Best Prescription Shooting Glasses?

[Down South]

I initiated this thread in the Humor & off Topic Forum but It appears that it gets little attention. I think that most folks there are interested in jokes or some other off topic subject. Moderator, Please move or delete if inappropriate!!
I figure if I posted here it may get better responses.

I'm thinking about getting Shooting Glasses with 3 sets of prescription lens, 3 different shades for different light conditions. I've looked a Post 4, Decot, Randolph Ranger Classic & Edge plus a few other name brands. None are cheap and some like Decot and another name brand use CR 39 lens which I have discovered are not "Safety Glasses". Note: Decot will use Polycarbonate if requested as an upgrade but this is not usually known unless you ask. Others use Polycarbonate as a standard which are high impact resistant and are considered safety glasses with correct frames.

I shoot a lot of Skeet, Sporting Clays plus a little Trap. My regular prescription glasses are not rated as "Safety Glasses" and a chip from a clay or a stray BB could cause a problem.
Plus, when I'm looking down my shotgun barrel at a target, the top of the lens on my prescription glasses is right at the point where I'm looking just over it or just through the very top of the lens depending on target location. This causes a problem for me getting on target at times.

My question is, those of you shooting with prescription shooting glasses, what do you use/prefer and why?

[fast ronnie]

Although my glasses are not (safety glasses ) per se, they have poly lenses and are hard coated for scratch resistance. I run milling machines and lathes every day, so must have eye protection. I have had several instances where I could have lost one or both eyes, and the glasses prevented serious injury. Once walked into a rod end and it caught me right in the center of the eye. My glasses deflected my enough that it cut my cheek after bending the frames on my glasses and pushing them aside. My glasses are nothing special, but I always get frames that have the largest lens, both vertical and horizontal to protect me from chips flying in the shop. Because I'm so rough on just about everything around me, I just got a new pair from Walmart in their eye-care center and made sure I got the ones with flex frames. It is amazing how tough and durable these things are. Not real cheap, but good.

[jsizemore]

I use the Decot Hy-Wyd because I won them at a match over 20 years ago. Still doing well. Your right, the price of parts and pieces is high but they do last.

[2wheelDuke]

I had prescription Oakley M frames that I'd shoot in when it was sunny out. I should get a new pair someday.

[SSGOldfart]

Just started using glasses most of the time so I'm waiting on a new pair,with larger lens I've lost most of the sight in my left eye due to a stroke,just means I bump into a lot of things on my left side,poor wheelchair looks like it's been in a war zone,I have no movement and very little feeling left on that side anyhow so any advice for shooting/adjusting to using a scope with glasses? Something I never had to learn to do?????.

[popper]

When I get to shoot at ASC I just use cheap sun glasses. Glasses (lined bi-focals) don't help me see dove at more than 25yds anyway, clays a little further. Last time at the pull-ur-own, they would disappear in the blue sky/light clouds ~ 30yds - I think different tinted would work better. Rifle scoped I don't use glasses, scope does the job. I do use glasses when trying to shoot pistol accurately. I use 'aviator' style as they are large lens'd, work provided them yearly so I have a bunch sitting around. Poly/coated are safety rated, not very expensive. As we get older, we get a fixed focal length, glasses can move it in or out.

[ole 5 hole group]

OK I'll play. If you think you need to see both your sights and our target at the same time you should maybe consider seeing your local and firearm friendly optometrist. He'll work his magic, so when you walk out of his office carrying your firearm you will have ordered a couple different colored lenses that will fit into one frame - or a couple frames depending upon how much you want to spend - either way it won't be inexpensive.

Your eyesight on the range will be very close to when you were a youngster, so that's one excuse you will no longer be able to use when you find your bullets/pellets don't want to play nice.

I went with the Wiley X brand with one pair of clear lenses and one pair of smoked lenses both fitting into one frame - cost was about $360 out the door if my memory serves me correctly this morning. Front sight is sharp and the target is in focus out to 300 plus yards. I can now shoot irons but I have found that an excellent red dot is far easier to shoot accurately than irons if you have a need for speed.

You can get by less expensively if you don't order your lenses and frame from your optometrist - but I was very thankful for his magic that I just paid the freight.

[C.F.Plinker]

My everyday glasses are ANSI rated safety glasses with glass, progressive, photochromic lenses. Not every shop was able to make them the way I wanted them. When I am shooting pistol I want to see the front sight more clearly than the rear sight or the target. So, over these, I wear another pair of clear safety glasses that has a homemade diopter with a 5/64 hole in it for the shooting eye and a piece of black tape that covers about half the lens for the off eye. This way I get the astigmatism correction from my regular glasses.

Since you are shooting trap and skeet you may want to consider a non-progressive lens with only distance and astigmatism corrections as your starting point. You may have to visit several optical shops in order to find one that will make up safety glasses for you. If you find that you need some additional correction to enable you to see things closer there are whole lens magnifying safety glasses that you could wear which are very inexpensive.

The reason I went with glass lenses is because I often use the handiest thing (shirttail) to clean them and no one would guarantee that their scratch resistant plastic lenses would remain scratch free for at least 3 years if I did not use water to clean them.

[Greg S]

I have two sets of Decot perscription PC and have been using them for almost 25 years. Great customer service and fast shipping. Had a friend loose some glasses after a shoot, called them Monday P.M. and had new glasses by Thursday for another 4 gun shoot that weekend.
For lenses, I prefer Bronze#2 for full sun, light purple (10 or 20%) for overcast and works well with a foliage background, clear w/ antireflective coating for GP and shooting under lights and light amber for driving in fog and snow.


