No matter what kind of shooting you do it is imperative that you buy some eye protection, whether you shoot air rifles or semi-automatic rifles, you have to protect your eyes from the risk of ricochets and debris. They aren’t only essential for your safety but also for your performance, they keep the sun and dust out of your eyes and a good pair will enhance your vision and the clarity of a moving or still target. When shopping for a new pair of shooting glasses you should take into consideration a number of factors, perhaps the most important are:
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Lens Material & Characteristics
Without a doubt the best material for shooting glasses is Polycarbonate, it is the ultimate in bullet resistant materials and also has the benefit of being extremely light, scratch-resistant, and durable. The most important aspect is of course the impact-resistance, if you find a pair of shooting glasses which do not have polycarbonate lenses then you should be asking some serious questions about whichever material is used – in fact we are pretty certain that shooting glasses which meet the required safety standards in America cannot be made of any other material. A number of regulatory bodies provide impact resistance ratings, when shopping you should look out for glasses which meet any one of (or even all of) the following safety standards:
- MIL-V-43511c (This is the U.S. Military Testing Standard)
- OHSA Safety Standard 1910.133(a)(2) (This is the Occupational Safety & Health Administration Standard)
- ANSI Z87.1 and Z87.3 (American National Standards Institute standards)
A major selling point for some of the best shooting glasses on the market is military approval. If a pair of glasses is deemed suitable for use by the United States armed forces then they are good enough for any man, woman, or child, anywhere in the world, we actually have a compilation of military issue glasses if you want to use this as an indicator – but be prepared to pay more money for them!
UV Protection
UV radiation from the sun comes in three forms: UVA, UVB, and UVC. You don’t need to concern yourself with UVC, as this is filtered by the earths atmosphere, but UVA and UVB can both be dangerous to humans. It is UVB which can cause both short and long term eye damage and sunburn, as well as various forms of skin cancers. UVA is often the cause of sun related drug reactions. When you buy a pair of sunglasses you want to know that they offer UV protection, but be careful when shopping. The marketing material for a pair of sunglasses may say “offers UV protection” but not tell you how much!
You should look for glasses which offer 99%, 99.9%, or 100% UV protection. The lens color is irrelevant when shopping for glasses with Polycarbonate lenses, such as most shooting glasses, as even clear Polycarbonate lenses can offer full UV protection! It isn’t just impact resistance that you need to look for when shopping for shooting glasses, you also need protection against harmful sun rays too!
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Frame Material
Unlike the lenses, which have to made from Polycarbonate, the frames can be made from pretty much any material. Whilst shopping however it is wise to consider the likely weight of a pair of glasses, you don’t want heavy glasses because they will soon become uncomfortable – particularly if out shooting all day! Lightweight materials such as plastic or aluminium would be your best bet. Some premium shooting glasses are made from titanium, a very light yet very strong metal (which is why they make aircraft out of it!).
We all have different shaped heads of course, some of us have round heads, some long heads, some small heads, some big heads, some skinny faces, some chubby faces. It is always a good idea therefore to invest in a pair of glasses which are adjustable to fit your face perfectly. Normally this comes in the form of adjustable frames plus adjustable or flexible temple pads, nose pads are sometimes also adjustable but the most important thing with nose pads is that they are made of a soft rubber or silicone.
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Lens Color
You will have noticed while browsing this site or browsing other sites that shooting glasses are available with a variety of different lens colors, this isn’t for style this is actually for improved clarity of target depending on light conditions! Some shooting glasses are suitable for low light conditions, some for normal light conditions, and some for bright light conditions – shooters can respond differently to different lens colors.
This is why interchangeable lens kits are so popular, they allow for the shooter to pick and choose the best lens color whilst out on the field, we talk a little more about interchangeable lens kits at the bottom of this page! For a comprehensive look at lens colors and their apparent benefits check out our guide Shooting Glasses Colors Explained.
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Style
This bit is left completely up to you! Everybody has different tastes, but most shooting glasses look pretty stylish, even cheap shooting glasses can look a lot more expensive than they actually are. As always, the designer or luxury brands tend to have the designs that will result in envy among your peers, for example Oakley Shooting Glasses; other higher end brands which offer very distinctive look include Wiley X and Ess.
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Interchangeable Lenses
If you think that you are going to need several different lens colors to adapt to varied light conditions, most people who shoot both indoors and outdoors will do, then it is often much more cost effective to buy an interchangeable lens kit with one frame but several different colors of lenses rather than several different pairs of glasses; they are also more convenient to transport too as the frames and lenses will all fit into one carry case! A great example of a brand that sells premium interchangeable kits are Beretta, check out our feature on Beretta shooting glasses for more information. If you are on a tight budget then consider the Radians T-85 Remington Interchangeable 5 Lens Kit, yours for less than $20 from Amazon (pictured left)..
