Eye damage through viewing a laser

[rusty256]

Hi, this is i'm sure a very obvious answer to someone, but is confusing me.

I live in the UK and go shooting both in the day and at night. I want to attach a laser to my scope because I think it looks cool (there should probably be a better reason....) I've done a little research and found out it is dangerous to look at the beam of a laser through magnification. I've taken this to mean having the laser pointed through the magnification to your eye, although the text doesn't make this clear in anything I've looked at. Just wondering if you could clear this up for me??

 

thanks

 

James

[insane_alien]

as long as you aren't staring into the beam, and try not to shine into your own or anyone elses eye then you shouldn't have much to worry about. magnification won't make much of a difference. seeing as is will be pointing where the bullets would go, this should never cross anybody anyway. seeing as that is a major part of gun safety.

[Gilded]

How powerful are those those laser sight modules anyway, like 5mW or something? I'd say it's completely safe (especially seeing how many people use laser sights + scopes without any problems). I'm quite sure your sources meant the focusing of the actual direct beam itself.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Depends on what the power of the laser. Look for the power (something like 5mW) or a safety class (IIIb or something) on the laser.

 

It most likely means having the laser pointed through the scope at your eyeball, yes. Looking through the scope at a dot on a tree a hundred feet away won't cause any more damage than looking at the dot while you're standing ten feet away.

[YT2095]

the problem comes from reflected light, if you accidentally glance off a window or metal object you can get the beam right back in your face!

 

the scope Will intensify this light down to a small point that will cause damage.

 

as a shootist myself, I must admit I`v never seen a laser AND a scope used together outside of the movies, the closest combo is a red-dot sight.

[Klaynos]

Class ones are supposed to be safe.

 

To the point that your eyes reaction time to blink is fast enough to react before any permanent damage can be done, if you magnify the beam you can get a higher beam density on a small area of your retina and that might be able to cause damage, you you'd need the laser to hit a mirror, a normal reflection off of say a tree wouldn't be able to do anything.