Can't see my open sights anymore, suggestions?

[Jim Curlee]

I'm 66, been wearing glasses for 20+ years.
I can no longer see my open sights.
The front I can see, but the rear is fuzzy.
Went to a tang sight on my old Marlin lever actions, but don't really have that option with my flintlocks, unless I drill and tap a couple of holes, which is highly unlikely.
A scope would work too, but that won't be happening either.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Jim

[rich pierce]

A long tang bolt holding a folded piece of strap iron with a short upright drilled as a peep sight. I don’t have an image handy but I’ve seen it here. Will go searching.

Ok here you go. https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=57702.0

[Justin Urbantas]

It's time to move the rear sight forward to a new dovetail.

[smylee grouch]

OR, switch eyes. I and several others on this site have done this so as a last ditch fix it might be an option. 

[Frank]

Time for cataract surgery?

[Gemmer]

Have you talked to your optometrist?

[acorn20]

I'm 68 and about 10 years ago I noticed the same thing with my sights.  One summer up at Dixon's Faire, I noticed a peep sight on a rifle of Dave Person, "smartdog" on this forum.  I talked to Dave about it and found that I could see and center the front sight easily.  I ordered one for my short, 24" Jaeger.
I also fattened my front sight and did a little filing.  Now, when I look through the peep I just see the nicest silver bead and have no trouble centering it.

The first year I hunted with it, a doe came up past me at 35 yards and I easily swung and fired as she ran past.  She collapsed about 20 yards from me.  A couple of my friends have also gone to a rear, peep sight.

[Daryl]

The rear peep might be what is needed. I can no longer see a clear rear sight either, but still manage somewhat. i find the wide V is easier to shoot, even on my short barreled .69,
that the V rear sight on either of my flinters. With those, I see at least 2 sights and both are fuzzy on both rifles.
The wide V works for me.

[WKevinD]

I started wearing 1x readers when I shoot. My 72 yr old eyes need much stronger (3x) readers to see anything within an arms length but with 1x I can see both front and rear sights, targets a little blurry but good enough to find center. Peeps are OK but this works for me on any of my guns.

Kevin

[Daryl]

I have experimented with .25, .5, .75 and 1.0 diopter reading glasses when using open iron sights.
I found the .75's give a decent cross between sharp appearing sights and sharp target.
The sights are sharper than the target. I found 1 diopter glasses obscured the target too much.
Everyone's eyes are different, of course.
As-with much muzzleloading 'stuff' (building included) the only way to find out what works for you, is to bite the bullet and actually try it yourself.

[JHeath]

Look into a diopter attachment on your glasses like modern target shooters use. You can even experiment by making a pinhole on a piece of tape or paper and sticking that on your glasses. You keep the traditional sights but sharpen the image by looking at them through a tiny hole. The one in the photo is fancy but you can buy cheaper suction-cup ones that stick on your regular glasses.

 

[walks with gun]

   I swear one of these day's I'm going to have to go with a smoothbore musket and bayonet.

[Daryl]

Some older fellows at rendezvous have switched to smoothbore due to there only being one sight, near the end of a 42"bl. They've noted they can no longer see a rear sight.