. (They are also impact rated, and cover enough of my eyes to be plausible safety glasses as well!) That also helps a lot, and I can tell when I quickly take a shot with normal glasses that I have to be really, really on the ball to line those up or things look weird quickly.

I've generally optimized my rifle for this as well. Hard to shoot well with other people's guns sometimes. I have a fairly high scope (incidentally works better for clipons, but not mounted there for that reason), and adjusted the stock and cheek rest, etc to encourage me to use a more face-forward (head up) position. That helps optically and for repeatability, so you may need to adjust your setup. Don't forget that if on a non-adjustable gun, you can start with tape, cardboard, towels and stuff to try out LOP and cheekrest changes temporarily.

 

[atepointer]

I have -8.5 lenses and let me tell ya it's a party. I cannot fathom trying to make progressives work, but I only lasted a few weeks in mine they drove me nuts. In the real world I'm a trifocal optical cripple. Readers, then mid-range computer readers then pure distance. I use my 20/20's and shoot out to 2k with them, but I have really had to nail down my cheek weld something fierce. With my particular Rx I only get 20/20 out of the center portion of my lenses up to maybe a dime size. After that.....whew it goes down rapidly and out the edges I have no idea....20/200? I have to keep my lenses very square to the scope so tilting head forward is a no starter.....looking through top edge is so blurry it's useless. I'm maybe 2 years from cataract surgery and all this goes away.....2020....til then I'll keep at this optical struggle.

@lash is married to an eye doc he can probably direct you to the best modus operandi. I muddle through whatever I can get to work repeatedly...it stinks, but what are ya gonna do? Shoot more!

 

[JulianD]

Don’t wear progressives. Get a distance only script for shooting. Other than that practice so you are looking through the middle of the lens.































When I look through the middle of a lens it looks blurry because it's above the near sighted portion of my lens so I have to rotate my head upward to look at the bottom of my lens to see through the scope..































































































I'll look through theZero long distance portion of my prescription. Boy this is gonna be interesting since I m myopicear ....

Don’t wear progressives. Get a distance only script for shooting. Other than that practice so you are looking through the middle of the lens.

The thing is, when I look through anything higher than the reading portion of my lens (lower end), everything gets blurry. I'll look into the the 'far distance' portion of my prescription.

 

[JulianD]

Total consistency. I can muddle through with RDSs, magnifiers, and LPVOs up to 8x with indifferent form, get good hits to as far as 600 yds on weird positions etc.

For real precision, for 900 yds and out, etc I found that my earpro and my glasses messed with me and I just need to practice to be absolutely repeatable. Me, for some reason, I was doing not random but two specific positions so would get parallax effects, and 25% of the time hit about 20 moa low all of a sudden. Mostly fixed it now but it took a class and someone looking at me to fix it.

Anyway, I also CANNOT take the "do not use progressive lenses" advice I get from many because there's a reason they are prescribed. I cannot see turrets, charts, levels, logbooks, etc if use distance-only glasses. That ship sailed 20 years ago.

My "outside glasses" are much bigger than normal at work glasses, so the focus bands are much larger. (They are also impact rated, and cover enough of my eyes to be plausible safety glasses as well!) That also helps a lot, and I can tell when I quickly take a shot with normal glasses that I have to be really, really on the ball to line those up or things look weird quickly.

I've generally optimized my rifle for this as well. Hard to shoot well with other people's guns sometimes. I have a fairly high scope (incidentally works better for clipons, but not mounted there for that reason), and adjusted the stock and cheek rest, etc to encourage me to use a more face-forward (head up) position. That helps optically and for repeatability, so you may need to adjust your setup. Don't forget that if on a non-adjustable gun, you can start with tape, cardboard, towels and stuff to try out LOP and cheekrest changes temporarily.

thank you so much for the advice.. I jotted into my notes

 

[JulianD]

