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Originally Posted by Jimmy W

Those detached retinas can really be bad. I had a buddy in his early to mid 70s , who married a woman from Thailand and they owned some property over there. So every year he would travel back and forth to Thailand with his wife. He was there one year and went to open up a bottle of water and the cap blew off and hit him in his left eye. And he ended up with a detached retina. The eye doctor over there told him not to get on a plane and try to fly home because
the altitude could damage his eye permanently. So he had an eye doctor over there work on his eye and it ended up being so butchered he couldn't shoot anymore with his left eye and he was always a left-handed shooter. He got back to the States and went to see his eye doctor and his eye doctor here told him that he could have flown home and it shouldn't have damaged his eye but it was too late by then. And he could have repaired his eye. But it was too late. He never was the same. He tried to shoot right handed, but could never do very well at all. He had a left-handed Perazzi that he always used, but after that accident he never could shoot right-handed very well, either. Always be careful when you open up a cold plastic bottle of water in the summer. I've heard of the cap blowing off more than once over the years. Ever since then anytime I opened up a bottle of pop or water I turned it away from my face.

I am 77 now and around 18 years ago I was hunting and on the way home I happened to close my right eye and could only see a blur out of my left. When I got home I told me wife and at the time I didn't have an eye doctor because we had moved. My wife called and finally found someone and he referred me to another doctor who saw me the next day in this office, he opened it up just for me. He looked at it and told me that I had a split in my retina, and he referred to it as a curtain at half way and if it went all the way I would be blind. He lasered it. Going forward a few years we were on vacation with the grandchildren in Florida and my wife and I were going food shopping. At this time my vision was 20/20 and 20.30 in the right eye so I wasn't wearing glasses. When we were at the store I was having trouble reading some of the labels. I thought it could have been from being in the water. The next morning it was the same so I called my doctor in Pennsylvania and he said to go see an ophthalmologist. I went and was told I would need to have surgery as I had a detached retina. The ophthalmologist asked me when I was going home and said Sunday, this was on a Tuesday and he said that[u] I would not be able to fly because it could detach. He operated on me and I received a buckle. I found out later that the eye is removed and it is either lasered or sewn. Got home and my doctor the same one who did the original laser told me I got the gold standard of treatment. Still see this same doctor and he is the only one I see in his whole office.
So whatever that doctor told your father I think the Thai doctor knew what he was talking about.

Sorry your friends father.

If you are experiencing "lightning" or "welding" going off in your peripheral vision, then you too are experiencing the cause of all this misery. As I now understand it, PVD or "peripheral vitreous detachment" is an age-related issue that seems to affect the near-sighted and the astigmatic much more than most (more "conical" eyes versus truly "round" eyes). It is the vitreous humor pulling away from the back of the eye as you effectively get-old and "dry-out", and the process can act to tear the connection of the optic nerve with the back of the eye. If you're lucky, you just end up with "floaters" and a few blank spots, if not so-lucky you end up losing the use of that eye as a dark curtain is drawn across it. Ted isn't worst-case but... it has effectively ruined his left-handed shooting. My experience with it has left me with deteriorated vision in my left (or shooting) eye, but I'm still soldiering on. Once damaged you are evidently more fragile, and caution is always advised (no more magnum rifles?) but... when has any sawbones ever not advised caution? I'm not happy about it, but I'm also not going to change anything. I certainly don't love recoil, but I've never been all that sensitive to it either (yet another insensitive bastard, eh?). Lighter guns seem to do better with softer loads and I respond accordingly but... I'm not going to live in fear about it. When my dirt-nap comes I'm hoping to have worn everything completely out, and hang the expense!

Lloyd,
I myself envision hitting the ground like a "well used shotshell"! At 76, it may be around the corner.
Karl

Recoil off the right shoulder bothers me far more than it ever did off the left. Going forward, I’m seeking a bit of equilibrium between weight of the gun, and sensible loadings. The lightest gun in the safe has already been sold.


Best,
Ted

Dang it Ted, you killed birds this year like a house afire. You'll be just fine.

Karl, no reason to expect that you won't be smoking birds at 80 years with that 25-inch barreled lightning bolt 12 of yours.

Merry Cristmas you two.

Lloyd,
Actually that "lightning bolt" is a 1910 Churchill 12 ga., 26" choked .003" & .011" @ 5 lbs. 12 oz. I shoot it well with 1 oz. 2 1/2" RST's. For targets I feed it Fiocchi 2 3/4" 12 ga. trainer loads with 7/8 oz. @ 1200 fps.
I've mentioned it before, it serves me well because I have developed a proper muscle memory for it. Same with my baby framed 28 ga. Merkel. All of my guns are 6 1/2 lbs. and less in weight.
Best wishes for the Holiday's!
Karl

Yes all those things happen. After my surgery in Florida the doctor said I would be near sighted. You might say I have the best of both, without corrective lenses, my left eye is good to arms length and my right eye is good for distance but not close-up. The only time I wear glasses is driving. I have other glasses for shooting.
As to floaters I have them, most times the brain doesn't focus and I don't see them, other times blink your eyes and they jump right back up top. You get to live with it

Really nice gun, Karl.

I knew it was a Churchill Karl, figured on 25-inch tubes. The weight is still pretty great, Mea Culpa!

Lloyd,
The gun predates Robert Churchill's introduction of the 25 XXV gun of 1926 after Edwin died in 1910. I searched for something like this for a long time!
Karl