Why don't PRS guys wear Safety Glasses ?

[miningshawn]

I shoot PRS, and I wear safety glasses - except when I don't. This statement is a broad, gaslighting generalization that I believe is only meant to stir up controversy.

When you are twenty feet back from your firing position and carrying:
- a loaded weapon
- a shooting bag
- an unextended bipod
- an extra magazine
- whatever else

and you are focused on putting ten shots on target 100-1200 yards away after cramming yourself into an awkward position, sometimes you FORGET to drop the shades on the way in. Saying that "PRS shooters don't wear safety glasses" is akin to saying "All BR guys are fat and too lazy to walk". We are as safe as we can be, and glasses are required in our discipline at every match I have ever attended.

If the match organizer requires that lack of safety gear and PPE is a disqualifying offense I guarantee that they would be forgotten less.

 

[Erud]

Re Jeff PPC:

Quote: "We make our own decisions accepting the rewards or consequences, our choice."

Yes, it may be the individual's choice, but the consequences are not just to the individual.

If there is a serious injury, public resources will likely be called (EMT, ambulance) and public facilities may be used (ER, Hospital).

If there is a serious injury, the range may be closed, temporarily, or for a day, or even longer while the incident is investigated. This clearly impacts others negatively.

If there is a lasting injury, the injured party may not be able to work again (in the same job), creating a demand for public income support and/or continuing health care funding. So the decision not to wear safety protection may create a burden on the community.

If the person suffers a serious injury this could impact those family members for whom the injured party has provided support and guidance. Do you want to be a blind father to your son or daughter?

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I will say this, anyone who has shot pistols knows that you are an IDIOT if you don't wear eye protection with handguns. With a semi-auto, even if there is not an actual accident, it is not uncommon to get a spent cartridge in the face, or get a ricochet if shooting steel.

And if you shoot a semi-auto shotgun or semi-auto rifle, it is crazy not to wear eye protection. You WILL have smoke and particles coming out of the ejection port just inches away from your eyes. Even if the port is on the “far side”, your eyes are right on the centerline. There is a reason Eye Protection is mandatory for Sporting Clays and Skeet comps.

Even with a bolt-gun on the bench, all it will take is one defective primer or overcharge to cause a problem. That primer could be defective and it is very, very unlikely you could see anything wrong with it even if you inspect it carefully and weigh it before seating (and how many people actually do that with every single primer they seat).

Do you apply this logic to all other areas of life, or just shooting? Do you smoke or drink? Do you eat only healthy foods, maintain a healthy weight, and exercise regularly? Do you always wear a seatbelt while driving a car, and do you always keep your speed below 40mph? Do you always wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle? Do you wear a helmet while driving or riding in a car? Why not? All it will take is one careless driver on their cell phone rear-ending you at a stop light, and you are on your way to the emergency room with a traumatic brain injury. Countless head injuries could be prevented or lessened if everyone wore helmets in cars, resulting in much less impact on crash victims, their families, and community resources.

I started shooting competitively in 2007, and have shot at least 40 days of matches each year since 2008, plus countless days at the range for practice, etc. That's well over 500 days of matches total, and I’ve never experienced or witnessed a single shooting-related eye injury. I did however watch a guy drop a cinder block on his foot in the pits at a leg match once. Mandatory steel-toed boots for all match attendees would have prevented the injury he suffered.

 

[Tommie]

Well this turned into a pissing match. Never saw it coming.

 

[flintcreek6412]

I'm lucky I wear corrective lenses because I'm too stubborn to wear safety glasses. I've had nails from framing guns hit knots or metal twice in my life. One hit my lens so hard it knocked it out of the frame and blackened my eye. The other bloodied the bridge of my nose. Without glasses I'd likely be missing an eye.
While fogging up is an issue at times, these and several other incidents are why I don't get contacts because without glasses I'd probably be blind. I've also had an arrow blow up from a cam failure that put slivers of carbon in my eye and had metal shavings in my eyes also. Metal was easy with a magnet at the doctor. Carbon arrow took some weird little dremel tool to cut it out....that was serious unnerving to have someone drilling on my eye trying not to move. I've been lucky.

But if someone doesn't want to wear them because it's their God given American right....so be it. Since we already bail out bad financial decisions, bad health decisions, bad education decisions and bad work ethics why not bad safety decisions. Bad decisions created all the democrats we already have so what are a few more converts once they become disabled.

 

[Rule 243]

Do you apply this logic to all other areas of life, or just shooting? Do you smoke or drink? Do you eat only healthy foods, maintain a healthy weight, and exercise regularly? Do you always wear a seatbelt while driving a car, and do you always keep your speed below 40mph? Do you always wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle? Do you wear a helmet while driving or riding in a car? Why not? All it will take is one careless driver on their cell phone rear-ending you at a stop light, and you are on your way to the emergency room with a traumatic brain injury. Countless head injuries could be prevented or lessened if everyone wore helmets in cars, resulting in much less impact on crash victims, their families, and community resources.

