Eye protection while hunting w/ flintlock

[CWC]

I ALWAYS wear eye protection when I'm at the range...no matter if it's a muzzleloader or a center-fire. However, when I hunt I've never used eye protection, but that's always been with center-fire rifles. I'm trying to make plans to take the flinter out this year, and got to wondering about eye protection. What do you guys do?

 

[roundball]

I ALWAYS wear eye protection when I'm at the range...no matter if it's a muzzleloader or a center-fire. However, when I hunt I've never used eye protection, but that's always been with center-fire rifles. I'm trying to make plans to take the flinter out this year, and got to wondering about eye protection. What do you guys do?

I never wore eye protection when hunting with flintlocks until last year...and I sort of "backed into" the eye protection part.

I discovered at the range that my sights were sharper (and my distance vision a little sharper as well) if I wore a pair of 1.00 dioptor reading glasses.

I got a large enough size pair to provide eye protection as well and felt good about wearing them Flintlock hunting...will be wearing them again this year when the season opens Saturday.

 

[xxgrampa]

yes indeedy,

had a flint 'blow' up. sparks, hot metal and pieces of flint hit me in the face..

now i wear glasses. see better too :wink:

..ttfn..grampa..

 

[MSW]

started shooting when i started needing corrective lenses (in my late twenties). never thought much of it other than it was a good bit easier to hit a target that i could see.

one day i noticed a bunch of grit and funk and a few tiny bits of flint on my lenses and it occurred to me that that would have ended up in my eye, since it was heading in that direction, had my glasses not been there to stop it.

so i just kept doing what i was doing, which had been the safe thing to do all along.

 

[MikeChapin]

I have worn glasses since I was ten so it is not a question of using them now.

For a while in the eighties I wore contacts. At that time I wore shooting glasses. I have been shooting flinters for many years and have been sprayed in the face enough go with eye protection. All it takes is an errant breeze at the wrong time to give you a spritz of flint particles or a hot ember.

 

[MikeC]

Range yes. Hunting no.

 

[Timothy Gregory]

I had an interesting experience this year while squirrel hunting that convinced me to start wearing some sort of safety eye wear. I was leaning way back (almost verticle)to shoot at a squirrel in the top of a hickory tree. The flint clatched without sparking, this opened the pan which in turn, with gravity being what it is, dumped the priming powder straight into my right eye. Squirrel lived another day, and it took about a half an hour an two bottles of water to finally clear my eye out. Was funny afterwards, but hurt like h e double toothepicks during.

 

[Vaino]

Had a similar experience vertically shooting at a squirrel w/ a flintlock but the charge did ignite, got the squirrel and somehow ended up w/ a forehead of hot powder particles. Luckily I was wearing glass eyeglasses! Needless to say,I don't take those shots any longer......Fred

 

[tg]

I don't wear anything for eye protection, it is part of the game, like cutting yourself while dressing game, falling down a cliff, stepping on a sharp Beaver stub,drowning in a stream. there are many risks if we look real close at any kind of hunting.wher I hunt the odds are greater of having brush or sticks poke you in the eye while moving around.

 

[Vaino]

Have you experienced all or some of the hazards you mentioned? Since wearing eyeglasses while hunting grouse, I haven't had a stick poke me in the eye which can be exremely painful and put an end to the hunting trip {personal experience}. My eyeglasses are prescription but a good pair of shooting glasses also would suffice if no correction is needed. I'm as macho as the next guy but not where my eyes are concerned....Fred

 

[roundball]

I will have to say that I too have noticed an increasing amount of pitting on the shooting glasses I wear at the range...have worn shooting glasses all my life with all sorts of C/F rifle, pistol, shotgun, and caplock MLs without any indication of a trend.

But since I began exclsuively shooting Flintlocks the surfaces of my range shooting glassing have gradually become more and more pitted.

Not trying to convince anybody to wear them if they don't want to...just laying out some observations that show debris from flintlocks can be a common reality.

On the hunting issue, I'm lucky because I needed something to sharpen the sights and now have the side benefit of eye protection as well.

