Eyeglasses distorting riflescope reticle

[The_Yetti]

I've always needed glasses or contacts, and for the last few years, I've been wearing contacts. I've gotten to the age where when I'm wearing my contacts, I need reading glasses to read, so I'm seriously considering just switching to glasses. I have prescription glasses, and when I wear them and look through a couple different rifle scopes, the reticle looks like it is not square, meaning it does not look like a 90 degree angle between the windage and elevation lines. I don't know if it is the design f my glasses, as they wrap around some, rather than being square to my eye, or if it is just a product of the correction my eyes require. I haven't shot yet while wearing glasses to see if it affects POA vs POI. I'll be getting new glasses if I switch to glasses, so if I need to get a certain type of glasses, I'm all ears (eyes?)

Anyone else experience this, or have any insite?

 

[Mulyhuntr]

Worn glasses my whole life and never had the issue you describe. Isn't it good practice to wear glasses when shooting anyways?

 

[Jethro]

I've worn glasses longer than I can remember doing any shooting with my dad when I was a kid. I've never experienced cross hairs out of square.

Now at 52 I have progressive lenses that correct my far and near. Cross hairs not as crisp as when I was young, but not a problem. More problematic w/ the bow sight.

So I guess I'm no help, but did want to make you aware they make progressive contacts. Can see far and read with them. So you don't have to stop wearing contacts if that is what you prefer.

 

[Indewoods]

I’ve experienced this, and it is frustrating. Contacts are the way to go, but don’t work for everything, such as your particular situation.

 

[Caseknife]

I had progressive glasses for about a week and with astigmatism it was like looking through distorting mirrors. Look at a rectangle, move my head a bit and the rectangle appeared as a parallelogram, went right back and had them switched out to normal bifocal lenses. Don't know if that is what you are experiencing or not, just thought I would throw that out.

 

[sierracharlie338]

Yep I had this happen recently for the first time that I can remember. I threw a rifle to my shoulder and looked through the scope only to see a distorted crosshair. After my brain reset I looked back through and again and had to really adjust my face to see the reticle clearly. I wear contacts almost exclusively but just happened to have glasses on this time.

 

[Mcfish]

I have a 300 Wby mag that I love. A few years ago my groups started to expand. I thought the barrel was shot out so I retired it. My shooting in general wasn't as good as "in my younger years" and I just accepted that I was losing it.

One day at the range I was kneeling down by the bench and looked through a scope that was laying on the bench. As I moved my head, the crosshairs moved. I took off my glasses and they quit moving.

My progressive lenses were distorting/moving the crosshairs. I've since went to regular bifocals and am back to shooting like I used to.

 

[mxgust]

My thoughts. Either you had some change in your prescription or you’re experiencing some distortion in your progressives. Frames that wrap will have more distortion inherently than flat glasses, especially if you have a medium to high amount of astigmatism. Multifocal contacts are an options but they often causes this mushy, shadowing at almost any distance. In most circumstances this isn’t an issue but it can be tough when looking at very fine detail. You also do not need your near vision correction (the bottom of your progressive) when looking at the reticle. Light leaving your scope when it is adjusted properly is the same as looking in the distance. When shooting you will almost always use your distance correction, even with iron sights and pistols. You could either get single vision distance glasses and switch when you are not shooting or ask to have the progressive set lower in the lens. Progressives are set at a height based on your eyelid but you specify where that is when you cut a lens. You can move it lower, which would love it further out of the way when shooting but will make it more difficult to use the near portion of the glasses, so there is a tradeoff. If you’re prescription is very high you may unfortunately experience some distortion no matter what in glasses. If that’s true you can explore other contact options. For hunting and shooting I’d probably start with a distance contact in your shooting eye and a multifocal in the other. This prioritizes distance but gives you some close, at least enough to like check a phone or fill a tag or whatever. It won’t be amazing close but it is usually enough to get you by in those circumstances. If you want you can send me the numbers from your last Rx in a PM and I can be more helpful

 

[BAKPAKR]

LOL, I was just talking to my optometrist today about the problem I had last fall shooting with a new pair of progressives (not my first pair but a new pair). I think I am going back to single vision lenses this year for hunting.

 

[Magma]

This is a focal point issues for sure… you are not used to your new glasses yet.