Eyewear

See more with Hackett Equipment’s Tactical Shooting Glasses

Versatile Glasses that do it All

With Hackett Equipment’s Tactical Shooting Glasses, you can have one pair of glasses that do it all. Or you can have a pair of glasses to wear while on duty, a pair of glasses for when riding your motorcycle, a pair of glasses for when shooting on the range, a pair of glasses for when on a road trip or going to the beach. Pretty soon you’re going to have glasses everywhere except where you can find them and be out a lot of money.

At an M.S.R.P. of just $24.99, Hackett Equipment has come up with solutions for multiple scenarios. They market these glasses, as tested, to be Tactical Shooting Glasses. They are suitable for so much more than just shooting glasses though!

Shooting Glasses

As for shooting glasses, they work great. The foam backing on the frames absorbs sweat and aid in protecting the eyes from impact as well as protecting from keeping hot brass from falling between your face and the frames. With four changeable polycarbonate lenses that are anti-fog and UV400 protected, you can be sure to find the right lenses for what you’re doing that day.

With the foam backing on the lenses, you can confidently know that a spent casing won’t be falling between your face and the glasses. The glasses won’t help you with keeping brass from going down your shirt like this gal though. (We do not endorse nor recommend crossing your thumbs while shooting a semi-automatic pistol. A video for demonstration purposes only.)

All the Bells & Whistles

The shooting glasses come with a mirror, clear, yellow, and grey lenses that are 1.80 mm thick. No tools or special skills and knowledge are required to change the lenses out.

Retrieve the lenses that you want to exchange from the included case. Pull down the bottom part of the frame, push the lens from behind near the bridge of the nose, and pull out the lens. Push the new lens in starting at the bridge of the nose and it’s secured.

If you’re using the shooting glasses under a ballistic helmet or a motorcycle helmet, simply push a lever on the legs of the glasses and plug in the strap. Now you’re rolling with goggles that easily fit and hold the glasses securely in place comfortably.

When you’re done switching the lenses out or changing from traditional legs to the goggle strap, clean your grubby fingerprints off with the included cleaning cloth.

Keep all the toys that come with these great glasses in the included soft case or hard case that easily clips to your gear bag or whatever. Don’t limit these great glasses to just the range or you’ll be missing out on a pair of glasses that can do it all.

Versatile and Affordable

These glasses feel like a bargain, especially once you unpack everything and see what’s been included.

Make things just a little sweeter by using a Loadout Room discount code for 20% off: HACKETT20

Be sure to check out Hackett Equipment for more great stuff at their website, Instagram, and Facebook.

Oakley SI Flak 2.0 – Thin Blue Line edition: The right shades for an officer on duty or a great range day

When it comes to the eye protection for the range, I tend to be extraordinarily picky. No, it’s not just because I have a weird shaped head and only a precious few sunglasses designs can both look decent and stay affixed to my dome (but I’ll admit that’s part of it). It’s also because I have an unusual medical condition that robs me of portions of my vision for days, weeks, or even months at a time. It first surfaced a few years ago after a particularly rough night of sparring. I took a solid right cross and, I’ll admit, my bell was rung, but I thought I was fine otherwise… that is, until I woke up the next morning to find my right eye had all but stopped working.

A trip to the emergency room suggested that having my bell rung must have also detached the retina, but further diagnosis from specialists revealed that my buddy’s right cross and my newfound blindness were actually just a matter of coincidence. It was my retina itself that was swelling, likely due to a combination of blood pressure and a cortisol injection I had recently received in my spine… don’t you just love staying active as you get older?

Since then, the condition has returned at random intervals, usually during periods of high stress, and now, unfortunately, in both eyes. Most days, I can see just fine… but a few times a year, I end up with the center of my vision almost completely compromised. It’s hard to explain just how scary blindness feels for someone that has spent their life in a sighted world — especially for a guy like me, that makes my living by doing foolish things outside and then writing about it.

So, with the specter of blindness always looming overhead (even when my vision is working fine) I take things like eye protection very seriously. I’m grateful for every day I wake up and can see my daughter’s face, every trip to the woods where I’m able to capture good sight picture on my rifle, and every evening I spend mindlessly staring at the various screens in my rec-room.

Knowing how fundamentally different my life would be like without my vision means that I’m not willing to compromise when it comes to protecting what I’ve got. So, while there may be some fairly inexpensive forms of eye protection available on the market, I tend to stick strictly to companies I’ve come to trust through a combination of my own experiences and their historical track record. When those are the standards by which you judge, it’s tough to beat the product line offered by Oakley Standard Issue, or Oakley’s military, government, and law enforcement specific arm.

