Safety Glasses! Why you need them.

[Rockydog]

I posted this on two other forums but it's worth the read. Please take heed and be careful. RD

Guys, As I type this I'm still very upset with myself and almost in a state of shock. I very nearly lost my right eye tonight working on a gun. Many of you know that I rebuilt a Stevens SxS last year. As i was putting it together I realized that I had put the hammer spring holders in backward. I knew at the time that it wouldn't affect the function but I also knew that they'd be bear to change if it was ever required as there is a notch that the screwdriver goes into to compress the hammer spring and control the holder. I broke the locking tab off of the lever lock 2 weeks ago and ordered the parts from Numrich. Tonight I had disassembled most of the receiver to get at the locking lever. I had not had to remove the hammer springs or holders. After I had fitted and replaced all of the parts and was reassembling the gun I decided it was now or never and that I should take them apart and reassemble them properly. As i was attempting to compress the hammer spring the screwdriver slipped and the spring and spring holder popped out at approximately the speed of light. They flew right at me and I must have instinctively blinked. They cut a big gash across the bridge of my nose and hit my upper eyelid so hard that I was seeing a big black spot for a minute or so. I really thought I had lost my eye for a minute or two. it's OK now no redness, soreness or bloodshot but it was too damn close. My safety glasses were out in the garage and I'd had them on 15 minutes before when I was wire wheeling the crud off of one of the replacement parts but didn't take them downstairs with me to my reloading/gunsmithing bench. If your going to work on gun springs please get them on. I think I've learned my lesson. Rockydog

[lylejb]

Glad to hear your OK

when something like this happens, you really realize your life can change so fast.

[sagacious]

The problem with eye-protection is that one often needs it most when the situation seems like it may not warrant it-- such as for 'quick' tasks. That's when you get caught off-guard, and a permanent injury happens.

Springs are flat-out dangerous. I had a mainspring from a 1911 escape and punch clean through a woven-wire windowscreen. Springs don't have to be large or strong to pose a danger, as the eye is a soft target.

Be sure to have eye protection handy, where and when you need it.

[Southern Son]

You got very lucky. I have to wear glasses, and the number of times something has hit them with enough force to damage the lense makes me glad I have to wear them.

[AZ-Stew]

Get to the eye doctor and have him examine you. You may have suffered some damage that's not readily apparent. Please do it ASAP!

Regards,

Stew

[snowtigger]

SAFETY FRIST!! A couple years ago our motor pool foreman caught one of his people working under the raised bed of a dump truck. That was cause for an immediate safety meeting with the requisite amount of a$$ chewing.
The foreman had a small equipment rental business going on the side.
Someone who had rented his dump truck had a problem. The foreman went to check on it. He went under the raised bed(just for a minute) .
The result? A widow with two kids. A funeral where everyone who knew him stood around in shock, and a company that had to replace a good hand.
WEAR THE FREAKIN'SAFETY EQUIPMENT.
I HATE FUNERALS!!!!!!!

[MtGun44]

An acquaintence years ago was shooting a 1911 with his handloads and blew primer. A piece of
brass flew down the ejector slot (hold up an unloaded 1911 to the light - you can see out
the muzzle via the ejector slot!) and penetrated his right (master) eye lense, destroying it.

The only solution is a replacement lense, far beyond his uninsured (I was told) means.

He is blind in that eye until he can cough up something like $10-20,000 -- apparently unlikely,
from what I can gather, I only met the man once and heard what happened to him a few
years later.

Please NEVER shoot without eye protection and don't work on anything energetic without
them, either.

Good Luck - hope your eye it truly OK.

Bill

[randyrat]

I know of a fellpw who was using a cheap screw driver and it broke under a little pressure, came back and took an eye out. Saftey glasses all the time.

