I rearely shoot with plugs/muffs

I do all my shooting out on our farm,  mostly rifles, and  I have never had a problem with my ears ringing or any other such thing. Sometimes I hear better after shooting

No way in hell am I shooting without ear protection - unless its a SHTF situation and I don't have quick access to my plugs.  I value my ears

I was a kid before they invented tubes in the ears for ear infections.  I had 65% loss in upper frequencies (like women talking) through most of elementary school.  Imagine always hearing like your head is under water.  They finally took my tonsils and adenoids out and rebuilt my middle ears.  I hear OK now except some noises drive me nuts - like hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, electric razors, etc.  Loud noises cause extreme pain.

I wear both plugs AND muffs when shooting.

Imagine , hearing everything except "women talking".

On the eye protection thing: At the (indoor if it matters) range a few months ago, I got hit square in the chest by richochet from somewhere downrage by a .40S&W fragment. Before that I was not quite sure if the hassle of wearing eye saftey OVER my glasses while shooting a rifle was worth it. Now I have no doubts. I also have zero problem with the range policy of frangible for any long arm over .22LR.

As far as ears go, I always double up, but I only 'notice' when I'm going in. I'm fairly new to shooting, so I still jump even doubled up, when the first few shots from other folks on the range go off (good constant reminder to practice 'triggerguard awareness'). Once I start shooting I can hear the other shots but it isn't disturbing at all. Conversations on the other hand, are mostly lipreading and hand gestures.

My range requires eye and hearing protection at all times while on a hot firing line. There are no range officers at my club so you could break the rules without being called for it for quite some time I'll bet.

I wear protection at all times because I value both my sense of sight and hearing. I simply don't understand anyone who would willing risk damaging either while firing weapons. I'm not a hunter so I don't know the pros and cons of hearing protection in the field. I've also wondered if soldiers use hearing protection in a battle situation. I would think it would hamper communication between each other, but a deaf soldier can't be a good thing either.

Shabo

Quoted: Imagine , hearing everything except "women talking".

that's the range that all my hearing loss is in...


I always wear plugs when going to the range- I'll only not wear ears when hunting, only had one bad experience with that. I was a kid shooting my M70 in .243 at some woodchucks and I had layed under the back of the truck/tailgate to get outta the sun while I waited... well I took a shot and the sound hit the bottom of the truck and came back at me with no plugs- hit the woodchuck but I jumped up so hard I hit my head on the tailgate and came back down behind the rifle... I don't get near anything anymore when I shoot . At the range though, always have ears in- I can't shoot rifle with any muffs even though I hear they are for the most part better... just can't get it- I always have some sort of plugs in- either foam ones or the military style ones- they're pretty comfortable and for the most part I don't forget them.

As for eye protection- Again I usually wear them (I have a set of Oakleys so they're sun glasses also which I think is as important as protection from stuff flying- anyone who's been in the snow in bright sun- or the desert I would think would probibly agree) The only time I don't wear them is shooting two of my rifles, My sniper rifle- just don't... I don't know why... and my Sako in .300 win mag- because the scope would just about hit the glasses every time- I'm real lucky that the damn scope doesn't crack me every time- Need to get a break on that one soon...

-Roth

At our range, the RO lets a lot of people just wear regular sunglasses. I guess if you want to look cool go ahead, but I have a pair of S&W Code 4 sunglasses that meet ANSI Z87.1? but are also shooting glasses.

As for ear protection - I use ear protection when working on my car. I hate it when I'm grinding, cutting, torching/welding, or using the air compressor because it hurts my ears. I slap on a pair of earmuffs designed for this and its OK.

For shooting I wear 33 dB NRR Silencio foam ear plugs. I could not find a pair of large ear muffs that have comparable noise reduction specs, plus for some odd reason the ear muffs always hit the buttstock when I'm shooting.