Over this past weekend, I had the chance to put their Flak 2.0 Thin Blue Line edition shades through their paces, and although they aren’t the same design I tend to gravitate toward, I found them to be extremely comfortable and utilitarian. Even in 90+ degree Georgia weather, soaked in humidity and wearing a plate carrier, these glasses didn’t budge from my face in the sweat deluge they were subjected to. Eye-pro doesn’t do you much good if it falls off your face, and I don’t have the time nor the patience to constantly push my glasses back up my nose while training. Oakley’s patented “Unobtanium” grips see to it that these shades stay where they belong.

These glasses are incredibly light while offering near complete coverage of your field of view, eliminating those annoying moments when the angle of your glasses allows the sun to creep in and blind you from the side. Fogging is minimal, even in the brutal conditions I subjected them to this weekend, and their XYC optics ensured the clarity of my vision (such as it is) through the lenses and downrange.

The O-Matter stress resistant frame adds to the piece of mind you get when you order a set of Flak 2.0s for duty use or intense training. These frames may be light, but they’re not going to break on you if you do manage to drop your glasses. These shades also sport the Thin Blue Line collection Oakley logo on the sides, making them a unique and fitting choice for police officers or anyone that likes to show their support for the men and women in blue that keep our street’s safe.

You don’t need to know how scary going blind can be to know that you don’t want to risk it. Whether you’re a cop in need of duty glasses or a shooter that appreciates the sacrifices made on our behalf by those in their blue uniforms, you can’t go wrong with Oakley SI, and these Flak 2.0s are further proof of that.

Orders yours from Oakley SI for around $160 here.

Oakley SI Gascans — Thin Blue Line Edition

When it comes to sunglasses and eye protection, there are a lot of brands to choose from. Few, however, have a history of use in the law enforcement community quite like Oakley. That’s what Oakley’s Standard Issue division is all about: making the best shades on the market for government, military, and law enforcement use — and their new Thin Blue Line Edition Gascans are absolutely no exception.

These special edition Gascans have the same great lines that have been standard for the model since 2005, which means all the extensive design work that went into maintaining the right alignment of lens to eye is still there, along with their efforts to eliminate the common pressure points that can leave parts of your face and ears sore after a long day’s wear. The frames are also made out of Oakley’s O-Matter material, which is what they call the miracle plastic that manages to be both light and strong enough to withstand use as a police officer’s sunglasses of choice for long days on the street.

Put simply, these special edition shades are every bit as functional as we’ve come to expect from Oakley SI, while also offering a pretty damn unique and good looking aesthetic, complete with blue line accents on the Oakley logos.

This blending of form and function even carries over into the lenses, which don’t only offer UV protection and meet the high mass and velocity impact requirements for duty use, they’re also cut from the curve of a single lens shield. That means the two lenses in your pair of Gascans are literally made for each other, offering a continuous and smooth appearance no matter how close you’re looking at these things.

In my opinion, one of the best things about Oakley SI holds true for these Thin Blue Line Edition Gascans: you already know what you’re in for when you order a pair. These sunglasses are light, strong, functional, and most importantly, comfortable — and because Oakley’s have been around for a while, chances are good that you already know which styles compliment your particular head shape.

These Gascans, for instance, are good for medium to large heads — I’ve got a pretty big dome, which means sunglasses often squeeze my face a bit more than I’d like. These sunglasses fit me well, but might fit someone with a more conventional sized skull better. If you’re a big-headed lug like me, Oakley SI’s Fuel Cells are another great option.

Whether you’re a cop or someone who wants to show their support for the law enforcement in your community, you can’t go wrong with a pair of Thin Blue Line Edition Gascans from Oakley SI.

It’s one thing to look good, it’s entirely another to look good eight hours into a twelve hour shift. That’s what Oakley SI is all about. You can order yours here.

When you need sunglasses that can do anything: Oakley Crosshairs

Surgical, precise, fluid, dynamic, tough and always ready describes the professional operator, executive, or adventurer. Limited only by the constraints of physics and his own humanity, the professional operator carefully chooses every piece of gear he carries. The responsibility for remaining both agile and quick leaves no room for any gear which only serves a single purpose or can only function in a certain environment. Everything carried must pull more than its own weight.

Two Trips to Africa Before This Occurred To Me

The principle is obvious but the personal exploitation of it is not. Deploying with the SEAL teams, I always had as much space as I wanted, but now, when I head out the door to places like Ethiopia and Sudan, I’m restricted to bringing only what I can easily carry. Traveling light is a requisite for sustainable adventure.

