Ear and eye protection

[tarasmith19]

What number should I look at when purchasing ear protection for range?

Also, I wear glasses all the time but should I look out for eye protection anyway, and are there any sites for prescription ones?

 

[USMCHEROS]

From what I have been told by a recommendable gun shop/range if you wear prescription glasses you won't need to wear gun range glasses cause your glasses you wear everyday works a lot better cause you are use to them if that makes since. I guess he was saying that if you wear glasses everyday you won't need to spend money on range glasses of any kind.

Also I am looking for range ear phones as well.

 

[carpriver]

My eye doctor wrote a prescription for safety glasses, They are make of a polycarbonate, he did suggest a yellow tint for both indoor and outdoor shooting. As I understand it the higher the number on the ear muff the better the sound reduction. I was told you should wear both muffs and plugs. I do shot magnums a lot so that may be the reason. Get the best you can afford. cause you can't replace your hearing or your eyes.

 

[BaldEagle1313]

I wouldn't rely on just eyeglasses unless you have the polycarbonate lenses. But even then, most eyeglasses will only protect from directly ahead, not from the sides. If you are at a range where there aren't dividers between every shooter (which is often the case outdoors) you could be subject to someone else's mishap or ejected brass. On occasion I've been pelted by brass from someone to my left.

 

[kozmic]

Tara...There are a few threads here on ear protection if you do a search. I personally use Howard Leight Impact Sports. They work well to mute, but still allow for range conversation and commands. They seal well around glasses (important). They are thin enough for shotgun or rifle use if that's important to you. Many folks here use them alone outdoor and with foam inserts for indoor range use. You can routinely find them in the $40-50 dollar range on Amazon, etc. I find them to be a great product for the money. My son and I have been using them for a few years.

I wear contacts/glasses. If I have my glasses on I typically don't wear supplemental eye protection. They are photo gray, polycarbonate. My wife only wears glasses and prescription sunglasses (both polycarb). She too does not wear anything over them. I have several pair of shooting glasses (different tints and clear) that I use with my contacts. I occasionally just wear my sunglasses. That depends mostly on lighting conditions and what is handy. We mostly shoot outdoors and our club has individually bermed ranges so there is typically no one else shooting near us.

 

[chief38]

If you are smart, you will wear the BEST ear protection you can get! Unfortunately, I "got smart" after I damaged my ears way too much with years of being naive.

The BEST doesn't cost a lot! I did the research and found that the BEST protection I could get was under $30 bucks and so I will pass it on.

The Peltor Ultimate 10 earmuffs sold by Dillon, and plenty of others offers the highest Db noise reduction rating of 30 and just happen to be very comfortable as well. Underneath them I wear ear plugs that themselves carry a noise reduction rating of 22 - I believe they are made by 3M Company and have two different sides to them. A green side that is the max. protection of 22 Db and the yellow side that allows voice to be heard if you want to wear them while Hunting and want to protect your hearing at the same time. The noise reduction on the yellow side is a bit less but still protects your hearing over nothing at all and allows you to hear commands, animals, etc.

I wear BOTH together for a total noise reduction of 52 Db when target shooting, skeet and trap shooting, matches, etc. I wear the yellow only plugs when in the Field Hunting.

The Electronic earmuffs just do not protect to a high enough NRR for me.

I went to the Eye Doctor and had a special pair of shooting glasses made that only focus sharply on the sights of a handgun. The target is slightly blurry but the sights are very clear. The disadvantage of these glasses is that that they are useless for anything else like reading, TV, etc. but are great for shooting. The lenses are Poly Carbonate so they are shatter proof and also have the anti glare feature.

Chief38

 

[timn8er]

I wouldn't rely on just eyeglasses unless you have the polycarbonate lenses. But even then, most eyeglasses will only protect from directly ahead, not from the sides. If you are at a range where there aren't dividers between every shooter (which is often the case outdoors) you could be subject to someone else's mishap or ejected brass. On occasion I've been pelted by brass from someone to my left.

I've worn my prescription glasses to shoot in, but I feel more protected with safety glasses because of their wraparound feature. Getting dinged by the semi on your left is a bummer & I try to avoid it anyway I can. When I get to the range I shoot at I'll do a walk around, look in the bays & find one with the lane closest to the left side open. The range guys will usually accommodate me. One time, though, they put me in the center lane with shooters on both sides of me. The guy on my left was raining brass on me & the guy on my right was shooting what I assume was some sort of hand bazooka. Not a fun day at the range!