I love shooting with my ear plugs because 7.62x39 and .223 sound like puffs rather than explosions. But there's always these jacka$$es at the range with HIGH CALIBER hunting rifles and large caliber blackpowder guns that sound like thunder right next to you even with ear protection.

I can no longer shoot at the 100yd or 50yd line because of these shooters - and they ALWAYS want to crowd together with other people.

Just the other time I had to go to the 25yd range because of their guns and these two yahoos come over with their bolt-action whatevers that sound like my .223 times 100.

I wish they'd slap some type of noise suppressor on their rifles because it hurts my ears.

And don't get me started on muzzle brakes that shoot powder residue sideways... it goes RIGHT into my face because of the proximity between shooters (about 2').

I come home with a headache from the loud high caliber hunting rifles, everything tastes like gunpowder, and my hair is full of gun powder residue. That blackpowder crap is also very nasty.

HUH-WHAT?
Jack

When i was  19 and  stupid  I  forgot to  take  my ear plugs to the  MA Duece Range  one fine morning and and did not want to tell the platoon sgt for  fear of getting  a  good ass reaming. Then spent the  better  part of the  training  day  pumping  out  50 caliber  rounds.  Well by the end of the day  my  ears  were  whistling  but  being  young and brash  I  was sure  that it  would go away  but   it never really did.  What did  go away  gradually over  time  was my hearing .  I was able to  stay in the service and  retire   by faking  the  ear tests  toward the end of my career. I now  wear  a hearing aid  and  shoudl probably wear  two.  Moarle of  the  story  ALWAYS WEAR  EAR & EYE PROTECTION

I recently read Matt Eversman's book, "Battle of Mogadishu", it's a great book with stories told by various Army and Air Force guys who fought in the mission.  I noticed the common theme among all of them was wishing they'd brought their ear-plugs.


All the ranges in my area require eye and ear protection on the firirng line and they will call a cease fire if they see someone who's not in compliance.  

I always try to wear hearing and eye protection even shooting on my own.  On a few occassions I've been dumb enough to shoot without them, because I forgot them.  

Now that my hearing is all screwed up from a few gunshots without protection and all those concerts in the 80's, any slightly loud or sharp noise to my right just kills my right ear. When shooting I use ear plugs and a set of old Silencio muffs that are 25db rated. I am about to upgrade those because I have had them for sixteen years and I figure it's time for a new pair. I am going to get the Peltor model that's rated 29db. I also wear ear plugs when using the lawn mower, weed eater, circular saw, jig saw and any other loud power tool. So many guys think it's just not "cool" to use hearing protection. They think it's a sign of weakness. I would give anything to have my hearing back like it was when I was eighteen. I am only 35 now so by the time I am 65 I will be deaf as a stone, or the ringing I experience now will be much worse.

Quoted: I was wondering if soldiers use anything these days too, I'm amazed how WW2, Korean, Vietnam, etc. vets can hear anything at all after going through what they did. Scott

Yep, just ask my dad, make sure to shout.  Took the VA 25 years to aknowledge that he had tinnitus.   It's not necessarily the loss of hearing that I am afraid of, it's the high pitched whine that would drive me nuts.

I wear hearing protection for at least six hours a day everyday at work so putting them on at the range is just second nature.  Every concert I go to I carry a set just in case it does get loud.

While underway my first ship I went back to take readings on our aft waste heat boiler and noticed the door going to the weatherdecks.  We allways kept it open to prevent overheating of the space.  It was open but blocked by some red shotline.  Baffled, I stood there and watched as the aft 5 inch gun swung to starboard, levelled and fired three rounds in rapid succession.  My earplugs definitely weren't in snug enough, I don't know if it was the concussion or my shock, but I wound up flat on my ass still staring out the door.  My ears rung for days after and I had a headache for at least the next 24 hours.  Guess I found out what the red shotline was supposed to indicate.

i always use hearing protection with my AR, not with my .22lr, but anything bigger, or with a short barrle like my .22 pistol.  even in the army, we always had our earplugs with us.  

i wonder if your ear will kinda shut down when a certain level of noise is achieved......

wonder if a ear doctor would know more about stuff like this and what it really takes to make you go deaf or not hear certain frequencies.........?

i don't think there will be any ear doctors here though

Physiologically, there is no mechanism to physically protect the hearing structures (tiny hairs). Even if you can't hear it, the sound is still damaging your hearing.

