Vision Issues and Sights

Like everything else with our body, our vision changes over time.  I am extremely near sighted.  This is one reason that I have always been into the speed-oriented action shooting sports over anything to do with fine accuracy as my vision is a limiting factor, especially with the handgun.  Magnified optics are a total game changer on long guns, but concerning hanguns, a bullseye shooter I am not.  I have always preferred low-power-variable-optics on rifles, even before that was all the rage, as red dots always posed an issue for my eyesight due to astigmatism.  I simply can’t get the accuracy out of a dot that others can.

Last year I worked quite a bit with a red dot equipped pistol for the first time.  I trained enough to get past the “I can’t find the dot” issue and I can shoot the dot gun as fast and as well as iron sights now at close ranges, and the dot completely destroys irons when shooting at distance.  Still, due to my severe astigmatism in my vision, I don’t see a dot, but rather I see a starburst blob.  Therefore, even though I could still shoot the blob better at further distance, the true level of advantage was lost on me, as I could see the irons clearly.  There remained too little a difference to really compel me to fully embrace the dot. 

Well, the beginning of this year my eye prescription changed.  My optometrist changed my lens power to ease the strain my eyes are doing at closer distance, as my distance vision was good with the corrective lenses, but too much strain on my eyes closer in.  This resulted in, you guessed it, fuzzy iron sights.  So, now, despite the starburst blob that is a red dot, it is truly superior to the fuzzy sights.

Am I going to put a dot on my carry gun?  probably not, as I still cling to the simplicity of irons over the enhanced accuracy of the dot, but the accuracy difference is extreme at this point.  I am having problems doing any kind of shooting at twenty-five yard bulls with irons, especially in the poor light of indoor ranges.  Granted, I rarely shoot twenty-five yard B8s, but the other day I did so with my iron sighted Glock, and it was bad.  I was on paper, but only half of the shots were in the black of the B8. Then, I did one round of twenty-five yard B8 with my dot equipped Walther Q5, which I have not shot in about nine months, and I shot a 95/100.  The dot, obviously, works much better for me than irons for such shooting, even though I see a starburst blob instead of a crisp dot. 

The ability to shoot 100/100 at B8s eludes me, and I think my vision is truly the limiting factor.  I am generally happy with anything in the 90s.  even when set to a low power, the red dot blooms so much that it covers the entire B8 at that distance for me, and I just try to pick a spot on the red blob to use as a finer aiming point.  I have heard that green dots may serve better here and I am going to look into that, but the dot is now more accurate for me compared to irons even with the astigmatism limitation. 

The truth is, I am simply not created to be a good accuracy shooter, but I am definitely more accurate with the dot at this point, of that there is no doubt.  I relate this to suggest that we should probably adapt and use technology as we need it during our lifespan, because things change.  While I am probably quite limited for real accurate shooting, I make the best of it, and I gravitate towards the shooting arts that focus more on other aspects.  Consider the same.  Shooting 100/100 on bullseye is akin to the sub-second draw, it is a testament to extreme dedication in a niche of shooting, yet it is relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of defensive shooting, as long as you have the needed accuracy, and the needed speed. 

I can’t shoot 100/100 on B8s, but I can do sub-second draws all day long, so at least I have something cool to put on Instagram.  That’s all that matters, right?