 

[Aticus]

To answer your question on hearing protection: you need to look at the NRR (noise reduction number) rating. The higher the better. There are those who recommend both ear plugs and muffs not a bad idea for a crowded range.

As to eye protection: I wear glasses so I use those. If you don't need glasses to see get some good polycarbonate glasses that wrap around the eyes or have wide temples. As others have said flying stuff can be a problem. Just make sure they have good lenses with no bad spots to strain your eyes.

As an aside when I shoot handguns I take my prescription glasses off and use some clear shooting glasses. I can see the front sight on the gun then, can't with my prescription lenses. Go figure!

 

[kozmic]

The guy on my left was raining brass on me & the guy on my right was shooting what I assume was some sort of hand bazooka.

What is this hand bazooka-thing of which you speak Tim? We need pictures!!!!!.

I gotta get me one of those suckers before they get outlawed in NY!

 

[timn8er]

What is this hand bazooka-thing of which you speak Tim? We need pictures!!!!!.

I gotta get me one of those suckers before they get outlawed in NY!

OK, maybe I stretched it just a little, it was probably only a S&W 500, but that's what it sounded like to me! By the way, I like your new signature. I remember how Archie Bunker phrased it: " You'd better light a candle & not sit in the dark & cuss!" Or something like that.

 

[boatme99]

For prescription eyewear, polycarbonate is the way to go. They're basically industrial safety glasses. You can get poly lenses for any frames you choose.
All of my eyeglasses are poly., there's no reason not to order your glasses this way. Shooting, chainsaw work, yard work, and anything else, you're covered.
Also, for a couple of bucks, you can get removable sideshields for your glasses, so your covered there. Keep a couple sets in your range bag and put them on when needed, then back in the bag when you're finished.

 

[Hack]

As was posted earlier, standard prescription glasses do not protect your eyes from side impact. As the ranges are getting more and more crowded, with many people sharing lanes, I have been pelted by hot flying brass from both direction. Get either removable side shields, or oversized safety glasses that can be worn over glasses.

I buy wrap around safety glasses either online, or from Home Depot, Lowes, etc. Look for what's commonly referred to as ANSI Z87 compliant glasses.

For ear protection, I have a few pairs of ear muff types, and I will also add a set of foam plugs if the range is busy with 'big boomers'. (although I think my wife's .40 S&W has a pretty sharp snap)

 

[JSR III]

I don't know the number but you should definitely wear eyes and ears while shooting. I sometimes wear muffs and in the ear type protectors especially if someone is shooting a hand cannon or big bore rifle. I wear transitional bifocals every day and when shooting, I add a pair of clear plastic safety glasses. As others have stated, your everyday glasses are not typically impact resistant and not large enough to protect the entire eye area.

Especially with all of the newer polymer guns that are blowing apart, I would want all the protection that money can buy. The yellow tinted safety glasses will help on cloudy days or when your are shooting later in the day. They bring in more light and brighten the target for us older folks.

 

[ChuckS1]

I wear my prescription Randolph sunglasses. I also always use earplugs with my electronic earmuffs.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I wear plugs and muffs, remember you will absorb some sound through the rest of you. I wear prescription glasses-nearsighted, I recommend oversized lenses for the extra protection they provide. I recall Charlie Askins writing that discussing your needs with your optician was a wise idea, he recommended have a pair ground to focus on the front sight for a pistol shooter, year ago I met an appliance repairman who had the reading section of one pair of his bifocals placed on top since he spent a lot of time looking up at close distances.

 

[vt_shooter]

The Peltor Ultimate 10 earmuffs sold by Dillon, and plenty of others offers the highest Db noise reduction rating of 30 and just happen to be very comfortable as well. Underneath them I wear ear plugs that themselves carry a noise reduction rating of 22 - I believe they are made by 3M Company and have two different sides to them. A green side that is the max. protection of 22 Db and the yellow side that allows voice to be heard if you want to wear them while Hunting and want to protect your hearing at the same time… I wear BOTH together for a total noise reduction of 52 Db when target shooting, skeet and trap shooting, matches, etc..
Chief38

Not to be the PITA nitpicker, but the math doesn't work that way - it's logarithmic. A 3db reduction doubles reduction, so to go from 30db to 33 db reduction, you'd need to two 30db reductions. Your combination of 30db plus 22db might give you 31db protection. Kind of funky math, don't ask me to explain it, it's just the way it is!

