Paintball Safety Glasses

[Miscue]

I've been shot a few times in safe areas more times than I'd like. What I'd love to see is a safety glasses requirement off the field. You could have Oakley looking wrap-arounds or whatever, and make sure they can withstand a paintball. Maybe stuff like this would not happen as much: http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=159758 I would be tickled if the ASTM/insurance required it. Even if it's not a requirement, I would wear it. Although they aren't safety glasses, I keep my sunglasses on - figure it's better than nothing.

[JoshK]

ya....i dont think thats too bad of a idea...but i would hate if you had to buy them...and i wouldnt want to wear a field's if they supplied them, because after awile they would be ery scratched, and I wouldnt be able to work on my gun(if i have to) as efficiently.

[Miscue]

ya....i dont think thats too bad of a idea...but i would hate if you had to buy them...and i wouldnt want to wear a field's if they supplied them, because after awile they would be ery scratched, and I wouldnt be able to work on my gun(if i have to) as efficiently.

Yeah, unfortunately safety is an inconvenience. I figure that regular wrap-around glasses are good enough, but I'd like something better.

Hurm, I wonder if there are Oakley type glasses for firearms - that should do it.

[BD_Paintball]

or they can inforce the rules batter. if you didnt have stupid kids messing with there guns outside the field i dont think they would have a problem. if you see someone with a barrel plug off in the holding area then kick them out and dont ever let them come back. there will always be stupid ppl playing paintball just like the kids who shoot houses and ppl walking down the road. if the owners of fields would be more strict then the problems would go down. if ppl who play at the feild would yell at the stupid kids taking there plugs out then they wont want to come back any more b/c they got yelled at. this would get two things done. show the rest of the people playing that you can not take your plug out for any reason and you will get rid of all the kids who like to break these rules.

[ubooze]

Well, thats a REALLY good idea Miscue. It won't be able to make sure there is not damage at all, but it will provide a decent amount of protection and coverage.

I think thats something fields ought to encourage, but not so much enforce.

Well, here (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/common/search/search-results1.jhtml?hasJS=true&_D%3AhasJS=+&QueryText=shooting+glasses&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jhtml.22&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=shooting+glasses&noImage=0) are some of your choices in terms of shooting glasses.

Also, some of the Wiley-X line-up thats supposed to be high velocity protection (HVP).

Modular (http://www.wileyx.com/hvpModular.php) Classic (http://www.wileyx.com/hvpClassic.php)
Interchangable (http://www.wileyx.com/hvpInter.php)

[Blennidae]

I think BD_Paintball hit the nail on the head. Its about enforcing the rules. People walking off the field would have to remove their goggles and put on their glasses. If they can't remember to put on a BBD of some type, can they be expected to do this?

[Miscue]

Well, thats a REALLY good idea Miscue. It won't be able to make sure there is not damage at all, but it will provide a decent amount of protection and coverage.

I think thats something fields ought to encourage, but not so much enforce.

Well, here (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/common/search/search-results1.jhtml?hasJS=true&_D%3AhasJS=+&QueryText=shooting+glasses&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jhtml.22&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=shooting+glasses&noImage=0) are some of your choices in terms of shooting glasses.

Also, some of the Wiley-X line-up thats supposed to be high velocity protection (HVP).

Modular (http://www.wileyx.com/hvpModular.php) Classic (http://www.wileyx.com/hvpClassic.php)
Interchangable (http://www.wileyx.com/hvpInter.php)

I wish they'd make stuff like this with safety lenses... cuz those firearms glasses don't look so great.

<img src="http://oakley.com/media/dynamic/product/sunglasses/ducati/minute_silver_black_iridium.png/enlarge_one.jpg">

[Beemer]

So ask me why I have 3 pair of Oakleys. 1 for driving 1 for skiing and 1 for the stageing area

Unless you have a good seal around the eye like gogs you are still at risk because the ball can get under the lens, but like you said its better then nothing. There has been times I just put the gogs back on.

What we really need is safety classes or something like a Foid card, so people will be safe with out all the bandaids.

How many people really make there gun safe when they leave the hot zone???????
Empty breech, turn off air put on safety, put on cover.

I bet 9 out of 10 only get 1 of those and just a cover dont cut it. Pretty dangerous huh

After .Gov has to step in things will change

People just dont get it untill tragedy strikes.


Oh ya the ASTM paintball subcommittee is meeting this month in DC
They cant follow the gun standards they have now, so where does that leave us?

[Target Practice]

Personally, I wear my wrap-arounds (which are prescription) when I'm working out at the field. If we have a group of new or young players, I just keep my mask on. Oddly enough, it's the stupid local tourney kids who are the ones that dick around and create the most potential for accidents.

