I have finally decided to invest in some proper protective eyeware that includes prescription lenses.
Prior to this I have been getting by, on bright days, with one day basic (not toric, my eyes are egg shaped, very astigmatic on the wrong axis, so toric contacts don't work for me) disposable contact lenses plus a set of supposed shooting glasses that look the part, wrap around the sides etc. (cost £7.50 at the clay shoot). They'd certainly stop shot or clay fragments bouncing back, but that is as far as I'd trust them. H+S and site insurance mean that I couldn't carry on as normal with my proper specs.
Which is a pretty poor combination, yet works well enough to hit clays. Or ride my bike. In decent light.
For rifle target shooting the same thing (H+S and insurance) now applies and I am probably not going to get away forever with just wearing my 'specs, even though they provide a lot more protection than for those lucky people who don't need glasses at all. They can just put on some inexpensive thing and crack on.
Some (well one, so far, but he wasn't willing to discuss) RCOs don't seem to agree with that. I have tried putting on other things over the top, and it just doesn't work, so am resigned to buying real protective glasses with inserts to fit my complex prescription (basically a lot of astigmatism). For target shooting or field shooting, with a rifle, in every sort of light, down to the crepuscule, with some pretty good 'scopes I absolutely must have my full prescription lenses to be as good as I can be. Contact lenses or basic corrective lenses just won't do.
I plan to do this properly, and would actually always choose to use genuinely protective things, but so far all that I have found online appear to be cycling eyewear. Fine for keeping flies, rain and grit out of your eyes but I suspect not what, in the worst case, a rifle shooter might encounter. So my question are:
1) Are there specifications for genuine shooting protective eyeware, if so what are they ?
2) Who might I approach to obtain such things ? I realise that they are not going to be inexpensive, and that my prescription lenses may have to be changed every few years, so I'd rather buy once, and if necessary get my local lens manufacturer (less than a mile away from me) to re-glaze them as and when.
3) Am I over-thinking this ? I can get by with off the shelf cycling/shooting eyewear plus basic disposable contacts for cycling and clay shooting in decent light, but it all falls apart as the light fades. That's when my astigmatism kicks in. This combo is of no use whatsoever for rifle shooting through a 'scope. For stalking I don't care, just wear my 'specs, but on the ranges and at the club it would seem that that won't do nowadays.
Prior to this I have been getting by, on bright days, with one day basic (not toric, my eyes are egg shaped, very astigmatic on the wrong axis, so toric contacts don't work for me) disposable contact lenses plus a set of supposed shooting glasses that look the part, wrap around the sides etc. (cost £7.50 at the clay shoot). They'd certainly stop shot or clay fragments bouncing back, but that is as far as I'd trust them. H+S and site insurance mean that I couldn't carry on as normal with my proper specs.
Which is a pretty poor combination, yet works well enough to hit clays. Or ride my bike. In decent light.
For rifle target shooting the same thing (H+S and insurance) now applies and I am probably not going to get away forever with just wearing my 'specs, even though they provide a lot more protection than for those lucky people who don't need glasses at all. They can just put on some inexpensive thing and crack on.
Some (well one, so far, but he wasn't willing to discuss) RCOs don't seem to agree with that. I have tried putting on other things over the top, and it just doesn't work, so am resigned to buying real protective glasses with inserts to fit my complex prescription (basically a lot of astigmatism). For target shooting or field shooting, with a rifle, in every sort of light, down to the crepuscule, with some pretty good 'scopes I absolutely must have my full prescription lenses to be as good as I can be. Contact lenses or basic corrective lenses just won't do.
I plan to do this properly, and would actually always choose to use genuinely protective things, but so far all that I have found online appear to be cycling eyewear. Fine for keeping flies, rain and grit out of your eyes but I suspect not what, in the worst case, a rifle shooter might encounter. So my question are:
1) Are there specifications for genuine shooting protective eyeware, if so what are they ?
2) Who might I approach to obtain such things ? I realise that they are not going to be inexpensive, and that my prescription lenses may have to be changed every few years, so I'd rather buy once, and if necessary get my local lens manufacturer (less than a mile away from me) to re-glaze them as and when.
3) Am I over-thinking this ? I can get by with off the shelf cycling/shooting eyewear plus basic disposable contacts for cycling and clay shooting in decent light, but it all falls apart as the light fades. That's when my astigmatism kicks in. This combo is of no use whatsoever for rifle shooting through a 'scope. For stalking I don't care, just wear my 'specs, but on the ranges and at the club it would seem that that won't do nowadays.
