Inexpensive safety glasses?

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PakWaan

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Apr 26, 2003
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Sunny Florida
I'm looking for some inexpensive (but safe, of course) shooting glasses. SafetyGlassesUSA has some by Remington, S&W, Winchester and others, all under $10 - I was hoping someone had a recommendation since I haven't seen or used any of them.

Also, what color is best - yellow, clear or... ??


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I just use my sunglasses. I've had them a long time, I can't remember the brand, but they're "Shatter-resistant". I personally despise wraparound glasses. However, when I'm at the indoor range, I use a simple pair of working safety goggles that I got at my local hardware store. they're made by AOSafety, iirc. They work great, I just don't like the feel of them. You oughta be ok with anything shatter proof or resistant. Get what feels good.
 
I looked into buying some name brand shooting glasses at Wal-Mart, the brand was probably Remington or Smith and Wesson, they were relatively expensive (about $20). I then walked over to the hardware department and looked at the AOSafety safety glasses for about $5. Funny thing is both met the exact same ANSI standards. You can guess which one I picked up--and they work great.
 
I'm really happy with my Winchester branded bifocal shooting glasses. I stumbled upon them at Sportsman's Warehouse for about $12.

They allow these 45yo eyes to see both the target and the fine details of the weapon and ammo.
 
AOS

I also like the AOS glasses from Walmart. Available at TS/Nortern Tool as well. I am extremely picky about glasses, and these seem to be the best of the cheap ones (IMO). They're under $10.

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I have a few pairs of the 'shooting' glasses from wal-mart. I recently acquired some Wiley X SG-1 goggles. These things are awesome... They fit well and you can't even tell they are there. I wish I had gotten them sooner. I would highly encourage getting some high quality eyewear. It's not really that expensive, and it makes a difference. Plus, I'd rather be glad I spent the money to protect my eyes than some wal-mart pair.
 
I have a few cheap pairs that I got for free when I ordered some stuff from CDNNInvestments.com . I'm not sure what the brand is, but they sell them on their website when they aren't running specials and giving them away. They seem to work fine, but I leave them in my range bag for the times that I take friends/new shooters to the range.

I picked up a new pair of sunglasses/range glasses for Christmas this year and am very happy with them. Wiley-X Romer IIs. For $90 they come with interchangeable grey, white and yellow lenses and are hands down nicer than my more expensive interchangeable sunglasses from Smith, and the lenses are ANSI rated.
 
I prefer clear, unless I'm outside on a sunny day, then I use dark tinted glasses.

I like the S&W glasses. Can't stand the el-cheapo ones my employer buys us (don't know what brand, whatever has the lowest bulk price).
 
Pak,

Since you're in Florida ya' ought to consider the sweat/fog thing.

Note how atblis' glasses don't have any frame above the lens. That's great for letting steam out. Other glasses have wide gaps between the frame & lens.

If I'm shooting a rifle where the cheek weld requires me to get my face low enough that I look through the top part of the lens, I find that low quality glasses, e.g. most regular safety glasses, have a lot of distortion.

I have some good $8 - $12 pairs but recently I got some Browning Shotgun glasses. They are fantastic. They come with several interchangeable lenses ranging from clear to yellow, vermilion and a nice light blue that's good for dusk.

http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/accessories/detail.asp?value=007J&cat_id=127&type_id=43339

The Brownings are "nice to have." For the gulf coast, the anti-fog feature is essential. Non-edge distorting optics are a requirement for me.
 
Get out the yellow pages and look up industrial supply.

I buy from a company St Paul called Viking Supply, they have about 40 differing styles on display and the most expensive is like 7 bucks, all are certified to meet or exceed the ANSI Z87.1 safety standards. As long as they say that, spending more money is a waste. I keep a small sample in my truck all the time, for work and play, both sunglasses and clears, and they get tossed when they get scuffed up. Paying for "remington" or "browning" is just paying money for a name, UVEX, crews and AOsafety are the ones who make them all anyway.
 
I bought them cheap Winchester ones at Wal-Mart. Got home, took them out of the box, set them on the table and they didn't sit right. They were horribly bent out of shape even though they were plastic. For some reason they fit comfortable on my face. Maybe I have a lopsided face.....
 
Sometimes you can find Gargoyles that are military surplus for a song, they come with several lenses and will withstand a direct hit with certain projectiles. I think a pellet or something. They are high quality, and can be found on e-bay as new in the box.
 
Picked up some a while back but I can't remember the source. Wiley X had some with changeable lens that were right at $10. I think the source may have been Midway or CTD.
 
Most any hardware store sells cheap safety glasses. The Lowes by me hs several different pair. Also welding and industrial supply places usually have a variety.

If you have a friend that works at a factory, he can probably get you some for free. Where I work has 15+ kinds of safety glasses that are avaliable free to anyone who works there. They even enourage, getting glasses, antivibration gloves etc. for home use. I guess they figure if you think safety at home you will at work as well
 
I have a strong preference for UVEX glasses because of their low cost ($6+) and adjustability. Many of their models have "tilting temples" (you can adjust the angle of the ear piece relative to plane of the lenses) and the ear pieces are adjustable in length which helps prevent the glasses from sliding down your nose when perspiring. For $6, it's no big cash loss when the inevitable BAD SCRATCH appears. These glasses are the only ones which I've found to properly fit my fat melonhead when adjusted correctly.

Regarding color, I use the smoke lens for outdoor/sunny target shooting; clear for indoor.
 
I don't know if it's been said, but if you can find a pair you like that have "Z87" molded on the frame somewhere then they are safety glasses, IIRC. I had to sit through an 8 hour safety meeting about all of our PPE at work.

Several different manufacturers make a lot of different styles and colors that meet the Z87 requirement, although I can't remember exactly what the Z87 was.

-John
 
If they are not ANSI rated as safety glasses I will not use them.

My eyes are worth a lot more than $5-10 to me.

Note that even some safety glasses sold as "Visitor glasses" are NOT ANSI rated as safety glasses.

I saw an article a few years back where they shot various "Shooting Glasses" with a shotgun and the results were not good for the non-ANSI rated ones.
 
If they are not ANSI rated as safety glasses I will not use them.
Its certainly worth making sure they're rated glasses but do that many people sell non rated ones? I just bought a pair online for $3.89 and they are.
 
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