I've tried a pair of Rangers and found them uncomfortable.

[square butte]

Take a look at Revision Eyewear - A company that supplies military. They have a system that has a removable prescription lens frame that fits on the nose bridge and is behind the polycarbonate. I don't have a pair but am seriously considering it. Your could have multiple prescription setups - one for each use - as the prescription frame add on is pretty cheap compared to the rest of the setup.

[Down South]

I have two sets of Decot perscription PC and have been using them for almost 25 years. Great customer service and fast shipping. Had a friend loose some glasses after a shoot, called them Monday P.M. and had new glasses by Thursday for another 4 gun shoot that weekend.
For lenses, I prefer Bronze#2 for full sun, light purple (10 or 20%) for overcast and works well with a foliage background, clear w/ antireflective coating for GP and shooting under lights and light amber for driving in fog and snow.


I've tried a pair of Rangers and found them uncomfortable.

Do you remember which Rangers you tried? I'm looking at their Edge line with three different shades. It ain't gonna be cheap with 3 sets of prescription lens with a small bifocal low in the bottom.

You can get by less expensively if you don't order your lenses and frame from your optometrist - but I was very thankful for his magic that I just paid the freight.

I just went for my annual eye exam. It's a big place with three or four optometrist, glasses fitting center and hundreds of frames to choose from. I asked if they could make a pair of shooting glasses for me and they had a confused look on their faces and after a bit they said sure we can do it. I caught the drift real quick that they had no experience in making shooting glasses.
I did order a new set of standard prescription glasses while I was there since I have some of the best insurance you can get. "At least that's what they always tell me."
I had my PD measured and written on my prescription so I can order from one of the name brand companies that specialize in Sports/Shooting glasses.

I've talked to Morgan Optical and Post 4. Nice people and glasses but the price range is going to be $500-$700 delivered for what I'm looking for, one set of frames and 3 different prescription shades of lens W/small bifocal.

http://www.morganoptical.net/
http://post4sportglasses.com/

[jcwit]

LOL, amazing how I've been able to struggle along with $19.95 or $29.95 eyewear. I now have the VA furnish my glasses.

[ole 5 hole group]

Here's how it worked for me. I walked in with a 1911 in a padded case. Doc sat me down behind his machine. I held the pistol normally and sighted in on an object on his wall while looking through his machine. He clicked a few lenses and asked which was clearer - started out OK but he really sharpened up the rear & front sight, I was amassed. The sighting object was a blur - clicked a few more lenses and manually placed a few more in the lens machine that were graduated somehow and everything was sharp - sights and target. Went to an office window and targets 100/150 yards away were fuzzy - a couple more lens adjustments and I was set.


Wearing those glasses I can see a stripped gopher on the side of a dirt road maybe 60 to 80 yards out - never could before - I can even get an excellent sight picture when shooting at him at that distance - that hasn't been possible for 35/40 years (seeing him at that distance) and I can still miss those tiny targets 16 out of 20 times at that range (some days I can miss 20 out of 20 with no problem), just like the ole days.

Now just wearing prescription glasses I can see very well at distance but I can't read a newspaper or see my rear or front sight clearly, not even half-**** clearly, so shooting with regular prescription glasses I would need to shoot a 40mm to stand a chance of hitting anything at distance. I could take off my prescription glasses and see my sights fairly clear but the target was a fuzzy ball. These shooting glasses made my day and continue to do so but I only wear them when shooting.

[wv109323]

There are several types of "Shooting Glasses". For pistol and rifle (using Iron Sights), the objective is to focus on the sights as needed for aging eyes. ( As you get older the eyes looses the ability to focus at close distances.) This is a simple fix by using "reading glasses". When corrected for close distances you can not then focus at long distances. Other considerations are protection and colored lenses.The correction for rifle and pistol iron sights is totally different from shotgun.
For shotgun there is little need to focus at close distances. The need for a bifocal may be needed to keep score or read notes. You need protection,tint and mostly distance correction.
As you already mentioned the "shotgun" glasses need a large lens so that regardless of the position of the bird you are looking through the lens and not blocked by the frame. The Randolph and Decots are noted for this feature.
In my search there is not a cheap option when buying three sets of prescription lenses. An option may be to get a clear protective lens and then use the clip-on flip-up colored lenses. They can be changed quickly as may be needed for SC where the lighting and background change from station to station.

[MT Gianni]

I use bifocals and had my optometrist put the line where it is between a front sight and target with my handgun grip. A very slight movement of my head puts me between target and front sight in focus.

[popper]

As you get older the eyes looses the ability to focus at close distances.

Get old enough and they only focus one place. Good practice is rapidly focusing near/far. Keep those muscles exercised. I went to get glasses from the local guy, told him I wanted them to help shooting - he didn't know what was needed - or was an anti I won't be taking a pistol into his shop. Maybe they need a 'dummy' gun to check vision.

I prefer Bronze#2 for full sun, light purple (10 or 20%) for overcast and works well with a foliage background, clear w/ antireflective coating for GP and shooting under lights and light amber for driving in fog and snow.

Now I've got to try some of those. Seen ads for the amber - supposedly for night driving. There is also a warning about them under certain conditions. I'll eventually do what the last doc says, get real lenses replaced.