1. Smoke Z

    Smoke Z Active Member

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    Hitting the target with bad eyesight.

    Discussion in 'Research' started by Smoke Z, Mar 18, 2014.

    I lack the google-fu to find information about correcting for bad sights on a gun.

    I haven't done any archery in a long time, and my teachers were probably lousy. I can't remember how I hit a bullseye in high school, but it involved amazed classmates so I assume that it was me playing with bow and arrow beforehand and knew what to aim for to get a good shot.

    I have lived with astigmatism to the point that I only know what a straight line is because I've handled rulers.

    For those who know archery or target shooting with bad sights, I beg for ideas about how shooting lessons would go.

    From what I remember, I would have to make instinct-calculations. I would have to begin with how I'm not actually aiming at the target, but adjusting.
     
  2. stevesh

    stevesh Banned Contributor

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    Assuming that the shooter can see where the bullets are hitting the target, and assuming the sights can't be adjusted, it should just be a matter of adjusting the point of aim to acquire the desired point of impact. If the first shot hits a few inches left of the bullseye, aiming the next a few inches to the right of the bullseye should produce the desired result, if the problem is really the sights and not the shooter.
     
  3. jazzabel

    jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

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    Well, apart from the obvious - get some glasses that correct astigmatism, I imagine practicing enough to know exactly how far off the target you end up hitting due to your visual defect, and then correcting for it would do the trick. Snipers calculate all sorts of variables when they are lining up the shot, this is just another thing to correct for.
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2014
  4. shadowwalker

    shadowwalker Contributor Contributor

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    I'm confused, TBH. Are you talking about shooting with bad vision, or shooting a gun where the sights are off? Either can be corrected (unless one is legally blind, of course, and then no one would put a gun in your hand) so the question in my mind is why they aren't.
     
  5. stevesh

    stevesh Banned Contributor

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    Actually, the legally blind can hunt in several states, including Michigan, though they must have a sighted person along, of course. Somebody has to drive.
     
  6. Michael Collins

    Michael Collins Senior Member

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    You just wear glasses for bad eyesight.

    If the sights are not set correctly in archery you set your sights by trial and error. You take a shot and modify windage and elevation according to where you hit.

    I's the same thing if your bow doesn't have any sights, muscle memory and eye coordination correct the the error for you, if you are experienced enough.

    (I have twelve years of archery experience, in various styles.)
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2014
    Smoke Z and jazzabel like this.
  7. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    In archery you aim above the bullseye allowing for the arc of the arrow's flight.

    With a gun sight, I saw one of those skilled sniper documentaries several months back. He had a very refined method of how far above and to the side of the target to aim because of that weapon's ballistic dynamics and the distance.
     
  8. Michael Collins

    Michael Collins Senior Member

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    This is a bit vague and not entirely true.
    An instinctive shooter will see only the target in focus, and use his peripheral vision to see the arrowhead, placing it below the target at most distances (for anything over ten meters at least).
    Look up the "gap shooting" technique for further readings.
     
  9. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    I defer to your expertise when it comes to the finer points and more professional shooting techniques. However, I sight my aim with the arrow and I line it up above the bullseye and I was the top shooter in my college class years ago.
     
  10. Michael Collins

    Michael Collins Senior Member

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    I want to point out that I was not trying to undermine you, I just didn't want the thread opener to get confused.
     
  11. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    No worries, I know my expertise is minimal.
     
  12. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    Are you putting your shooter in the position where he's lost or broken his glasses and has to adjust? Or, again, is it the gunsight that's bad?
     
  13. Smoke Z

    Smoke Z Active Member

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    Last time I tried to wear glasses to correct for astigmatism, my eyes went numb and I was lucky that I could adjust. I was too blind to appreciate a video-based art exhibit, but I could walk across the city without resorting to the blind tricks I once read about in a fiction book. It was probably like a glasses-wearer loosing his glasses, but somehow inverted. (At that point, wearing the glasses and not wearing the glasses was the same.)

    I'm going with "gunsight is bad" and adapting it to archery because I've developed a few metaphors involving silver platters for mirror and driving someone else's car without messing with the settings.

     

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