I have -8.5 lenses and let me tell ya it's a party. I cannot fathom trying to make progressives work, but I only lasted a few weeks in mine they drove me nuts. In the real world I'm a trifocal optical cripple. Readers, then mid-range computer readers then pure distance. I use my 20/20's and shoot out to 2k with them, but I have really had to nail down my cheek weld something fierce. With my particular Rx I only get 20/20 out of the center portion of my lenses up to maybe a dime size. After that.....whew it goes down rapidly and out the edges I have no idea....20/200? I have to keep my lenses very square to the scope so tilting head forward is a no starter.....looking through top edge is so blurry it's useless. I'm maybe 2 years from cataract surgery and all this goes away.....2020....til then I'll keep at this optical struggle.

@lash is married to an eye doc he can probably direct you to the best modus operandi. I muddle through whatever I can get to work repeatedly...it stinks, but what are ya gonna do? Shoot more!

What you describe with your lens is exactly what mine does!

 

[sled_mack]

I use lined bifocals to keep from drifting over the transition when looking through the scope.

you will need to adjust the diopter to focus the reticle to your eyes/glasses.

 

[shoobe01]

Yeah, first of all even with correction, the diopter adjustment on my scopes is nearly at the end stop. Not sure what is going on optically, but even fresh out of the eye doc, new good glasses: all my scopes need adjustment. I also pretty much cannot use things like ACOG with fixed eyepieces. Nope.

Remember that your eyes will adjust out of comfort zone, so adjust that carefully. If you look through the scope and it takes a moment to be able to see a sharp reticle: you aren't adjusted right. Keep looking away, adjust for the first few seconds you look through it, only.

The other trick is that transition between near/far (how much, and where, each one is) is part of the Rx. You can tell the doc to write you a pair of glasses with mostly far vision, a very small near vision portion, etc.

 

[xsn10s]

I use the far distance section or no glasses at all. However I'm thinking of getting a set of lined bifocals for most use. That way I can shoot both handguns and scoped rifles easier.

 

[Baron23]

I am looking into purchasing my first scope and after getting behind two scopes (I know one of them as a Leupold), binoculars, and a spotting scope, I noticed some issues when I was shooting several weeks ago...

1. Cheek weld and visual clarity because of my progressive Len with my glasses. I find myself trying to look at the bottom of the lens.
2. Being that it was my first attempt looking through the glass with various devices, the image looked slightly blurry and pixelated?

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated

j

My view is first, if your ocular can be sufficiently adjusted to match your prescription (that is, can you adjust it enough to where the reticle is at least as clear as with the distance portion of your progressives) then that and plano shooting glass lenses are the way to go.

For reading turrets, etc use either stick on reading lenses at the bottom or… if you feel like spending the $$…you can get lenses for glasses such as Randolph Rangers w a reading glass magnifier ground into the lenses. There are also less expensive shooting glasses w reader mag sections. Pistol guys seem to like the magnifier at the top to see iron sights and such. For rifle, I def want them at the bottom and out of my vision when looking thru the scope.

If not, then shooting glasses with you distance prescription and a stick on or ground in bifocal for reading as described above.

I don’t see where the mid section of progressive lenses is desirable for looking thru a scope.

My approach was adjust the ocular, use plano lenses, and stick in readers at the bottom. But now I’ve had cataract surgery in both eyes I’m back to 20/20, moved my ocular back to “normal”, and kept the stick-ons w plano Ranger lenses.

Best of luck

 

[atepointer]

What you describe with your lens is exactly what mine does!

It's just one of those things I worked through by trying stuff til I could get repeatable. I actually tilt my head sideways a bit to keep my lenses more vertical, but this is far from idea. It do what it be.....when you have a sweet spot of a dime or less to get 20/20 you just do what works.

 

[Hobo Hilton]

Find a Doctor of optometry that is a rifle shooter. The cute little girl at Walmart will not have a clue as to what you are trying to accomplish.

 

[Gasgun]

I gave up trying to make progressive lenses work.
I set the diopter to my uncorrected vision and leave the glasses in the truck.
I have gone to grid or tree type reticles so I don’t have to dial.

