Ray Ban "okay" for shooting?

[Kulas]

Hello everybody!

I was wondering if anybody out there uses ray ban (glass, not polarized) for shooting?

I'm currently using two types of eye protection... yellow for overcast days and a polarized lens for bright sunny days. I use polarized lenses most of the time. Both for driving the motorcycle and shooting. The problem with the polarized eyewear is that it scratches in a few months to a year depending on how dusty the road is from driving so I replaced it with a Rayban with a g15 glass lens. It seems scratch resistant as advertised. I'm using it for driving the motorcycle now that it's really dusty on the highway and no scratches so far. But I'm not sure if it would be scratced if some shards of lead would hit it. If it would scratch from the lead then I would be better off using a different eyewear for driving and shooting. I hope I could learn from the experience of others out there who has had this experience. It would be cheaper for me.

Oh, one more thing, in our club there's a rule that you should not shoot steel plates less than 20meters(If I remember it right).

Thanks in advance!

[boz1911]

20 meters?? Damn that's a long ways

USPSA:

Minimum Distances – Whenever metal targets or metal hard cover are

used in a course of fire, precautions must be taken so that competitors

and Match Officials maintain a minimum distance of 23 feet from them

while they are being shot.

[Hank Ellis]

My opinion is to not use RayBan sunglasses for any activity that requires eye protection from impacts.

The glass is breakable. Bad enough to get popped in the eye with lead splatter or such. But then have the lens shatter and put glass in your eye is not worth the risk. Spend $8 and get a good pair of true safety glasses.

[Kulas]

boz1911: thanks for that, I've just started shooting October of 2008. I'm not familiar to most rules and just ask the RO's everytime I'm unsure of something.

Hank, thanks for the reply. The rayban lens is also advertised as impact resistant. I am not sure what the difference is between the rayban and safety glasses/eyewear except that it's polycarbonate/plastic. Another difference would be that the safety glasses for shooting are wider and encompassing the eye more to prevent brass that had just been ejected from your pistol from getting into your eyes. I may be wrong, though. This is just my opinion.

I have seen shooters shoot plates wearing only their prescription glasses. So I'm assuming that the prescription glasses will not shatter from lead splatter. I have also been hit on my neck with lead splatter. It stings but the impact is not enough to break the skin. It would be another story for unprotected eyes, so putting something between the eyes and the plates such as prescription glasses, for example, may be all is needed to protect the eyes.

I'm leaning toward buying a dark colored cheapo shooting glasses for my bright-day use, in the meantime. Definitely not $8, that's too cheap! What's cheapest here (Philippines, by the way) is the smith and wesson shooting glasses selling for $20U.S.

But still, there may be somebody out there who has experience with raybans (glass, not polarized) getting hit by lead splatter. Your story would be greatly appreciated.

This may be such a trivial thing. I could just order online and get those shooting specific glasses but the problem is once you get them and they don't suit you, shipping it back and exchanging it with another model may be extremely expensive due to freight charges. You have to try it on before you buy it so you know you would not look silly on those very nice pair of glasses. We all have to look good somehow, do we? And most shooting accessories here, we buy online. Nothing to choose from when it comes to shooting glasses.

Again, thanks in advance! and thanks Hank! Will wait for some more replies before using it in the range. For now I will just use my yellow safety glasses.

[AWLAZS]

You only get two eyes. They need to last a life time. Get a good pair of glasses. They need to be comfortable and the proper color for the situation. If not you might be taking them off when you should be wearing them. I received a serious eye injury because I flipped my safety glasses up so I could see what I was doing. It only took a second. My injury led me to the glasses I now wear.

Randy

[Rolex]

My rayban are made of glass-these are "NOT"

safe to use for anything that might impact the

eyes-that includes riding my MC or shooting

sports!

[Kulas]

You only get two eyes. They need to last a life time. Get a good pair of glasses. They need to be comfortable and the proper color for the situation. If not you might be taking them off when you should be wearing them. I received a serious eye injury because I flipped my safety glasses up so I could see what I was doing. It only took a second. My injury led me to the glasses I now wear.

Randy

Randy, that one I have not thought of. Thank you for the heads up. Does this mean that you should be able to try them on before you buy them? Because I think that's the best way to check for comfort since even a slight difference in the shape of the face may be the line between comfortable and not.