I started shooting competitively in 2007, and have shot at least 40 days of matches each year since 2008, plus countless days at the range for practice, etc. That's well over 500 days of matches total, and I’ve never experienced or witnessed a single shooting-related eye injury. I did however watch a guy drop a cinder block on his foot in the pits at a leg match once. Mandatory steel-toed boots for all match attendees would have prevented the injury he suffered.

My thoughts exactly, I'll go on record saying I'm not going to be judgemental of what anyone does.
I don't talk or text on my cell phone while driving.
I don't partake in alcohol or drugs driving or otherwise.
I sometimes wear a helmet while riding my Harley but most of the time not.
I don't wear hearing protection while shooting rifles except when other shooters are in close proximity to me.
I don't wear shooting glasses except when shooting handguns or required to during competition which I no longer do.
I don't wear seat belts while driving my truck as a matter of fact I licensed it for 18000 pounds so I legally wouldn't have to.
To each his own.
The point is it's not for me to tell anyone what they should do.

Best regards to all.

 

[Fuj]

NRA has already made the rule change - all competitive shooters shall wear safety eye wear in NRA Sanctioned events and competitions. As of early this year.

Having rules is fine. The enforcement is the problem. I am a retired
CRO within IPSC and the mother ship in the states is USPSA. You walk
on my range, you better be wearing safety gear. I would travel to other
clubs for match's where there was no enforcement from the RO's

Now the comment about seat belts ?? In 68 years of walking this
earth, I have been in 2 major accidents where If I had worn my belts
I would have died. Even though it's mandated in Pa. to wear them,
I generally will not.

Now as for rifle matches ?? Never could coordinate the scopes lens
with the glasses being worn, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

 

[ballisticxlr]

Why would I spend three thousand bucks on a scope with epic optics and then put 100 dollars worth of (relatively speaking) garbage polycarbonate between me and that glass?

Don't load stupid and it's not an issue. This guy or that guy that did pop a case open had to do something really properly dumb for it to happen. Somewhere they violated their own procedures. Don't create procedures or habits that will allow such mistakes.

I wear my glasses and dip them below my field of view through the scope. Sometimes they'll become a problem and get in the way and then I rip them off and toss them on the ground away from me. I'm not wearing them for eye protection, I'm wearing them to see out of during all of the moments that I'm not looking through my scope. That said, I get the benefit of eye protection for as long as I can tolerate them. On super hot days all they do is fog and get caked up with dust so on super hot days I will often just take them off to begin with.

People making a big deal and talking about supporting other people's life choices seem to making mountains out of largely fallacious mole hills and should probably focus on themselves and their own argumentative skills a little more.
-----------------
Forum Boss offers some points:

"Don't load stupid and it's not an issue."
-- Unless you shoot factory ammo sometimes. Just one bad factory round and you can have a problem. That is what happed to my with a 9mm with big name ammo. Thankfully I had eye protection.

"Don't create... habits that allow mistakes."
-- To Err is human. It has happened to everyone. AND you can't eliminate all risks if you have a bad primer.
-- It's not all about YOUR habits. You can be injured because of the ammo used by guy shooting next to you.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Public schools(and lawyers) have made this country all about risk. Convincing individuals that risk can be eliminated, the only way to eliminate risk firing a gun is to not shoot it. Last year's politicizing of COVID (by democrat governors)is the biggest risk assessment scam ever played on American citizens. Another example, legalizing marijuana(supporters claim no public risk), why do insurance(auto and health) costs increase if there isn't risk associated with it's use? Global warming another risk scam to solicit money, "we are risking the destruction of the world(in 10 years) if we don't become carbon neutral".

 

[Rob01]

I wear glasses to see so it makes it easy to wear them. LOL I agree with the generalization of the sport as some people wear eyes and some don't. Personal preference.

 

[INTJ]

I am not an F class guy but I am shooter. First off load properly and know what your loads do in hot temps. Quit trying to get an extra5 fps. It's my business and responsibility to decide if I wear safety glasses. Don't "big brother me". I am already over run with that from all divisions of the govt. We are adults we can decide what risks we are willing to incur. I have much more fear traveling on the highways to a shoot than having the type of accident your talking about. You decide what makes you feel safe and I will decide for myself what I need to do. Get your mommy state mentality out of our sport.

The problem with rants like this, and I have made them too so I am not throwing stones--is that it misses a fundamental part. With personal freedom comes personal responsibility. Most of what the government does is indeed poorly executed, but there isn't much equivalence between government overreach and personal responsibility.

And just because the government or a sanctioning organization or a group of people want you to do something doesn't always mean it's an oppressive restriction on personal freedom.

