Airsoft Safety Glasses and Goggles
Airsoft guns are becoming more popular every single day. They offer a high powered, high speed hobby or extreme sport that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and backgrounds. You can use an airsoft gun for just backyard target practice (known as plinking) with tincans or a genuine airsoft target. The other option is that you can use your airsoft gun in the same way as a paintball gun - to fire pellets at moving human targets. Never, ever attempt to indulge in this kind of airsoft game without wearing some proper airsoft safety glasses or even better a full airsoft facemask.
Airsoft guns fire their plastic pellets at speeds from 180 feet per second to well over 300 feet per second. The velocity will depend entirely on the type of firing mechanism the gun has - gas and spring tending to be the most powerful. If one of these pellets hits your bare skin at these speeds it will sting and definitely leave a bruise. I've been shot with a gas powered Desert Eagle at a range of about 20 feet. The pellet hit me in the ribs through a t-shirt. It left a nasty bruise that lasted for a few weeks. Why am I telling you this? Well if that same pellet had hit me in the eye there's every chance it could have blinded me. To put things in perspective an airsoft bb travelling at 350 feet per second can penetrate the thick aluminium base of a can of soda.
Airsoft guns are technically toys but they do fire pellets at high speeds that could quite easily damage your eyes if you were to get hit. Even if you're just using your airsoft gun for target practice inside your home it's still recommended that you wear suitable airsoft goggles. A pellet could quite easily ricochet around a room and back into your face.
More important is taking proper precautions when playing with airsoft guns outdoors in a friendly or competitive way. Airsoft guns can fire both standard plastic bbs and a type of miniature paintball also. This type of airsoft/paintball wargaming is becoming more popular and requires the use of airsoft safety glasses at the very least and ideally a fullface visor like the Scott Vectra models for example. You need to stay protected!
Wearing proper eye protection worries some people because they think that it takes away some of the "freedom" of using airsoft guns. They actually have the opposite effect - you can have the most intense firefights possible safe in the knowledge that you've taken proper safety measures and are safe from harm.
The cost of protecting your eyesight from potential damage from airsoft bbs is between $10 and $40. This is a lot cheaper than corrective surgery to repair any damage done to your eyes in an accident. Don't take any chances.
