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Posted: 5/12/2008 6:05:00 PM EDT
| I just bought my first AR, a lefty Stag model 2L. I went behind the house sunday and shot it for the first time. I didnt have hearing protection as I was only shooting a few shots. It has to be one of the loudest guns I have. I could feel the gasses blow back on each shot (wasnt expecting that) and it was very loud. is there anything I can do to quiet it down. As it is I dont know if I can even hunt with it without protection |
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Quoted: I just bought my first AR, a lefty Stag model 2L. I went behind the house sunday and shot it for the first time. I didnt have hearing protection as I was only shooting a few shots. It has to be one of the loudest guns I have. I could feel the gasses blow back on each shot (wasnt expecting that) and it was very loud. is there anything I can do to quiet it down. As it is I dont know if I can even hunt with it without protection Yeah get a Suppressor  |
 ...yea, most high powered rifles are loud wear plugs the only thing that can help w/ quieting it down is a suppressor (and i dont mean a flass suppressor) does your upper have a muzzle break or comp? those can help redirect blast (and noise) in the shooters' direction and are LOUDER than ones w/ just a FH or none |
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In order of cost nothing, it will get quieter over time. shoot in an open area, there will be less sound reflecting back Foamies electronic ear muffs 22 adapter silencer Oh and I deer hunt with a 243 w/o hearing protection, I know that it damages the ears, but I only shoot 1 or 2 shoots each year. Also I normally don't notice the noise, on the range is a different thing. Shooting prairie dogs is the same thing, hearing protection is a must. Oh and if you have a muzzle brake take it off. |
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Having eye and ear protection protection is always a good idea when shooting. I fired my friend's (over-lubed) AR carbine earlier this month, and my glasses were spritzed liberally with CLP. That would not have been fun on bare eyeballs. My middy AR is much tamer gas-wise but no less loud. Emptying a 30 round mag is no fun without plugs and/or muffs. I can't stand that high-pitched ringing when I damage my ears.
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| My Sabre with an 18" barrel has a gilled muzzle brake on it and it is extremely loud. Louder than any gun I own including my magnum caliber rifles. I wear soft plugs and sometimes hard ones over them.... I shot my new AR in .204 tonight w/ 24" barrel, no brake, no flash surpressor, what a pleasure. |
Literally, almost any centirefire rifle is going to cause hearing damage, whether or not you feel OK shooting it. You simply will not be able to fire an unsuppressed AR with normal ammunition without permanent hearing damage - "a few shots", "a lot of shots", it doesn't matter. Don't do it unless it's something very important. |
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I know a 16" barrel with no flash hider is loud and one with a muzzle brake is punishing to the people on your left and right. The flash hider makes a difference on a shorter barreled rifle. The one thing I miss about the pre-ban days was shooting my 16" post ban (no flash hider) with XM193. Huge fireball when firing. My girlfriend was pissed when I got a new barrel after the ban with a flash hider. She wouldn't even shoot the damn thing anymore. Oh well, more ammo for me. |
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www.opticsplanet.net/peltor-tactical-hearing-protectors.html as aimless suggests, get the electronic earmuffs. they amplify and protect. i have a cheapo pair that i bought as an experiment and was surprised how much i could hear when shooting was not going on. however, cheapo earmuffs sound like a bad mono radio and do not have good battery life. after someone let me try their peltors, i have them on a short "to buy" list--much clearer, more natural sound, more comfortable, better battery life. after poking around a little--envirosafetyproducts.com has the peltors for $59.90 and howard leight impact sport earmuffs for $47.68 |
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I was at an Appleseed shoot with a FAL on my left, and an AR on my right. I found that in that situation, neither foamies nor electronic muffs were enough. I ended up using the muffs on top of the foamies. The combination amplified range commands enough to be clearly heard through the foamies, while deadening the reports enough to be comfortable. I can't imagine being in that situation with no protection, voluntarily. Having worked all my life around loud noises (engines of all kinds, from gas and diesel up to jet) firearms, and other things that go boom, I've already lost a good bit of hearing. I guard my ears so jealously now that I wear muffs when on my lawn tractor cutting the grass. YMMV. |
I very much agree with you ceetee. I also have damaged hearing with the additional result of significant tinnitus and do not want to make it worse. At the indoor pistol range I use both the foam inserts and muffs. For rifle shooting outdoors I use the electronic muffs so I am sure to hear the range master. It is impressive how well the electronic muffs will allow you to hear while at the same time limiting the very loud sounds. |
| In a hunting situation you might want to consider those ear plugs that have the baffles in them. They allow most normal sounds to pass through but any kind of loud shockwave (like a gunshot) causes the baffles to close. It's purely mechanical and while I'm sure they aren't nearly as effective as the electronic headphones, they should work well enough in the field. I had a pair and used them until the plugs eventually broke off. I need to get another set. Last time I priced them they were under $10. Just something to think about. |
Start a new thread(in the variants section) or update your old post on this rifle if you haven't already. 