No one should have to tell anyone to use eye and ear protection, or wear a seatbelt, or wear a helmet, etc. Everyone should do those things because they are smart and responsible things to do regardless if it's in someone's rule book or not.

 

[mike mccormick]

Well, my opinion, for what little it is worth, is that regardless of concern for your own safety, think of the other possible consequences. There are a lot of good people who worked very hard to establish and maintain the range you are visiting. Should something terrible befall you, there are lots of lawyers who WILL persuade your family,and thereby pressure you into legal recourse against the club. Do not jeapordize the club by being hard headed, and short sighted.

 

[KY_Windage]

I am not an F class guy but I am shooter. First off load properly and know what your loads do in hot temps. Quit trying to get an extra5 fps. It's my business and responsibility to decide if I wear safety glasses. Don't "big brother me". I am already over run with that from all divisions of the govt. We are adults we can decide what risks we are willing to incur. I have much more fear traveling on the highways to a shoot than having the type of accident your talking about. You decide what makes you feel safe and I will decide for myself what I need to do. Get your mommy state mentality out of our sport.

No one is telling you what you have to do, we are simply expressing our opinions that only fools and the very, very ignorant shoot without eye protection.

I have to run the risk of the highway drive to get to a range, I do not have take the risk of shooting without eye protection. In fact, there is no reason at all to shoot without eye protection. Good polycarb lenses do not impair the view through my NF scopes at all. OTOH, any eyeglasses can be a problem with some spotting scopes, but I'm not worried about a spotting scope blowing up.

It is all about risk/benefit analysis, and having enough brains to do it.

What really bugs me is when I see an adult, usually a father, bring a child to the range and have them shoot without eye protection.

 

[Forum Boss]

Answering one question posed above by Palma Alliance:

Yes I do wear a helmet every time I ride my motorcycle.

If I did not, I would have died 30 years ago when I crashed due to an RV coming into my lane. Even with the full-face Arai helmet, I sustained a concussion and lost consciousness for 4 hours, suffering significant memory issues for many months thereafter. The Doctors said the crash G-Force was equivalent to falling head-first 14 feet onto hard ground.

Without the helmet, I would have died, and this Forum would not exist. In addition, my mother might have died many years before she did (because I directed her care during stage 4 cancer, and interceded with Doctors -- ensuring special measures -- during two other life-threatening health crises). BTW the Doctors gave her 6-12 mos. after the cancer diagnosis. She lived 17 more years.

As for another statement: "I don't wear hearing protection while shooting rifles except when other shooters are in close proximity to me."

^^ This is insane. The poster, Rule243, is either a Troll or an idiot.

He is also now a FORMER member of this Forum.

I refuse to provide a platform, at my expense, to advocate idiotic conduct that will cause harm if people emulate it.

 

[Rob01]

Yeah not wearing ears is just stupid. This comes from someone with tinnitus from the Marine Corps. I wear double ears now to protect my hearing. Only time I don’t is with the .22LR and then only one set. With the advancements in electronic hearing there is no reason not to wear them.

 

[3Ackleys]

Our range eye protection is mandatory for everyone, whether you are shooting or not. You sign the application every year agreeing to abide by all range rules. If you don't you will need to shoot elsewhere.

 

[Thud]

The real reason is that many of the PRS shooters are young and [arguably thoughtless].

Just like when I was working, I could spend my whole day enforcing safety rules. I stopped enforcing the Safety Rules. I just fired a few people on the spot and that stopped it.
Just DQ the offending shooters, that will stop stuff.

Stop trying to justify safety just enforce the rules and don't argue it will soon stop.

 

[miningshawn]

The real reason is that most of the PRS shooters are young and STUPID.

And we wonder why the sport is losing membership... Maybe young and INEXPERIENCED.

 

[Rob01]

And we wonder why the sport is losing membership... Maybe young and INEXPERIENCED.

Losing? Sport has been growing for years and continues to. The “PRS” is not the sport. The sport was around well before the PRS.

And that generalization is not only insulting but wrong.

 

[D-4297]

For fifty-seven years ; I did not wear a Helmet when riding , except in states where it had become mandatory . The helmet issue is a double-edged sword , and just as vociferously argued among riders , as this thread is becoming . I can no longer ride due to having way to much fun throughout my life , but I never go to the line without glasses on .

Why , you ask ? Simple . After you shoot your next string and come off the line , clean your glasses with one of the white disposable wipes . I did , and that was all I needed to convince myself I NEEDED to wear some form of eye protection for my eyes. Just the powder / carbon blow-back made a mess out of the wipe , and it took four wipes to get all the smears off the lenses .

Protect your eyes ..... After all , they only issue TWO !

 

[Forum Boss]

I think this is a good point to stop the debate.

FWIW, the fellow in the PRS video contacted me this morning and said that he normally does wear eye protection.