I haven't tried it out yet, but I'm pretty sure this is the best purchase I've made:  Perscription glasses.

It wasn't until I went shooting with my friend and he'd say "Hey, shoot that can!"
Me:  "What can?"

Finally, I went and got glasses.  Picked them up today.  I think the first words out of my mouth were, "Holy shit!" when I took my first look out the window.

Until I went shooting with my friend a couple months ago, when shooting through unmagnified optics/iron sights, I honestly thought it was normal to put the blob over the blob and pull the trigger.

I bought some metal framed Bolle sunglasses with amber (high-contrast yellow) tinted polycarbonate (for impact protection) lenses.  Insurance only covered the eye exam and about $50 , but definitely worth the $125 I paid out of pocket.

I told them they were shooting glasses and they helped me out with moving the focal point of the glasses a little higher, so they're best when my head is tilted down.  Though, I can see perfect at any angle through them.  I nearly tripped over two curbs on the way to my car when I put them on.  They seem to have negative magnification, but I've never seen so clearly.

Quoted: I haven't tried it out yet, but I'm pretty sure this is the best purchase I've made:  Perscription glasses. It wasn't until I went shooting with my friend and he'd say "Hey, shoot that can!" Me:  "What can?" Finally, I went and got glasses.  Picked them up today.  I think the first words out of my mouth were, "Holy shit!" when I took my first look out the window. Until I went shooting with my friend a couple months ago, when shooting through unmagnified optics/iron sights, I honestly thought it was normal to put the blob over the blob and pull the trigger. I bought some metal framed Bolle sunglasses with amber (high-contrast yellow) tinted polycarbonate (for impact protection) lenses.  Insurance only covered the eye exam and about $50 , but definitely worth the $125 I paid out of pocket. I told them they were shooting glasses and they helped me out with moving the focal point of the glasses a little higher, so they're best when my head is tilted down.  Though, I can see perfect at any angle through them.  I nearly tripped over two curbs on the way to my car when I put them on.  They seem to have negative magnification, but I've never seen so clearly.

+1

I had a set of Decot shooting glasses made with the optical center where it belong when I'm on the gun, and the difference is nothing short of amazing.

Can you get dark tinted lenses for daylight use or are the lenses fixed in place?

Quoted: Can you get dark tinted lenses for daylight use or are the lenses fixed in place?

You can get any color you can dream of.  I chose Calichrome at 88%, I think.

They'll do any color in any shade.  The glasses came with my perscription and the standard dark lenses.  I bought sunglasses because they conform to your face better, so there's less chance of something flying under them (i.e. a Glock kB! ).

I was considering Oakleys, but these were cheaper and the frame was metal, so I ignored the "style" of the Oakleys and just got the Bolles, which are definitely stronger, and cheaper as well.

Oakley half jackets saved my eye.  there strong enough for me.  Just wish they would make a thiner frame that would work better with ear muffs.

Quoted: Oakley half jackets saved my eye.  there strong enough for me.  Just wish they would make a thiner frame that would work better with ear muffs.

I have some half jackets, but I didn't trust them to hold the lens in if impacted.  I went with a pair with a metal frame, made me feel a little better.  The frame is screwed together around the lens, rather than it just popping in like my Oakleys.

Rudy Project Rydon Tactical model glasses with Rx insert with "monovision"
works very well for me in pistol competitions and general shooting.  

Monovision eliminates the need to pick a location for the bi-focal spot.  

I'm happy for you Thanks for the info I'm going to do the same thing. I wanted a pair of shooting glasses proscription too, but I wasn't sure were to get them at. I'll try the Bolle sunglasses Calichrome at 88%

PS which frames were the ones you got?

Contacts + safety goggles/glasses = much more safety glass choices to choose from.

Quoted: Contacts + safety goggles/glasses = much more safety glass choices to choose from.

.....or LASIK and a nice pair of Oakley M-Frames.

The glasses I bought were Bolle Meanstreak, tinted slightly yellowish, for higher contrast.

I also considered M-Frames, with the perscription inserts, but they look like shit with two separate lenses built in.  They were also significantly more expensive.  I was a little affraid of the strength of the M-frames with a perscription insert.  The guy there told me he's seen perscription M-frames that broke around where the perscription lens was put in, it's a very, very thin, weak edge at the bottom of where the perscription lens is inserted in the M-frames.  All Oakley lenses are polycarbonate.

My main reasons for choosing the Bolle frame were:
Metal frame (locks the lens in the frame)
Priced much lower than Oakleys
They look like something I could wear without walking around looking like I'm wearing safety glasses, yet they still provide pretty good coverage.


