DO YOU WESR SHOOTING GLASSES????

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I have been shooting flinters and percussions for 30 years...come to think of it....I have never worn shooting glasses when shooting. WELL
I was sanding down a nipple cuz it was only flattening the caps and not firing untill the 2nd shot. I would sand a bit then reinstall and see if things were better.
I reinstalled and fired the cap....yes it works good now.
I laid the gun in the rack and was walking back to my chair when I notice blood STREAMING from my little finger.
I applied pressure and it did no good....so off to the medicine cabinet I ran for a bandage.....While holding the finger under cold running water I could see a chunk of copper 1/4" under the skin. I pulled it out with tweezers...
When I returned to my shop I noticed a 4" circle of blood on my pants leg......WOW
This chunk of copper was much harder to dig out....
DO YOU ALWAYS WEAR SHOOTING GLASSES WHEN SHOOTING???
Honestly????
I cant imagine how those size chunks would feel in the eyeball.....I got welding slag in my eye along time ago
and it cost $1400 to have the doc grind it out...
but I do believe that the chunk of CCI cap that I got in my finger today would have BLINDED ME....
I promptly put my Bushnell shooting glasses in my possibles bag......
how bout you??? dont it make ya think?
( please excuse my typing....I am wounded)

*** WV SCROUNGER ***

 

[TFoley]

On our range the wearing of shooting glasses with BP weapons is an RO-imposed must-do.
Four weeks ago I caught pieces of a musket cap in my upper arm from my neighbour shooting about four feet away. They stung like h***.
I got home and pulled three pieces out of my arm, and one from my earlobe that I had missed. The bits left in my arm went septic, and are very slowly healing as they work their way out.
I have worn wrap-around shooting glasses when BP shooting since at least 1976.

tac :grey:

 

[Rebel]

I always do when shooting MLer's and most of the time when shooting cartridge guns too. I have had pieces of a flint that shattered when i was shooting at a bird overhead, fall back in my face. If not for the glasses i could have well been blinded by pieces of sharp flint in the eyes.

 

[walruskid1]

ruptured case head on a 30-06 would have blinded me if not for the glasses. in my opinion, modern glasses are a must in a traditional sport.

 

[roundball]

During weekend range trips where I shoot large volumes of shots, always.

While hunting, I have never worn them...but just this fall I may actually begin to do that...will be carrying a pair with me to try while on stand.

 

Always with everything that goes boom! Additionally muffs and hat. Just don't want to take a chance.

 

[Liver eatin’ Johnson]

ALWAYS !! :thumbsup:

 

[ol vern]

:agree:
Only got one set of eyeballs!

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

Hey there WV Scrounger,

I'm sorry to hear that you took some damage from the flying pieces of percussion cap. I've gotten a few wounds over the years from "shrapnel" as well. Sometimes it seems we just get "unlucky" and other times we still take "hits" in places where we'd have to wear a suit a armour to stop it from happening.

But our eyes are one place where we are able to protect ourselves much better and easier than most of our body. I have some vision problems that need correction, so I have to always wear glasses when shooting or anything else. Remember though that the standard lenses at most vision centers are NOT shatterproof plastic (and the glass lenses are not shatter proof at all).

Make sure you check the specifications on the lens material and when you get your glasses that you order the better shatter proof variety of plastic (which also transmits light better--so they make better glasses as well). Shooting glasses are no different. You've got to make sure than they are really shatterproof and aren't just plain old plastic lenses. Like they say, we only get one set of peepers, so we have got to take care of them.

Thanks for telling us about your mis-adventure--you are one of the lucky ones. Hopefully it will save someone from getting a permanent and painful reminder of why we need to wear safety glasses when shooting.

Shoot Safely!
WV_Hillbilly

 

[Brokenlaig]

I've heard of people refusing to wear them because the aren't PC. Well, in that case, they can wear a perfectly PC buckskin patch over one eye when blinded.
Sight's a precious thing. I wear glasses anyway, I just get polycarbonate lenses.

