[41mag]

How are you dealing with your advancing age?How does it affect your shooting?

Stuff like arthritis?Aching old injuries?Hearing loss?A biggie,vision loss?

Have you just started shooting less?Lighter loads?Smaller calibers?

I ask because I woke up today w/aches in both elbows,my knees,& a couple of fingers on my shooting hand.[left the bedroom window open<40deg last night].I'm wondering what I can look forward to in,say,20-30 years.

PS.You can keep any prostate/E disfunction issues to yourself thank you.

 

[Hard Ball]

I find that I need a scope sight for long range rifle shooting.

 

[Ankeny]

There are several threads on Brian Enos' website about this very issue. For the joints, aches and pains, you can do the typical stretching, physical therapy, and of course NSAIDS. I have arthritis in both hands. Celebrex helps a lot, but I hate putting chemicals in my body. I also have surgically altered shoulders from previous traumatic injuries, and both of my elbows have been scoped for chips. The tendonitis in my right elbow is on both sides, golfer's elbow and tennis elbow. In my left elbow I have tennis elbow. I have a chioce, cowboy up or quit. My doctor wants me to quit. I am sellling my open division gun this week and replacing it with a heavier, softer shooting, gun. I no longer shoot magnum calibers at all. Do what you gotta do.

For the vision issues, I quit shooting precision pistol games and went into practical pistol where the distances are much shorter. In IDPA or IPSC, an aging shooter can do very well with a softer sight focus. For steel challenge shooting I went to an optical sight. Of course, the young pups are also shooting optics at warp drive, but that's ok because shooting an optical sight makes it more enjoyable and this is about fun. Shooters who need the sharp sight picture as in PPC, find an eye doctor who will work with them. Many guys have prescription glasses made specifically for their game be it trap and skeet, or bullseye. Arrange to take a firearm with you for your next exam and you ill be amazed hat a shooting sports oriented optometrist can do for you.


Aches, pains, half blind and all, a senior shooter can do ok on the stand in one spot and blast away practical shooting events. That's one reason cowboy action has attracted so many seniors. Of course, the field courses kick my butt because I am fat, lack flexibility, and I am not athletic. That is more a result of overall physical condition than age. But face it, given equal shooting ability, the more physically adept shooter will win an IPSC field course everytime. You just need to set realistic goals and never say die.

There are some things you can do to help prevent some of the problems associated with shooting but from your username (41mag) you might not embrace what I chose as a course of action. I quit shooting all long range handgun events altogether. No more chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams. I don't even own a magnum caliber anymore.

 

[andy]

I found that low cost alfalpha pills help my knees a lot. Glutosamine, and Chinitropin a little bit, shark cartilage and MSN are "maybees" Get the extra wt off, it really makes a big diff in how you feel and perform. So does strength training with weights. Do your aerobics, stretching and have an active sex life. A pet seems to help, too, at least in pc of mind/mood.Unless you are built like Arnold, a 6 ft man should weigh at most 170 lbs. Do your pushups, chinups, squats. Chinups and standing broad jump are the 2 best tests of overall fitness. If you can't do 20 chinups and standing broadjump 7 ft, you are hurting, fitness wise. Fix it.

 

[Paco]

I'm 47 and what I've noticed is the soft focus Ankeny mentioned. Front sight not so sharp and then the actual target - if it's a bulleye or something small, is really hard to distinguish. Outdoors not as bad as indoor lighting. I'm really liking the XS Big Dot Express sights. Have them on two Glocks now. Awesome for speed up close (0-15yds). Have shot a 9 shot 6" group at 25 yards with them on a G19 but that took a helluva lot of concentration so I will acknowledge they're tricky for precision at the longer ranges. I figure I'll try a Doctor Optics red dot in a year or two.

Only know what I've read about long term shooting of heavy recoiling calibers. Used to do a moderate amount of .41 and .44 shooting with Smith revolvers but evolved to mostly faster SD type shooting with 9mm, .40 and .45 over the past 15 years and have never noticed any issues.

The greatest advice I can give is to get in shape as early as you can and stay that way. I've been living that advice since I was in my mid-teens and at 5'11" 170 lbs 20 to 30 wide grip pullups are no problem on my first set. And I was never better than a mediocre natural athlete when young. Now have few peers in late 40's.

Don't just walk or jog. Put those muscles to work to. Especially your lower back. No aches, pains. Solid ankles, knees, hips, elbows and shoulders. Neck can be problematic from torn muscle in Jujutsu circa '91. I'd be careful of trying to be a weekend warrior in competitive team sports. You blow out a knee at 40 and that's gonna leave a mark. And I'd also recommend resisting the temptation to pursue max single style of weight training to preserve joints.
Eat clean and drink only moderately.

 

[Rich Z]

HAH! Everytime I shoot one of my 50 calibers, I hope I don't break something. Maybe that's why I am subconsciously putting off shooting my Barrett model 95. I just KNOW it is going to kick harder than my model 99. And that gun pushes me back pretty hard. Not a hard jolt, but it does let you know it is in control.....

The thing that bothers me the most is seeing my hands shaking just from muscle spasms when I hold a handgun. Now THAT makes me feel old......

I can also feel that my thumbs don't feel as strong. Feels like they have been partially jammed most of the time. So I DEFINITELY don't want to shoot something like the S&W 500!

 

[ASPHALT COWBOY]

What with the bulged disc, bone spurs and pinched nerve in my neck, trigger controll has become somewhat difficult.
You learn to live with it or you simply give it up.
Myself, I tollerate the pain.

 

[Garand]

Personally bifocals suck, it took me over 2 years to get used to them and I'm really still not happy. I had an enlarged prostate a few years back but a daily dose of 1250 mg of odourless garlic has shrunk it back to normal size. Since i retired in 2002 from the military, modivation for physical fitness training is far harder. I've gained 10 pounds because of it. During the winter months my exercise bike gets used regularly, but thats just not enough.

 

[polesmoker]

Older than what?

I'm 37 and while the youngins I work with (24 and up, I can't think of anyone younger) can run everything faster than I can, they aren't calling me gramps and they can't mock me for not keeping up.

 

[Rich Z]

Well, it's rather unnerving to me to go to a doctor or attorney that looks like he should just be reaching puberty any moment now. LOL!

I can remember when I was a kid my grandfather telling me "Richie, the older you get, the faster time goes by." I really thought he was joking!