Laser for setting flags
- Thread starter RLHBUSL
- Start date
I built one (green laser mounted with an old scope for aiming) and it worked pretty well -- so well I bought enough stuff to build six more to sell. The parts are in a box here somewhere. It was especially fun when I set my flags at night, otherwise a 5mw power laser only gets you about 50 yards out and you end up relying on the old methods of eye-balling it to finish. And that is when you find yourself staring back down your line of flags and knowing you have that flag within .001 of you line because you got an eye-full of laser beam. Even at 75 to 100 yards from a "safe" laser, that green sunspot will stick with you like accidently looking into the sun - usually through the first relay!
In the end, I decided that I like the social aspect of setting flags more than I like the precision of a laser-straight flag line. Help somebody set their line whenever you can... this sport is about more than small groups.
P.S. Send me a PM if you still want to try the laser thing (http://www.z-bolt.com/ASTRO10plus-green-laser-pointer.html) - 6 available at half-price!
Rod
In the end, I decided that I like the social aspect of setting flags more than I like the precision of a laser-straight flag line. Help somebody set their line whenever you can... this sport is about more than small groups.
P.S. Send me a PM if you still want to try the laser thing (http://www.z-bolt.com/ASTRO10plus-green-laser-pointer.html) - 6 available at half-price!
Rod
You are on a gun range. You should have been wearing safety glasses. And have your hearing protection handy.
Sorry BUT! it's your own fault.
Using a green laser at twilight, rain, snow, etc. is pretty cool. I shoot with 4 or 5 people that have lasers. And various setups. They all work.
And Nobody is Grumpy after.......I have have seen some famous shooters, really good shooters etc. That are in the worst moods after flag setting. A lot of yelling etc.
Wonder if my shooting would be better after being pissed off all day. Naaa This is better...
But, I have never turned down a fellow shooter to help or be helped.
That's one of the good things in this sport. The Social aspect. As Rodney indicated.
And Nobody is Grumpy after.......I have have seen some famous shooters, really good shooters etc. That are in the worst moods after flag setting. A lot of yelling etc.
Wonder if my shooting would be better after being pissed off all day. Naaa This is better...
But, I have never turned down a fellow shooter to help or be helped.
That's one of the good things in this sport. The Social aspect. As Rodney indicated.
Vern
Morethan1waytoskinacat
Zippy Ill pardon your ignorance (lack of knowledge) but normal safety glasses and hearing protection dont do anything for lasers.
Read up and educate yourself before you make such statements about something which you seem to know nothing about.
As I did have both
Read up and educate yourself before you make such statements about something which you seem to know nothing about.
As I did have both
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Butch Lambert
Active member
Hey Vern,
They are really neat to use.
I would worry if one was pointed at my chest.
Butch
They are really neat to use.
I would worry if one was pointed at my chest.
Butch
Vern
Morethan1waytoskinacat
Oh I agree they are neat and a great idea.
If you do a search you will find I was the one who originally promoted the idea way way back when I was still in Denton.
And I thought it was still a great idea until I wandered into the path of one of the green ones. And had trouble seeing during the first relay afterwards, along with the headache that went with it.
If you do a search you will find I was the one who originally promoted the idea way way back when I was still in Denton.
And I thought it was still a great idea until I wandered into the path of one of the green ones. And had trouble seeing during the first relay afterwards, along with the headache that went with it.
Vern read my previous posts...
Glen. And everyone else. When you walk down range you don't look at the beam. You look at your beer belly. The light shines on you. Put your pole where you want it. Set your height, check tails, and alignment on the way back. It's real simple.
Think about it. Why???? It's just a tool. Like any other tool. We all own and use power tools.....
Glen. And everyone else. When you walk down range you don't look at the beam. You look at your beer belly. The light shines on you. Put your pole where you want it. Set your height, check tails, and alignment on the way back. It's real simple.
Think about it. Why???? It's just a tool. Like any other tool. We all own and use power tools.....
There are no "general" safety glasses for laser protection. They are wavelength specific and sometimes laser power specific. Green lasers (which are being discussed) require protection at 532nm wavelenth. Safety glasses not specific to that wavelength may not be effective at all. Those for green lasers at that wavelength are usually crimson colored and some protective lenses have expanded protection to blue, violet, etc lasers.
