Ball caps at the range?

[Perd Hapley]

In looking up available defensive shooting classes, I've noticed that a couple of them advised students to wear a ball cap. Just noticed the same thing in the rules for one of the indoor ranges. Advised; not necessarily required.

Is that to protect you from your neighbor's brass? Or to shield yourself from glare?

Or is it so everyone looks like a team out there, as per the principles of Rex Kwan Do?


Coincidentally, I have recently become convert to the cult of the ball cap. Never wore them before, except for occasionally sporting a MAGA hat. I've started wearing camo ball caps now, though. (And, no, I'm not going bald, or getting thin.)

[WLJ]

(And, no, I'm not going bald, or getting thin.)

Yet

And I vote to protect you from brass

[Hawkmoon]

Is that to protect you from your neighbor's brass? Or to shield yourself from glare?

Yes.

Also keeps your own brass from falling between your shooting glasses and the bridge of your nose or your eyebrow.

[RoadKingLarry]

I've worn a ball cap of some kind since the late '70s. Then it was part style and part sun protection. Now I very rarely walk out the door without a hat of some kind on my head, mostly to keep from getting the bald spot sunburned. If I'm working outside in the sun for any length of time I wear a mil-surp boonie or a straw cowboy hat. Didn't do that last week and sunburned the top of my ears.

Almost 20 years ago I started wearing this style of cap.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OSKR6U/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

[Perd Hapley]

Almost 20 years ago I started wearing this style of cap.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OSKR6U/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

I wore one of those from 97 to 2000.

[230RN]

All my life I hated wearing any kind of hat unless the weather was bad.  Then discovered the advantage of having 50 milliseconds of warning before bumping my head on things like trunk lids and engine hoods.

Before I grew a ponytail the hat brim was useful for preventing a sunburn on the back of my neck while bicycle riding.  Traded off each, a ponytail, a ball hat on backwards, and a burnoose, from time to time to prevent that.

Still hate hats, but as I get balder, they're more of a necessity.

Funny, I spotted a guy with his brim in back, shading his eyes from the late afternoon sun with his hand.  Took me a minute to "get" the humor of that.

[K Frame]

I ALWAYS wear a ball cap while shooting, indoors or out. I didn't years ago and had a 9mm case bounce off a partition wall and lodge behind my glasses.

By the time I was able to get it loose it had raised a nice blister on my eye lid that was INCREDIBLY painful.

[Ben]

I like to wear a Pickelhaube when I go to the range. Extra head protection, and the spike work perfectly as a gas block tool if I have to change the gas setting on my rifle.

[MechAg94]

I got a piece of brass behind my glasses once.  First degree burn near my eye brow.  I can't remember if I was wearing a hat that time. 

While I think brass is a bigger reason, another reason my be to keep lead and powder stuff off your hair as much as possible.  Depending on the air system at the range and how many people are shooting, some ranges can get a lot of smoke floating around.  Probably not a big deal one time.

Years ago I used to shoot at a range in Houston that was cheap to shoot.  When it was crowded there, it was smoky as hell to the point you would hack up some crap afterward. 

[MillCreek]

As someone who started going bald in his early 20's, I have a large collection of hats. I usually prefer something with a brim all the way around so that my neck and ears don't get burned or rained on. For outdoor recreation and travel, I am partial to Tilley hats.

[RoadKingLarry]

I liked my Tilley hat but they quit making it. I found that out when my hat was damaged and I looked to replace it.
  
 

[Perd Hapley]

I like to wear a Pickelhaube when I go to the range. Extra head protection, and the spike work perfectly as a gas block tool if I have to change the gas setting on my rifle.

And here I thought you only wore that because everyone else is doing it.

[230RN]

I like to wear a Pickelhaube when I go to the range. Extra head protection, and the spike work perfectly as a gas block tool if I have to change the gas setting on my rifle.

:eyeroll:

If you have to adjust things that often, maybe you should just settle on one particular loading of your ammo. LOL

Pickelhaube, Pickelhaube, Pickelhaube...

It is fun to say, though.

Still another kind of Pickelhaube:

       

Can I have my ten bucks now that you promised me if I brought up "Pickelhaube" again?

Terry, 230RN

[K Frame]

Pickle Hat for the range...

[WLJ]

I like to wear a Pickelhaube when I go to the range. Extra head protection, and the spike work perfectly as a gas block tool if I have to change the gas setting on my rifle.

MSM: Look at the Nazi!

[Kingcreek]

I liked my Tilley hat but they quit making it. I found that out when my hat was damaged and I looked to replace it.
  
 

Did they not offer you a different model?
I love my Tilley hats. I have a beater for yard work and fishing and another one I keep nice for casual wear. I wore my first one to a faded and frayed remnant and they replaced it for just a shopping/handling fee.
And yes, I’m sure the suggestion is to decrease risk of brass behind eyewear. Not as serious but plenty uncomfortable is brass down the back or inside a shirt.

[Ben]

:eyeroll:
If you have to adjust things that often, maybe you should just settle on one particular loading of your ammo. LOL

Maybe you should stop being the gas block police.

[Perd Hapley]

Maybe you should stop being the gas block police.

What kind of haube do they wear?


I guess I should take my evidences of the ball cap guidance at various ranges/classes, and make some money from it, by writing an article for Slate. The gun culture you see, has a sinister plot to mainstream assault rifles and high-capacity, semi-automagic handguns, by associating them with the all-American ball cap. They even employ a colored person of color (with ties to the Trump-aligned NRA (Trump sold trucker hats, which are kind of like baseball caps – scary!)) to show off his collection of name-brand MLB logo hats, while shooting tactical, black guns. Then, we’ll take a tour of all the gun manufacturers that sell ball caps on their websites (where you can also buy fully-semi-automatic assault rifles, without a background check).

I’m pretty sure that’ll prove it. By Slate’s standards, anyway.

[RoadKingLarry]

Did they not offer you a different model?
I love my Tilley hats. I have a beater for yard work and fishing and another one I keep nice for casual wear. I wore my first one to a faded and frayed remnant and they replaced it for just a shopping/handling fee.
And yes, I’m sure the suggestion is to decrease risk of brass behind eyewear. Not as serious but plenty uncomfortable is brass down the back or inside a shirt.

Since the damage was due to my own fault I wouldn't be comfortable with any kind of "warranty" replacement. But, they no longer offer the style I liked so not super interested anyway.

[Doggy Daddy]

All my life I hated wearing any kind of hat unless the weather was bad.  Then discovered the advantage of having 50 milliseconds of warning before bumping my head on things like trunk lids and engine hoods.

So much THIS!

I have a nice collection of "newsboy" hats in different colors and materials.  Before I started wearing them almost all of the time, I had a constant "mark" right in the middle of the top of my nekkid scalp from the trunk latch.  The hats serve much the same purpose as a cat's whiskers... early warning.

[HeroHog]

I keep a "Scrambled Eggs" NRA ball cap in the car just in case I have to be out in the "outside" any length of time since going bald SO many years back! Once I got out of the Navy, I VERY seldom wore hats. Constant hat wearing for years will do that to ya.