I'd avoid the TA31 series.  I'll regularly smack the bridge of my nose if I'm not careful.

Hi, I'm a newbie. Just bought my first  AR (RRA). I wear bifocals and when I sighted it

in @ 25yds., I'd get the rear sight in focus and the front would be a blur. Get the front

in focus and the rear was a blur. Back and forth until I thought maybe, perhaps I had it

somewhat right/close/aligned. Getting target in focus while all this was going on was

impossible. Back up to 50yds. and I'm totally screwed. What's a blind novice to do?

Great site. I've learned a ton just reading these past few weeks.

Thanks,

a-bare

Quoted: Hi, I'm a newbie. Just bought my first  AR (RRA). I wear bifocals and when I sighted it in @ 25yds., I'd get the rear sight in focus and the front would be a blur. Get the front in focus and the rear was a blur. Back and forth until I thought maybe, perhaps I had it somewhat right/close/aligned. Getting target in focus while all this was going on was impossible. Back up to 50yds. and I'm totally screwed. What's a blind novice to do? Great site. I've learned a ton just reading these past few weeks. Thanks, a-bare

YOUR NOT supposed to focus on the rear sight, just the FRONT sight and the target, JUST LOOK THRU The rear sight

Yeah,
Only the front sight should be in focus with a handgun or rifle.

Quoted: YOUR NOT supposed to focus on the rear sight, just the FRONT sight and the target

I don't think so.  ONLY the FRONT sight must be in crystal clear focus.  I am 40, have very strong myopia (almost 5 diopters), astigmatism, and the beginnings of presbyopia, and I am shooting High Master scores at 600 yards with National Match irons on an AR15A2.

I wear shooting glasses with my normal prescription ground off center so the optical center of the lens is in front of my eye when in prone and use a +.25 diopter lens in the rear sight hood.

With the longer sight radius of my Model 70 match rifle (aperture sights F & R) I do not even need the rear sight helper lens.  195/200 at 600 is almost routine with that rifle.

Quoted: Hi, I'm a newbie. Just bought my first  AR (RRA). I wear bifocals and when I sighted it in @ 25yds., I'd get the rear sight in focus and the front would be a blur. Get the front in focus and the rear was a blur. Back and forth until I thought maybe, perhaps I had it somewhat right/close/aligned. Getting target in focus while all this was going on was impossible. Back up to 50yds. and I'm totally screwed. What's a blind novice to do? Great site. I've learned a ton just reading these past few weeks. Thanks, a-bare

You are not blind.  You just don't know how to use iron sights.

Focus on the front sight and the front sight ONLY.  You can focus on the target for a second or so when alinging the sights, but your focus must shift 110% to the front sight when putting pressure on the trigger.

Here's a hint: the human eye can only focus at one distance at a time.  Your focus cannot be on the front sight 15 - 20 inches away and on the target hundreds of yards away.  Can't be physically done.

Try bifocal contect lens? That what I have. Also aimpoint or eoteck sights work great. I personaly use the A2 gost ring and concentrate on the front post. For longer range work mid mag optics like a acog or Lupold SPR type optics. Some ideas.

There is some adjustment you have to make shooting scopes with progressive lens. Probably pretty much all glasses. I used to shoot with contacts and started shooting last year again after a lay off. I now have bifocals. (progressive).
I noticed the scope didn't seem as clear when shooting and it was because of head placement and the curvature of the lens. I had to twist my head a little more to get it crystal.
I understand shooters will often have special glasses ground or overcome this probably like the above post.
JRandyH

Thanks guys,
You're right. When I look through the rear sight (not at it ) and align front post with target, slight head movements  to reposition front post inside rear sight (as long as I don't move the rifle) don't have any impact on where bullet will strike target.

Have I got this right?
Maybe I just need to spend more time shooting and less time thinking.

Thanks again for all the feedback. I didn't mean to hijack the original post. I hope your answers have helped the original poster as well.

a-bare

Quoted: Maybe I just need to spend more time shooting and less time thinking.

You do need to spend more time shooting, but it might not hurt to read some books on precision shooting with iron sights.  David Tubb's books (Highpower Rifle and The Rifle Shooter) are a great start.

Understanding what you should be doing will make time at the range more productive.  Blasting away without understanding what is going on is a sure path to frustration.

An optic will put the reticle at the same focal plane as the target. Use the distance portion of your lens to view both the reticle and the target, which should both be in focus. If you have a distance only prescription, you can use those for shooting, which is what my wife does.

Be aware, different pairs of glasses can cause shifts in POI, even if they have the same prescription. It took my wife some time at the range to figure out that she should stick with one pair of glasses for shooting. BSW

I don't wear glasses, but from watching my dad shoot the main problem with bifocals and shooting is getting your head positioned so that you're looking at the sights through the part of the glasses that's focused for that distance.  It's kind of funny to watch him with a pistol and his head tilted way back, looking at the sights down his nose.  

The two suggestions I hear most is to a) get a set of non-bifocal glasses just for shooting that is the right perscription for the distance to the front sight (and live with the blurryness on everything else) or b) switch to optical sights.  Red dots are good since you focus past the dot to the target, for which the glasses are probably working.  Regular scopes let you focus the objective to your eyesight, compensating for whatever the mismatch is.

Adding to that, I recently read, in I think "SWAT" magaine, about officers having special glasses made to wear on duty that had the normal bifocal gradient at the bottom for reading and also a "sight-distance" portion at the top where you'd be looking through them when shooting a rifle.