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Tim Oltersdorf
Active member
coming to a surplus store near you
Gentlemen, You may be interested in knowing that the USAF ABYAL 1A airborne laser weapon is being considered for defunding. One prototype has been built housed in a 747 airframe. It uses a megawatt chemical iodine laser developed for shooting down ballistic missiles which could easily be converted to alternate uses such as setting flags. There would be no problem with vision damage as anyone looking at or even straying into the beam would be vaporized. Tim
Gentlemen, You may be interested in knowing that the USAF ABYAL 1A airborne laser weapon is being considered for defunding. One prototype has been built housed in a 747 airframe. It uses a megawatt chemical iodine laser developed for shooting down ballistic missiles which could easily be converted to alternate uses such as setting flags. There would be no problem with vision damage as anyone looking at or even straying into the beam would be vaporized. Tim
I have seen one or two lasers set-up at matches last year, and assumed they were entirely harmless. However, apparently this may not be true ( I wouldn't trust the listed specs on a product made in China). In reading these posts my first impression was: how can they affect you when your setting up in your lane? But where I come from, we usually help each other to set-up and traversing the entire range is commonplace..it's a pre-shoot ritual that is part of the experience and I actually enjoy it. I would not be comfortable using such a device that could possibly do harm to another shooter just to make a simple chore less burdomson to me. And I would definitely not take the "you should know better than to look at a laser" attitude. Let's face it 20/20 left us a long time ago and our eyes are most definitely more sensitive to light.
jackie schmidt
New member
I have been at Matches where green lasers were being used, I did by mistake catch direct sight of one, it was pretty bright.
I know several top shooters who have considered bringing up an agenda item that these be banned. I am not sure at this time where I stand on the issue.......jackie
I know several top shooters who have considered bringing up an agenda item that these be banned. I am not sure at this time where I stand on the issue.......jackie
Some info I found on the web ( not wikipedia).
The FDA has stated retina damage may occur when exposed to a class IIIa 5 mw laser at 10' or less.
Even though laser products are required to label their products , devices randomly checked have exceeded their labeled output.
Despite laws limiting the output of laser pointers, units from China and Hong Kong with much higher output are readily available thru the internet.
Australia limits the power to 1mw,while some other countries limit out at 2 mw.
The FDA has stated retina damage may occur when exposed to a class IIIa 5 mw laser at 10' or less.
Even though laser products are required to label their products , devices randomly checked have exceeded their labeled output.
Despite laws limiting the output of laser pointers, units from China and Hong Kong with much higher output are readily available thru the internet.
Australia limits the power to 1mw,while some other countries limit out at 2 mw.
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BAD INFORMATION!!!! I'VE BEEN CONVINCED THAT PEOPLE ARE USING LASERS OF ADEQUATE POWER TO DESTRY HUMAN TISSUE......
i'M LEAVING THE POST ENTIRE IN THE INTEREST OF CONTINUITY.
I think it's good to remember that lasers are like anything else, they ain't magic. The only way they can "damage" anything is through energy transfer of sufficient magnitude to destroy human tissue.
An analogy; The flame from a butane lighter "can" cook a hotdog or give a person permanent scarring burns but it DOESN'T in normal usage. In fact every kid in the world has run his fingers thru the butane flame....and very few are permanently damaged from it.
I think people get scared of things like "laser" or "toxic" or "electric" or "microwave" or any number of other shock words out of ignorance, lack of knowledge.
There's a huge money machine running across the nation right now because some backyard chemist found a way to test for arsenic in water clear down to ppb level. That's parts per BILLION. And people are scared of "arsenic" not realizing that our parent's generation drank the stuff as med'cine. Bottled water on the store shelves has arsenic..... whoopee...
I've got several rotating construction lasers and you go around any construction site they're beeping all-round. They aren't regulated, nor do we have to put up signs. And we never will have to unless some greedy bleeding heart li............ well I won't go there....... But suffice it to say that the only way lasers will be controlled beyond the present level is through fear tactics. They're thoroughly tested for safety.
F'er cryin' out loud there's a really HUGE light emitting object right over our heads that'll fry our retinas in a fraction of the time required for a teeny 5m laser to do damage....
