Sights for aging eyesight

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Roachcreek

Roachcreek

Member
Mar 18, 2017
869
382
Orego\'n, United States
In the last 6 years I have suffered from a degenerative eye condition that I received in the line of duty.



I have no central vision and my shooting eye has been surgical removed. For a few months I assumed my shooting hobby was done, most of my guns and all of my sights were either sold or given to my children. Then one day my wife returned from shopping and placed a cheap 4 power scope in my lap and said,”try thus.” I have been searching for better option every since that day.



My biggest challenge is finding a reticle I can see. That means that very high quality scopes that have precise reticles do not work for me, their reticles are fine and I am unable to see them. Recently, I sold a wonderful Meoptic scope for this reason.



The scopes I have found that I can see the reticle are the lowly Bugbuster 3x12, Hawke 2x7 non illuminated and a Hawke 17410 4x16 with a very helpful illuminated reticle, Bushnell AR optics 1x4 and AR 3x18.


i play musical scopes, switching scopes from rifle to rifle, and have lasers on many of my rifles, zeroed at 10 yards, to rezero my scope to the lasers dot. I got the bright idea to try a laser with a 3 power magnifier and came up with a much improved sighting system. I have hesitated in years past to recommend lasers as primary sighting duties due to lasers being spotty in quality and dependability, but truthfully I have used cheap lasers, one or two are going on a decade of use. I have such a system on my Bulldog set up with a old Beeman laser and a Prinary arms 3 power magnifier, I really like this system.

I have a Immersive Optics 5x50 prismatic sight enroute from AirgunArcheryFun, I am mixed in feelings about thus sight, while I like. The size, weight and optic clarity, I worry the reticle may be difficult for me to see. Time will tell, but I believe that a 2 or 3 power prismatic sight may be out there waiting for me.



So tell me what are you older gentlemen and your fathers using to keep shooting.



Regards,



Roachcreek
 
Roachcreek,

my Dad's favorite so far is a Hawke calibre specific his is for the 17hmr, was on sale, illuminated, thicker cross hairs, with ranging marks. Yes set for something else, but he can see it well. Well enough he gets headshots on squirells. 

We went in to the sporting goods section, looked through a bunch of scopes. This one he liked best. Well of what they had. When he lit up and said "I can see the cross hairs, and what I'm looking at" well I bought it. Bonus it was on sale, but had he liked one 4 times as much I would have gotten that one. 

Dad is 83, and lost part of his retna to a retnal eskemia. Described to me as an arterial blockage in the retna. Mabe not your issue but possibly similar.

Jim
 
Upvote 0
It was a riot in Portland Or.

Those Athlon reticles look great, but only if I blow them up on my computer, but in use not many have worked well. I can’t see a full, profile semi coming at me at 150 feet. At 3 feet facial recognition is impossible. The thick part of the reticle is basically what I need for the entire reticle that and enough magnification. Even my Hawke 17410 needs the reticle “lit up” to see it, and being a ffp scope, the magnification needs to be cranked up.

The Meoptic worked inside with the illumination on, I could put that lighted dot inside a pellet hole at 10 yards, but outside it did not work. I have no access to a large store where I live to look through scopes, but again outside in the sun everything changes.

I was a scope snob at one point in my life, but these days I find cheap scopes seem to have the thicker reticles.

Red dot sights with magnifiers may be a answer, inside the laser and magnifier works, but outside I fear the laser will be too dim, green lasers may be better.


Roachcreek
 
Upvote 0
I also have trouble seeing reticles. The best I have found is ARES ETR UHD 3-18X50 APLR6 FFP. It is a FFP so at some point you will have trouble seeing the reticle as you lower magnification. I see this better than my way better than my Hawke 17110. I also went the Nightforce NX8 I would hate to steer you wrong. But this works well for me.



Sparky
 
Upvote 0
The Athlon Helos BTR 2-12 DMR scope has a .3 mil sized dot and a big ring around it. On 12x the dot appears big but is only slightly larger than 1 MOA at 100Y. Not many reticles this big yet usable. 10Y close focus which is nice.

The Athlon prism scopes also have thick reticles. More for AR type shooting on bigger targets but these will work if need be.
 
Upvote 0
I think, but have not asked anyone directly, that I might be considered an old fart in certain circles! I do have problems with thin reticles too. My scope with the thickest reticle is a SFP UTG Hunter AO 3-9x40 with a mildots reticle. Used it on my Mrod for awhile but now have it on a powder burner. Good scope for close airgunning as it will focus to 5 yards. Probably similar to your bugbuster. My FFP Athlon Argos Gen 6-24x50 with the moa APLR2 reticle is good to great from 12x -24x, and it is thicker than my FFP Gen 2 Athlon Helos 6-24x56 with its mil APRS6 reticle, which is pretty decent from 14-24x. But as you know the trouble with the FFPs is the invisible man trick thing they do at their lower magnifications. Great to hear you are not giving up airgunning and are looking for alternatives to make that happen. 
 
Upvote 0
The Athlon Helos BTR 2-12 DMR scope has a .3 mil sized dot and a big ring around it. On 12x the dot appears big but is only slightly larger than 1 MOA at 100Y. Not many reticles this big yet usable. 10Y close focus which is nice.

The Athlon prism scopes also have thick reticles. More for AR type shooting on bigger targets but these will work if need be.
Click to expand...

I had forgot about the Argos HMR so I thought I would mention it - it has duplex type reticle but it also has a "larger dot" that is .7" at 100Y. The dot is illuminated and not quite daylight bright but when its turned all the way up appears like its over 1 moa.

It has capped turrets and focuses down to 10y. More of a basic scope but it'd be good for various simpler applications.
 
Upvote 0
I received the Immersive 5 x30 prismatic sight yesterday, there is so much about this sight that I really like and the usual fatal problem. It is short and light, very clear, appears very well made, has a reticle that when illuminated I can see very well….inside.

Sadly, when I step outside it disappears and inside when the illumination is turned off, I can detect a reticle but it is not useable.

If I was not almost blind, I would find a home for this one. Inside my house the lighted works, but not outside.

I am not a fan of heavy high magnification ffp scopes. Outside the used Hawke 2x7 I recently bought works for me out to 35 yards or so, at least my cast bullets touch at that range with the little Hawke. My ffp 30mm 4x16 17410 is back at Hawke getting the reticle rotated into the correct position, I can see that reticle outside, but not the reference hash marks below and to the side of the reticle.

Thanks for the advice so far.



Roachcreek
 
Upvote 0
Me too! Diabetic thing. Dont you think ,if we would all buy the best scope we could muster up the cash for, we could buy once and have a life long pleasure of good shooting. I have10 scopes different ilks. Of course, I have a few guns. If we all settled on the best it would way cheaper, long run. Naw, who's going to do such a sensible thing?
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu