I’m 78 and have had cataract surgery with lens implants for myopia, and I have astigmatism. With corrective glasses I can still see well at a distance, but the fiber optic front sights on my handguns are just little fuzz balls. I can’t bring them into focus. So, at the range I just lower my expectations from what they once were. I still enjoy sending bullets down range, even if they’re not in tight little groups like they used to be. I’ve learned that when you’re old, you just gotta do the best you can with what you have and be happy with it.
I just turned sixty eight. I couldn't see my sights on my hand gun without my reading glasses on. I purchased an optic ready hand gun and put a budget red dot on it. I shot as well as I did when I was thirty. Without my glasses on. This is important because the bad guys probably won't wait for me to put them on. The bottom line is I feel confident to carry again. Your video is great and will help a lot of people.
As I began to have trouble seeing the front sight, I found what worked best for me was a thin front sight (0.1") with a red fiber optic rod. The best rear sight for me was all black, with a wide rear notch (0.15"). Now that I'm over 60, I find a red dot works best for me.
If you are considering the use of a dot sight, I highly recommend you check out a green vs red dot. For a great many of us, the green color is far better.
@intj7447 That is how it works out for the majority of people. There are a small number who are better off with red. I think in time the industry will learn to offer both.
Iam 54 and had cataracts/both eyes and detached retina left eye.You guys with eye issues like me should check out the holosun 507c X2 green with the ACSS Vulcan reticle from primary arms-it’s amazing for us people with vision issues!
I recommend the Swampfox Sentinel Green Dot Optic The number one reason to use a Green Dot is daytime visibility. You will have a much easier time seeing a Green Dot in broad daylight than Red Dot. The color Green is close to the center of the visible light spectrum at about 532 Nanometers. The Color Red is higher on the spectrum at 635 Nanometers.
So true about 20 years ago I had a laser pointer it was red and it was hard to see then fast forward I seen what a green laser pointer does and it’s so much easier to see why they continue talking about the red. Dot makes no sense to me.
My favorite sights are the Speed Sights. I tried fiber optics but they were breaking all the time. Not fond of red dot sights… they add bulk, always relying on batteries, and slower to use. Lights with lasers? Very bulky. And high maintenance with batteries. My new mantra is simple is best.
What works well for me is what they call “Eyepal” from Lyman. It’s a round plasticy thing that just fits on the front of your eyeglasses. It has a tiny hole in the canter. Holding your pistol, in my case, allows me to perfectly see my sights as well as the target. It works on a similar process of a camera lens. If you close down the lens to the smallest aperture, you increase the depth of field( area of sharpness) from very close to infinity. No expensive scopes to set up, just a small round thin plasticy thing that fits on your eyeglass lens. All you do is play around with the positioning of it until you find the right spot on your eyeglasses that brings the sights of your pistol/rifle and target in sight and you’re ready to enjoy shooting.
Good summary. All valid points. I have run standard sights for decades and recently switched to a red dot. There is a learning curve as the red dot is hard to find during a fast draw. Your fundamentals have to be correct to present the pistol properly so the red dot is visible in the window. After a few months I am outshooting my friends and convinced this red dot is a perfect solution.
My opinion, for old eyes, the red (or a good color) dot is best. However, a good close second is some sort of glow in the dark front AND rear sight. I got a Hellcat, and while I like the front sight, it glows a yellow in low light, but the rear sights do not. And really sucks. There really isn't a point to the front sight if you can't see the rear sight.
I personally would prefer the Red Blob sight, I have astigmatism in my old eyes and I see the red dot like a red blob. As long as I turn the brightness down, I still can make good use of the red blob than using any enhanced version of iron sights.
Try a green dot. Green is easier for your eyes to see than red, at a given brightness. A green dot does not have to be set as brightly as a red dot to yield the same degree of visibility. For people with astigmatism, a green dot is usually a much better option. I have pretty serious astigmatism issues in my dominant (aiming) eye, and I have switched my EDCs to from red to green dots, and any new firearms get a green dot from the get go.
Unfortunately most people dont know there are eye exercises that will help bigtime. Look up Paul McCartney and the eye exercises he does. Like Paul I do not need corrective glasses. I am 64 years old and exercise my eyes regularly. I can shoot peep sights out to 1 mile. I shoot basic combat sights out to 1000 yards with both my right and left eye the target is 18 inches wide and 24 inches tall. This week I was shooting my SKS with the original sights out to 1000 meters. An it is possible to have both the front and rear sight in focus plus the target being in focus all at the same time if you take the time to learn how to do it. NDR
So I just started shooting and keeping track of progress, I found I was focusing on the target instead of sights. The nest thing that help a lot is my non shooting hand index finger extending along the slide. Man it sure stabled things up.
I need glasses for both distance and up close, but much more so for up close. I find that I can still shoot pie plate groups and occasional the clover leaf over fixed sights *at close range* even with blurry sights. Bright front sights, red dots, and lasers all have their benefits - I've used them all. What I really want to try is task tailored lenses on my glasses: left eye ground for distance so I can see the target and right eye ground the just-past-arms-length distance to the front sight of a handgun or rifle for shooting with left eye closed. (I'm left eye dominant but shoot with the right eye over iron sights, so this setup should work well for me...just need to get the glasses made.)
For concealed carry and a "nightstand" gun I really like my Ruger LCR equipped with a crimson trace laser. Fast and easy targer acquisition in the dark and ability to shoot with some accuracy under duress.
My friend bought a new Ruger LCR .38spl in 2013. He has a Lasermax red laser aimer on it. He uses the gun mostly for home security. I add Trijicon HDs orange on most of my pistols. They are bright and easy to see. I'm 52 & a licensed security officer.
