Old Eyes, special glasses perhaps?

[Herb]

Here is a sight I made for my .45 Green River Leman.  Group shot at 50 yards.  You could cut 1/3 of the top off the circle and it will work just as well.


 
Here is a standard open rear sight that I enlarged the notch in.  Probably Track's #RS-DRU-1, a 1770 Lancaster.  It is on the rifle shown below.
 

This is my bench and chronograph, testing a .50 at 100 yards with 80, 100 and 120 grains of Goex 2F.  You see the adjustable powder measure, it goes up to 120 grains, which I thought I was shooting.  On 2/24/15 I weighed 10 charges of Goex 2F from this measure and they averaged 110.3 grains.  I had long since made weight-corrected powder measures from brass cartridge cases for each powder and weight that I test.  So, unpucker, it really was only 110 grains.


In this test with a .50 flintlock I built, I tested charges up to 120 grains of 2F.  Holding the blade front sight even with the top of the rear "circle", it did not group nearly as tightly as when I held the top of the blade half way up the circle.  Center of bullseye hold.  This at 100 yards, for those of you who think you have to have light charges for accuracy. Shot number 5 of the tight group was out because my cheek had taken a pounding from the recoil and I did not cheek the stock for that shot.  My eyes were 77 years old then, trifocal glasses.

[Herb]

Here is a sight I made for a .45 Lancaster flintlock I built.  The rear sight is Track's Jim Bridger 15/16 (RS-KC-16) where I soldered a filler between the horns and filed a round notch.  The front sight was FS-DRU-BB, about .070 thick.  I hold it halfway up the widest diameter of the hole, at six o'clock at zero range.  The hole could be bigger.  It is a good sight for poor eyesight, which is not yet a problem for me.

[Herb]

My niece Lori wanted a rifle I built, so I made this for her.  It is a .45.


The rear sight before finishing.   I hand made it.

One of my test targets.  W/M means weight-calibrated powder measure that holds 70 grains of this powder by weight.


Of course, I can also shoot buckhorn sights.  I made the one on my Bridger Hawken on the right and Kevin's Bridger Hawken on the left.  The rear one is Track's Jim Bridger sight, too small.


String cutting at 100 yards from bench.  The target butt is shown in my bench shot of my .50 flintlock a few photos back.

In my testing, I found I could probably do this at 150 yards.  Of course, with no wind. 

[Darkhorse]

I've got a temporary solution to my issue. I put a set of Fiber Optics on my .54 Haines. The rear is still blurry but now I can see the rear sight well enough to keep the front bead where it belongs. I shot a few shots touching today when I was sighting in.
After season I'll cut a notch further down the barrel and use a thicker front sight and a wider notch in the rear as I'd rather use primitive iron sights.
Nobody makes a fiber optic for a swamped barrel and there were some issues getting it all level and making tiny T nuts to fasten it down, but I got it all worked out.

[hammer]

'Pin hole glasses'.    The principle works well but not with multiple holes.   

The easiest and cheapest solution is to buy a cheap pair of flip-up sunglasses that clip over your specs.

 Take a Sharpie or like and get down behind the rifle.  Aim through the sights and at the same time bring the Sharpie up to the front of the lens and make a mark in line with the front and rear sight.   Now, with a hot wire, make a hole through the lens over the mark.   Rub the lens over with a green scrubber from the kitchen, clean and spray over with some matt black car spray.   Your choice as to the size of the hole.  If you want to you can cut out the other lens.
I have two holes in mine.  One for rifle, one for pistol.

You now have an excellent equivalent of an aperture fixture on your specs EXCEPT that it won't fall off, it costs next to nothing, it can be flipped up when not shooting and it protects your spectacle lenses from any blow-back.

