Seeing the Whole Picture

RECENTLY, WHILE TRYING to sharpen my handgun shooting skills, I discovered that time has caught up with me. We at Magnum spend several hours every month on shooting ranges, mostly testing new firearms and scopes while the clock is ticking toward yet another looming publishing deadline. Finding the time to improve my handgun shooting is almost impossible, but I finally got an opening early on a weekend morning.

Before rushing off with my CZ pistol and a bag of ammunition, I tried on my old shooting belt, which I’ve not used in years, and it no longer fitted around my middle… it was too short by several inches. Alarmed, I immediately inspected my motorcycle gear, which I often used to wear for track days and long trips. To my dismay, like my old pistol belt, the expensive leather kit is now no longer usable.

Outgrowing my clothes isn’t my only problem; for the last two years, my pistol has been digging uncomfortably into my side. I admit I’ve been seriously considering trading in the 9mmp for a lighter and much smaller .38 Special snubby. Discomfort makes for a strong argument against my old belief that ‘high capacity carry’ is a necessity. Fortunately, with age (and hopefully wisdom) I’ve decided that it’s much more prudent to avoid any possible conflict situations, even if it means changing my habits and the routes I drive, rather than carrying a high capacity pistol and a bundle of spare magazines.

However, that’s not all that ails me. For some time now, I’ve been aware that when firing a handgun I can no longer see the front sight as clearly as I should. I have been forced to wear reading glasses for the last two years, and during the past six months it’s been impossible to read a book without them. It is especially irritating to find myself without my glasses when in a shop, struggling to read a label on a product or even to see the price.

This problem was amplified at the range when I started shooting certain drills against the clock. Inability to focus on the front sight – a basic principle of mastering a handgun – meant I could not place the bullets where they were supposed to hit. Traditional iron sights require your eye to focus on three spatially separated objects: the rear and front sights, and the target, aligning all three while manipulating the trigger.

In desperation I tried changing my pistol’s foresight to one with bright fibre-optic inserts, but my eyes still could not focus on that front blade.

The next solution was to wear my multifocal reading glasses. This helped, but to get the front sight in focus I had to lift my head at an unnatural angle, which was literally a pain in the neck. Next I tried fixed focal reading glasses. This worked fairly well; the front sight appeared sharp and clear, with the target blurred, which helped me to keep my shots in the A-zone. I also discovered that SSP Eyewear makes shooting glasses with bifocal inserts at the top of the lenses – a product that will definitely help to keep my head in a natural position when shooting and enable me to see normally when lowering my eyes or tilting my head slightly upwards.

However, none of the above is suitable for daily carry. When you have to do a threat assessment under stress, glasses that blur part of your vision cannot be considered.

I finally decided to try out reflex sights. Although fairly small, these sights are much bigger than standard handgun sights. Earlier problems with reliability and battery life seem to have been resolved, and more importantly, they work well for me, notwithstanding my far sightedness. I can simply place the clearly visible red dot on the target and pull the trigger. The reduced profile of modern reflex sights also makes holster carry viable.

So, it seemed, problem solved… until I tried to find a base to mount a reflex sight on my CZ75! Yes, it’s possible to find the right equipment, but not without some effort, and what I really want must be imported.

It’s probably easier to retire my trusty old CZ75 and buy a modern handgun like a Glock. The popularity of these pistols ensures that accessories are freely available. For a dyed-in-the-wool CZ fan (pistols and rifles) getting rid of my CZ will be a bitter pill to swallow, but I guess I have to face reality; my eyes are not what they used to be, and ultimately this means my safety is at risk. Almost as distressing is the fact that a quality reflex sight and base will set me back more than the price of a new pistol.

On a positive note, the additional range sessions reinforced lessons learned long ago – practice builds skill and skill boosts confidence. If you carry a handgun for protection it’s your duty to visit the range regularly and work on your skills. Using a stopwatch to add a bit of pressure to the equation will be fun and expose weaknesses you might not have known existed. In my case, it not only revealed I’m in dire need of refreshing my practical shooting skills, but also that I was not clearly seeing the whole picture.