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Thanks for the replies My gun has a muzzle brake on it. I was thinking that may be why so much of the gas and noise comes back on me, but was not sure. I may buy a flash suppressor of a different design and see if that helps at all. This gun is way louder than my 270, 300, 12g, 20g, 44mag, 40s&w, 9mm, 50cal BP, or any other gun I have. |
LMAO Ditto |
DING DING DING! As others have said, hearing protection is a must with firearms. But from the sound of it, (no pun intended) you've had a collection of factors to make it even louder. Muzzle brakes are NOTORIOUS on this issue. Shooting close behind the house (where the wall might bounce the sound back) makes it even worse. Not to mention the AR15 is just plain loud anyways, esspecialy if it has a 16" or shorter barrel. Electronic hearing protection might be the way to go on this one for hunting. If the brake is removable, my opinion would be to replace it with a FS, as the advantage of a brake on a 5.56NATO rifle is minimal outside of competitive events. Tex78 |
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Javelin19: Welcome to the Forum. Your "gut feel" about the muzzle brake was correct. In an enclosed space (such as an indoor range) or if you are surrounded by echoing surfaces (a clearing surrounded by trees, a tree stand, near walls and fences behind your house) the blast from any type of muzzle brake or flash suppressor on a short barrel will be quite loud. I notice your Stag 2L normally comes with a 16" barrel and an A2 flash suppressor. Many commercial ammunition loads (such as 223 hunting loads) are really designed for 223 bolt action rifles with 20-24" barrels. They normally use slow, dual-base powders designed to "burn up completely" over a 24" length, accellerating the bullet gradually until it leaves the barrel. When such commercial ammunitions are fired in a 16" barrel, there is quite a bit of unburnt powder which continues to "burn" or "explode" as it exits the end of the barrel. This often means: 1. The exploding gasses (which are supersonic, by the way) creates a very loud bang. 2. The unburnt powder creates a noticable flame, about 2 feet long or more, which is especially bright at night. Since the M16/AR-15 was originally developed as a tactical rifle, suppression of the "flash" (since it helps the enemy to pinpoint your location visually) and the long fire trail leading back to the muzzle of the shooters weapon, beomes important to suppress. Thus, many of the AR-15 rifles employ some form of flash hider (they are more of a flash hider than a muzzle brake. The AR-15 produces very little recoil). However, the flash hider splits the exploding gasses so that instead of rushing straight forward, they rush back and to the sides/up/down. The exploding gasses that go sideways, and the gasses going down, are responsible for most of the "bang" that you hear. As ou guessed, IF YOU REMOVED THE FLASH HIDER COMPLETELY, the AR-15 becomes more like your conventional carbine, and the unburnt powder (and exploding gasses) would then point AWAY from you, and move straight forward. I assume, for the moment, that you are not planning on doing any night-time hunting, nor do you plan to use the AR for after-dark defensive use in a SHTF situation. If you are, it would be best to either keep the A2 flash hider, or (better) replace it with either a Vortex or Phantom C2 flash hider (excellent at hiding flash from a 16" barrel) to protect your night vision in after-dark engagements. Note: the Phantom C2 should be "indexed" so the side without a hole points DOWN. This is to prevent any unburnt gasses to NOT be pointed "straight down". You can either use peel washers, or a crush washer. to allow you to index the flash hider. Also, any competet gunsmith will be able to quickly install either new flash hider, and since it can be done in minutes, should not charge you much for this service. Also, as the others have suggested, hearing protection is a MUST. Packages of multi-use earplugs can be purchased at WAL MART for just a few dollars and, since they can be re-used (most are lost before they are discarded) can last you several seasons of hunting and plinking... If you ever shoot your Stag in an indoor range, you may actually want to "double plug" and use both earplugs AND earmuffs... I hope this helps. Best wishes with your Stag 2L. |
| Another thought: If you want to continue to use a semi-auto AR, you may want to consider, one day, either replacing your current 16" tactical barrel and M4 type handguards with a 24" hunting barrel, using either normal "Rifle" length handguards or (better) rifle-length "free float" handguards for improved accuracy. You can keep everything else. I would suggest you get a barrel without the threaded muzzle, instead getting a "match" type crowned muzzle instead. The combination of the longer barrel and crowsned muzzle (without any type of flash suppressr) will result in more of the powder being burnt up by the time it exits the barrel, and a mich faster, flatter-trajectory bullet with MUCH better terminal performance for hunting. The rifle with a 24" barrel and NO flash hider will be MUCH quieter as a hunting rifle. It probably won't be as quiet as a bolt-action .243 (since the gas-operated action is itself responsible for some noise) but it will be much quieter than your current set-up with the short 16" barrel and flash hider... |
I would have to agree 100% with Greymantle on extended barrels being quieter, though I'd still op for hearing protection of some sort. Short but true story: Back duing the ban, I had a Bushy 16" HBAR, bald muzzle. Wasn't even threaded. It was LOUD, but I wear "ears" so that's OK. I got a used post-ban M17s bullpup rifle for a song, and figured it would be LOUD X 10 or so, due to the muzzle being so much closer to my ears. What I didn't understand at the time was that while the muzzle was around 6" closer, the total barrel length was 21", and I was very suprised by the reduction in noise. Tex78 |
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