AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Black Powder Shooting => Topic started by: mossyhorn on September 12, 2025, 02:51:28 AM
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Just Wondering what percentage wear shooting glasses when shooting their flintlocks?
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I wear eye and ear protection when shooting anything.
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I wear eye and ear protection when shooting anything.
Ditto
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Ditto, but prescription glasses with shatter proof lenses.
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I will not shoot any ML nor modern guns without protective eye glasses.
To not do so, is quite foolish in my opinion.
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I wear regular safety glasses (also required at our range) with built in readers. Hard for me to see the sprue on a .350 ball when loading.
I wear safety glasses hunting with flintlocks also, sometimes with modern guns.
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Based on the gouges in the lenses of my shooting glasses from flint shards, I strongly suggest wearing eye protection.
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Both my regular and sunglasses are rated for impact and have proven to be worthy of of the extra $. Honestly I’ve had more hard impacts from working than from shooting but I’m sure glad I was wearing them.
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With only one really good eye you bet your life I wear shooting glasses.
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It's not worth the time I'd waste calling myself out for that little moment when I went without protection - "just need to squeeze that trigger for one more quick...."
Because call myself out I would, after 35 years of running a grinder in my shop, even I learned the hard way. Not only that but when you've got your ear protection on, you can pretend not to hear your significant other when they're giving you some annoying advice like, " Be careful."
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after 52 yrs of shooting flintlocks
never wore glasses or hearing protection
never a issue im sure can be both ways
very sure its a good idea
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I now wear glasses while shooting. I have found that wearing cheap low power readers (1.25) lets me see both front and rear sights.
My eyes are weakening as I age and I wear readers (3+power) for most close shop work but the low power readers are my go to for target work.
Kevin
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I started shooting at about 6 years old with couple of 22 rifles. My Dad would take us to a creek bed just outside of town and blast away till we ran out of ammo. We never wore glasses or hearing protection. I remember the sharp crack of the rifles, and it made my ears ring and that ring lasted for hours! I started shooting M-L in 1976 a still didn't wear protection for quite a few years. I do wear protection now, but it is too late. Although I got by with never damaging my eyes, my hearing has definitely suffered. I have Tinnitus and hear that ringing sound 24-7. I have hearing aids but they only turn up the volume, so I am able to understand someone's voice, but the ringing is still there. I avoid large gatherings as the noise only makes it worse and I am constantly saying HUH? Don't be a dummy, (like me), WEAR YOUR PROTECTION!!!!!!!!,,,LK
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No ringing, but I constantly hear a huge cage of budgies chirping. Must be hundreds of them.
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I’ve got some with my prescription. They are from Zenni and I think cost less than $40.
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I was at the range yesterday and realized I needed a good pair of shooting glasses with reader lenses. Actually 2 pair, dark lenses and light (maybe yellow) lenses. Anybody recommend either an online or mail-order vendor for the above?
Thanks, Doug T.
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Ditto, but prescription glasses with shatter proof lenses.
I do (now) need prescription glasses. But if I get them.....now what excuse would I have that I missed?
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I was at the range yesterday and realized I needed a good pair of shooting glasses with reader lenses. Actually 2 pair, dark lenses and light (maybe yellow) lenses. Anybody recommend either an online or mail-order vendor for the above?
Thanks, Doug T.
Go see a local optician
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I have a pair of older Ray Ban yellow lens shooting glasses that I use when I shoot my flintlocks and even when I shoot my crossbow. Loading a crossbow at 210# with a hand rope puller cocking device also has chances of eye injury, even if the pull is reduced to 110 #. Ray Ban no longer make this shooting lens and that is a shame because it really increases the definition of objects in the woods. Walmart has a pair of yellow lens glasses for less than $10 that work, although they are not safety glass. At 87+ I don't take chances with my eyesight!
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Until I needed prescription glasses, I used the RayBan yellow shooting glasses, when shooting competition CF rifles. I don't remember what I wore when shooting my smoke poles, maybe the same?
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I now wear glasses while shooting. I have found that wearing cheap low power readers (1.25) lets me see both front and rear sights.
My eyes are weakening as I age and I wear readers (3+power) for most close shop work but the low power readers are my go to for target work.
Kevin
Kevin, Very interested. By wearing 1.25 readers you can see both sights better? That’s something I will need to try. Thanks, Jerry
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.25, .50 and .75 diopter "reading" glasses help. It depends on your close range eyesight.
I bought all three. The 1 diopter glasses I had for the computer years ago, made the target too blurry.
I started with the .25's, then the .5 's, but now the .75's are best, in that both sights are sharpest with the .75's, however, the .25's are still much better than my current glasses. The lower the diopter, the more clearly you will see the target.
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My most comfortable shooting glasses are on the right, a color called "target orange". They appear lighter looking through them. I don't need that tape diopter anymore since cataract surgery last year.
(https://i.ibb.co/SDkvN6qn/diopter.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
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Prescription safety glasses here. Always…
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Nice 200yd. target, reddogge.
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I went my optometrist and had him tweak my prescription until i could see 1/2 inch holes in targets 25 yards away clearly. I always shoot target focused, so my sights always appear moderately blurry, especially since I've started shooting right handed flintlocks as a lefty. The flash doesn't bother me, but if I don't close my right eye, the falling of the hammer in front of that eye causes me to flinch downward as the hammer falls.
