Eye safety

[Stonevievneilson]

G'day all,
I have always been interested in simple grassroots hunting, this led me to buy a flint lock rifle. It is a lyman deerstalker, so I am not too concerned with being Historically correct. My question is about the safety of shooting flintlocks without safety glasses, as it is annoying when hunting.
Has anyone here heard of or suffered an eye injury shooting flintlocks.
Ps. Thank you all for this forum. As I am the only one in my family who shoots, this has been my go to place for ml info.

 

[Matt85]

this is one of those things you do at your own risk. is it a good idea to wear safety glasses when shooting... yes. do most people wear safety glasses while shooting... no. keep in mind that there is a chance a piece of flint or burnt powder debree could hit you in the eye.

i tend not to wear them if im not at the range but this is a personal choice. i accept something bad could happen.

-matt

 

[mtech]

Wear your shooting glasses! It just takes one freak accident to ruin an eyeball! Then you will have to learn to shoot from the other shoulder. Also unlike in Pirates of the Caribean, girls really don't dig guys with a patch over one eye.

 

[MDK_WV]

Wear your shooting glasses, you may think they are annoying, but it is nothing compared to only having one eye. Your depth perception will really suffer and learning to shoot with your good eye is also annoying. Rooster Cogburn in the movie "True Grit" was only able to shoot accurately with only one eye because he was in the movies. If anyone tells you different, do this as a favor to them :slap:

 

[BullRunBear]

Always use eye protection! Over the years I've had bits of flint and percussion cap and flecks of powder hit my glasses. It is, admittedly, unusual but it does happen. There are very light weight shooting glasses available that should be less irksome.

Jeff

 

[F.G. Ford]

Percussion, flint, rim fire, or center fire, if you can, always wear safety glasses.
I have only the use of one eye, and can verify the difficulty of movement with a patch over the good eye.
Shooting with the poor side will greatly depreciate your shooting enjoyment.
Two hundred years ago, shooters did not use safety glasses, because they did not have them!
Fred

 

[TFoley]

Wear your shooting glasses, you may think they are annoying, but it is nothing compared to only having one eye. Your depth perception will really suffer and learning to shoot with your good eye is also annoying. Rooster Cogburn in the movie "True Grit" was only able to shoot accurately with only one eye because he was in the movies. If anyone tells you different, do this as a favor to them :slap:

Agreed 100%.

Of course, with mono-scopic vision, you really have absolutely NO depth perception at all - that is a higher brain function that relies on having two images to calculate the position of the object at whch you are looking - 100% of the time that your eyes are open. Trust me on this one, I am a professional imagery analyst with thirty-nine years of practical experience, including five years teaching it and five years running the school that teaches it to NATO. I also set up two training schools, one [military] in Canada and the other [governmental level] in Japan, to confirm my credentials in case you think I'm just blowing air.

As for wearing protective glasses - when I am handing ANY gun to a noob to shoot, I insist that they don safety glasses.

Right now, medical science is in the lucky position of being able to make a realist-looking and pretty much working rubber hand.

Work on making a realistic-looking and working rubber eyeball has yet to accomplish anything like the same degree of success.

tac

 

Another vote for eye protection.
Many years ago a cap fragment from a cap and ball revolver that I was shooting found its way to the eye of a friend who was standing ten feet away!
While I suspect that percussion guns might be worse for hurling little eye damaging particles than flintlocks are, I won’t shoot either without something between me and the breech end of what I’m shooting.
It’s possible that the knowledge that your eyes are safe could even help your shooting a little bit.
Related but not mentioned is hearing protection.
A sadly defunct local gun shop (the owner passed away at 95) was a regular gathering place every Friday night for all the local hard-core ”˜gun nuts’. It was always easy to tell the ones that had been shooting sans hearing protection for years. They were the ones who answered questions with, “What?” Sorry to say, I was one of them.
If you can’t stand muffs (I know I can’t) at least use plugs. Down the road, when you are around a bunch of hearing impaired shooters, you will be glad you did.

 

[Robert Egler]

I do not wear 'safety' glasses when shooting, but I do wear prescription glasses always. I have had things hit my glasses over the years, so if I didn't wear prescription glasses, I would definitely wear safety glasses. My prescription glasses have always been accepted as meeting the 'eye protection must be worn' rules at any range I've ever shot at.

I always wear hearing protection at the range. I can't stand ear plugs, so I use muffs. But I never use anything hunting.

 

[crockett]

A while back Colonial Williamsburg was selling PC glasses (sunglasses) for around $10.

 

[zerb]

Safety glasses should be used for all shooting, and they are cheap for the protection they offer. For us old guys that can't see much of anything up close anymore, they even make safety glasses with the magnifier at the bottom. Regular prescription glasses are not safety glasses, they just don't offer the same protection that safety glasses do.

 

[oletymepreacher]

Glasses always around guns, even when hunting as you could lose an eye when a tree branch hits it. I need glasses all the time to avoid bumping into things, so the habit is here. Even prescription glass can be had that have ballistic protection.

 

[plinker]

You can get safety glasses (made to ANSI Z87 requirements) made to your prescription. The catch is that not every optical shop is willing and able to do it so you will have to shop around a bit. They are easier to find if you want plastic lenses rather than glass lenses. The frames will be heavier and may come with side shields attached.

Because many of us are involved with other hobbies like woodworking where safety glasses should also be used I recommend that you get prescription safety glasses every time you need a new pair.

 

[hanshi]

I wear prescription glasses most of the time and always when I shoot. Percussion guns are notorious for spitting and biting. At the range recently I had a "spit" actually draw blood on the little finger of my off-hand which was way down the fore stock. I never had much trouble with flintlocks but consider the flint, and chips thereof, as the real danger there.

At the range I wear both plugs AND muffs. My hearing is bad enough without making it worse. In the woods I wear no hearing protection though back when I hunted deer with revolvers I used plugs.

 

[Dante221]

Hello All :wink:
If I may suggest an Ebay search "vintage safety
glasses" will yield many choices with an old
fashioned metal frame which will look a bit more
period correct than those hideous modern plastic
goggles :nono:

Good Hunting
Dante

 

[tenngun]

I use my regular glass with non shatter lenses.I used to shoot without when my sight was younger,wouldn't try it now.Is it agood idea,well ask the mc riders that don't use helments(or the people who have gotten there organs via transplant)

 

[larry wv]

I wear prescription safety glasses all the time. Larry

 

Shooting glasses worn here :thumbsup:

 

[Stonevievneilson]

This is a reply to all of you.
Thank you very much for your input, My sight is good, and I would like that to continue. I wear safety glasses when metal and wood working, and while target shooting. But as yet I have never used them for hunting. Now that I am starting to shoot my flintlock, I was after your experiences with them. I will now develop the habit of wearing them while hunting. Also thanks for the safety tips for percussion locks. I have a friend with one so I just learnt a bit extra.
Thank you again
Jonno

 

[Stumpkiller]

I have to wear glasses to see past five feet or so; and I get shatter resistant lenses. So I'm somewhat covered.