Do you shoot using safety glasses?

When working with any sort of compressed air, I think it's very foolish not too. I work in the firearms industry full time. Anytime I am anywhere near a range I have eye pro on. Things happen and a crazy thing only has to happen to you once to change your life.

I've had situations where a blow breech seal leads to air being blow into my face. Very easy to imagine a piece of lead or other debris could be part of that and scratch a cornea like a MF.

IME, people who despise eye pro have horrible cheap safety glasses. I invested in a pair of Oakley TR-45's and I wouldn't want to shoot without them. No fog, no glare, lenses that enhance target contrast...tres bien!!

I have safety glasses sitting on my compressor, I use every fill, several pairs in the garage or on a little table in the house
the only time I should use them and don't is when I shoot my air guns,,, I have experienced a couple of ricochets and have eliminated those sources
chain saws grinder sanders drill press and other asst power tools ,,, I AM wearing protection, even a motorcycle ride, I like eye protection
maybe I should find some quality glasses for shooting like those Oakleys, as I have not looked through a pair,,, yet

Yep , always something to shield .

Gonna start wearing my motorcycle helmet

Nomadic Pirate 66 said:

Gonna start wearing my motorcycle helmet

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I truely doubt that!!!

I am blind, functionally, without my glasses. No real option.

I wear ansi z87.1 glasses.

For those who wear prescription glasses Trivex lenses have better light transmission than polycarbonate. With the best coatings they rival glass and are safe for shooting.

scopecreep... said:

For those who wear prescription glasses Trivex lenses have better light transmission than polycarbonate. With the best coatings they rival glass and are safe for shooting.

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I have polycarbonate prescription glasses. I used to have glass but that is becoming expensive now. Also I do a lot of metal work and even with enclosed safety glasses over it the grinder splashes get to the glass and leave permanent burning marks on it. I read that Trivex lenses gets distorted by temperature changes so I prefer polycarbonate. As for shooting, I cannot see without my glasses so I wear it all the time.

I don’t have prescription glasses (yet, probably soon) so my eye pro is not automatic.

I do buy and use tinted ansi z.81 safety glasses as sunglasses, so in bright conditions I’m always covered. Shooting a firearm I always wear them. Shooting airgun I’m not as consistent as I should be. Pellets tend to stay downrange but not always: I had a pellet fragment hit my shirt last year shooting field target and that was lesson enough. Shooting pellets at paper targets without firearms around is where I’m definitely lazy and should wear them more often.

Apart like I said above wearing polycarbonate spectacles permanently, at home my 25 meter and closer target box is made from 2 x 300 wide I-beam offcuts I had, I have another 6 if I want to make more. The 50, 75, 100 and 144 meter is to far away and at a slight slope downwards from my shooting position so no pellets or .22LR bullets ricochet or rebound back to me anyway. Plus the 50 meter and further targets are swinging plates that absorb the impact and all pellets and bullets fall on the ground just below it.

25 Meter target box.

I very much always do

Always - too much at risk ...

I know person lost his eye so I wear eye protection all the time when shooting.

I do at the local 100-yard range. It is required is why. I don't at my 50-yard backyard range. Too far away for ricochets. I'm not opposed to anyone that does and would highly recommend them at the shorter ranges. Especially if shooting at hard backstops. I shoot into rubber mulch bins to reclaim the lead.

yes prescription glasses that my eyes need and also provides good protection

I also wear prescription lenses and always order poly carbonate lenses when I get new glasses. I started getting them years ago for safety when riding my motorcycles. Works good for shooting too.

I know I should wear something better, but I only wear my prescription glasses.

Saint_J said:

If you don't, why not?

If you do, did something happen to make you start wearing them, or have you just always done it?

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I have had at least one set on my desk (my indoor range shooting table) since my very first adult air rifle purchase back around '19 or '20, and got sloppy about wearing them over the years. Recently, I decided to use lead free pellets as much as possible and found I was getting more ricochets than I had, and the force with which they bounced around between walls, floor and ceiling made a BIG impression right quick(ly)! I started thinking about losing an eye with safety glasses lying there within reach and then trying to explain that to my wife and... ;-) So, eventually, I bowed to plain good sense and decided that safety glasses should be a standard part of the airgun experience wherever they're in use. That's the gold standard I should strive for, but for me, there's no excuse whatsoever for not using them indoors. My sight is much too precious a gift to risk on something so easily preventable.

Fatmike said:

I dont wear saftey glasses as much as I used to. I got complacent/ lazy. I am trying to get myself back in the habit though. I've been using cheap clear saftey glasses and am wondering what other people use. Color lens or polarized or not?

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As long as you're using something to protect your eyes, everything else is gravy: very glad to hear you going back to 'em! I found myself in the almost identical situation recently after years of indoor shooting, but after a very powerful ricochet from my trap that caromed off the wall and ceiling made it back to my shooting area thirty feet back with much too much heat still on it, I couldn't help but think of how stupid I'd have felt losing an eye with two sets (one clear and one yellow) of safety glasses lying on my desk within easy reach (much less trying to explain the whole thing to my wife). ;-) Easy decision.