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Posted: 11/23/2003 11:21:12 AM EDT
| Do you wear hearing protection when shooting your .22's? I always do! Does anyone know about how many decibles a .22 puts out when fired? Thanks. |
| Depends, sometimes I do and sometime's I don't. Moments when I don't is when I am just shooting up my own private shooting range (just my relatives farm property that I use for hunting and target shooting) or I forget it, but I try to always wear it. When I am hunting I never do, I tried the stick a ear plug in the one ear on my shooting side, but it annoyied the hell out of me so half way through the hunt I ditched it. |
| For shooting a .22 I usually only wear protection if I'm shooting under a canopy of some sort. And then I'll skip the foam plugs and muffs and just use two cigarette butts (yea, I get lots of funny looks). A Google search of several sites say that a .22 is between 130-155 db, which I am guessing was measured at the muzzle because I don't believe they are that loud to the shooter. |
| with my brother's walther p22 yes because out of the 3.4 inch barrel 22lr even colibre is LOUD! but out of my 10/22 i dont wear any. Maybe its just that i always shoot in open spaces or maybe its just me but wearing hearing protection for a 10/22 is going a little overboard |
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Its not good to shoot any un-suppressed 22lr rifle or pistol shooting out of a stock Ruger 10/22 CCI mini mags 143.3 dBs (1216.2 fps) Rem Gold 141.3 dBs Rem Target 139 dBs A suppressed LRM VIDAR ruger 10/22 CCI min mags 109.6 dBs (1141fps) Rem Gold 109.5 dBs Rem Target 108.9 dBs shooting out of Walther P22 with out suppressor CCI mini mag 157.9 dBs Rem Gold 157.7 dBs Rem Target 157 dBs I had Matt Smith writer from SAR do the dB testing |
| Due to the high pitch of .22 reports, they can cause as much, if not more damage to your ears than larger calibers. The higher frequencies can really play with your hearing in the long run. I wear hearing all the time. Never been hunting yet (that wil change here in one month), so I'm not sure about that. |
| i dont wear hearing protection for powertools or for most .22's (except out of the p22) yet my hearing is fine. i dont get the ringing in the ears and i can hear the electricity in the walls (seriously) but i have a problem hearing soft spoken people. but then thats always been a problem. if your gonna talk then talk, dont mumble. |
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I work in industrial safety, believe me, .22's can be damaging. Hearing loss is untreatable, but it is preventable. YOu lose the high frequencies first, so if you like your guns and your music loud, just hope you like the way it sounds coming from the car next to you, because that is what your car stereo is going to sound like to you eventually. |
Get back to us in 10 years when you've got a set of hearing aids. Any gun shot is damaging. But then again, if I'm hunting and I'm only gonna shoot 1 or 2 shots, I'm probably not going to use earplugs unless I'm stationary. I just don't like the idea of walking through the forest deaf(with earplugs in). |
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What no one has mentioned is that .22 long rifles are super sonic, and it's the sonic crack that's so loud, if you're under a canopy, the sonic crack will be redirected towards the shooter. If you're using subsonic ammunition, there isn't much noise regardless what you're shooting or where you're standing. P.S. if you use subsonic ammo in a suppressed 10/22, all you hear is the sound of the bolt cycling :D. |
| Personally, if it's more than an air rifle, I wear protection. I've cracked off a few rounds from a .22, some 9mm, .45, and 12 ga without, but only when necessary. Otherwise, I'm gonna try to protect what I have left (I used to be one of those thumping asses in the Blazer next to you, now I'm just an ass). YMMV. |
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