June 13th, 2022
Sherri Jo Gallagher is the second woman to win the NRA High Power National Championship. She practices eye protection at Camp Perry. Sherri’s mother Nancy Tompkins was the first lady HP Champion. A Bulletin article on Protective Eyewear was answered by a Canadian reader. His account highlights the importance of eye protection when shooting, regardless of what firearm you use — even air rifles. We hope that all of our readers will take this to heart. We see too many shooters at rifle matches, even top competitors, putting their eyes at risk by not wearing eye protection. The 2020 CMP Highpower Rifle and Pistol and CMP Games Rulebooks contain the following rule: All competitors and competition officials must wear proper eye and hearing protection while firing highpower rifles or pistols at shooting range firing lines. This requirement must be met by all competitors before they can participate or sanction a CMP sponsored competition. Competitors are responsible to select their hearing protection and eyewear. “Eye Protection — Lesson Learned
Nicholas, Canada
Red Ryder BB guns were my first gun as a boy growing up on a mixed farm in the plains. It was a gift from my Dad, as I had a keen interest and passion for hunting and shooting. I was 9 years old at that time. There were literally thousands of sparrows living in our large farm yard. They loved to roost on the barn loft’s steel railings. I began to reduce their numbers by using a flashlight at night, as the little winged pests settled in our farm buildings. As I was chasing sparrows in the barn loft, with about a dozen farm cats watching me, I fired at another bird using my flashlight beam. My aim was a bit off — the copper pellet struck the steel beam squarely. Instantly, I felt a sharp pain when the BB bounced back at me and hit me directly between my eyes on the bridge. This caused blood to flow from the partial penetration of the skin. I could have lost one eye if it was a half inch either direction. Never shoot at any target with steel background, with any firearm, even a BBB gun, with any firearm. That was the hard lesson that I learned. Now, I wear the best shooting glasses money can buy. Please remember this! Editor’s Comment: Safety eyewear is a common requirement among competitive pistol shooters. Rob Leatham and Julie Golob won’t be seen without eye protection. The mandatory eye protection policies are enforced by the governing bodies of handgun sports. We wish the same could happen for competitive rifle shooting. Eye protection is often not provided by benchrest, High Power, or F-Class competitors. All the excuses are valid, but they don’t make sense. We recommend that hunters and shooters use eye protection whenever they are using firearms or in an area where live fire is occurring. There are only two eyes. One or both of your eyes can be permanently blinded by a tiny bullet fragment or ricochet. We rifle shooters place our eyes just inches from a combustion chamber at pressures of up to 70,000psi. While I know a lot of guys who will wear safety glasses when operating a drill press or a lathe, the same guys won’t wear eye protection when shooting rifles. This is simply because it is “inconvenient”. That’s nuts. This is insane. Read our article Eye Protection for Shooters to learn more about eyewear safety standards and the latest options in ANSI Z87-certified protective sunglasses.
Similar Posts:Tags: ANSI eye protection, Eye Protection, Jerry Miculek, Nancy Tompkins, Z87 glasses
