Why do you use shooting glasses?
Shooting glasses are used in competitive (range) shooting. Firstly, to make up for eye defects such as ametropia in the dominant eye, by placing a prescription lens in a lens holder. By doing that, sight advantages are on the same level for everyone. In sporting terms, of course, this is a very good thing. While using magnification in sport shooting often isn’t allowed, shooting glasses nevertheless can offer many advantages, besides making up for eye defects. And in precision sports, every little bit can count.
Even when your eyes are perfect, wearing shooting glasses can help you getting the best out of your aim. So secondly, shooting glasses are used amass, for placing a suitable lens in front of your dominant eye, with which you can shift the focus. Even for a healthy eye in resting position, that focus lies in the distance and by using a lens, you shift the focus towards the front sight of your gun. By doing that, you prevent your eye from straining, making for a better aim. When going to a shooting range, you’ll see that all shooters will make use of shooting glasses to prevent eye strain, even those with 20-20 vision.
What do shooting glasses offer?
We’ve already mentioned the lens that is used most of the time, but there are many other accessories that are used on shooting glasses. Often, this will be the iris shutter; an adjustable diaphragm that is placed in front of the lens. By letting your eye peep through the tiny hole, the depth of field is enhanced. Not just the front sight, but also the rear sight and target will appear more in focus.
Besides the lens and iris shutter, a filter for your dominant eye is also often used. This is done by placing the filter in a clip-on holder onto the lens. Depending on the light conditions, a chosen filter will enhance the contrast. Yellow, for example, will create more contrast when light is low, while orange is best when the light is bright. Purple will enhance the contrast of dark parts, like your sights and the black of the target, et cetera.
To prevent eye strain and fatigue, it’s best to keep both eyes open when aiming. For this, an eye shade can be attached to the shooting glasses. It’s a small cover disk or flap, that is placed in front of the non-dominant eye. Making it quite comfortable to keep both eyes open, while focussing with your dominant eye.
Other accessories that can be attached to the shooting glasses are sun shields and side protectors to keep light and glare away from your eyes, while the latter also prevent you from being distracted from things happening around you. This lets you keep your focus both literary and figuratively on the target.
Buying shooting glasses
The nice thing about shooting glasses, is the fact that they can be tailor made. The frame with temples, adjustable nose pads and a lens holder form the base. We’ve got these for pistol shooters and for rifle shooters, but -depending on your shooting position and personal preference- they can be interchanged. If you want, temples with a different length are available.
The lens holder (also known as the glass holder) is available in two sizes: 37 and 23 mm, with the former suitable for pistol shooting and the latter perfect for rifle shooting. Any good optician can make a prescription lens when you bring this lens holder. With that, you’ve got the perfect shooting glasses (well, glass…) to match your dominant eye.
If you prefer, you can buy a matching iris shutter, we’ve got these too in 37 and 23 mm. Both lens and iris shutter can be aligned with the sights on your gun by using a simple centering device that can be clicked into place.
All parts of the shooting glasses are separately available and, of course, our experts will gladly help you out with setting up the shooting glasses perfectly for your needs.