Prescription Tactical Glasses

Frequently Asked Questions

Ballistic rated glasses are designed to provide a level of impact protection beyond common industrial safety standards. Those who work as law enforcement, first responders, military personal, and all tactical forces benefit from ballistic rated glasses. These consumers may be exposed to projectiles with a higher speed than typical industrial debris. Simply put, ballistic rated glasses are designed to resist higher intensity environments than your typical safety glasses.

Safety glasses are manufactured and rated to protect your eyes from chemicals and debris in a variety of segments. Regular safety glasses are ANSI Z87 approved, which means they meet the typical industry safety requirements. However, ballistic rated glasses protect your eyes to a higher caliber. Ballistic glasses are manufactured and rated to protect your eyes against projectiles with a higher speed than typical industrial debris. Therefore, ballistic glasses are made for tactical workers that are exposed to high intensity environments, or those who are frequently inside the shooting range.


ANSI Z87+ rated glasses will protect your eyes against high-velocity debris. However, for shooting glasses we recommend the MIL-PRF-31013 or MIL-V-43511C rated frames. These are the military ballistic standards, and are ideal for shooting ranges and higher velocity projectiles.

The Z87+ rating is designed for industrial protection. The ANSI Z87+ rating indicates that the safety glasses or lenses are high-velocity impact rated. In other words, they must withstand impact from small, fast-moving projectiles and fragments. If you are looking for a ballistic rated pair of glasses, the ideal certification to have is MIL-PRF-31013. Military ballistic ratings are much more stringent. Even though the ANSI standards are similar, MIL-PRF-31013 testing produces almost 7 times more impact energy than the ANSI Z87+.

The MIL-PRF-31013 ballistic rating is the US military industry standard for safety glasses. The MIL-PRF-31013 certification covers all the requirements for special protective eyewear to provide ballistic protection. This includes optical quality, UV protection, light transmission levels, chemical resistance, temperature stability, ballistic qualities of the spectacle, and more.

The MIL-V-43511C is a US military standard that covers general and performance requirements for curved polycarbonate flyer’s helmet visors. These are worn by Air Forces and all other aircrew military personnel.

Although ANSI Z87+ standard certifications indicate that the glasses are high-velocity impact rated, the recommended shooting glasses are those with the U.S military standard MIL-PRF-31013.

No. In order to be certified for shooting, glasses need to be bulletproof. Regular safety glasses are simply ANSI rated. They are only manufactured to protect your eyes against the debris inside a factory or industrial environment. Recommended shooting glasses need to have the US military standard MIL-PRF-31013 certification.

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