Over the years I have had several prescription shooting glasses made, all with varying levels of dissatisfaction. Never really had a pair that really worked well. Worked good at home, but when I was in competition, my eys would get tired and the sights were no longer clear and would never go into the rear notch - no notch to see only a cotton candy blur.

I sat around and thought about it, and came up with the idea that since I have progressive glasses that work well, maybe I could get the progressive setup ON TOP so I could adjust the focus on the fly so to speak depending on my conditions.

My optometrist basically called me nuts, as he (correctly) pointed out that progressives are ground so they 'converge' ~2' out, so if one would grind a progressive lens then spun it 180deg, the the 'convergence' would go in the wrong direction.

I figured it's my money, and I wanted to play so he agreed to let me experiment with this. Turns out to have been relatively cheap.

Using my normal distance prescription, I brought my slide in and adding diopters until the post was as sharp as possible. Can't hit it exact as you can only grind in .25 steps and for me, the correct one was in-between. Using my numbers, I need a +2.00 for distance and the diopter for the sight was +1.25 making a total needed of +3.25. Here is where it gets interesting. Seeing that I wanted a gradual progressive as possible (minimum they grind is .75) and I figured that a little overshoot (plus and additionall +.25) for the correction was in order, I calculated that we would order a grind for +2.75 for distance, then the progressive would be +.75 for a total of +3.5.

To fix the 'Convergence' issue, it was imperative to grind (order) the lens for the NON shooting eye position. I shoot left eyed so we ordered this grind for the RIGHT eye. Mumbling, shaking her head repeating several times "sure about that???" we sent it off.

Luckily, lens come back as a round 'blank' that needs to 'edged' or cut to fit your frame. When the blank came back the optometrist invited me in to work with her on edging. Well, I got an education on the process and how it can be tweaked. There are alignment dots on the lens (in marker ink) that is used to line up on a template for your edger and additional marks have to be put on for positioning. We used the template for the RIGHT eye (same as the grind) then when mounting the blank on the edger we SPUN the blank 180 deg now putting the progressive at the top instead of the bottom and used the profile of the LEFT lens to actually edge the lens. At this point one could adjust exactly the spot you would look through to see the sights by moving the lens UP a mm or two if you normally use the higher portion of the lens instead of closer to the mid-line. I didn't know how this would work so I left it right on the marks.

Wouldn't you know, the damn thing works!! The front sight is now in focus, just slightly above the mid-line of the lens (If I need a change I may move it up 1 or so mm). I couldn't be happier. I only did one lens as there is no need to grind anything special for the non shooting eye.

If anyone wants more details or the name of my optometrist, send me a message through my profile.

I have NO financial interest in this at all and I am not selling anything.

Generic top focal shooting glasses are available from most of the big shooting supply places. Custom perscription glasses are available from Decot, Randolph, the Rudy Project, and ISS. Decot and Randolph can literally make anything you need.

It sounds like your eye specialist has things covered though. Thr above is just FYI.

I guess this wheel needed re-inventing. Doh!!

Anyway, the lens only cost me $110 to get the same sort of specs Decot was showing so I'm happy with my results.

I took a slightly different approach on the advice of another shooter who had had success with it. My left lens is ground for the perfect focal length for the front sight (the entire lens, no progression). The right lens is ground for my normal progressive prescription. The first couple days it was a little strange. The front sight was perfect, but everything else was a little wonky. After a couple days of shooting, I don't even notice it. The other day I forgot to change and drove home with those glasses with no issue. It wasn't until I walked in the house and took them off that I realized, "Oops, gotta open the rangebag back up and put these away."

I wear progressive lenses in my glasses and I had problems with front sights.

My solution was a pair of glasses that was prescribed for computer use. I had found I was tilting my head to view the computer. The prescription is slightly stronger than my normal correction. Distance vision is off some but acceptable for me. I keep a pair with this prescription in my range bag. I have found they work good when shooting.

quote:

Originally posted by Vanwall:
I wear progressive lenses in my glasses and I had problems with front sights.

My solution was a pair of glasses that was prescribed for computer use. I had found I was tilting my head to view the computer. The prescription is slightly stronger than my normal correction. Distance vision is off some but acceptable for me. I keep a pair with this prescription in my range bag. I have found they work good when shooting.

ME too.

RMD

I just wear my regular Rx eyeglasses. Nothing fancy. Been that way forever. No problems.

I've read threads like this and thought 'you know it would be nice to get this right'. Now someone's actually done it.

I shoot for fun and to perfect my ability to hit the target. Shooting glasses that work better would be wonderful, but unfortunately I probably wouldn't have them on the day I really need them to protect myself or my loved ones. I have to wonder if it's like training with one manual of arms, but carrying a different manual of arms for self defense every day.

quote:

Originally posted by jbcummings:
I've read threads like this and thought 'you know it would be nice to get this right'. Now someone's actually done it.

I shoot for fun and to perfect my ability to hit the target. Shooting glasses that work better would be wonderful, but unfortunately I probably wouldn't have them on the day I really need them to protect myself or my loved ones. I have to wonder if it's like training with one manual of arms, but carrying a different manual of arms for self defense every day.

Quite true; unfortunately I live in Jersey so no never CCW here. When I'm working the LGS by myself I carry an XDS in the store and I practice with that and my standard glasses. I'm using the shooting glasses when I try to not be last when attempting USPSA with a MK25

quote:

Originally posted by JimTheo:
I guess this wheel needed re-inventing. Doh!!

Anyway, the lens only cost me $110 to get the same sort of specs Decot was showing so I'm happy with my results.

Sweet! A full three lens set from Decot is over $500.

quote:

Originally posted by jbcummings:
I've read threads like this and thought 'you know it would be nice to get this right'. Now someone's actually done it.

I shoot for fun and to perfect my ability to hit the target. Shooting glasses that work better would be wonderful, but unfortunately I probably wouldn't have them on the day I really need them to protect myself or my loved ones. I have to wonder if it's like training with one manual of arms, but carrying a different manual of arms for self defense every day.

I actually don't need them for iron sight pistol. The front sight of a pistol falls into a small spot in my vision that doesn't need correction. What I need glasses for is distance and a specific 20" rifle sight radius. NRA and CMP now allow optics so I went that route for the r ifle. My bullseye pistol needs are met by my regular glasses so right now I don't need to drop thatnkind of coin on specific shooting glasses.

this guy and his dad are excellent,

http://www.customsightpicture.com/


been using glasses (Decot's) from him using this kit for many years

quote:

Originally posted by Vanwall:
I wear progressive lenses in my glasses and I had problems with front sights.

My solution was a pair of glasses that was prescribed for computer use. I had found I was tilting my head to view the computer. The prescription is slightly stronger than my normal correction. Distance vision is off some but acceptable for me. I keep a pair with this prescription in my range bag. I have found they work good when shooting.

Same here, works well for the range.