 

[ChrisPer]

When I went to have my eyes inspected by a specialist he asked about an old penetration of my cornea. I sorta remember when I used a caplock without glasses - ONE day's shooting ten years before - I got a ping in the eye that took a while to recover.

You can get REALLY light and unobtrusive safety glasses for the field, like Bolle one-piece wraparound clear for about $30 from a safety shop, and I use them now. I am not going blind for machismo.

I also use +1 reading glasses sometimes for targets - helps a lot for focusing in the sights as I don't have good voluntary control of focus distance.

 

[Zonie]

I always wear shooting glasses when I'm shooting anything.

I got in the habit years ago when I used non prescription glasses but with age, I've found that a pair of +1 diopter glasses greatly increases my ability to see the sights and the target.

Shooting a flintlock with the flames, sparks and broken pieces of razor sharp flint flying in all directions just reinforces my desire to protect my eyes with a inexpensive pair of reading glasses.

 

[tg]

"Have you experienced all or some of the hazards you mentioned?"

Yeah I drowned back in '97, I don't like glasses, I don't read as much as I used to because I don't like glasses, I would rather take my chances, because I don't like glasses.Nothing to do with Macho...I just don't like wearing glasses and only do so when absolutely required for reading.
I grew up hunting, fishing trapping and spending a lot of time in the woods without glasses so I am inclined to continue to do so, I am not putting down anyone who does, that is their choice
whether one viewa it as a "safety" issue is as debatable as many of the other safety issues we chew on from time to time most all of which are a matter of choice.my point was that eye protection is probably the least thing to be concerned with when hunting.

 

[Coot]

I always wear glasses when shooting. Used to be just safety glasses but now I need help to get the rear sight clear. My optometrist shoots pistols in NRA matches & has set me up with a pair of shooting glasses that have the optical center offset to the upper left part of the lens so that when shouldering a rifle & looking put of the left corner of my right eye (I am right handed), the view down the barrel is directly in line with the optical center of the lens. Re glasses in general, my experience is the same as others that have responded to this post - you don't have to shoot much to start finding "grit" (flint, steel, powder, bits of caps) in the lens. I figure better in the lens than in my eyes & if I miss a chance at a shot because the lenses are wet or fogged - well life sometimes is tough. Many deer, only two eyes. Good shooting.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I only need mine to see. I can read without them if I can get light between my nose and the book, but it ain't easy without singing my eyebrows.

I have polycarbonate lenses and have had a few things bounce off them I'm glad did. Also two things - a wild wire from above and a fencing staple from beside - that made it to my eyes and I was EXTREMELY sorry they did.

I'm pretty sure if I didn't have to wear glasses to see that I would probably forego them while hunting. I HATE rain on my glasses, and that means hat selection is very limited.

 

[guncobbler]

If I had only one safety feature to use it would be to wear safety glasses. I've got some nasty gouges in my plastic lenses. Some of them from hot metal. Let the rain and sweat fog them but I'm not going out with a gun without them. Go two good eyes and can shoot with either one. Gonna keep both GC

 

[chipper]

I was trout fishing in a remote area of Connecticut if you can believe that. I landed a trout and in the process it slapped me in the face knocking one of the lenses out of my glasses. I had to drive 45 min. back to Hartford to find an eyeglass replacement. Could you imagine bieng in the woods and taking a hot ember to the eye, or even worse both eyes and having to hike out like that. Every since then, I not only wear glasses but I keep a spare pair around just in case. Eyesight is a terrible thing to loose.

Regards

 

[windwalker_au]

I ALWAYS wear eye protection when I'm at the range...no matter if it's a muzzleloader or a center-fire. However, when I hunt I've never used eye protection, but that's always been with center-fire rifles. I'm trying to make plans to take the flinter out this year, and got to wondering about eye protection. What do you guys do?

i wear those safety wrap around ones with the yellow lenses they help when you are in thick cover and it is very dull lite they cut the glare in brite sunshine as well.
bernie :thumbsup:

 

[brubincam]

how many lost an eye during the CIVIL WAR? :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: