Getting old stinks

[Bob_VT]

Okay..... I use reading glasses ALL the time to read anything.   Signs on the highway are starting to blur slightly so I have bi-focal glasses.  I can not shoot with them unless I put on plain reading glasses due to the position of the reading lens .......  So today when the handi and I went hunting I spotted a nice deer ..... scoped it but was not clear due to darkness (6:05 am) AND I did not have on my "reading glasses"...... Help! 

[We have a deer regulation that requires 3 or more points trying to improve the herd]

My choice would be to purchase a scope that has diopter adjustments but they are out of my price range. 

What can I do?  Is there a company that makes a diopter adjustable or a specific diopter lens for adding on to a scope?

[8point]

i feel your pain!! my eye's are gone too!( i wear glasses) i am going to get the lasik surgery after deer season. i don't like looking threw my scope with glasses.

[Smokin Joe]

Bob, they say the mind is the first thing to go.......................and I forgot what's next

Seriously, take a look at this article about the Simmons:

http://www.hunting-fishing-gear.com/review-display/285.html

[Graybeard]

All the scopes I've ever seen have an adjustable eyepiece to take care of the diopter adjustment for your eyes. Generally speaking you don't even need to wear your glasses to see fine thru a scope IF you properly set that eyepiece adjustment but it should have enough adjustment for most any vision with or without correction.

I desperately need reading glasses if I wanna see anything much closer than 2'-3' from me but don't need any for distance. I'd sure hate to try to use them when using a scope however as it's a real fuzzy mess when I try after working close with them on.

Just adjust the eyepiece to your eyesight and leave it alone.

[DalesCarpentry]

I have to say GB hit the nail on the head here. I have always had better than 20 20 vision all my life. The past couple years my eye sight has gone way down hill. They say it happens around 40 and I believe that now. I can't read a newspaper with out reading glasses now but I can still see through my scope just fine. Just try to adjust the eye piece and you should be fine. Dale

[hellacatcher]

If you thinks getting old stinks just think what the alternative is. Millions of us are old and have glasses I have worn em sense 7 yrs old and still can adjust for a scope or what ever. I bet you can find a way around it.

[Jal5]

It might be the type of bifocal you are wearing. If its the lined type that might account for your difficulty. I use the noline trifocal glasses and they work OK with my scopes. It just takes a split second to get the eye to compensate for the part of the eyeglass you are peering through the scope with. Try them and see if you can get adjusted to them...some folks cannot stand them but I couldn't imagine life without them since I am near/farsighted and double vision to boot!

[Ranger J]

You got it right hellacather, getting old isn't for the weak but it sure beats not getting old.

RJ

[coyotejoe]

Wait till you get so old that YOU stink!    But seriously, you should be able to see just fine through any rifle scope with your normal distance prescription lenses.  I am nearsighted with astigmatism, can't shoot open sights at all well and lately even with a peep rear sight the front sight is not so clear as it used to be but scopes are my salvation.

[Roudy]

Bob,

  I've worn glasses for nearly all of my adult life so I "feel" your pain!!  Some years ago I was working in a job that required me to use a computer a lot and got tired of craning my head back to look through the bifocals to get a clear view of the computer screen.  The next trip to the eye doctor I asked him to make a pair of glasses with the whole lense that would focus at about 30 inches in front of my eyes.  That way I could clearly see a computer screen through any part of the glasses.  Worked fine and I still use them...even now.

  Well you may say, what does that have to do with shooting!  As it turns out, the distance to the front sight on a pistol or rifle is nearly the same, at least close enough.  With my special 'computer' glasses I can see a sharp clear front sight again without a diopter.  I use these glasses whenever I am shooting with iron sights, with optics I just use my regular glasses.

Roudy

[Bob_VT]

Swapping from reading glasses yo regular glasses is a pain.  The adjustable bell on my nikon does not adjust the diopter ..... it just focuses the crosshairs.  Now on my binoculars (lifesavers) I have adjusted the diopter and use them for scouting and identification.  The reading glasses hang around my neck.