[TMAXXKING1]

all guns should have quick disconnects that have tanks . without a standerd screw in... and the line should not be conected until the person with the marker goes onto the feild ... if it is a standerd screw in tank the tank should not be on the marker if it is not on the feild .... just an idea ..

and i think it should be a standerd practice ... in every feild

that would be a cheap way out also ... no gear for the people to buy other then a maybe 10 buck part if the own a fixed tank that wont com off the marker ...

[slade]

how about... people just arent idiots?? 3 levels of safety is enough: barrel condom, safety or switch, and not pointing the gun at people with your finger on the trigger. i do all three, and have never fired a shot outside of the field or chrono. refs also need to inspect the barrel condoms on the rentals, because that accident happened because the kid only used 1 of those three levels, and the condom was defective. at first i thought that wearing glasses off field was a pretty good idea, but there is the problem that will occur if it becomes widespread. kids will start thinking that if it is good enough to protect your eyes from a paintball off field, then it should be on field. they may start playing with just glasses instead of masks.

[shatter_storm]

Why not just make a requirement to degas your marker when not on the field? Markers without air can't shoot, it'll provide an additional level of safety beyond what a barrel condom/plug can. I'm sure someone can come up with a twist-knob adapter for air lines that can stop the flow of air. Put them on rentals and require people to turn the marker off then clear the valve/lines/breech before putting barrel condoms/plugs in.

Of course, both ideas presented would be nice, but no field owner will ever follow them. They simply cost too much - another fitting to buy for each rental marker, another thing to go wrong when they break. Glasses have their own set of problems - they cost money, get in the way for those of us that wear glasses on the field, and they probably don't provide enough protection to make them worthwhile in the first place.


What really needs to happen is to have people start treating paintball markers like firearms. Unless they're in pieces, always treat them as if they were loaded. Never touch the trigger for any reason, always have the safety on, always turn off electros, etc. It won't happen since people don't care that much about safety, but it would be nice.

[LeatherPants]

What I thinkg fields should start doing is making On/Offs mandatory. Besides a barrel sock all markers must degas before exiting the fields.

No air no balls flying. But again it must be enforced and air must be completely out of the marker.

[Tyger]

When the NPPL went to barrel socks only, a lot of players didn't HAVE them. So they were allowed to removet eh barrel from their paintgun. Problem is that I can still launch a paintball from the gun without a barrel. If you requuire I remove the tank, I might still have air in the system depending on the paintgun. Not to mention the players who won't want to remove the tank after EVERY game. And if you make on/off valves manditory, be prepared to shell out money to make my gun legal. I don't OWN an on-off valve for my HPA tanks. And what abot my stock class Phantom? There's no on/off for a 12 gram!

Making people use specific gear is not the answer. The answer is knowledge. We as a community need to admit outright that paintball is a DANGEROUS sport! This isn't baseball people, we're launching a DANGEROUS projectile at each other. The gear we use keeps us safe, but too many players don't even care for their gear enough to handle it as if it were dangerous. (X-reference people throwing guns / air tanks on the ground, lighting each other up from 5 feet away....)

Education in an answer. Either that or we need a larger body to drop a train on our heads to make all the players painfully aware of how dangerous the game really can be. I don't have much faith in our ability to self regulate. So far it's worked when we had a small "society" of players. Now that the explosion is upon us... If you can't go to a field and rattle off everyone's name, you can't self-regulate your field (if you get what I mean).

-Tyger

[WenULiVeUdiE]

Part of the problem is field owners dont have the money to repair tattered netting and other saftey problems. And I'm sure they dont have the money to buy a few hundred pairs of saftey googles. One more thing, kids will start wearing them while playing. It would be almost as bad as when paintball started. So when a kid gets shot in the face with only the googles on, there's a big problem.

I think it would be great to see. But we shouldnt even need them. If everyone took the correct precations in the staging area, we wouldnt need all this fuss. I'm not sure about most of you, but when I see a saftey problem, I let the field owner or ref or player know.

Edit- Another saftey problem is the lay out of some outdoor fields. The one I have been going to lately, our car has been hit by stray paintballs, and the nearest field is 100-125 feet away. Plus, it must go over netting. That also presents a problem.

[soccer4minimags]

I agree with whats stated above, people should just become more aware of safe handeling of markers.

As mentioned earlier about the oakleys, they meet pretty high safety standards. Look here at the specifications. http://oakley.com/technology/impact_protection/

[Vanced]

Miscue,

I agree I have seen some pretty bad things happen in my many years of playing... and I know what you mean I have sensitive eyes and have a pair of coated maui jim's on every time I am outside during daylight...

I also I work as an engineer with phnematics everyday so I live in safety glasses and wear a pair of all clear wrap arounds ...

I know oakley makes a style similar to the ones you pictured with a clear lens but I don't know if they are safety rated...

