Shooting Glasses

Posted On: 01-26-2024

I watch youth shooters, adults and even myself trying to shoot with normal glasses and readily begin to understand how difficult it is seeing a target.  While our normal posture holds our head upright, in shooting we are forced to push our head down and look over the top of our glasses.  Two things are happening, first the frame is obscuring and interfering with our line of sight and second as I mentioned our vision is compromised. 

This article is however not just about those with vision impairment, but also for those that only wear non-prescription safety glasses.   For everyone shooting glasses are a huge help in our performance.  If one could add one or two broken targets to their scores and improve upon those, the benefit of wearing glasses is realized.

Start with the color.  I ask this question to kids all the time and that is, “what color do I wear today?”  Here are some scenarios and really the basics as there are many more colors available:

Cloudy – Orange, is the best choice here providing clarity and sharpening your focus and helping with tired eyes.

Sunny – Grey, is great for sunny days.  This color helps with contrast and depth.

Hazy – Yellow – low visibility, late in the day, overcast, and increased contrast.

General all around – Purple is your best choice for any type of light condition.  It helps dull a green background when shooting.

I highly recommend to all shooters that you abandon those stylistic hip glasses that everyone wears and opt for a pair of shooting glasses with changeable lens.  I realize there is some costs so here are some products. 

Wiley X – they have a large selection, and most have at least three lenses in the package.  You can buy more.

Walkers Game Ear – This company has individual glasses in different colors at very low prices.

Sight – Lot so choices here at a slightly higher price.  Multiple lens kits are available.

Edge Eye Wear – Again lots of variety and reasonable prices.

Amazon – What can I say but tons of choices.

Consider some shooting glasses and enjoy how much better you will see and hopefully shoot.  If you do not wear glasses, you have the option of multiple pairs of shooting glasses so try them all on and see for yourself.  If you wear prescription glasses of course there is more cost in getting one pair of glasses that works.  Pick the purple lens and let that be your go to for all around shooting. 

As one more thought, ask your optician why you wear glasses.  It is possible your vision is fully capable of seeing targets between 16 yards and 40 yards and you may not need glasses to shoot.  I have worn glasses for at least 40 years and find I can shoot just fine without my glasses.  I am astigmatic so be sure to ask if trying to shoot without prescription glasses is possible, but of course with safety glasses. 

David R. Vaught, Ph.D.

Executive Director