Don't look up!!
al
i'M LEAVING THE POST ENTIRE IN THE INTEREST OF CONTINUITY.
I think it's good to remember that lasers are like anything else, they ain't magic. The only way they can "damage" anything is through energy transfer of sufficient magnitude to destroy human tissue.
An analogy; The flame from a butane lighter "can" cook a hotdog or give a person permanent scarring burns but it DOESN'T in normal usage. In fact every kid in the world has run his fingers thru the butane flame....and very few are permanently damaged from it.
I think people get scared of things like "laser" or "toxic" or "electric" or "microwave" or any number of other shock words out of ignorance, lack of knowledge.
There's a huge money machine running across the nation right now because some backyard chemist found a way to test for arsenic in water clear down to ppb level. That's parts per BILLION. And people are scared of "arsenic" not realizing that our parent's generation drank the stuff as med'cine. Bottled water on the store shelves has arsenic..... whoopee...
I've got several rotating construction lasers and you go around any construction site they're beeping all-round. They aren't regulated, nor do we have to put up signs. And we never will have to unless some greedy bleeding heart li............ well I won't go there....... But suffice it to say that the only way lasers will be controlled beyond the present level is through fear tactics. They're thoroughly tested for safety.
F'er cryin' out loud there's a really HUGE light emitting object right over our heads that'll fry our retinas in a fraction of the time required for a teeny 5m laser to do damage....
Don't look up!!
al
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Vern
Morethan1waytoskinacat
Zippy just to set the record straight I was wearing glasses.
I was not aware there was a laser in my area but I happened to walk across a low patch of ground looking toward my bench and got hit in the eye.
I had on safety glasses and they didnt help.
I have read the info and as the testimonies on this thread show there is a problem.
There is obviously a lot of difference in the ones used at the range and yours.
I guess you should learn more about the ones at the range before making ignorant remarks.
Glen you are exactly right.
I was not aware there was a laser in my area but I happened to walk across a low patch of ground looking toward my bench and got hit in the eye.
I had on safety glasses and they didnt help.
I have read the info and as the testimonies on this thread show there is a problem.
There is obviously a lot of difference in the ones used at the range and yours.
I guess you should learn more about the ones at the range before making ignorant remarks.
Glen you are exactly right.
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Don't know if anyone on this thread read my link at the top of page two, but I'll summarize. An eye doctor researching laser damage to the eye was given permission by a patient to test a green laser on his eye prior to removal for cancer. The eye was then examined pathologically for retinal damage. That's about as close as you can get to actual experience and proof. (I just reported, you decide.)
Problem is, that doctor's report doesn't give the distance from the laser to the eye....
Had a conversation with someone who ACTUALLY uses a laser in the medical profession. He considered them safe enough that he wanted one for his personal use. From my experience you might see the same effect that you recieve from being exposed to a photo flash unit when having your picture taken, or having one of the newer high intensity flashlights aimed in your eyes.
Apples and oranges. We are talking coherent(pinpoint light sources) and wavelength of light makes a big difference. The point of the article (by a physician that does use and researches lasers) is that laser light does produce damage. The greater the laser energy the greater the damage over time. The experiment showed that retinal damage does occur with exposure. Regarding distance, flashlight exposure to the eye falls off by the square of the distance from the source, but laser light does not(that's why the government was trying to shoot down missles with lasers and not photo flash devices). BTW, I have ACTUALLY used lasers in my medical practice and have considered using a green laser(which I already own) for flag setting purposes(currently used for astronomy pointer). I have also had my detached retina "tacked down" by a laser which imparts minimal but significant damage to the retina in a pinpoint manner as have diabetics with retinal disease. Lasers can be used for corrective vision as well. You can't lump all lasers in a common basket, however. I also suggest you be no where near your buddy when he is playing around with his medical laser in his basement.
I think the point to take home here, as alluded to in other posts is this: If you want to expose your eye to your laser, you are free to do so. What you are not authorized to do is expose another person's eye to a laser they may not know is in operation while setting flags. In medicine we call that informed consent.
Regarding aiming at your"beer belly" when setting flags, I certainly have an ample target. I guess you've never shot at Kelblys or other ranges where you better have not only very short poles but a step ladder to set some. Somewhere in between something called"eye level" occurs.
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