I have to laugh...... I have become one of the old guys in the woods...... patient and not stressed.  I ran into a hunter this morning who asked why I was leaving ....asked if I was giving up..... I responded that I had a chance to see my grandson from out of town....... I said when he is older he would learn that grandchildren trumps deer hunting!   

[Graybeard]

IT just so happens that is the definition of diopter. Well more or less. Diopter is a measurement of how much the eye piece has to be moved or adjusted to focus on the crosshair. Dunno what you guys think it is but that's really all that means to us with scopes. It's not an object or any such but just an optical measurement of what's needed to allow our individual eye sight to get the needed correction to clear things up and in the case of a scope it's the crosshair that's being cleared up. The optics of the scope do the rest.

Same with reading glasses, that number printed on them is how many diopters of correction is built into them same with your distance vision glasses also really but it's just not printed on them and is usually a minus not a plus.

[Sourdough]

Solution, Get glasses with the bi-focal on top of the lens.  The type electricians wear.



Guess I've been lucky.  Started wearing glasses in 1978, very mild prescription.  Added bi-focal (plain lens with no adjustment) in 1994 when I was 45, but same prescription otherwise.  Only wear them for driving and flying anyway.  Shoot with non prescription shooting glasses, so have all my scopes adjusted accordingly.  Got a pair of glasses that have the bi-focal in top of the lens.  The last year I worked the boss asked me why I removed my safety glasses when working on controls overhead.  I pointed out that I could not see up close overhead with my safety glasses.  He ordered me a pair that had the bi-focal on top and on bottom.  When I went in for fitting I made sure that the bi-focal went all the way to the top inner corner of the lens.  That's the portion of the lens you look through to see a scope.  I can shoot with them on just like with my shooting glasses.  I sometimes wear them when out hunting.

[McLernon]

I am near-sighted with an astigmatism but with or without  glasses on I can see clearly the front sight and the target at 100 yards thru a tang mounted small aperture. I put a Williams aperture sight on my Handi barrel in the standard position but no dice I could not focus on either the front sight or the target at 50 yards. I ended up putting a scope on the rifle. I agree, getting older is the pits but it's allot better than the alternative.

Mc

[Fred M]

My present good eye sight is the result of the great medical advancements.
A few years ago I would perhaps be halve blind. To enjoy such good eye sight at my age is absolutely marvelous. For a long time I had trouble seeing the x-hairs in my scopes clearly.

Last year I had to quit BR competition because of blurry
vision. Now with my two new lens implants it is a whole new world out there.
My new knee joints too make it possible to follow the dogs and make use of
my 20 gauge Win 101 Classic and of course hunt deer. The lord has been
good to me. My reaction is not as fast anymore so my shots are a bit longer, that is not really much of an handicap when applying good wing shooting principals.

There is no point in complaining just do the best you can and enjoy yourself.
Getting old is not all that bad if you think about it. There are lot of things that
are lot worse than getting old. Smell the roses they don't stink

[oldandslow]

Fred, how long did it take to get over the knee replacement? My wife is getting a new knee in a few days and I'm wondering how long I'm going to be chief cook and bottle washer.

[Fred M]

oldandslow
Your wife will be using crutches or a walker or both. She needs to do the prescribed exercises every day and walk a lot I mean a lot either with e crutches or the walker. She should also see a physio therapist. She be in the hospital for two or three days.

The pain will abade in a month and gets better from then on. During that month she will not get a lot of sleep. Take a lot of Tylenol II, two every four hours. Or something stronger for a while like Ratio Oxycocet two every
4 hours. That is good stuff. Make sure she drinks 8-10 glasses of water a day
and do deep breathing. The body needs a lot of oxygin for healing.

You be the on duty nurse 24 hours a day for a while. Have grab bars and an
adjustable for heigth chair in the shower. Non slip mats and a toilet extension.are important  Make sure she does not fall down. In three month she should be in pretty good shape. I was and had my second knee done then.

The pain is short and the pleasure long.

[oldandslow]

Thanks for the info, Fred. She has put this off for two years but has decided she can't take it any longer. She takes coumadin so Tylenol is about the only thing she can take for pain. Looks like I'll have something to keep me busy for awhile.