50 cal hearing protection what R N N do you use??????????

Ok I am confused I wear double ear protection plugs rated for 31 RNN and muffs rated 27 rnn
I was told recently I am exposing myself to much noise.since my m82a1 is 180 decibels.
what do Ineed to get to quite 180 decibels.

What?

What do they expect you to do, put a bag over your head? You're probably getting a lot more through bone conduction. I'm not sure there's much more you can do other than look for some higher rated muffs maybe.

yup. I shot a 50 and all I had was plugs. Most of the perceived noise is blast and not audible noise.

I wear a high end set of Peltor head sets and one ear plug in my right ear. I've had the recoil bump the head set off my right ear several times giving me a ringing sensation. Putting the plug in my right ear solved the problem.

Second that LOL

I wear plugs and muffs. Plugs for the direct sound and muffs to damp the bone conduction. I do that for all of my shooting generally (except hunting) since I shoot most every day and I value what hearing I have left.

Do you mean NRR (Noise reduction ratio rating)?

With the 50bmg I'll double up and use foam ear plugs with ear muffs.

ETA I've only been wearing earplugs for the last 20+ years at work, I should know the acronym

Thanks flash, I was wondering what RNN what it stood for.

Did some quick research on-line. The main point that was made is that if something is ratted at 24 NRR. This is a lab rating and different devices will receive a different derating for use in the real world. Muffs receive a 25% derating so now in real world the muffs reduce the sound pressure by 18db. Foam plugs are worse. With a 24 NRR rating in the lab, they are derated 50%. So, now you only get a 12 db of protection. Just a side note, the human ear can only detect a volume change of no less than 3db. Each 3db is either a double or halving of the sound pressure wave. As for limits on noise levels. Most of these numbers are based on a constant 8 hours of being subjected to the noise. Meaning that you could be subjected to a higher noise pulse that will not harm you over a long time (your hearing will recover from it). But a not by to much. You can receive a noise pulse of a much higher level that will permanently damage your hearing. Where I work, we have a process called cryo-blasting (much like sand blasting but without the sand and the CO2 pellet is not as abrasive and it melts away leaving no trace of it. But this things is very noisy and even with muffs, a person is limited to 4 hours of use per shift.

In simple terms. Get the highest NRR rated muffs and plugs you can get your hands on.

You need to take them out once in a while...



(sorry, couldn't pass the straight line by.)

I use EAR plugs. I believe they are 33 NRR and my Peltor ComTac electronic muffs. Pretty good combo.

There was a recent article in an Ear Nose and Throat Journal that looked at advertised NRR compared to actual results when measured in the ear canal.
Dismal is an understatement. It makes me feel stupid now when I put on my muffs because I know they don't work worth a damn.
Basically you need to put a can on the gun to even start getting close to the recommended dB level.
Or you could always wear a helmet.

I wear a quality set of good fitting ear muffs and ear plugs anyone standing with in 15ft of the 50BMG is required to wear the same in my book, at more than 15 ft the can just wear plugs. But when I do take it to the range I try to sit as far away from others as possible.

plugs + muffs...

that said, i was at a MG shoot and watched some dumb ass shoot my 50 3 times with NO protection... it was offered by me as well as when he and his "clan" came in to the MG shoot

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