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When I had prescription glasses I used them when I shot any gun but after cataract removal I used nothing.Now it's $ store readers with a minimum magnification.I haven't fired a shot with anything for a long time.As long as my wife of 56 years has health issues I won't go to the range which is about 20 miles away and poor cell phone reception.I gave most of my guns to our son and grandson and they are now in Texas.My last muzzle loader was the 58 caliber flint lock and I sold it years ago.Neither of our sons would give a dollar for any muzzle loader ever made unless it could be resold the same day.The youngest son has absolutely no interest in any guns except a hand gun he keeps in his truck.Getting connected to the German black powder shooters saved the lock making and that happened in 1978 and they didn't let the fact I insisted on being paid for the time and labor it takes to make a good quality lock.As many already know,my locks are inspired by the top of the line work of English lock filers but this class of work is almost never seen on American muzzle loaders and the much loved Hawken rifles all had only basic locks used on original rifles.I have one of these simple locks started about 8? years ago but with better materials and workmanship and it is sold to a man on this forum when it's ready to send out.Heavy rain here in the Ohio River Valley and a perfect day for writing and looking back on time long gone.
Bob Roller
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Daryl, I confess, that was a 200 yard target but set at 100 yards and shot with a WW2 Winchester model 75T training rifle with aperture sights. I was trying to get them all in a quarter size. I used to shoot a pre-war Mauser ES340B at 200 with open sights but could only get about a 7" group.
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reddogge - I hear you. That would have been a really good prone 200yd. group.
Scoped at 100????? Metallic s, not so bad afterall. I found most aperture groups same out to 200yds.
I guess that's why my .50 rolling block shot same size groups at 100 meters and 200 meters.
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No, none of my training rifles had scopes, all had aperture sights. The Mausers all had open sights but the rear sight was easily elevated for 200 yard shooting. These were all shot from a rest. I had a Remington 513T which was a better offhand rifle and it would shoot into 3" at 100 offhand.
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Our High School rifle team had CMP Remington Model 513 and Winchester Model 52's.
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There is a series of AI generated videos floating the web with toddlers in the workplace, wearing hard hats and discussing workplace issues. One of my favorites has one of the workers telling the Safety Officer, which I was for 25 years, that it's not that hard to get people to wear PPE. The SO let's the worker take over the meeting to promote wearing safety glasses. The worker steps up and basically says "You need to wear safety glasses because no one wants to get hurt at work. But more importantly, you need to wear safety glasses because you can't hear female mammary glands." Not the word he used obviously. For me wearing glasses while shooting or using tools falls under the Ounce of Prevention category.
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After I had cataract surgery, I can see my sights well enough, not perfectly clear but OK. I like wearing shooting glasses with my flintlock and now need readers so I ordered a pair Vitenzi with readers off Amazon. The readers are OK but the overall lens are not clear glass and distorts my vision enough for the target not to be as clear as it is without my glasses.
This was my second pair, the first was just fine. I was shooting alongside a family at the range; they burned up at least a thousand rounds in an hour or so with nonstop mag dumps out of anything and everything. I even let them shoot my flintlock.
I had a ton of stuff to put the truck in the parking lot, I left my new shooting glasses on the shooting bench as I made repeated trips to the truck. The family left while I was at my truck. When I went back for my glasses and the last load, I found that someone in the family had stolen my shooting glasses on their way out. They projected the image of a bunch of lowlifes but I gave them the benefit of the doubt, my mistake.
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I went to Home Depot yesterday and bought these safety glasses with readers to wear when I shoot, the lens are clear with no distortion, about $10 with my veteran's discount. They have a bifocal window at the bottom with magnification.
(https://i.ibb.co/7dRtDTP4/safety-glasses.jpg) (https://ibb.co/8LdgwRqc)
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I like the safety glasses idea with low magnification, like readers. For me, bifocals are not usable for shooting with a normal head position. I bet the type with the full lens low magnification would work out better.
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I tried my 1.0 reading glasses for shooting, the sights were perfectly clear but the target at 50 yards was still just a bit blurry. After cataract surgery I have 20-30 uncorrected vision in my right eye that blurs the target slightly. 1.0 readers may work just fine for someone with 20-20 vision.
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The focus should be on the front sight and sight alignment. The target being in focus is not important, why? Because an error lining up the front and rear sights causes a much larger bullet impact error than the apparent wobble on the target relative to the front sight.
When I was young, I could quickly shift focus between the sights and the target. That was nice but also not a good habit. Due to aging eyes that is no longer possible for me. It is very frustrating. When I was younger I better than 20:15 vision.
I read about a strategy recently. Scratch an "X" on the back of the front sight. IF you can not see the "X" clearly then you are focusing on the wrong thing.
This situation is why open sights are so inferior to a peep or a scope. With the latter two sight alignment is no longer a problem and you can see the target clearly.
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Three-four years ago I left off my shooting glasses to take a last shot with a Civil War Smith carbine. Regretted for weeks that I did.
(https://i.ibb.co/0VBSYkP7/asmi.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
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You can order, quite inexpensively, .25, .50 and .75 diopter glasses sold as "readers and or " computer" glasses.
Those all work for me to see the sights better AND the target.
With the .75's, both of the sights are sharp and clear. The target just a bit fuzzy. I found the 1.0 diopter readers to be too strong as the target becomes too blurry and indistinct.