any reason for brown vs dark gray eye protection from a shooting perspective?

[old lady new shooter]

Have not yet bought my own eye protection for shooting. Today the eye doctor said I need to wear brown or dark gray either prescription sunglasses or over-lenses whenever I'm outside. I thought the regular UV protection built in to my distance glasses was good enough but he said not with early macular degeneration. I mentioned that I was anyway planning to buy wraparound eye protection to wear over my glasses for shooting, he said if they are comfortable enough to wear also for driving etc I can kill two birds with one stone.

So I am wondering whether there is any difference from a shooting perspective between brown and dark gray, and also whether I will then still need a clear pair for indoor shooting.

 

[rcmodel]

Brown offers higher contrast and better depth perception.

Grey offers better color perception.

I would choose brown for target shooting sports.
Probably Grey for hunting.

Yes, you will need clear for indoor ranges, unless you bring a flashlight.

rc

 

[old lady new shooter]

Thank you very much!

 

[Longhorn 76]

In the light spectrum, the blue end has the most energy, and is the most harmful. The Amber/brown blocks the blues.

 

[Jim Watson]

If you shoot Trap, Skeet, or Sporting Clays, you will be offered all sorts of weird tints intended to reduce glare and also make the orange targets stand out against whatever background you specify.

I cannot comfortably wear dark glasses; <30 minutes with Rx or clip on shades gives me a headache.

 

[Drail]

In my opinion brown or amber tint is better for shooting, driving and flying.

 

[doubleh]

It kind of depends on the person. Also on your light conditions. I really don't like brown. Makes everything look flat and washed out. Gray is great for me. It is something you need to try and make your own decision. Non prescription safety glasses are dirt cheap so get a pair of each color and see what works best for you.

 

[arspeukinen]

Amber makes clay pigeons really stand out. For IPSC And indoors I use clear lenses.

 

[primalmu]

In the light spectrum, the blue end has the most energy, and is the most harmful. The Amber/brown blocks the blues.

Just to clarify, when you say "harmful" do you mean "harmful to your ability to distinguish your target"? Because in terms of eye health, ultraviolet is the culprit.

 

[old lady new shooter]

Continued part of the conversation in another thread, so just to report here, I ordered a pair of Cocoons with amber lenses for outdoor ranges and driving, and the 3M clear ones for indoor ranges.

Thanks again for everyone's input, I really appreciate it.

 

[hso]

#2 is a bulls-eye. Brown provides better contrast than grey because of our eye's sensitivity to yellow. You also need to make sure that shooting protective eyewear meets or exceeds the civilian standard Z87+ (ANSI Z87.1 – 2010) or the U.S. military standard (MIL-PRF-31013) for impact protection. If they don't they could cause more severe injuries.

 

[hso]

Bolle X1000 FAX1RXF has colored lense capability, high impact ballistic ratings, and an Rx capability as well as fitting over glasses.

 

[DLam]

Brown offers higher contrast and better depth perception.

Grey offers better color perception.

I would choose brown for target shooting sports.
Probably Grey for hunting.

Yes, you will need clear for indoor ranges, unless you bring a flashlight.

rc

Spot on.

 

[old lady new shooter]

Bolle X1000 FAX1RXF has colored lense capability, high impact ballistic ratings, and an Rx capability as well as fitting over glasses.

Thank you very much, I really appreciate your help.

I found those on the Bollé website, it says the lenses come in clear, smoke or yellow. They apparently don't sell direct. Looking around on the web I found multiple sellers offering the clear ones but nobody offering the smoke ones. I think I'll try my 3-layer idea next time I go to an outdoor range and see if there is a distortion issue; if not then I'll be done, if there is distortion then I can either try the other smoke ones I found on safetyglassesusa.com or enter my contact information on the Bollé site to find a dealer that carries the smoke ones.

Thanks again.

 

[hso]

The lenses are replaceable so you can buy the smoke and change out the clear for smoke. LA Police Gear has a sale right now. http://www.lapolicegear.com/bolle-x1000rl-lenses.html

 

[old lady new shooter]

The lenses are replaceable so you can buy the smoke and change out the clear for smoke. LA Police Gear has a sale right now. http://www.lapolicegear.com/bolle-x1000rl-lenses.html

If any of the sellers posted that the lenses can be changed out, I missed it. Thank you very much for explaining this! Do I need any special tools or expertise to change them out?

 

[rcmodel]

That seems to be greatly over-kill for sport shooting!!!

Unless you are shooting for an SWAT entry Team, or driving a mine clearing vehicle in Iraq.

I've made do with Ray-Ban glass shooting glasses most of my life.

But more lately for the last 20 years with polycarbonate impact resistant prescription clear bi-focals.
I use clip-on Polaroid green in really bright sun.

I wouldn't last 5 minutes in the summer heat wearing those double goggle things!!

rc

 

[4thPointOfContact]

I've always used this as my guide....
-courtesy of MDShooters.com

 

[old lady new shooter]

That seems to be greatly over-kill for sport shooting!!!

Unless you are shooting for an SWAT entry Team, or driving a mine clearing vehicle in Iraq.

I've made do with Ray-Ban glass shooting glasses most of my life.

But more lately for the last 20 years with polycarbonate impact resistant prescription clear bi-focals.
I use clip-on Polaroid green in really bright sun.

I wouldn't last 5 minutes in the summer heat wearing those double goggle things!!

rc

I feel like HSO has my best interests at heart, I'm going to give them a try. If I can't stand them, before he posted that I had already ordered plain clear ones and smoke ones that are both ANSI Z87. I'm just disappointed that nobody makes ANSI Z87 fitovers with brown lenses, after everybody said brown would be better for shooting. Clip-ons won't work for me, my doctor said I have to keep the sunlight out from all angles.

 

[natman]

In the light spectrum, the blue end has the most energy, and is the most harmful.

Just to clarify, when you say "harmful" do you mean "harmful to your ability to distinguish your target"? Because in terms of eye health, ultraviolet is the culprit.

Ultraviolet is just beyond the blue end of the spectrum.