Obvious value of safety glasses

[WardenWolf]

First shot with my new Saiga 12 shotgun and it shot gas right back in my face (I'm a lefty). Fortunately I was wearing glasses.

 

[btg3]

...a jacket fragment flew straight back, over the top edge of his glasses, and into his eye.

In addition to often having smaller lenses, prescription safey glasses typically do not provide side protection, unless side shields are attached.

To get the same protection from prescription glasses as with closer-fitting, non-prescription, wrap-around safety glasses takes a bit of doing, unfortunately.

 

[rojocorsa]

'Tis why I love Oakleys

 

[ghoster]

you can get wrap around, script, safety glasses at most decent eye doctors.
mine are bifocle to boot.

pricy but worth it.

ask about them, i have never seen them on a shelf but the office girls whiped out a bunch of catalogs when i inquired and there was a lot of options.

 

[Avenger29]

The last one where the guy's shooting the Texas Star and a ricochet hits the assisting individual, is an example of something I always wonder about when shooting steel. I've never been hit, but I know it happens.

I had a .223 ricochet and fly close to my head from somebody shooting steel several lanes down one day. It really does sound like an angry bee.

The shooters told me it was unpossible...that .223 rounds "always" disintigrate.

They did stop shooting the steel targets after that.


I advise shooters to buy some decent eye pro (above china made eye pro). Doesn't have to be expensive, either...

 

[JohnKSa]

I was shooting steel targets with a fellow THR member and he caught a fragment from one of my 9mm bullets in his thumb. He had to dig it out later at home as it was deep enough and large enough that it couldn't be removed at the range.

 

[ChCx2744]

Some people just refuse to understand the extreme importance of wearing eye and ear protection when shooting anything until they learn the hard way. Those who don't really care to wear any...Try to imagine (to the best of your ability) what it would be like not being able to see, hear or both for just an hour straight. Try blind folding yourself for an hour straight or keeping ear plugs in or both. Trust me, you will damn near go crazy in about 30 minutes.

 

[MachIVshooter]

I don't understand people who don't wear some sort of eye protection

Because for some of us, it causes other problems. I use my judgment and weigh the risk of a given activity. See, I have excellent (20/12 vision), but for some reason, eyewear gives me headaches after awhile. Just the way it changes the image and the light perception. Doesn't matter if the glasses are clear, yellow or darkly shaded (though the darker ones are less problematic).

I'm a mechanic, and so frequently perform duties that endanger my eyes (hammers and chisels, grinders/wire wheels, etc.) and try to keep glasses at hand for when there is such an increased risk of debris becoming projectiles. But to wear them constantly becomes painful. Same thing at the range. If I'm at an indoor shooting range, they're on whenever I'm on that side of the door. But outdoors, it depends on the range, the target and the firearm. I never wear them for bench work with scoped rifles.

Of course, I don't wear seat belts or motorcycle helmets either.

Bring on the chastising!

 

[mustang_steve]

MachIVShooter, perhaps your issue is with glare? Try some polarized safety glasses and see how they work for you. I know when I went from contacts to glasses about 6 years ago (corneal ulcer, long story), that I was ahving all kinds of issues with headaches.

The other thing is to keep those safety glasses clean with a capital C. The cleaner they are the less your eyes have to compensate for the crud all over the lenses, which means less eyestrain thus less headaches. A good eyeglass cleaner and some disposable cleaning papers is a great thing for the range kit.