economical hearing/eye protection?

[dukefan70]

Newbie looking for recommendations for ear and eye protection that will do the job well (completely protect the hearing) without breaking the bank. I have no experience here with how to differentiate between adequate and cheap or between quality and overpriced. Starting off just owning a 20 gauge and a .45. Thanks in advance.

 

[highorder]

foam plugs work well for less than a buck.

I buy safety glasses at my local Alro Steel for $1.29 a pair.

 

[TAB]

most home improvement stores sell safety glass, those will work just fine. as far as hearing protection goes, I recomend you get a foam ear plugs, and a cheaper pair of ear muffs, use both. Try on the muffs before you buy.

 

[Hungry Seagull]

Wife wears a remington headset, 25 dollars. Provides 29 db protection. I wear a generic headset, 30 dollars providing 30db of protection.

For wife it helps ALOT her hearing is normal. For me Im deaf and only wear it to preserve the ear from physical damage when firing inside that very small stall, especially with magnums.

In the old living history, I simply turned my in-ear aides down to nothing, just enough to hear the captain's shouted orders and the public cannot see em that far away.

During arty shoots, the aides are off all the way, no use trying to talk when the big dawgs are eating. I might wear a headset over them too to help reduce the pressure.

Eye protection is the yellow cheap glasses that you can get for 10 bux and shoot on pretty good. It also keeps the stall mates to either side from blasting thier powder into your face as you change targets.

 

[Knightrider03m]

My ear protection is the little foam stuff that they sell at the range. $0.75 per set. My eye protection is what I wear everyday for the rest of my life

 

[sophijo]

hearing and eye

Howard Leight muffs from Brownells for $10 and some earplugs. I don't like the foam but do like the soft silicon Christmas tree lookalikes. Get those and safety glasses at Homedepot. The wraparound glasses protect the sides too, and get big lenses. The bitty ones may be cool looking but leave too much access to eye socket IMO.

 

[pneumagger]

Rite-Aid sells 100 packs of the little orange foam ear plugs for like $5. Good plugs generally have better NSR ratings than most earmuffs I've seen. I like the plugs because you can get good cheek weld without muffs getting in the way. If I'm shooting anything bigger than an AR, I usually double up with some of the Leight muffs.

If you want to look into some more expensive hearing protection... KAC, SWR, YHM, and AAC make some great stuff

For eye protection I just wear my eye-glasses (impact/scratch resistant) or some cheap polycarbonate wraparounds with contacts.

 

[hso]

Plugs, muffs and safety "glasses" can be had from any home supply inexpensively.

Be sure to get the highest rated plugs and muffs you can find and wear both. The foam plugs are the most protective at a reasonable price. They can be reused several times in spite of being classified as disposable. The advice to try on the muffs before purchasing is sound.

Get the best fitting safety glasses with an ANSI Z87.1+ rating. These provide better protection than the standard ANSI Z87 safety glasses. Make sure you have as little gap between the brow and your forehead as possible (nothing quite so annoying as having a hot .45 case bounce off the brim of your cap and "rebound" behind your glasses). If you can find them on sale try to the ones that meet the Mil Standard. They're 4-7 times as resistant to impact damage as the ANSI industrial ratings. http://list.nsc.org/membersonly/index.php/worksolutions/ws/impact_protection_for_eyewear/

 

[Bix]

I use electronic earpro, but I keep a pair of the Howard Leight 'Leightening' muffs in the range bag for spectators and backup:

http://texas-america-safety-company...froogle&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=froogle

They're cheap, comfortable enough to wear all day, and have an advertised NRR of 30 decibles.

Incidentally, I usually double up with muffs and foam plugs.

 

[RobertCohn]

There is a good deal in the MidwayUSA catalog on hearing -- the Midway brand of hearing muffs with their logo has (I think) a 29 decibel rating which competes with all the more expensive name brands, yet at a lower cost. If you sign up for their e-newsletter they send you periodic deals.

Safety glasses I would use cheap lab goggles from the Home Depot because a case could eject, ricochet and land on the inside of your glasses believe it or not through the top gap, which happened to me. I have found no replacement that can prevent this from occurring with eyes, and they're cheap. If you don't get the goggles make sure the top of the frames are snug to your forehead or eyebrow and wrap around the sides

 

[Dulvarian]

Wrap around safety glasses that look like sunglasses that I got from Lowe's. I have a dark tint, light tint, and clear. They are the same thing that I use when I am using power tools. There is something to be said for good contact with the face and wrapping around the side a bit. I have a mild astigmatism and the sports glasses I have ($500 Polo frames with sport lens) do not provide enough protection. I have a shell casing bounce and hit my lower eyelid from the side. YMMV depending on if you need the glasses to see the target.

I prefer foamies. It's what I wear at work and they are kind enough to provide enough that I can use them outside of work when I need to. I already have high frequency deafness from shooting without ears when I was a kid. I have since learned. I also personally find foamies to be more comfortable than muffs and find that sometimes I don't get a perfect seal with muffs because of the legs of the glasses.

 

[jimC2]

The price for the electronic muffs has dropped a lot since they first came out. Take a look at midwayusa.com or your favorite supply place. There are some for under $30, not the absolute best but work as good as the regular muffs for me.

 

[OleCodger]

Good to see that you're starting out right with ear and eye protection. I pulled the trigger on quad 40's, quad 50's, M1 Garands, Army 1911's and 3.5 rocket launchers back when dirt still smelled fresh and hearing protection was basically unheard of. Paying for it now 24 hours/day with constant ringing in both ears.

I work at Tractor Supply Co. We sell an excellent ear muff rated at 30db for under $30.00. I wear tri-focals so eye protection is a moot issue for me.

Happy Shootin'

C A