 

[speedyquad]

you would be surprised how cheap prescription safety glasses really are. i have to have them for work so i went to the walmart(one of the few places that would deal with my employer directly). with photo gray lenses, a $60 eye contact eye exam, $60 for contacts(on sale woohooo), i was out the door for right around $220...of which my employer picked up $50.

as far as hearing protection goes, 32 years of riding atv's and not wearing ear protection in my helmet has left me with some hearing loss. when shooting .22, i don't worry too much about it, although i should. the 40c and the sigma get some plugs. i have been looking for something a little better though. but when a used set of reusable earplugs can be worn home from work and reused at the range, it makes it hard to spend money on better.

 

[SgtLumpy]

EARS:
I wear custom molded inserts. They're about 15 bucks on Amazing Amazon. You mix the two part stuff, stick it in your ears and in about 15 minutes you have soft ear plugs that conform to all the lumps and bumps in your ear. They attenuate about the same as most any ear plug but they are dramatically more comfortable than the generic kind. I can wear them all day at the range instead of needing to take a break and pull them out, like I used to do with disposables or other foam/rubber/plastic types. I've had mine for about 2 years and they're still working fine. That's about 50c a month.

EYES:
All I care about is seeing that front sight. No matter what your vision is or what kind of correction you have, you can only focus on one point at a time. The front sight is the one, obviously, that needs your focus. 1.5x reading glasses, non prescription, do that for me. You can get them in any style imaginable. Mine are kind of GI modern aviator style, polycarbonate lens. Except for really cheap sunglasses, I don't think you can get many pairs of glasses that aren't polycarbonate. Mine were something like $10. You can get them shaped like "Safety Glasses" (with side coverage) or like "Buddy Hollys" or "Birth Control Glasses" or "Sexy Spy Wraparounds" or anything else. Clear or tinted. You can also get them in 0x magnification (no magnify) if you don't need correction.


Sgt Lumpy

 

[Muddyboot]

When I was a yoot, I didn't take hearing protection seriously, which is why I spent 6000.00 bucks on hearing aids last week. Buy the best you can afford now folks, because paying later isn't cheap....

 

[chief38]

Not to be the PITA nitpicker, but the math doesn't work that way - it's logarithmic. A 3db reduction doubles reduction, so to go from 30db to 33 db reduction, you'd need to two 30db reductions. Your combination of 30db plus 22db might give you 31db protection. Kind of funky math, don't ask me to explain it, it's just the way it is!

While I do believe you might be correct and my "math" of the 52 Db NRR is off, I can't believe that the second set of ear protection (plugs) only reduce NRR ONE (1) Db. when used together.

If the plugs alone have a 22 NRR and the Peltor Ultimate 10 has a 30 Db NRR alone I don't understand how that could only add up to a 1 Db additional NRR. I would be interested to know if someone more knowledgable could chime in and enlighten us.

NOT that I have a NRR meter in my pocket when I shoot, but the perceived NRR when using BOTH over one or the other is quite dramatic to say the least. Hard to believe it's 1Db!

 

[Marine Corps Air]

Tara,

You have made some very wise decisions regarding protecting your sight and hearing, especially at your age. I wish that I had done a much better job when I was younger and I would not need these blasted hearing aids today.

There have been several previous posts on the Forum on hearing protection. I read through most of them before I selected my hearing protection and it appeared that the Peltor and Howard Leight products are the best value, while providing excellent hearing protection.

After completing all of my research I purchased a set of Howard Leight Earmuffs, Model R-01902, through Amazon ( Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Howard Leight by Honeywell R-01902 Impact Pro Electronic Shooting Earmuffs ). I am really surprised that my review has been rated the "Most Helpful" on their website. Sometimes I amaze myself!!

Insofar as sight protection is concerned, the range safety people at my range have advised me that my glasses are adequate. However, you may decide that based on what you are shooting (i.e. a revolver) that you do not need extra protection. However, you may decide otherwise if you are using a semi-automatic firearm.