 

[lash]

Total consistency. I can muddle through with RDSs, magnifiers, and LPVOs up to 8x with indifferent form, get good hits to as far as 600 yds on weird positions etc.

For real precision, for 900 yds and out, etc I found that my earpro and my glasses messed with me and I just need to practice to be absolutely repeatable. Me, for some reason, I was doing not random but two specific positions so would get parallax effects, and 25% of the time hit about 20 moa low all of a sudden. Mostly fixed it now but it took a class and someone looking at me to fix it.

Anyway, I also CANNOT take the "do not use progressive lenses" advice I get from many because there's a reason they are prescribed. I cannot see turrets, charts, levels, logbooks, etc if use distance-only glasses. That ship sailed 20 years ago.

My "outside glasses" are much bigger than normal at work glasses, so the focus bands are much larger. (They are also impact rated, and cover enough of my eyes to be plausible safety glasses as well!) That also helps a lot, and I can tell when I quickly take a shot with normal glasses that I have to be really, really on the ball to line those up or things look weird quickly.

I've generally optimized my rifle for this as well. Hard to shoot well with other people's guns sometimes. I have a fairly high scope (incidentally works better for clipons, but not mounted there for that reason), and adjusted the stock and cheek rest, etc to encourage me to use a more face-forward (head up) position. That helps optically and for repeatability, so you may need to adjust your setup. Don't forget that if on a non-adjustable gun, you can start with tape, cardboard, towels and stuff to try out LOP and cheekrest changes temporarily.

This is exactly how to approach it in my opinion. Spending excess money trying to match a prescription to your scope is a waste unless you like doing it over and over again every time your prescription changes.

Those of us that have worn glasses all of our lives find that there is always a way. I’ve coached a few people with glasses as to how to best set up for using a scope. I have no line trifocals and have been shooting matches for years with them.

As you’ve correctly stated, the trick is two things. First, use higher rings to allow a more heads up view of the scope while on the gun. Second, adjust your rifle to fit you well. When you get on your rifle or shoulder your rifle, you should automatically be set up to see through your scope at the correct height and distance. As mentioned, use padding, blocking, tape or other method to do so if your rifle isn’t easily adjustable or non-adjustable.

Then, make sure you adjust the diopter correctly for your vision and lock it in place. If your scope doesn’t have a locking diopter, electrical tape works well.

For all those saying to discard your bi or trifocals, I say good on you that your vision is good enough to do so. For those that are blind when off the scope because you don’t want to wear glasses, I think you’ve made a poor choice that gives you nothing back.

Shooting through a scope with glasses takes proper fitting and choices just like fitting a stock to your build does. It should receive just as much attention.

 

[shoobe01]

Then, make sure you adjust the diopter correctly for your vision and lock it in place. If your scope doesn’t have a locking diopter, electrical tape works well.

I also run caps on all scopes, and just witness mark with a paint pen where UP on the cap should be. With a cap, the lump for the hinge means it is almost entirely unlikely to be knocked more than about 30° off, so no multi-rotation worries, and I just rotate back up to level then get to shooting.

But happy that locking diopters are becoming a thing, more of mine have that now, thankfully.

 

[Rob01]

Just use bifocals and not true three part progressives. You can have the top for using the scope and the bottom to read up close. No issues. Been using them for years. Actually used progressives for a while without issue as sighting through the scope wasn't an issue with my head position.

 

[Ronws]

I would say to get glasses that offer more close-up than distance. This is because when you look through the scope, you should focus on the reticle, rather than just the target.

 

[atepointer]

@JulianD If there is an SME on this topic here it's @lash so I'd certainly consider putting his advice into your wheelhouse.

As my Rx has strengthened dramatically the last 6-7 years I proportionally struggled to get into the right technical shooting positions and probably gave up too soon on it and have reverted to what I can get by with....just a juice for the squeeze kind of thing. Running a business and life at some point I didn't want to waste range trips fiddling with scope rings etc and went back to shooting best I could. Lash even helped me along and going to higher rings was hugely helpful, but I still have a long way to go to get set up properly. Once I get these cataracts done I'm going back to 101 with no glasses and totally rebuilding my shooting structure getting as close to technically sound as I can muster.