Many great points. Good vid. I like the red dot sights myself....shooting mid 500s in 600 point bulls eye shoots - not bad at 65 y/o eyes. Can't shoor LD very good anymore - the eyes are just not working for it. Careful with dot sights / reflex sights though. One company - NC Star - tries telling me my eyes are the problem with their sight that doesn't work for me while many others of the same class work fine. Waste of money.....look before you spend the money.
im 50 and a cross eye dominent shooter. Right hand left eye. Seems the red dot works for me. Standard sights are great for body shots but if you need to shoot a quarter sized target from 30 feet the red dot is king
I see green much better than red. Full size pistols now cause me problems and I shoot subcompacts way better now. TruGlo TFX Pros are my sight of choice. Of course, there is always the dot sight but I prefer the 6 MOA because bigger is always easier to see, especially in sunlight.
I never needed glasses for anything, but at the age of 58 my eyes went south fast found out I had cataracts in both eyes and they were right in the center of my vision. I got my lenses replaced with multifocal lenses an now I see great with no glasses. Except I can no longer use the red dot I was using before, Trijicon RMR, SRO and MRO do not work for me, I had to switch to EOTECH and Holosun now it’s all good.
Excellent video, at 60 yrs old I have discovered my night sites on my semi-custom 1911’s have become difficult to see. I wasn’t sure what to replace them with but your video gives several options I did not think about, or even know about. Thanks.
Subbed and liked…….went to the range this week, have not been in a while……noticed it was hard to see the front sight……this video was so informative for me……time for a red dot……
just got a red dot. like it but in complete darkness have extreme difficulty finding the red dot and keeping dot within the screen. again this is in complete darkness (bedroom, hallway). I may install a few night lights in the outlets and see if that helps. 62 yrs old.
Yup, at 64 presbyopia has caught up with my eyes. I need reading glasses to see open sights. But because I'm farsighted and don't need glasses for most activities, in an emergency defensive scenario I probably won't be wearing glasses or have time to put them on. That's why I was so impressed with the SIG P365 SAS I rented at the range recently. I found it immediately intuitive. The pistol points naturally for me and the green dot is quickly visible. Good enough for close range defensive purposes. I also tried an optical sight with green triangle indicator on a duty sized FN 509. Didn't like the pistol much. The optical sight was easier to align accurately out to 18 yards, but slower to pick up for quick alignment. I'd need a lot more practice with an optical sight on a pistol that suits me better.
Big screen with a bright dot sight are best. Large screen is helpful and bright dot stands out. Not too different from watching a movie. Would you rather watch a movie on your wrist watch or on a big screen TV?
Buy some decent glasses. Simple as that. Mine are impact and blended with the front sight sweet spot right in the middle of lenses.. Most of the friends I shoot with are 70 years old like myself. We shoot mostly handguns at ranges from 20-100 yards. We may have tried about everything. We shoot OUTDOORS. I believe that all the glow tube and glow dot and even inserts on ramp sights... So what works for us? The same thing that has always worked. Iron sights with a patridige front sight and no inserts or outlines etc. One caveat to that... 'night sights' or Tritium inserts are fine. They are a sorta off white flat dot in the daytime. Not annoying... One thing I do with Smith guns is get the Tritium conversion... Because.... it is easy to install by simply pounding out the useless red plastic insert and installing with some bearing lock... I did not buy em for the night part. I bought em cause they convert the Smith ramp sight to a Patridge... Take a look at your handguns.... 100% sure that the most accurate ones you own have a patridge front sight. Think high end 1911's and even not so high end. Your mileage may vary but with me? using two guns that are the same but one with a patridge front and one with a red insert ramp? You will shoot 10% or more... better groups with the patridge and... it will simply be easier to use with less fuzz. I have an old model 19 .357 'Target' I did not even know they made a target... but.. it has the Patridge front and wide trigger and hammer and even a trigger stop. Pretty much like a K38 Masterpiece but in .357... Oh... everyone who shoots outdoors with us? They gave up on red/green/mauve whatever and glow tube sights. A good pair of glasses is the real answer to this question unless your vision can not be corrected to anything like 20/20 Just like buying off the rack 'reading glasses' and putting in brighter bulbs in your lamps is not an answer? neither are lit up sights an answer for all around shooting.
My front site went fuzzy several years ago. Putting a red-dot on was like putting on glasses for the first time. The dot appears nice and sharp. My confidence went way up on placement.
Target focused point shooting for most situations out to 10 yards. Red Dot for ranges beyond... Shield RMSc or SMSc rather than geopolitically myopic "gain of function" CCP optics.
I use orange Trijicon HDs or the bright TruGlo TFX pro on my used Glock 41 gen 4 .45acp. Night sights, steel are worth the $. RDOs are not cheap & better models have a few -s. Rear optics are now more common with sworn LE officers & some SOF military units.
I had an XDm elite with the u notch sights. traded it in for the OSP model and it has the black out sights. I strongly dislike them and want the u notch sights back but can't find them anywhere
A older article explains why a Taurus Judge or S&W Gov revolver are NOT 🚫 ideal for close range ccw or defense. A 410 pellet can hit who knows what! You can use .45acp or .45LC but you need to practice. I'd suggest a well made .40 or .45acp gun. Add quality night sights. Maybe a white light too for the 1913 rail.
@@DavidLLambertmobile First off that light will get you killed. Why waste your money on a 40 Smith and Wesson when you can get a 10 mm . The governor has been a fine weapon so far. It's killed more snakes than I could count. I have also gotten two deer with it. 45 long Colt seems to be very accurate with this gun.
