How important is eye protection?

[allaroundhunter]

I do. The OP posts a picture of newly acquired, ANSI rated sunglasses.

 

[Gaffer]

Being a competition shooter I have seen enough incidents to make me a believer. And twice I have had the rim of a .22lr blow out and the gas came back and hit my glasses. Had I not had on glasses I do not know what might have happened.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

In the last ten years, I've been hit with ricochets three times and taken jacket fragments in the face on three other occasions (shooting steel). So I am a big fan of eye protection - especially after digging a piece of copper jacket out of my skin just below my glasses.

 

[btg3]

Do most you people with prescription eye glasses where. A tint on the glasses?
I want wraparound single vision. I know I can get sunglasses like that now.

I also use my glasses at work where no tint is allowed. This is because another aspect of safety on the job is making eye contact with others.

I've seen the wrap around style with cheaters inset at the bottom, but dunno about the effect of wrap around curvature on true Rx lens.

 

[btg3]

... twice I have had the rim of a .22lr blow out and the gas came back and hit my glasses. Had I not had on glasses I do not know what might have happened.

Happened to me with a 20ga SxS with a good cheek weld on the stock. Fortunately, it was the strong hand barrel, so it mostly blew outside and away. Mild burn on my strong hand and face. Glasses were freckled from powder. It was a reload shell and the brass rim may have been pinched during resizing.

 

[clutch]

Guy at work shot his 1911, has a bad cut over his dominant eye. Not sure if it was a case or a bullet fragment. He has to wear glasses to see as do I. I don't find that need to be that big a burden given the activities I engage in.

 

[bushmaster1313]

Only as important as your vision.

On a related note, only floss the teeth you want to keep.

 

[JRS950]

Only always. Never shot without, but so many other stupid things I've done has convinced me of the importance of good eye protection.

 

[SDC]

Anyone who shoots will eventually catch some sort of debris in the face or eye, and after that happens is no time to start thinking "Hey, that could've blinded me". I've caught splash, bouncebacks, and casings in the face, and was once almost blinded by some clown using duck loads on a skeet range while I was way down-range shooting sporting clays. Eye protection is the cheapest insurance you can get.

 

[mgmorden]

Most of the ranges I go to won't even allow you to shoot without it.

At the two public ranges where they're not supervised (and hence its not required) I still don't see too many people without it. It's just a foolish choice to not have SOMETHING between the gun and your eyes with the amount of "stuff" (unburnt powder, gas, lead splatter, etc) flying around.

I can honestly say that though I've never taken a hit to the glasses, I've been pinged by lead flecks off of steel countless times. Some hit hard enough to leave a red mark for a good while. If that had hit me in the eye without protection it could have been very bad.

 

[Dnaltrop]

I've had blood drawn from my shins to my forehead from bits of jacket turning into shrapnel off the Berm at 50' when the line is packed with other shooters.

We have older revolvers that let more than a bit of side spray out the front edge of the cylinder, and had it sneak around the edges of my usual glasses, or cut the hand of the shooter.

On the down side, I've had hot brass play Pachinko and drop between the lens and my eyelid. but only once.

It depends on your Lens size, but I tend to take my sunglasses out of the car as they're a bit larger than my usual specs... Outside of a life and death situation, The risk to the eyes is just too great.

 

[Deer_Freak]

Copolymer prescription glasses are pretty sturdy. The are considered as safety glasses by OSHA. I avoid ranges that require shooters to stow their prescription glasses for a cheap pair of safety glasses. If the range is that anal that they prefer shooters that are half blind to sell a pair of safety glasses I won't fit in. I prefer to burn my gas heading to shooter friendly destinations. I don't mind wearing the extra large wrap around safety glasses that fit over my prescription glasses.

 

[jcwit]

After reading and posting on this thread I've ordered a set of goggles that have inner prescription lenses. cost with shipping approx. $30/35 bucks. Here's the link


http://www.zennioptical.com/?prescr...27&nav_cat_id=2&p=2&pagination=true&navused=1

 

[627PCFan]

I took a #7.5 pellet to the lip on a skeet field a bunch of years ago. Bloodied my lip, and never figured out how the pellet got to me. Hurt like hell but was wearing glasses. Very close. The only time I don't wear them is when Im hunting because of glare, but when I use my ML I try to wear something.

 

[hso]

You can get anitglare coated safety glasses to address that problem.

 

[Outlaw Man]

It's kinda like a concealed handgun. They're not necessary at all....until you need them.

 

[MikeJackmin]

Just last week I fired a pistol, and it unexpected threw the ejected case directly back into my right eye. The sharp mouth of the case bounced off the lens of my glasses, which are just my regular prescription pair. It hit hard enough that I had to readjust the glasses on my face. It would have left an awful injury if my glasses weren't there.

I've had a couple of times when I've been sprayed by debris from .22 rifles, bolt guns mostly. Just a puff of gas and dust that escapes the action, enough to sting your cheek if you have glasses on, and enough to really ruin your day if you don't.