[lathesmith]

RD, you are one--and I say this as one to another--lucky SOB. A few months ago, I was working on the lathe (I do that alot) with the usual close-fitting safety glasses on, but this day I was also wearing a brimmed baseball-style cap. Lucky me, I had a HOT chip richoccet off the brim, get behind the glasses, and lodge between my glasses and my left cheek. After hopping around and the usual cussing, I noted a second-degree burn on my cheek. Yea, it could have been worse, MUCH worse. The result? No more stupid ball caps while working in the shop for me! Be CAREFUL out there, and ALWAYS think safety first. As others have noted above, it only takes a few seconds of mindless carelessness to ruin everything!

lathesmith

[Frank46]

I had safety lenses in the glasses when I worked for a living. All it takes is one little speck of debris, dirt or whatever to cause problems. Those lenses have saved me eyesight on more than one occasion. Now that I'm retired these last 16 years all of my glasses since retirement have had safety lenses. Tempered glass not plastic. Has the plastic ones once. Got tired of trying to see through the scratches. Yes they ain't cheap, but how much is your eye sight worth?. Cheap inshurance at the very least. Glad to hear that you made out ok, but you should get checked out as a precaution. Frank

[John 242]

I launched the recoil plug from a 1911 into my forehead with enough force that it left a bleeding semi-circle. Kind of funny in retrospec, but that plug would have really did a number on my eye. I'm legally blind (uncorrectable) in one eye already so loosing the other eye would end my career and my turn my shooting hobby into a memory.

Glad that you're alright, but I think who ever mentioned going to get your eye checked out might have a good idea. You might have damaged something and not know it yet.

Be safe,
John

[Le Loup Solitaire]

There are numerous situations where safety glasses should be worn (and aren't), but lets not fail to mention a very common one; using those hand priming tools that have those cute little trays full of primers.....well maybe not full, but if you have a few primers in one of them and you're looking at it then you, your face and your eyes are in the line of fire if something goes wrong. Better safe than sorry!!! LLS

[Crash_Corrigan]

Back in the 60's when I was a LEO in NYC I was on a post in Central Park in Manhattan. It was a beautiful spring day and the lovely ladies were out in droves. We had bikers, skaters, lovers, kite flyers, ball players, dog walkers, frisbee throwers and a host of other outdoor activities going on all over the place.

A gust of wind came up and something got into my right eye. It was nasty. I immediately went to a water fountain and tried to wash it out. No joy. It really hurt badly. I went to the police call box and called the Station House. I got a very nasty Sergeant on the phone and he told me to go to the emergency room of the local hospital and get it taken care of. He expected me to walk to the hospital. I had one eye. It was tearing all over the place and I was in full uniform with just one eye working. I flagged down a passing Police Patrol car and asked them to take to the Manhattan Eye and Ear hospital which I knew had a very good reputation and would get the job done fast.

They drove me there and dropped me off. The doctors there examined the eye and explained that I had a short piece of wire stuck in the eyeball and it was protruding enough that the eyelid was scraping over it and causing more damage to the eyeball. They immediatly numbed the eye and using a magnet and a god knows what else removed it from my eye.

They put a patch over it and gave me some medications to take etc. I called the Station House and got Sgt. Friendly on the phone once again. I explained what happened and he chewed my a$$ out for leaving the precinct without permission and told me to come back to the Station House. I found another Police Patrol unit and they drove me back to the Precinct.

Again I got chewed out by the Sergeant for misusing the Police Patrol cars to transport me. I kept my mouth shut and got another unit to drive me back to my Precinct across town.

I went to the Desk Lieutenant and he immediately placed my on sick report and told me to go home. I lived 45 miles away on Long Island and I was not comfortable driving home with one eye. He had the anti crime unit drive me home in an unmarked department car and another cop drove my car home for me.

I ended up losing two weeks from work as the eye developed an infection and there was some temporary damage to the eyeball.

