Comment from reader Therefore:
I’ve caught a brass case on top of my safety glasses. Yes, it left a painful blister. But the gun was down on the table before I reached up to remove it. OUCH.
I had a similar incident like that, but I had a set of eye-pro that was “generous” in its fitting and left a gap from the face big enough that I had a 9 mm case fly in and land on my right eyelid while shooting an IDPA stage. It was a pretty static stage and I was almost done so I force myself (cussing and all) to wait for the Safety Officer to do his thing before clawing the glasses off. I did get a small blister .
The other reason I got the case nested on my eyelid was back then I did not use any kind of brimmed hat, just a plain bandana, because cool and crap.
I forget who gave me the advice to use caps or hats to help avoid the same accident, but it has become part of my safety routine at the range. And for cool factor, I just went with this hat adorned with the appropriate pins
So, wear good-fitting eye protection and wear something brimmed that shelves over your eyes. Shooting safely is no joke.
Yep.
Keeping cool when the unexpected happens can be very, very hard. Caps, glasses, etc., minimize but don’t eliminate the possibility.
I’ve been trying to get some prescription shooting glasses that are of the wrap-around style, hadn’t thought of just wearing a brimmed hat. Think I need to go digging for the winter ball cap my wife got me as a joke a few years ago for when I shoot in the winter…
Wraparound prescription glasses definitely exist. One kind I know of are used by skydivers, who need protection from 120 mph wind. Those might not be impact resistant, though. Or perhaps they are; skydivers want collision protection.
If they are compatible with your prescription, I’m sure they’re great.
I went to my local eye doctor. The store attached to them. Spoke to Erik and the doc. “I need to be able to focus on my front sight, I need to have full protection for my eyes.”
Doc said “Sure” and wrote the correct prescription.
Erik told me what he shoots, double checked the distance and then we picked good safety glasses. They were cheaper than my standard glasses as they were real safety glasses, not “shooting glasses”. They have full contact across the brow, side shields and almost touch my cheeks on the bottom.
Ah yes, the tacticool bandana of the 90s – the true successor of the 80s headband.
Superseded by the boonie hat of the 0s and then somewhere in the 10s the tactical trucker cap emerged.
Back in 86-87 I got into IPSC shooting. I wore prescription glasses. I had a .45 acp flip out and land on the glasses frame at my right temple, 2nd shot in a 7 shot string. It landed perfect and stayed there burning a 45 case shaped hole..I finished the string & i won that round heh heh. After that I wore a dam hat.
Not just shooting. I caught a high velocity wood chip in my eye using an axe. Well, it seemed pretty high velocity to me at the time anyway. I swing a mean axe. Shatteredd a hard contact lens and I had to pick the pieces out of my eye one at a time. I’m not sure if it would have been better or worse if I hadn’t had the contact lens. That was more than a decade ago and that eye is still much more irritable.
According to the former USMC son, you have not lived until you have caught some hot brass under your back armor plate. There is just enough gap when you are leaning over for the hot brass to come down your collar and roll under the back plate. Apparently it is not uncommon for a Marine to jump up on the firing line and start dancing about.
I wear prescription lenses or soft contacts. When shooting, I’ll have good, impact-rated shooting glasses if I’m wearing contacts, or I’ll wear my normal glasses (I prefer impact-rated lenses and frames for my normal glasses — I don’t want to have to fumble around trying to find the right pair on the line, plus it helps when wood- or metal-working, plus if SHTF I’ll already be wearing good protective glasses).
I can attest — as can most or all of the folks here — that hot brass is magic, sentient, and malicious; it will land wherever it wants, and though you take precautions to keep it off you, nothing is foolproof. I’ve been wearing wrap-around shooting glasses, a brimmed and well-fitted hat, and a collared shirt, and had hot 9mm casings somehow land between my skin and glasses AND go down the back of my shirt, in the same string of fire.
I have no idea how that happened, but it happened.
But don’t mess around with eye protection. You only get one set of eyes. Take care of them.
Wiley X does a prescription insert. I have them and they make a world of difference. And yes, I’ve bounced more than one round off the glasses. I ALWAYS wear a ballcap shooting.
Try a boonie hat from an army surplus store. I got one that’s one size too big and it fits over my headphones. Protects from flying brass and blocks some sun too. I took my headphones into the store and explained what I was doing. No problem.
I find that the flexible brim also doesn’t interfere with a rifle scope when prone, like a ball cap can.
I once had a 22 case eject from the rifle, bounce off the indoor range divider, slide down the back of my shirt, into my boxer shorts, and wedge neatly in the crack of my ass. I very carefully set the rifle down and proceeded with the best rendition of the “hot brass cha cha” I’ve performed before or since. Got a lot of funny looks!