-Kulas

[HRider]

Any glasses that you wear for shooting or motorcycle riding should be safety rated. In America they would be ANSI Z87 rated. I have prescription safety glasses (that look like regular glasses when the side shields are off) and some Wiley X Safety sunglasses that I use for shooting. Both have scratch resistant coatings on the lenses. I have had good service out of them, even in dusty conditions.

Hurley

[kevinj308]

I wear prescription Raybans, with a polycarbonate impact resistant lens. I wouldn't wear glass, not for anything involved in our sport.

This article was helpful for me http://www.6mmbr.com/eyeprotection.html

Kevin

[Sarge]

You mentioned getting hit with splatter and not breaking the skin. FWIW I have been hit in the neck/face a few times at matches that drew blood. Don't assume anything when it comes to your eyes. If you look around at ranges where a lot of big matches are held you will see jacket fragments laying around. I am talking pretty far behind the shooter start areas. You certainly want glasses that wrap around to a certain degree. I was standing by my truck after shooting one match and felt a peck on my shoulder from a fragment. That was many yards from the nearest shooter.

[AWLAZS]

You only get two eyes. They need to last a life time. Get a good pair of glasses. They need to be comfortable and the proper color for the situation. If not you might be taking them off when you should be wearing them. I received a serious eye injury because I flipped my safety glasses up so I could see what I was doing. It only took a second. My injury led me to the glasses I now wear.

Randy

Randy, that one I have not thought of. Thank you for the heads up. Does this mean that you should be able to try them on before you buy them? Because I think that's the best way to check for comfort since even a slight difference in the shape of the face may be the line between comfortable and not.

-Kulas

pm sent

[redmanfixit]

Polycarbonate lenses are the best bet for impact resistance. That material exceeds the Z87 standard by a ridiculous margin. When you see shooters wearing regular prescription lenses, these days they are often polycarbonate. The index of refraction (how much the lens material bends light) is higher for that material so you can make the lenses thinner. That's a big deal for someone that requires a lot of correction. There are glass lenses that meet the Z87 industrial standard, but to do so requires them to be a minimum of 3 mm thick in the center and be chemically strengthened. These work well in an environment that has lots of abrasive particles floating around but they weigh a lot! Another common lens material is CR-39. This is also generally more impact resistant than glass but not as tough as polycarbonate. The main difference between them is the inherent impact resistance of the material. There are other details besides impact resistance, like the workability of the material as regards making prescription lenses from them or scratch resistance, but generally the average user isn't concerned with that. OK maybe the scratch resistance thing!

In case you'd like to know what the Z87 standard is;

The lens is supported on the top of a padded cylinder and a 7/8" steel ball is dropped 52" from a mechanism onto the front surface of the lens. If it breaks it fails. If you know the physics, you can figure it out in inch pounds, but that is one heck of a whack!

Except for unusually thin lenses polycarbonate won't break when you drive a nail through them.

Two things people MUST be aware of when selecting sport protective eyewear beyond impact resistance.

1. Optics- inexpensive usually means bad optics. I have written on this forum before about how to evaluate optics for distortion free viewing. BIG deal for sight picture.

2. UV absorption has to be considered. When you wear a darkly tinted lens, your iris opens up and exposes the crystalline lens inside your eye to higher levels of UV and near blue light. This exposure is a documented contributing factor in the development of cataracts. You can think of it like how it will work out in the long run if you don't wear hearing protection when you shoot. The second thing in this category would be IR absorption.

The RayBan brand was developed by the Baush & Lomb company in response to the U.S. Air Force letting a contract for high altitude flying glasses in the 40's or so. They transmit well in the visible band and clamp the radiation off in IR and UV. The radiation environment at stratofortress altitudes is way different than at sea level where you have all that nice atmosphere protecting you from burning up.

In the previous posts on this topic several people pointed out that you are only issued 2 eyes. Please take good care of them. Mom was right, if you're not careful with that damned BB gun, you'll poke your eye out!!!

I was an optician for 18 years and I ran LARGE safety eyewear programs for industry and government. I answer questions if people ask them.

[Kulas]

Randy, thanks for the advice.

Kevin, very nice link. I think everybody should also see that link at least just to see the video of the ricochet. Info was very helpful too.

Again, thanks everybody for the replies. Also, this is slightly off topic though, I've seen a pretty lady crash riding a motorcycle. She was not riding that fast, maybe 30-40 kph, but when she hit the pavement the bolt/hinge on her glasses cut 3 inch across the side of her brow. Lens did not shatter though. But she had to be stitched on her face, lucky it wasn't her eye.

Again, thanks for the help guys.