I had just returned from a flawless trip that pulled me through the hot deserts of Africa and then lobbed me onto the Southern coast of Italy. Each trip challenged me to be a different person, but the responsibility to heft my gear around reminded me that I was peerless.

In Sudan, my priority was personal security, shooting and exploration, whereas Italy required a lot of foot movement, photography and the attendance of multiple formal events. I’ve always understood the notion of being efficient while traveling, but it was this trip that brought it all together for me. Oddly enough, it was a pair of sunglasses that I got from Oakley’s SI division that really brought the principle home.

Why a pair of sunglasses? Because this particular pair is a rare breed – ballistic vintage aviators that both protect (ballistic standards) and look good in a suit (my standards). They just kept showing up for me.

I Didn’t Expect to be Shooting Assault Rifles in Sudan

As with any trip, the unexpected occurs. I had actually brought the Crosshairs on the trip with me because I was hoping to get some unique shots of them for a simple gear review. I hadn’t planned on wearing them that much.

It was on my third day in Sudan when I got an offer to go shooting. I immediately said “yes” and then instantly thought, “Man, I need to get some good “Eyes & Ears.” I wasn’t going to risk anything so far away from medical care.

I’ll admit that I’ve worn a ton of eye protection while shooting that was not close to ANSI standards. It wasn’t until I witnessed the testing process in the Oakley labs that I realized how dangerous some of these shades really are.

To be honest, I hadn’t even considered using the Crosshairs at the range because I thought of them as “dress glasses.” It wasn’t until I was heading out the door for the range that I remembered that they were ballistic.
As I reached for the Crosshairs, this time for their ballistic protection and not their looks, the importance of everything serving more than one purpose struck me. I had sunglasses to keep the bright sun out and look good, but now I also had a certified pair of ballistic lenses to keep me safe.

Later, I found myself, now in full PSD (personal security detachment) mode, in a very crowded local market with my two young children, and I thought, “Why would I ever walk out the door, range or no range, without protecting one of my greatest resources?”

Italian Suits and Italy’s Elite

So as my life goes I find myself in some amazing places with some amazing people. On the second stage of the trip, I landed on the Southern coast of Italy in a plush Villa on top of a cliff.

The conditions and threat level were much more mild, but the need to perform was still obligatory. It was time to keep up with the Italian elite.

Okay… so I know it’s still odd to talk about fashion on a Special Operations site, but times have changed. Embassy duty, intelligence work, corporate briefs and a bevy of other requirements have thrusted the modern day operator into the world of style and presentation.

It was at this point of the trip that I think I appreciated the glasses the most. You see, there are multiple shooting glasses to choose from when you’re heading to the range, and even more to select from when heading out on the town, but these are the only glasses to choose from when you might be doing both.

So I dug through my suitcase one last time to pull out my dress shoes, tie and new Italian suit. I remember feeling the sense of enjoyment that comes from both putting on a nice suit as well as realizing that you’ll be back home soon. Travel can be stressful, but staying light, efficient and feeling good about your kit makes all of the difference in the world. I got in my suit and grabbed my new everyday glasses on the way out the door, and that’s when I thought, “There’s just not enough space to bring anything that doesn’t work for everything.

If you don’t own a pair of Crosshairs yet you can buy them here: Crosshairs

Eric

Gatorz 30th anniversary limited edition Battleworn Magnums

To celebrate Gatorz Eyewear 30th anniversary, they created these custom, limited edition Battleworn frames. Gatorz Eyewear is most proud to serve customers who fight for our country and the safety of our communities each day. These frames honor those individuals and the work they do. Each pair features American flag elements, on a Cerakote frame, with additional details. Please note that as these frames are custom made, hand-designed pieces, small difference may occur.

Pre-order your custom pair of Battleworn Magnums

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Photo of the Day: Costa’s Rinconcito in the Saint Lucian sun

Costa Sunglasses reign supreme around the water. And they have for years. Just take a look at what most professional waterman wear. Wether it be a fisherman, charter captain or dive boat operator, Costa Sunglasses offer superior performance in this environment. A recent trip to Saint Lucia allowed my wife and I to test out a couple of new options from Costa in the very environment they were made for. Sunshine and ocean. And this Eastern Caribbean island had plenty of both. Hiking in the Petons, exploring the coastline by speedboat, Helicopter operations, SCUBA diving and Sailing. Through it all the new Rinconcito frame remained comfortably on my face despite 50 MPH winds while on a 700HP Cigarette Boat. And the 580 Polarized lens provided 100% UV protection while reducing glare around the water. The Rinconcito is the little brother to the larger Rincon frame that I reviewed last summer. Although similar in construction, I do prefer the medium sized frame of the Rinconcito.