Here are two Oakley's I know that are... but I didn't search hard...

Oakley Shooting M-Frame (http://www.technical-gear.com/sunglasses/by_brand/oakley/sports/mframe_shooting.htm)

Shooting Pro M-Frame (http://www.technical-gear.com/sunglasses/by_brand/oakley/sports/pro_mframe_shooting.htm)

Also I know home depot and lowes have similar styles from time to time... I often buy them their because I am constantly scraching to damanging them...

Quick Home Depot Search & I know this is just a sample of what they have at the store (http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc%2fsearchResults.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@0981812763.1101679881@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdgadddejghjfecgelceffdfgidglm.0&MID=9876)


Another idea I have done once, spent good money and left them somewhere on a shop tour, is to go to a a lens crafters, wal-mart vision, peral vision, etc... and have what ever pair of frames you want fitted with saftey glass/acrylic ...

Hope that is a usefull bit of advice...

[Miscue]

Education as "the answer," makes me think of DARE, STDs, and unplanned pregnancy. It will help, but it won't cure.

The most effective safety measures, are forced.

[Miscue]

Part of the problem is field owners dont have the money to repair tattered netting and other saftey problems. And I'm sure they dont have the money to buy a few hundred pairs of saftey googles. One more thing, kids will start wearing them while playing. It would be almost as bad as when paintball started. So when a kid gets shot in the face with only the googles on, there's a big problem.

I think it would be great to see. But we shouldnt even need them. If everyone took the correct precations in the staging area, we wouldnt need all this fuss. I'm not sure about most of you, but when I see a saftey problem, I let the field owner or ref or player know.

Edit- Another saftey problem is the lay out of some outdoor fields. The one I have been going to lately, our car has been hit by stray paintballs, and the nearest field is 100-125 feet away. Plus, it must go over netting. That also presents a problem.

Not to mention, that most field owners don't have a clue.

[shatter_storm]

And that's why I only play at my home field - the owner knows how dangerous paintball is, knows that it's his responsibility if someone gets hurt, and takes every precaution possible to keep bad things from happening.
It makes things tricky when my friends and I travel to other fields - just last week we went down to a big game event that was so poorly ran we asked for our money back and left. When people can lift masks/remove masks in the middle of the field, when there's improper netting and distance between prep areas and live areas, when dryfiring is permitted in prep areas, people can get hurt.

Half of the problem is the fields, they need to pull their heads out of their asses and get staff that can see problems and enforce rules. The other half of the problem is the players - idiots need to know safety rules and they need to learn to obey them.

[GT]

ASTM is a joke
All they do is SELL standards, thats it. the only reason "we" consumers grove on ASTM is for safety stuff, eye protection, helmts, etc....

I wear safety glasses when "air smithing." I sent an on/off pin flying and decided right then that it was time to don the glasses. 'scue I think best bet is to wear some sunglasses. I usually keep my mask on in the staging areas unless I am talking to someone.

[Tyger]

Umm... Just FYI...

SAFETY GLASSES WILL NOT STOP A PAINTBALL!!!!!

The only way you can be 100% SURE of a paintball not entering your eyeball is to wear paintball approved goggles at all times. Safety glasses will NOT work, and they serve only to give YOU a sense of security.

Wanna have fun? Take a pair of safety glasses / sunglasses, put them on a manequin, and shoot the thing on the cheekbone. Now see how much shell and splash goes into the eye cavity. For more fun hit the lens and see if it'll take that abuse too.

The premise is flawed that you can be "Safe" in the staging area with sunglasses / safety glasses on. The cloth reenforced barrel sock is a good solution to preventing a ball from exiting the barrel, but it's not foolproof. I have to trust the owner of the device to maintain it at the least, or throw it away and get a NEW one if it's worn out.

You want a more effective method of being safe? Ok, you get to the field, you CHECK YOUR PAINTGUN behind the netting, and leave it there. You want to do tech work? Goggles on, you go to the other side of the netting. And when you're done, you remove the air source, the barrel, pull the trigger 3 times to completely de-gas the system, then bring it around to your car in a bag / box of some kind. Nobody will be willing to DO That, but that's the only way I can see.

We played in safety glasses and sunglasses in the 80's. There's a reason we don't do that anymore.

(Sorry to be rude here, but you're all talking about doing something that will NOT protect you, but will do worse. It'll make you feel like you're safe, so you might take risks you normally would not.)

-Tyger

[penguinpunk555]

I say we just poke everyones eyes out. Problem solved.

