Numa Shooting Glasses

Let’s face it sunglasses are cool, but in the world of shooting they are so much more. Let’s forget about fashion for a moment, and concentrate on the more important aspect of safety and protection. In my long shooting career I have had stuff bounce back and hit me in the face and also two rimfire rifles and a moderator ‘let go’. In these cases I was wearing safety glasses and though the gas wash hit my face it did not damage my eyes. OK three accidents in 30-years, but that was three too many!

On the more practical front my old Oakley shooting glasses had magenta lenses, which proved ideal for bird and animal hunting in the summer where you need protection from the sun as well as contrast to see and shoot targets easily.

NUMA WHO

Though Oakley are best known, other manufacturers are coming up with product of their own and what I have here are two pairs from US company Numa Sports Optics. They offer a wide range of glasses for all sporting activates, my examples are from their Tactical range, the Point and Chisel Ballistics.

The build is as expected with hi-strength (Tough-Flex) plastic frames that can stand a lot of abuse. No-Slip TAK-Rubber nose and temple-pads are used for a secure hold; the latter is not on all models. Arms are very much straight with just a slight hook to the ends, lenses are offered in kits that give varying colours and clear. These appear to cope with most conditions well for both contrast and sun protection. They are also anti - scratch, fog and reflective and exceed impact tests of ANSI z87.1 and MIL-PRF-31013. They come in a hard case with a bag/cleaning cloth.

FRAMED

The Point is a more robust style with a full frame with wider arms at the hinge for more side protection, they also have the temple pads for greater adhesion to the side so the head. They’re available in two lens kits: P3 - Polarized Smoke, High-Contrast Mandarose and Clear and L3 - Smoke, High-Contrast Mandarose and Clear

The Chisels are a more sporting and lighter build with half frames and easily detachable lenses, though still offer adequate front and side protection. They too offer lens kits: Polarized Smoke, Mandarose and Clear and Copper, Smoke and Clear. Both models came fitted with Mandarose, which is a sort of brown/magenta shade that seems to do it all, though clear would be good for standard indoor and outdoor use.

Frames are available in Stealth Black, Desert Tan and Realtree (Chisel), with the Points adding Alpine White to this. Numa also offers prescription lenses for us serious glasses wearers, which is a sensible option. In use they proved comfortable, secure and the Mandarose lenses seemed to cope with most eventualities being neither too dark or light. Importers Pivotal Defence Solutions Ltd has offered us generous amount to give away in a future Prize Draw too.