SpentShellz, would your "favorite place to shoot" be lefthand by anychance??

On the physiological note - a handgun instructor once told me that in a real firefight, aside from psychological factors that might cause you to pay less attention to the noise, he said there were some physical changes that went on too.  Something about when your body is amped up on adrenalin blood pressure affecting your hearing and essentially muting everything coming at your ears physically (not just loud gunshots, but even human voices are harder to hear, etc...).  I have no idea whether this is really true, although it's possible.  He said it was part of the "fight or flight" response evolved in most mammals that shuts down a lot of non-essential body functions at high-adrenalin times - apparently hearing is no longer important at this stage of things from an evolutionary standpoint, as the main benefit of hearing is in avoiding danger in the first place, not evading or resisting it once the fight is on.  Has anyone heard a similar story, or have any references as to whether there's any truth to this?

Quoted: SpentShellz, would your "favorite place to shoot" be lefthand by anychance??

why yes have you seen me there?

Quoted: On the physiological note - a handgun instructor once told me that in a real firefight, aside from psychological factors that might cause you to pay less attention to the noise, he said there were some physical changes that went on too.  Something about when your body is amped up on adrenalin blood pressure affecting your hearing and essentially muting everything coming at your ears physically (not just loud gunshots, but even human voices are harder to hear, etc...).  I have no idea whether this is really true, although it's possible.  He said it was part of the "fight or flight" response evolved in most mammals that shuts down a lot of non-essential body functions at high-adrenalin times - apparently hearing is no longer important at this stage of things from an evolutionary standpoint, as the main benefit of hearing is in avoiding danger in the first place, not evading or resisting it once the fight is on.  Has anyone heard a similar story, or have any references as to whether there's any truth to this?

That's crap. Hearing is damaged when high sound pressures damage the cilia on the hair cells in your ear. There is no physiological mechanism which can prevent such damage. Hearing damage is both cumulative and irreversible. High adrenaline levels may sharpen focus or block off the intensity of sensory awareness, but it will not prevent the physical damage from occurring.

Quoted: That's crap. Hearing is damaged when high sound pressures damage the cilia on the hair cells in your ear. There is no physiological mechanism which can prevent such damage. Hearing damage is both cumulative and irreversible. High adrenaline levels may sharpen focus or block off the intensity of sensory awareness, but it will not prevent the physical damage from occurring.

Well, it's certainly possibly crap, hence me asking the question.    It's still as likely as not to be a completely crap theory, but I don't think anything you've said really disproves it.  The cilia you're referring to are way inside the ear, in the cochlea if I remember correctly.  The blood-pressure effect he was referring to was a stiffening of the eardrum itself in order to reduce the transmitted sound pressure level to the inner parts of the ear where those cilia are.  That effect, if it exists and is of practical value, would help to protect the cilia.

Quoted: Quoted: SpentShellz, would your "favorite place to shoot" be lefthand by anychance?? why yes have you seen me there?

You guys need to make it to the Pumpkin Shoot this month!

.

If your ears are ringing then its too late!!!  I was changing out the 10 mil barrel for a S&W 40 barrel and took my muffs off!!  Forgot to put them back on shot the pistol(thinking hot damn something is really wrong here)!

Didn't hurt my ears but got off lucky!!!

When I start to shoot I look down the line and ask Everybody got there ears on?

I got really big ears(taxie cab with doors open)lots of jokes about it while young!

But I can hear a cricket fart at 100 yards!!! And next to your eyesight and smell,your hearing is a gift!!!

So protect it at all times!!!


Bob