 I made one probably 10 years ago, keep it in the cheap clip over cover it came in, still perfect. 
Good luck,

[Turtle]

 To help my similar problems, I mount my rear sight ahead of the entry thimble and widen the rear sight notch so it appears at least twice the width of the front sight allowing plenty of light on each side. I also now use a wide silver blade front sight with a 45deg slope on the back. I file a groove down the face of it and put black nail polish in it to create a black stripe with two shinny silver strips on each side. I have modified several of my friends rifles like this for them. It's period correct,legal everywhere, works well target and hunting in different light and although not as good as a peep, I,' satisfied.
                                                Turtle

[Darkhorse]

I'm only concerned with hunting with this rifle. If I ever start attending matches again I have other rifles for that, and I still see the sights on those. For now.
This .54 has had a .085 silver front sight for years, and will have one again. What I do is paint it with bright orange fingernail polish. Shows up just enough.

[Davo]

In my case it was cataracts and lense repl. surgery.
That and moving open sights further from the butt...
Going to file in a new dovetail about 30" from butt..(26" or 25" is in focus. Extra is too allow for further ageing/further loss of "accomodation of focus" if I make it past 70 ;-)
You'll still have more sight radius than a lever-action carbine.

If that doesn't work, try a hunting tang-peep (Low, old Lymans are great :-)
"Period correct"? Well, since it is "their" ball & bat I just had to accept their rules, BUT, I have an old piece of matchlock barrel converted to flint on a wreck of a "camel gun", and it HAS A PEEP SIGHT built into the rear of the barrel/tang.
If you can't shoot your rifle accurately, you might as well shoot a fusil....
Just shoot for your own personal enjoyment and to be shooting with your friends and take the DQ.
Davo

[hudson]

Wide notch in rear sight, when viewing front through rear lots of light on both sides of front. Wide open v - notch (express sight). Move rear sight forward. New high definition glasses, have worked well for me. I no longer have special glasses made. Stick on eye peace as Lyman use to sell or Merritt. The  peep sight high on the list.
Good luck

[Standing Bear]

See an Ophthalmologist not an optometrist (they just want to sell glasses).  When he asked if I wanted the new lense for the right eye for close or far, I stuck my right arm straight out, made a fist with the thumb straight up and said "I want that nail to just be in focus and then as far out as possible". Second (left eye) cataract surgery the lense is for distance. Works and copay was a lot less than glasses.  I keep cheater readers all over the place. Bought some big lense "bifocal" cheaters w no correction at top and 1.75 at bottom to wear when shooting. Safety and can see sights and fine things like a splinter.  Works for me and pc crowd can't say anything.
TC

[OldMtnMan]

I find the best solution for my crappy vision is to get closer. Nothing else works.

I love putting the sneak on game.

[Daryl]

I find the best solution for my crappy vision is to get closer. Nothing else works.

I love putting the sneak on game.

That is what is called hunting, not just shooting.

We go "shooting" gophers, but for big game, I prefer to hunt.

[Turtle]

 My problem is that I can see the sights without glasses but not the target or game. I now shoot with a pair of Js Townsend + sons tiny lens primitive glasses made in my distance prescription. When sighting I am looking through the gap next to the lenses so the sights are fine. I can move my head slightly to look through the lens to acquire the target.
                                     Turtle

[OldMtnMan]

You're 50% better than me. I can't see the sights or target.

Amazing how you can learn to shoot in a blurry world.

[Leatherbark]

I have the same problem. At 61 though I deal with it by ignoring the fact that the rear sight is blurry.  Those 2 fuzzy rear sights you see you should ignore the upper one that is fainter.  I use a notch with enough daylight to make the front sight crisper.  If I look over the notch at the front sight it becomes fuzzy. When I drop the front sight down into the notch it becomes crisper.  If I look through my glasses I can make the front sight crisp but the bullseye is fuzzy.  Danged if you do and Danged if you don't.  My front sight must have a flat top.

