I'm watching people in portland struggle to get gas masks in any kind of hurry. anywhere you are, might want to get one now as revolt and repression continue to spread. A brief thread about what i've learned through research.
you need to protect both your eyes and your lungs. You can do this with either a full-face respirator (a "gas mask") or a half-mask respirator paired with goggles. Full-face gas masks usually either come in military styles (usually using a standard 40mm NATO thread) or civilian.
If you've got the money for it, get a new, ballistic-rated military style gas mask. The MIRA CM-6M ($220) or CM-7M ($240) are highly recommended by folks I know. These cover all your bases. You still need a filter. Expired-but-unopened SHOULD work for tear gas and pepperspray.
Surplus military masks are REALLY hit or miss. Usually you don't get to choose the size. Most do not have ballistic visors or lenses. (some come with special outserts). Many are old and cracked despite how they are advertised. My friends seem to have about a 50/50 rate with these
Civilian full-face respirators (such as the 3M 6800) are usually not ballistic rated, just impact resistant. They are cheaper ($150 or so) and look less sinister. There are cheaper Chinese imports that appear sufficient for $70 or so but I haven't tested this personally.
The way to go, for cheap, imo, is a half-mask respirator (3M 6200 for example) paired with non-vented ballistic-rated goggles. They don't seem to make non-vented ballistic-rated goggles, but you can seal the vents yourself. people in portland have been using ducttape or hot glue
One pair of cheap ($15) ballistic anti-fog goggles is the Pyramex V2G Plus. The Pyramex Capstone is another. Either would need to be sealed.
If you get a 3M respirator, the cartridges you want (probably) are the 60926 ($35 a pair). The 60923 and the 60921 also work. Some people prefer to use a separate cartridge and filter (unlike the 6092x that combine the two) so they can change the filter without removing the mask
If you wear glasses, you can get "rx inserts" for many gas masks, including both i referenced, or for the V2G plus goggles. These sit inside the glasses. Most (nearly all?) prescription goggles are only impact resistant, for sports, not ballistic rated, for impact munitions.
one military source said that if you can't get rx inserts sometimes you can clip your glasses stems off and cement them in the side rubber of your goggles or mask.
another source confirmed that expired-but-unopened 40mm filters (cheap on ebay) are used for CS training regularly in the military.
the 3M masks are sized based on their numbers... the 6800 is the medium full-face, the 6200 is the medium halfmask. 6700=small, 6900=large. 6100=small, 6300=large.