Good luck let us know how it goes maybe you find something I can put to use to get better results.

 

[samnev]

I've been wearing progressives for30 years. Each time my RX changed I had to readjust the ocular lens. It's a Pain in the arse but eventually I learned where the sweet spot is.

 

[JulianD]

My view is first, if your ocular can be sufficiently adjusted to match your prescription (that is, can you adjust it enough to where the reticle is at least as clear as with the distance portion of your progressives) then that and plano shooting glass lenses are the way to go.

For reading turrets, etc use either stick on reading lenses at the bottom or… if you feel like spending the $$…you can get lenses for glasses such as Randolph Rangers w a reading glass magnifier ground into the lenses. There are also less expensive shooting glasses w reader mag sections. Pistol guys seem to like the magnifier at the top to see iron sights and such. For rifle, I def want them at the bottom and out of my vision when looking thru the scope.

If not, then shooting glasses with you distance prescription and a stick on or ground in bifocal for reading as described above.

I don’t see where the mid section of progressive lenses is desirable for looking thru a scope.

My approach was adjust the ocular, use plano lenses, and stick in readers at the bottom. But now I’ve had cataract surgery in both eyes I’m back to 20/20, moved my ocular back to “normal”, and kept the stick-ons w plano Ranger lenses.

Best of luck

I appreciate the information. I'll do my research and experimentation.

 

[JulianD]

Find a Doctor of optometry that is a rifle shooter. The cute little girl at Walmart will not have a clue as to what you are trying to accomplish.

That's not a bad idea..

 

[JulianD]

@JulianD If there is an SME on this topic here it's @lash so I'd certainly consider putting his advice into your wheelhouse.

As my Rx has strengthened dramatically the last 6-7 years I proportionally struggled to get into the right technical shooting positions and probably gave up too soon on it and have reverted to what I can get by with....just a juice for the squeeze kind of thing. Running a business and life at some point I didn't want to waste range trips fiddling with scope rings etc and went back to shooting best I could. Lash even helped me along and going to higher rings was hugely helpful, but I still have a long way to go to get set up properly. Once I get these cataracts done I'm going back to 101 with no glasses and totally rebuilding my shooting structure getting as close to technically sound as I can muster.

Good luck let us know how it goes maybe you find something I can put to use to get better results.

I'll let you know how it goes. My optometrist was recommending me "NeuroLens" she said that my eyes at near distances were focusing past to what I was looking at when they were testing my eyes.

 

[StrayDog]

One more piece of input that's helped me because I shoot with the same glasses I wear to work and all day everyday. Before I shoot, I slide on a Croakie and set it snug to pull the frames in tight to my nose to prevent slipping under movement and sweat, etc. Otherwise, my frames always slide down a little under gravity, or when I wince at a miss... Hahaha. Croakies, not just for lifeguards.

 

[lash]

One more piece of input that's helped me because I shoot with the same glasses I wear to work and all day everyday. Before I shoot, I slide on a Croakie and set it snug to pull the frames in tight to my nose to prevent slipping under movement and sweat, etc. Otherwise, my frames always slide down a little under gravity, or when I wince at a miss... Hahaha. Croakies, not just for lifeguards.

Good idea and something I think that I’ll adopt also.

 

[Ronws]

One more piece of input that's helped me because I shoot with the same glasses I wear to work and all day everyday. Before I shoot, I slide on a Croakie and set it snug to pull the frames in tight to my nose to prevent slipping under movement and sweat, etc. Otherwise, my frames always slide down a little under gravity, or when I wince at a miss... Hahaha. Croakies, not just for lifeguards.

I am not just the president, I am also a client.

I use an adjustable band on mine.

 

[Animal357]

Monovision. One lens for distance. One for close. Works