Bit of Advice Dudes!!

Next time you shoot a rabbit that's thrown along a rubber mat, make sure you wear glasses. A while ago my brother did so, a pellet rebounded off the edge of the mat and hit him between the eyes and drew blood. An inch either way and it would have blinded him.

Ouch I guess he learned his lesson! He is a lucky men!

Thankfully most grounds enforce the glasses rule these days,though you do see the odd shooter trying to get away with it,especially if it's raining

Steel???

Lead, before the glasses rule. You don't have to wear glasses at a lot of grounds if it's not a registered shoot.

OFC its steel cuz there is no way in hell lead would do that *kough*/wp-content/forum-smileys/sf-cool.gif

Lead will do it! I was standing some 10 feet behind station 4 of a skeet field. Four shooters were on the station. I got hit in the cheek by a pellet from one of the crossers! The Lone Canadian,Henry/wp-content/forum-smileys/sf-wink.gif

I'll be honest that I've no problems with shootin steel shot at clays up to 45 yards away I don't shoot many targets further out than that but I will say I would be very wary of not wearin shooting glasses when shootin steel shot, about 2 months ago a friend and Ian and myself were shootin a stand with a L/R rabbit at 25 yards and a R/L 45 degree angle crosser at about 25 yards at killin distance, Ian was shootin the stand and I was marking with my mate buttonin and we both were pickled, I was hit on the right cheek and my mate was hit on the hand and Ian was hit between the fingers on his right hand which I thought was the most dangerous part because it could have cased a reaction for the gun to have went out of control if the pain had been enough and especially dangerous if there had have been another cartridge left unfired.

Lead certainly does richochet. I was shooting air gun indoors at targets on a wooden board in a friends workshop at 25yds when a pellet richocheted from the board straight back and hit me on the arm.On inspection we found that there was a knot in the board behind the target.Most of my shotgun shooting has been done using semi-autos and found that glasses were essential for keeping the crud that comes out of the ejection port out of your eyes.An interesting point about glasses and non registered shoots. I was shooting in a police shoot at a CPSA registered ground but it was a non registered shoot.The ground policy was that glasses were advisory.We got to about the fourth stand where the referee told a shooter he couldn't shoot because he wasn't wearing glasses.Up to this point no other referee had mentioned it.The shooter said that because it wasn't a registered shoot he didn't have to wear glasses but the ref said that because he was a qualified CPSA referee then he could apply registered rules.The referee came under fire from the crowd of shooters that was by this time piling up and under threat of a complaint to the management and,more likely,because his sexual habits and parentage came up for discussion,the referee gave in.A complaint was made to the organisers after we finished the round,who agreed that the ref was wrong. Vic.

Bit of   an awkward one that,but the glasses are for your own safety,i,ve been to some shoots where it say's glasses must be worn but the refs weren't wearing them,or does the rule only apply to the shooters?

Dont bother to read up on the rules always were glasses if you buy a more expensive one you will notice the diffrence in when you see the clays 

I NEVER shoot without glasses, it's just not worth the risk.  There are times when it would be more comfortable not to, rain, extreme heat etc but still wear them. I have several scars on my armsheadneck from small fragments of broken clay which are bloody sharp, I really wouldn't want to take the chance with my eyes.  Also, as I shoot an auto I want protection from the crud coming out of the ejection port, not to mention when they throw flame outs  I have never been caught by a ricochet despite shooting 12K+ steel shells a year along with BobP and Wendy so that's 36K between us and never experienced one.  However I completely understand the risks and acknowledge that they can happen with steel or lead. For anyone that doesn't agree with glasses, try doing normal things for 15 minutes with 1 eye closed! Safety specs can be bought very cheaply £2 for a basic pair, £10 for half decent then shooting glasses from £20 up to £500 or more. Jon.

You really need to break them in to smaller pieces Jon   Although I was hit on the trigger finger today by quite a big bit of clay, and it's bruising up nicely, thankfully it wasn't too sharp. (I was scoring at a small sporting shoot this morning, then on to Bisley for some skeet with Jon) I'm surprised that in the age of elf and safety that all grounds don't insist on suitable eye protection being worn. Like Jon - we never shoot without them.

Yes you can imagine if someone was blinded ( whilst not wearing glasses ) in this day and age of ' where there's pain there's a claim' that they'd probabley turn round and try and sue the ground owner.

A lot of grounds now have a compulsory eye wear policy which can be enforced by referees. If,however,you are practising with a few friends and buttoning for yourselves there is no control over whether you wear glasses or not.I always wear a hat too,I am tonsorially challenged and don't like playing 'head the clay'.Broken bits of clay are lethal,they are sharp and usually spinning round.Shooting grounds should cover their arse by displaying warnings on every stand/cage/clubhouse etc otherwise,as has been said,in these days of litigation they are wide open to injury claims. Vic.

Browning said:

Dont bother to read up on the rules always were glasses if you buy a more expensive one you will notice the diffrence in when you see the clays 

Click to expand...

I totally agree - and if it's of interest I have a new pair of Pilla / Hidefspex  Merlin's for sale  /wp-content/forum-smileys/sf-cool.gif   contact me if you're interested - best shootin glasses money can buy .!Nige

Airgun pellets are much larger and slower than bird shot, which is why shooting at hardboards is not a good idea. Lead could of course ricochet but it is highly improbable because it deforms on impact and will generally always have plenty of forward momentum left and so will bounce in an away direction; this is why shooting below rabbit targets is so effective. Now to glasses, I hate them with a passion. I entirely understand and agree with the safety angle but personally find them a complete nuisance as they won't stay on where I like and creep with recoil, also find the rib sits too close to the corner of the nose piece instead of centrally unless I wear big, high types like my present Hydefspex.  What I have never found is this magical property of turning clays into dayglo objects, to me that's just marketing bull as is the ability of the arms to mould themselves to the shape of your head over time/wp-content/forum-smileys/sf-confused.gif, mine are as uncomfortable in this regard as they were when new. I also had to radically modify the nose piece to prevent marks on my skin every time, pretty unforgivable given their extortionate price. If you look carefully you'll find a lot of famous shooters don't wear them in non registered shoots.

It is funny everyone on here agrees glasses are a must and I agree too.Rewind a few years and bits of paper were flying around the grounds in uproar that our association was going to enforce glasses upon us!Now I think everyone see that wearing glasses is a must.I have had a piece of clay hit me on my glasses and I still have the big scratch right down the middle of them to remind me that could have been a missing eye or failing that injured quite badly. Personally i prefer to wear them now especially wearing contact lenses as they stop the wind annoying them and also bits of dust etc.! Glen.

I absolutely hate wearing glasses, never wear them by choice.Except for reading and computer work (close work)OR clayshooting.It really is a must to wear glasses whilst shooting and a cap.I have hair on my chest, and legs,arms and usual places but apart from out of my nose and ears (WHY?/wp-content/forum-smileys/sf-frown.gif) nairy a one on my bonce. CLAY to the cranium bloody hurts.A couple of weeks ago I shot an incomer, the bits hit me and the waiting shooters, hit my barrels and dented the rib and took a big lump out of the forend. "Should have shot it earlier" said the ground owner.Perhaps someone who knows Edith Barnes could tell us how expensive it is not to wear hats and glasses?Edith sadly was sued by someone who was hit by a piece of clay.