[dynastyfan]

i'm with tyger we need to educate people on how to properly handle their guns, and if i am required to have a certian item to play at a commercial field then they can either buy it for me or i will play outlaw. Because i barely have enough money as it is to play and then if i'm forced to shell out another set amount of money for some piece of manditory saftey equipment to be able tp play i would be pissed. I too have been shot in the staging area and it made me mad,and it was by a little kid who rented his gun and that tells me that he didnt pay attention to the orrientation that we had to go through so that says educate them more.

[slade]

I say we just poke everyones eyes out. Problem solved.
good, we'll start with you.


and Tyger, what he is proposing is that safety glasses are mandatory at all fields, in which case they will have to be rated and proven effective.

[Tyger]

and Tyger, what he is proposing is that safety glasses are mandatory at all fields, in which case they will have to be rated and proven effective.

But they won't actually DO anything to help! That's why we wear goggles when we play. If we could wear safety glasses and be protected by a paintball, we'd do that. Safety glasses do not seal 100% around the eyes to protect from splash or shell. If anything else, it will promote reckless behavior from players who assume that the person wearing safety glasses won't be hurt if they do something stupid.

It's a lot easier to use the teeth in the rules and say "If you take the sock off the gun in the staging area, you're done for the day." It's also easier to instruct the refs to visually inspect the socks they see on player's equipment when they go out to play. If thye're not already looking for goggles and BBD's, they need to be told this.

And why don't I call them "barrel condoms"? I have a hard time looking at a 12 year old and keeping a straight face as I tell them to put their condom on.

-Tyger

[frop]

When the NPPL went to barrel socks only, a lot of players didn't HAVE them. So they were allowed to removet eh barrel from their paintgun. Problem is that I can still launch a paintball from the gun without a barrel. If you requuire I remove the tank, I might still have air in the system depending on the paintgun. Not to mention the players who won't want to remove the tank after EVERY game. And if you make on/off valves manditory, be prepared to shell out money to make my gun legal. I don't OWN an on-off valve for my HPA tanks. And what abot my stock class Phantom? There's no on/off for a 12 gram!

Making people use specific gear is not the answer. The answer is knowledge. We as a community need to admit outright that paintball is a DANGEROUS sport! This isn't baseball people, we're launching a DANGEROUS projectile at each other. The gear we use keeps us safe, but too many players don't even care for their gear enough to handle it as if it were dangerous. (X-reference people throwing guns / air tanks on the ground, lighting each other up from 5 feet away....)

Education in an answer. Either that or we need a larger body to drop a train on our heads to make all the players painfully aware of how dangerous the game really can be. I don't have much faith in our ability to self regulate. So far it's worked when we had a small "society" of players. Now that the explosion is upon us... If you can't go to a field and rattle off everyone's name, you can't self-regulate your field (if you get what I mean).

-Tyger

A test pilot once said: "What we do is not inherently dangerous, it is inherently hazardous." I believe this applies to paintball, as well as a number of other things. When effective safety practice is followed, the risk is so low, as to be negligible. But, when it all too often happens that such practices aren't followed, then it becomes dangerous. It's been said before, the practices are there, they need to be enforced. Maybe make evryone to a quick quiz after the orientation?

I did an unintentional experiment with the 'getting speared' deal. The barrel kept my swab inside, but when i shot it directly from the breech, it made a meaner dent in the drywall than an actual paintball! I can only imagine your pain....

[Vanced]

Ok... I Agree with the general sentiment around here... Safety at the field can always stand improvement and currently at most fields their is a LOT of room for it... Education and proper enforcement of plug/condom and mask rules is the best route to take...

With that said...

Tyger is right... Safety glasses are not full and proper protection against paintballs... I know as well the first games I played with my spatmaster were wearing shop goggles... why we don't wear them still is something we do not need to go into .... that is why while playing we wear our masks

BUT: we have to agree odds of being shot while in a WELL RAN staging area (( Although definatly there)) are realtively low... The odds of being Shot in the head ... even lower ... The odds of acidently being shot in the eye... you see my point there in having to live in full mask while at the field...

And with that taken into consideration... Safety glasses serve a purpose... a GOOD pair of safety or shooting glasses WILL stop the brunt of a paintball ... They even have safety lens that will stop shotgun shot at range. NO... It won't stop all shell, splatter, etc... BOTTOM LINE IS In case of an accident Safety Glasses most certainly would/could be the differnce in saving your eye...

So wearing a pair by choice may be a good idea...

I doubt it will promote more horseplay or antices because the problems arise not from the average player... but from a "FEW" ... and we all know or have seen the type... and I hate to admit it but the world is full of stupid people... and I highly doubt as much as I like it if there weren't but there will typically be a "FEW" of thoose at the field every time you go to open play... that no matter how many rules or how much education you put it place it will be a lost cause.

That is just my two worthless virtual 2 cents...

[frop]

Th ever-continuing idiot-proofing of society is putting the brakes on Darwin :( A shame I say.