Eye sight and muzzleloader sights

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lonewolf172

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I hope this isn't to dumb of a question but here goes. I have to wear 2 different glasses. 1 for reading and 1 for driving. If I use the reading ones I can see the rear sight just fine BUT not the front. If I wear the driving glasses it's just the opposite. If you have a similar eye sight issue what has been your solution. Would front and rear fiber sights be the solution?
 
Seems a rear peep with the driving glasses might work?
 
Regardless of what type of muzzleloading rifle you own, I would first seek out the installation of some kind of aperture rear sight.

Mounted as close to your eyes as possible.

If you own a sidelock muzzleloading rifle, then a simple sight fabricated from mild steel in the fashion of Lowell Haarer can be installed on the tang of the breech plug by just substituting a longer tang bolt for the factory bolt.

Googling/searching for Lowell Haarer rear peep sight over on the American Longrifles forum, will bring up multiple threads, plus lots of images of how the Lowell Haarer sight looks.

The L. Haarer tang-mounted, ghost ring rear sight is not meant to be adjustable. It is a fixed sight designed for hunting.

Snapbang fabricated a rear sight very similar to the Lowell Haarer rear sight, and as I recall, was quite happy with his results.
 
I went to Wally World, stopped at the eyeglass rack, picked up several pairs, and headed to the gun department. I asked to look at a gun, and then shifted from one pair of glasses to another until I found a pair that would allow me to see both sights and the customer service sign at the back of the store.

As things got worse, I switched to peeps and scopes.
 
Magnified scope or Red Dot scope I use Red Dot scope on all my pistols, my AR and a Remington 700 ML'er At 84 my eye sight has gone south on me I get a form to send to my eye doctor from Delaware DMV Well lucked out have 4 more years before the next form is due
 
Human eye can only focus on one sight at a time. Young eyes go "back and forth" rapidly, so this is nearly unnoticable. As we age, one or the other will be blurry. This can happen earlier or later in life, but it will happen to most everyone.

"Peep sights" work b/c the aperture forces focus on front sight/target in a precise alignment with the rear sight. Ideally, the front sight will be in focus and target blurred. It's probably best to find a lens that makes the front sight easy to focus upon regardless of the other two when target shooting. The longer the distance between the front and rear sight, the more precise the shot. Good sights make for good shots.
 
I had the same problem for years.I fell back on some training I had in the Marines.I started to teach myself to shoot with both yes open and that has seemed to help tremendously.Good luck .
 
Yeah, this is a tricky one. I need glasses to read but don’t need them for distance. I believe modern (pistol?) shooting theory would say you should be able to clearly see the front sight. Nothing else matters. I don’t know that I like that or go along with it (particularly, if I want to be sure to make a clean kill or hit a bullseye), but that is the supposed method. I think it is correct that you can’t focus on everything at the same and that something is going to take dominance and the rest blurrier. Good luck and let us know your solution and results.
 
The only real solution I have found is to get a No-drill universal rail at Store - Dr. Pearson's No-Drill Tactical Rails (universalopticsrail.com) . It allows you to use your existing rear sight dovetail and then you can put on a red dot or scope. Since it's No-drill you don't have to drill and tap your barrel which could lower the value of your ML.
 

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I actually fabricated a peep sight from a piece of plastic from cutting board. It works but no adjustments, have to use kentucky windage. Need to first get a longer tang bolt before actually attaching it. Now wondering it I should replace the original front blade sight with a lyman 37ML Front Sight. Any opinions?
 

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With old-timey long guns I've owned (rifles and shotguns), most had either brass or silver front sights on hunting guns. Simply polishing the portion facing me was bright enough to hunt with. If I wished a black front sight, a candle worked well.

Used to be a small carbide lamp available used by bullseye pistol shooters back in the day. Advantage to smoke is flat-black, no glare.

Also - eye dominance is a real thing. We're either "right-eyed" or "left-eyed" , just as we are left-handed or right-handed. Close one eye - lose depth of field.

Whatever. Failure to use eye protection (especially with caplocks, but also with flinters) is risky business. Just sayin'.
 

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