The one and only absolute MUST is, they must be polycarbonate lenses.  Nothing else provides anywhere near the impact protection of polycarbonate.  What else I learned was, regardless of whether or not glasses are impact rated, they all have to follow goverment regulation regarding impact protection.

A few years ago, when I was a hardcore paintball player, I replaced the lens on my mask due to light scratches.  I took the old mask's lens and put it on my concrete floor, and took a medium-large sized hammer and I pounded the shit out of it as hard as I could for about 15 minutes and couldn't break it!  I think I only managed to break it by standing on it to bend it.  That paintball lens was about the same thickness of my perscription lenses.  I'm definitely not worried about breaking the lens.

Eventually, I'll get another pair of perscription sunglasses, and another pair of glasses so I don't have to sit in the front row of all my classes.
Don't worry, I have my priorities straight: I can always ask a friend what the teacher wrote on the board, but nobody can help me see what I'm trying to aim at.

Quoted: Contacts + safety goggles/glasses = much more safety glass choices to choose from.

My problem with contacts is, I'm so used to not seeing perfect that I don't want to go through the hassle of wearing contacts every day.

I don't really have a problem with just putting on the glasses so I can see something I normally couldn't.  The best part was the whole way home (and on the way to and from work today) I would see some unknown object really far away, and then I'd put the glasses on and it'd instantly burst into five different objects.

Don't make the mistake I did..........and think because the glasses were impact resistant......is was OK to just wear them to shoot.

It wasn't long before a hot shell casing came back at a funny angle and hit one lens square in the middle.  No problems right  -- after all these glasses are built to take a wack from a .22 cal bullet.

Trouble is what was I going to do with that  BIG ole scratch right in the middle of my eyesight. Yep, that hot shell put a hell of a scratch into that polycarbonate lens.

Well, my perfect glasses were useless..........had to fork out another $90 to get the lens replaced,

so please protect those glasses with a cheap pair of plastic goggles..........you will be glad you did, the first time an ejected shell bounces off them

JF.

Great thread, for me anyway.  Thanks for all the tips.  

I am just now starting to struggle with bifocals.  Here is what is working for me so far.
(I took great pains with the optomitrist, last visit, to explain my new hobby and my handicap.  He sympathized but the new no-line bifocals don't work for shooting at all.)

For pistol shooting: Put down the bifocals.  Get a weak pair of full size reading glasses, weak enough to see a clear front sight.    These can be weaker (lower diopter) than your typical age pattern far-sightedness corrective lenses, because you are focusing a little beyond arms length.

For the rifle, put down the glasses and use the peep sight.  You still have to see a good front sight, but the peep sight makes a good depth of field device, like a pin hole camera, so you can see the front sight without the glasses.  Then, you may use corrective lens for the near-sighted (long range vision correction) problems.

After the discussion with my optomitrist, I thought that there must be specialized shooting glasses and folks that know how to outfit them, but this optomitrist (he is not a shooter of course) cannot address the problem.

My range guy says he gets clear lens safety shields, sticks on a black target dot, and punches a pin hole in the target dot, to get a good depth of field in sighting.

Now, how about glasses with scopes?   How does that work?

I usually wear my Oakley M-frames, just swap the Black Iridium lenses for some clear ones and I'm good to go; if the lens get scratched, I'm out of $30, and I can find replacement lenses pretty quick at the O Store near my house. Now I'm carrying a pair of shooting glasses that Uncle Sam gave me before I shipped to Iraq; I never wore them there (opting to wear my Oakleys instead) and now I have those inside my rifle bag.

Hell, I think I can grab a dozen or so of those USGI shooting glasses (they look like Gargoyles) from a pile at the unit; nobody likes them and they just tossed them in a pile. The good thing about them is that they are thick and the case is great for your Oakleys or your Wiley-Xs.

I have a pair of prescription Oakley M-Frames and have clear, tinted orange, and dark mirror lenses.

If your saftey glass is not ANSI Z87.1 rated dont buy them.

Yeah my left lens has a dimple right in the center of vision. Oh well better than loosing that eyes vision.

.

Sniper 350,

Impact resistant and scratch resistant are two different things.  You don't want them so hard that they don't scratch, as that means they could be brittle and shatter.  Polycarbonate impact resistant lens are soft and scratch easily.

So if you are going to protect your impact glasses with a pair of googles, you want those googles to be impact resistant too so you don't get a face full of fragments.  Or just pay to get the impact resistant lenses replaced.

I have a couple nice pairs of cebe and julbo frames with impact resistant lenses that I like.  I'm with MlTCHELL, they Oakley frames really don't have much to offer.