 

[Zonie]

Always. I've worn shooting glasses for the last 40 years.
Up until about 4 years ago I wore non corrective glasses. After my cataract replacements, I need them not only to protect my eyes but to get the sights in focus.
So far, the 1.25 diopter glasses work very well for me even though I need 2.50 diopter glasses to read easily.

I may be wrong, but I believe the $10 glasses at the local drug store are made out of polycarbonate. That type of plastic doesn't scratch easily and is about bullet proof.
OK, not really bullet proof, but you know what I mean. :: :front: It will stop flying cap and flint particles easily.

 

[roundball]

Same here...wore clear, smoke, and yellow shooting glasses all my shooting life...then a couple years ago I found that 1.0 diopter drugstore glasses sharpened up the sights a little so I now have a couple pairs of full size 1.0 glasses I wear at the range...going to try a pair hunting this year but I think they will still make things blurry at distances and probably wont keep them on.

Yellow shooting glasses pick up more light and are always an advantage in low light so I may try those this fall...60 year old eyes need all the help they can get and get eye protection too

 

[peeweet]

Always eye protection as well as ear plugs.

 

[Gordon Horn]

I wear glasses all the time (perscription lenses) and they are safty lenses. Need them to see the target clearly, so I do wear eye protection.

 

I've been shooting flintlocks for some time and never had a problem, I know, I know.... It only takes one time and your right. I have never shot a percussion gun so what I want to know is which gun is more dangerous for the eyes, percussion or flint?


TheGunCellar

 

[Gary]

As a sissy, I'd like to keep my eyesight. :redface:

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

I may be wrong, but I believe the $10 glasses at the local drug store are made out of polycarbonate. That type of plastic doesn't scratch easily and is about bullet proof.
OK, not really bullet proof, but you know what I mean.

Most lenses start out being made of a "generic plastic" (CR-39) and then you get into higher priced materials which transmit light better or have other specific qualities. Polycarbonate is usually the next step above the CR-39 and is naturally priced higher also. If you have young kids, you probably got a lesson on glasses and lens material at the vision center--as there is some kind of regulation on the books that requires children under 12 to have glasses made of polycarbonate because it is 60 times harder to break than the plain plastic lenses.

Also in some instances polycarbonate does NOT transmit light better than some of the other "plastics"--that's my error.

I seriously doubt that those reading glasses (that we who need bifocals buy) at the discount stores are made of the more expensive polycarbonate, as they would not be subjected to anything more hazardous than reading. That, and the cost would be at least 2 or 3 times greater for the polycarbonate.

Some places automatically upgrade your glasses to polycarbonate depending on what profession or hobbies you have, as they are trying to protect your eyes from flying debris and breakage. I ALWAYS have to have polycarbonate glasses regardless, after I learned about the different qualities of various plastics.

Shoot Safely!
WV_Hillbilly

 

[Maynerd62411]

I always had my son wear safety glasses and ear muffs. He started shooting black powder with my right-handed Hawken and he's left-handed. It just made sence. He was always amazed by the amount of black specks on the lenses after shooting. He wears perscription glasses now (as do I) and he always wears his ear muffs ( I prefer ear plugs). :front:
Now if I can just get him to brush his teeth out of habit.

 

[oldmaster]

I have always worn prescription glasses so not an issure with me but my shooting partner, my youngest son, didn't like to wear them until he caught a piece of scrapnel from a modern centerfire cartridge. I told him that if I caught him without glasses, shooting from that moment on, I would whip his butt. I may be old but that just makes me sneaky, so he wears them all the time now. :front:

 

[dodgecity]

I always wear eyeglasses when shooting, hunting, or reloading (them new fangled brass cases). I also wear ear plugs when target shooting, but, never when hunting. I have a variety of lens colors for my hunting glasses depending on the light and conditions that I'm going to be using them in. Over the years, I've had a number of times when tiny chips of flint drew blood when they hit me. I would never shoot a cap n ball revolver without eye protection. That's probably what happened to Rooster Cogburn!