bifocals and iron sights

[10-Ring]

I need some advice here from the bifocal wearing crowd. My daughter will soon be turning six which is the age that my wife had agreed to let me get her a BB gun. I could see my daughter's interest going either way on this do I want to make sure that she doesn't get frustrated and had lots of fun. The catch is that she had cataracts as a toddler and as a result she has to wear bifocals. I've never worn bifocals so I can't relate first hand to what it is like to look at iron sites, but I've heard that they can present a challenge and she just doesn't need that. Now I'm considering some type of airgun that I could mount a red dot site on, do you bifocal wearers think that would be easier for her to use? As for the rifle the search is on for something I can mount the site to, is easy to cock as she is very small for her age, oh yeah and it needs to be pink...

[Ugly]

I wear readers now and have recently been trying to use them to focus on the front sight. Perhaps it will be easier for her because she isn't used to shooting without them. I have found the target area is more difficult with glasses but without them the front sight is blurry. It is quite the conundrum (for me)

I would try iron sights first and go from there. If I wear glasses with a red dot it causes a depth problem because of the laser.

[JPR1959]

http://www.auburnscouts.com/stallingsmachine/microsight.htm

 

I read about these sights a year ago.  They were developed by the Idaho National Laboratories.  They are called Microsights.  I have no idea if they work, but it does look very good.

[Pete123]

10-Ring,

My experience may be helpful. This may not all be exactly correct, though I think it is. The bi-focal is a magnifying glass. The question will be if the front and rear sights can be clear through the bi-focal. I believe it depends on the amount of magnification. Lower magnification has a longer sight plane and greater magnification has shorter.

I use different glasses now, but pulled out an old pair of bi-focals. The sleeve length of shirts for me is 35 for perspective. I aimed a handgun with the bi-focals and could see just fine. I then aimed my AR and saw just fine, though I had to make sure to look through the right part of the glasses.

When shooting, I have to make sure my glasses are pushed up on my nose so I look through the right part of the lenses.
Unless they had to use a lot of magnification, my best guess is that she will be fine - if she looks through the right part of the lenses. The action to look through different parts of the lenses is to move your head up or down, or your eyes up or down.

Ensure that her glasses haven't slid down her nose if she can't see. If she still can't see, suggest that she raise her head a little. (like shaking your head "yes", though just raising it a little)

I'll bet you can work through this if you are patient and my hope is that you won't need special sights. I'm thinking the hard part will be figuring out how to help her look through the right part of the lenses using 6 year old language.

Best of luck!

[10-Ring]

Thanks for the input.  Honestly I don;'t think that she has ever worn her glasses correctly.  They are often times low on her nose and she looks over the top of them.  She doesn't have much interest in learning to wear them the right way.  She's really good at adapting to the things that she has to but often gives up very easily if something is difficult.  Therefore I'm trying to make this as easy and fun for her as possible because if she doesn't like it or has to put in extra effort to overcome the sight situation she will likely no longer be interested.   

[10-Ring]

BTW I'm leaning more towards a Chipmunk because I can't seem to find an air rifle that is small enough for her and will accept a sighting device.  She's pretty small for her age and I don't want to give her an adult sized rifle that she will struggle with and have issues cocking.  It worked for me but I wanted a rifle at that age more than anything. 

[Tuffus]

I don't know if this helps any but I wear contacts sometimes when I shoot with iron sights. If I only wear the left contact and leave the right on out I can see the sights with my nearsightedness and the target with the corrected vision left eye. Works well for me anyway.

[Pete123]

I really appreciate how you are trying your very, very best to help her have fun with this.