Even in NYC things have a way of coming around again. 10 years later I am now a Lieutenant on a big parade detail (St. Patrick's Day) and lo and behold guess who is one my Sergeants that I am supervising. Sergeant friendly who broke my shoes 10 years earlier. Well as the day wore on Sgt. Friendly became the drunk Sergeant Nasty. I could have just put him inside on a phone where he could do no damage nor embarass me but that would put me in jeopardy in case he screwed up. He looked to me like he was going down the screw up path as he was more drunk than before.

I gave him as much consideration and help as he had given me so many years ago. I called down the Department Surgeon to have him declared unfit for duty due to intoxication and he was promptly taken away by Monsignoir Dunn's body snatchers and spent the next 60 days drying out on the farm for drunks that the department ran. This was only after a mandatory 5 day admission to a detox unit of Mother Cabrini Hospital on 20th street. Then they take away his shield and firearms. After that he was transferred out of his nice and peaceful little Station House and sent to a ghetto in Brooklyn. He retired 6 months later as he was unused to doing any real work and could not pull his load.

An eye injury is nothing to make light of and they can happen at any time. It turned out that bit of metal in my eye was a piece of a wire brush that had broken off from a wire wheel on a drill and was blowing in the wind and ended up in my eye with the sharp end into me. Nasty stuff.

[lwknight]

One thing for sure: No one ever regretted wearing safety glasses when something happened.

[snowtigger]

All my glasses are safety glasses. As I have worn perscription glasses for the last twenty four years, and my type of work usually requires safety glasses, that is all I wear.
They used to be so heavy and ugly, but today no one knows they are safety glases until I show them. When the "man" starts hollering about safety, I just show him tye little ANSI bug in the corner.

[1Shirt]

Painful lessons are those that are most often remembered----for ever!
1Shirt!:coffee:

[pjh421]

Its all fun and games until someone loses an eye!

I walked over to the firing line while at the zero range one day to find out what the problem was with one of my guys. He wasn't doing too well zeroing his M16. I was standing to his right and he was in the prone supported position. As I was speaking to him I knelt down with the intention of pointing something out and POW! Hot brass in my left eye. That was my fault for not being aware and getting on his left side. It smacked me pretty hard and boy did that hurt. Of course then no one wore eye protection on the range. I was lucky because it was only painful. Now I'm insistant that those who shoot my guns or shoot with me wear eye protection. I'm not going to be responsible for causing someone to have such an easily preventable catastrophe. I see kids on the civilian ranges I frequent all the time who are with their cheapskate dads not wearing eye and ear protection. Big mistake. Since my company is so generous with the PPE I bring extra to the range for just such people.

Paul

[shooterg]

My prescription safety glasses have saved me a buncha times, once from the tinsel fairy, once in a car accident were the worse - the car deal left me with stitches in eyebrow and cheek, but just a ruined lens where my eye was. I'm kinda glad God decided I was gonna be near-sighted !

[Frank46]

Crash, probably the same place that Con Ed sends their folks who have substance abuse and alcohol problems. Upstate new york about two or so hours. Frank

[Fleataxi]

Rockydog:

I wear safety glasses 7/24 since my prescription glasses are also safety glasses by ESS. They have a prescription insert, which gives me 2 levels of ballistic protection.

Vision is nothing to screw with. Neither is hearing - wear the damn safety gear!

Fleataxi

[John 242]

Since my company is so generous with the PPE I bring extra to the range for just such people. Paul

Paul, you're doing good work. I'm somewhat surprised at how many people show up to the range without eye or ear pro. Ear pro is required where I shoot. Eye pro is required at matches.
I usually have some of the cheap foam ear plugs in my range bag just in case. Although it's not our job to be our 'brother's keeper' it the least I can do. Maybe by helping out the inexperienced or unknowing we make the shooting experience a little safer and someone time at the range a little more pleasureable.

By the way, husbands and parrents are terrible about bringing their family members to the range without any PPE. It's kind of funny when hot pistol brass ends up down the a low cut blouse... I guess I shouldn't laugh... but...