Bob

[rfd]

at 71, i'm there with ya on the vision thingy, eric.  i use varilux trifocals and they're better for me than bifocals or even those "shooting" glasses i had specially made up that are preset for long barrel guns.  i've also used the merit eyeglass stuck-on variable aperture.  they all work reasonably well for me, to one degree or another.

the best DIY solution i devised is to add a neodymium ring to the rear sight as an aperture that aids in focusing on what matters most, the front sight.  this is a very non-invasive solution that works perfectly well with good eyesight to not-so-good eyesight and all manner of eyeglass types and prescriptions.

I use powerful neodymium (rare earth) ring magnets stuck to rear iron sights. Once stuck they won't budge unless some goodly force is applied.  They can easily handle the recoil of 80 grains of swiss 3f in a .62 smoothie with a 325 grain patched ball.  They can be moved up/down and left/right as the rear sight allows. Just look through the magnet "peep" and it'll automatically center the tip of yer front sight perfectly, every time. These little ring magnets are less than $5 each and I get mine in different outside and inside diameters from http://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=16 online.















they even come in square versions ... http://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=173 ...

[OldMtnMan]

I'm not getting the stick on sights. It's too far from the eye to work like a peep sight should. It seems it would just block most of the target when hunting. It might be ok for target shooting, but still not as good as a proper peep sight.

[deepcreekdale]

The last time I got new glasses, I had them move the focal point from where they usually place it, which usually close to the middle of the lens to the upper left hand corner on the right lens( I shoot right handed). Made a lot of difference for me, as it had the prescription part of the lens lined up with where I look at the sights. No head twisting trying to find the point of focus. If you are thinking about that, just take another pair of glasses, line up in a natural shooting position aligned with your sights and have someone put a small mark where your area of focus should be. They can then grind the focus point of the lens to your specified location. When I combine those glasses with a Merit disc, I can see almost as well as when I was a young pup.

[Dave Patterson]

OK, I found the cure! This sight is the BOMB!
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/883/1/RS-CA-PEEP-16

I mounted this 15" from the breech and my groups went from 3" to 4" to less than 3/4" @ 25 yards. Problem solved.

Mr. B, I stumbled across the same sight awhile back; mounted it in the factory dovetail (at about 12 1/2") on my Pedersoli Frontier.  That helped a bunch, but am still gonna cut a new dovetail at 15", and make a dovetail blank to fill the factory hole.

But all in all, that sight's the best fix I've tried yet.   

[rfd]

the square sided ring neos can sit on a top barrel flat at any distance ya like ...



also, be aware that some events and matches will not allow aperture sights of any kind.

[Hungry Horse]

To be quite honest, the best eyesight in the world would not allow me to shoot good groups off the bench pictured above. A flintlock,  and a can of powder, with a pour spout screwed onto it, sitting on the bench, would make me shake like a squirrel in a coyote den.

  Hungry Horse

[Joe S.]

LOL,now what would be the chances of a spark or such doing the one in a million down the stack shot,all net into the can. ;)I'm sure it's positioned for the picture

[Boompa]

       Eric I hope you find something that works for you, there are a number of good suggestions in this thread. My right eye is about shot after a retinal detachment this past Sept.  It looks like I'll be shooting left-eyed, left handed in the future.   

[Herb]

There is a cap on the pouring spout.

[P.W.Berkuta]

I can't see the back sight with my trifocal glasses, I actually see two blurry versions of them, one on top of the other when I am trying to shoot.

Has anyone looked into special glasses just for shooting that be more forgiving for us older guys?

Eric, I had shooting glasses made by these people <http://post4sportglasses.com/> and they are a LOT cheaper than Decot and just as good. They are used by many of the top shooters. When I shoot trap I have their prescription shooting glasses and when I shoot rifle or hand gun I have their glasses that are clear lens with my prescription but the right lens has the correction in the upper left to middle of the lens. My left eye lens is normal (lower portion of lens) for a bifocal and the right lens is just opsite (upper portion of lens). With this set-up you can see the sights clearly and when you look down at what you are "fiddling" with you can see clearly.