Can corrective lenses affect accuracy?

Flashpoint

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I've been having issues with my rifle accuracy lately, shooting 22lr at 50 yards. So much so that I bought another rifle and optic to see if it was me, and getting the same results. :( Can't seem to consistently do better than 2moa, sure some groups are better, but I think with my setup(s) I should be doing significantly better.

One of the things I've noticed that may or may not be a factor is that when I've got a cheek weld looking through the optic it seems like there are serious parallax issues. moving my eye around the eye box causes significant movement of the reticle on the target. Here's the interesting thing though, the scope has side focus and I adjust it not just by focus but by eye movement until there is little to no change, but this is done with my head turned sideways and elevated off the gun with the gun motionless. When I do this I'm not looking exactly through the center of the optic, but pretty much through the center of my glasses lens. When I have the cheek weld it's the opposite, I'm centered in the optic but looking through the top of my progressive glasses lens and not straight through it either but at an upward angle through the lens. Could this be indicative of an issue or am I just seeing the reticle move on the target by my head movement on the stock actually moving the gun?

I did briefly take my glasses off and refocus the ocular but I'm not really sure I got it focused correctly, shot a couple of groups with glasses off and didn't see an improvement. I'm shooting lots of various match ammo to try and find something the gun likes but everything is shooting exactly the same, so there is some underlying issue, and it could be the nut behind the wheel! I'd be happy to host someone on my property in Chatham Co to do a little shooting (and maybe a beer or two afterward :)) if they think they might be able to diagnose what is going on. Hell I'm happy to host anyone to shoot anytime for any reason!

Oh yeah I'm shooting off a bipod and rear bag typically but I also have a sled, doesn't seem to matter. Gun is a RPR and I also now own a Savage B22, lol.
 
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Progressive lenses are a nightmare for shooting, especially with a scope. I think you'll get much better results with plain safety glasses and no prescription between you and the optic.

I ordered some cheap ($15 delivered!) single vision specs from Zenni and use them exclusively for range time.
 
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Progressive lenses are a nightmare for shooting, especially with a scope. I think you'll get much better results with plain safety glasses and no prescription between you and the optic.

I ordered some cheap ($15 delivered!) single vision specs from Zenni and use them exclusively for range time.

Yep, I wear progressive bifocals and they can really mess up how you view through the scope. What @Catfish said, just wear safety glasses and adjust the focus on the scope.
 
Progressive lenses are a nightmare for shooting, especially with a scope. I think you'll get much better results with plain safety glasses and no prescription between you and the optic.

I ordered some cheap ($15 delivered!) single vision specs from Zenni and use them exclusively for range time.
I also have contacts but rarely wear them. Next time I think I will try it with those instead.
 
I'm no expert, but I think the diopter exists so you can set your rifle/scope to your eye.
Don't be using no fancy words with me! LOL Yes I was calling it the ocular. Yes you are exactly right, it's to adjust your particular eye's vision to the scope by bringing the reticle into sharp focus, but once set it shouldn't affect parallax.
 
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Yes, I have a completely different zero depending if I wear contacts or glasses, and my scope crosshairs always look to be canted with my glasses on. Don't know why, but know it happens:mad:
 
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Some scopes will not focus down to 25 or 50 yds without parallax even if the scope specs say it will focus down to that, some wont do it w/o parallax. Corrective lenses do not help the situation but single vision is better than bifocal or progressive. If you can adjust the eye piece to clear focus without glasses, you are better off but you should wear safety glasses. Ive been peppered by rimfire rim blowouts more than once. Was wearing glasses each time.
 
Well seems to me, if you are on a bi-pod and a bag and you put that cross hair on the same spot of the target before you shoot and you get wondering impacts, it's your barrel or your scope is loose or your ammo is whack or you are jerking the trigger.
 
Some scopes will not focus down to 25 or 50 yds without parallax even if the scope specs say it will focus down to that, some wont do it w/o parallax.
You can say that again!
 
Well seems to me, if you are on a bi-pod and a bag and you put that cross hair on the same spot of the target before you shoot and you get wondering impacts, it's your barrel or your scope is loose or your ammo is whack or you are jerking the trigger.
Not saying it can't be me, but I'm thinking it could also be a parallax issue caused by my glasses, and I've swapped out the gun and optic with the same results. If small movements of my eye position up/down/left/right cause the reticle to move on the target when the gun itself remains motionless then that's a problem.
 
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Short answer to your question- yes it can.

My eyesight is getting older and I've gone from 20/10 to 20/25L20/30R with a touch of astigmatism. Since I compete with iron sights, this obviously presents and issue. I shoot with Dollar Store 1.00 readers to keep the front post in focus and a Merit on the glasses. So far it's working. No issues with my scoped guns.
 
I'll agree with the folks recommending single vision glasses. I've used both Amazon and Zenni. Since I shoot 2 and 3 gun. I wear an Rx for my pistol's iron sights (+.5 or .75), and adjust the scope diopter on the rifle for good focus at distance. And then just guess where the shotgun is pointed :)

Before I had my cataract surgery I shot with progressives and that was a total pain. I'd have to find three sweet spots on the lens, one for the shotgun, and another for the irons and another for the rifle. It took a lot to get into the right position for each shot with each gun.
 
Safety glasses with reading correction from Amazon?
 
Another point to ponder with prescription shooting glasses is the optical center of the lens. Traditional glasses put locate the optical center in line with the center of the eye with the frames squarely on your face. However, using different shooting positions (benched, standing, prone, etc) forces a different head position and can affect the portion of the lens that you are looking through. Adjusting the optical center for shooting glasses allows for optimal vision and reduced eye fatigue. I did this for my single vision lenses, which are set up primarily for NRA highpower (standing, sitting, prone)
 
I just noticed that Air Optix (brand of contact lenses) now makes a version of their day/night (sleep-in) lenses that corrects astigmatism.........

BOOOM! No more blurry red dots for me.
Please report back when you have them - I need to know if these work!
 
I don't think anyone asked- are you shooting with your dominant eye or are you cross-dominant?

My dad is very cross dominant and when we're shooting, it shows. I had him shoot a couple groups off the bags to show him how it can mess with shooting. He's right handed and with just his glasses he shot one group, then put a blinder on his dominant (left) eye and group sizes shrank by half. Now if I could just get him to remember to wear the blinder.
 
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