[leadman]

I was a heavy equipment mechanic for many years, did not need glasses then, but had much debris in my eyes. I resisted wearing corrective lenses, but eventually came to value them for the protection.
The public shooting range here in Phx. now required eye and ear protection on the range.
Very good idea.

The OP is a very lucky guy.

[DLCTEX]

I worked the night shift in a wire manufacturing plant once and was very resistant to wearing eye protection. My supervisor was very lax in enforcing the safety rules and I almost always kept them in my pocket. One night my supervisor was sick and the day supervisor was on duty. As we were scrapping some large wire and stuffing it in a large drum, the super asked me to put on my safety glasses. I grudgingly did and about 30 seconds later the wire we were coiling in the drum flew out and the sharp end struck my glasses just over my right eye. I've been a faithful safety glasses wearer since.

[a.squibload]

You guys made me wander down memory lane...

Unburned powder from revolver cylinder gap can fly a good distance.

Trail welding under another guy's M718 (right number? The truck-style Jeep), spark flew past the dark glass I was holding
and my scrip glasses, burned my eyeball a little. Welding hood is bulky but worth packing.

I blew up a truck battery one day, just happened to blink, got acid on the outside of my eyelid.

Ears: long ago and far away I infrequently found myself in a high-noise environment (bar).
Got ribbed about stuffing pieces of cocktail napkin in each ear but MY ears didn't ring later.

A good one, friend was under a bridge, no earplugs, fired his 44, couldn't hear for 2 days. I was lucky again, wasn't there.

Have clear face shield in the shop, they're not that expensive. Need new glasses, you got me thinking about
tempered glass again, used to wear them.

Just one more: was driving down the freeway one day, wing vent window was open, shattered in a thousand pieces, no idea what hit it but
was apparently an impact. Was wearing Bolle wrap around sunglasses, kept it out of my eye.

[DLCTEX]

Some younger members may not know what a wing vent window is. Last vehicle I owned that had them was a 92 Ford truck. I haven't had a car that had one since the early 80's at least. A bumble bee was deflected into the truck by the vent wing one day and the stinger got me in the neck.

[.357]

When i started getting into shooting my dads best friend said "come on out to my shop" he was showing me seomthing that i forget now but he noticed i didn't put on safety glasses. So he handed me a set from up on his bench. I put them on and my eyes instantly focused on a sliver of brass stuck directly in front of my eyeball.

Been wearing them religously ever since.

[MT Gianni]

There are numerous situations where safety glasses should be worn (and aren't), but lets not fail to mention a very common one; using those hand priming tools that have those cute little trays full of primers.....well maybe not full, but if you have a few primers in one of them and you're looking at it then you, your face and your eyes are in the line of fire if something goes wrong. Better safe than sorry!!! LLS

I make sure that the tool is always pointed away from face and hands as a rule.

Another thing with safety glasses is training yourself to trust them, to look at a wire wheel when someone is brushing and you are steading work prevents a lot of side entrys as they hit the fornt of the safety glasses. When I had to fit pipe to be welded w/out line-up clamps I made sure that I held it in position facing the welder straight on then cloded my eyes. I might get some spatter but facing away even with side shields increases the chance of an entry.

[PatMarlin]

What are low cost prescription glasses made of? They would have to be impact resistant as it would be asking for a major lawsuit using an easily breakable material.

$10 plastic shop saftey glasses surely would not be any better.

[Typecaster]

My close-work glasses are from Costco. Lenses are polycarbonate (think Plexiglas) for impact resistance. As much as I still like the aviator-style frames, these are a little shorter so I can wear safety goggles with the vinyl shield as well when grinding or using a wire wheel.

I learned that the easy way, and made it easy for the opthamalogist to find the piece of wire…he said all he needed to look for was the rust spot.

Richard

[Taylor]

scary,I'm working on a stevens double also!

[PatMarlin]

scary,I'm working on a stevens double also!

That IS scary T. I want to keep my eyes for awhile.