Quoted: Quoted: Contacts + safety goggles/glasses = much more safety glass choices to choose from. My problem with contacts is, I'm so used to not seeing perfect that I don't want to go through the hassle of wearing contacts every day. I don't really have a problem with just putting on the glasses so I can see something I normally couldn't.  The best part was the whole way home (and on the way to and from work today) I would see some unknown object really far away, and then I'd put the glasses on and it'd instantly burst into five different objects.

Contacts are the closest thing to having lasik surgery. You lose so much peripheral vision with prescription glasses that it isn't really useful. You can wear contacts infrequently and wear glasses normally if you're not comfortable. Your vision can change within a year or 2, and your glasses will become obsolete unless you buy new lenses ($$$). You can't get polarized and mirrored prescription lenses cheaply. You can get contacts rather cheaply ($100 for a 1-2 year supply) online and just buy 1 pair of really good shooting glasses. Then when your vision changes, get a new contact prescription and buy 1 or 2 boxes ($20 or so) and wear them infrequently.

Quoted: Don't make the mistake I did..........and think because the glasses were impact resistant......is was OK to just wear them to shoot. It wasn't long before a hot shell casing came back at a funny angle and hit one lens square in the middle.  No problems right  -- after all these glasses are built to take a wack from a .22 cal bullet. Trouble is what was I going to do with that  BIG ole scratch right in the middle of my eyesight. Yep, that hot shell put a hell of a scratch into that polycarbonate lens. Well, my perfect glasses were useless..........had to fork out another $90 to get the lens replaced, so please protect those glasses with a cheap pair of plastic goggles..........you will be glad you did, the first time an ejected shell bounces off them JF.

The guy told me they have a one year warranty against scratches from the lab.  "If you get a big scratch, bring them in, and they'll replace them... if it's a bunch of smaller scratches, come back in January."

Quoted: Sniper 350, Impact resistant and scratch resistant are two different things.  You don't want them so hard that they don't scratch, as that means they could be brittle and shatter.  Polycarbonate impact resistant lens are soft and scratch easily. So if you are going to protect your impact glasses with a pair of googles, you want those googles to be impact resistant too so you don't get a face full of fragments.  Or just pay to get the impact resistant lenses replaced. I have a couple nice pairs of cebe and julbo frames with impact resistant lenses that I like.  I'm with MlTCHELL, they Oakley frames really don't have much to offer.

Again, about the Polycarbonate material.  It's absolutely incredible.  I have no problem whatsoever trusting my eyes to a lens even as thick as 1mm of polycarbonate.  That one paintball mask standing up to repeated hammer blows, over and over as hard as I could, and the thing did nothing other than scratch and fly across the room, that was plenty impressive for me to trust polycarbonate.  I reccomend if you know anyone who has any old polycarbonate lenses, or the eye doctor might have some samples or something, ask for a piece.  Take it outside and pound on it with a big rock... chances are you won't be able to do anything other than scratch it.

I definitely wouldn't say the Oakley frames don't have much to offer.  They do, just not for me.  If they're not fitted with a perscription lens, they're great looking glasses that offer great impact protection and many choices of styles and colors.  Though, with a perscription installed, they look like ass and they're not as strong, because they basically cut out two big holes in the lens/shield for the perscription lenses, and install them inside the original lens/shield.  If you see some, you'll see what I mean.  If you ever see anyone wearing M-frames with a perscription lens, you will know.  They look so weird, you'd spot them without even knowing what you were looking for.

Quoted: Contacts are the closest thing to having lasik surgery. You lose so much peripheral vision with prescription glasses that it isn't really useful. You can wear contacts infrequently and wear glasses normally if you're not comfortable. Your vision can change within a year or 2, and your glasses will become obsolete unless you buy new lenses ($$$). You can't get polarized and mirrored prescription lenses cheaply. You can get contacts rather cheaply ($100 for a 1-2 year supply) online and just buy 1 pair of really good shooting glasses. Then when your vision changes, get a new contact prescription and buy 1 or 2 boxes ($20 or so) and wear them infrequently.

Honestly, that's what I thought about the peripheral vision, but with my perscription, that's not the case.  I'm lucky.  Suposedly, I have a slight astigmatism or something pronounced like that, and I don't think the contacts will work, that and the putting shit in my eye routine creeps me out.

The guy who helps choose lenses at my opthamologist told me the more powerful the perscription, the smaller the "sweet spot" of the lens.  Mine, I honestly can see as pretty much everywhere else on the lenses.  But then again, my perscription is not very powerful.