Posted: 2/18/2014 9:56:07 PM EDT
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There's a new indoor range opening up in CR on Friday. I'm one of the RSOs and will be spending a fair amount of time in the range. I shot in the range last week and my cheap Caldwells are not going to cut it for a few reasons. I want ear pro that will be more comfortable for extended wear and do a better job of letting me hear voices and not guns. I'd rather avoid plugging in addition to muffing because of the frequency I may be entering and leaving the range and would ideally like a nice set of muffs to adequately protect me.
I'm leaning towards MSA Sordin Supreme Pro's, but does anyone have any personal experience with indoor ranges or other advice for me? |
| Another vote for Howard leights. Comfortable for extended periods, allows you to hear voices easily, and not overly expensive. I also like the fact that they taper down near the bottom of your ears. This allows a nice solid cheek weld with pushing your hearing protection out of the way like the cheaper bulkier ones. |
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Another vote for Howard leights. Comfortable for extended periods, allows you to hear voices easily, and not overly expensive. I also like the fact that they taper down near the bottom of your ears. This allows a nice solid cheek weld with pushing your hearing protection out of the way like the cheaper bulkier ones. These are what I'm running as well. Love them, but I don't spend any real time in indoor ranges. |
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These are what I'm running as well. Love them, but I don't spend any real time in indoor ranges. Quoted:
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Another vote for Howard leights. Comfortable for extended periods, allows you to hear voices easily, and not overly expensive. I also like the fact that they taper down near the bottom of your ears. This allows a nice solid cheek weld with pushing your hearing protection out of the way like the cheaper bulkier ones. These are what I'm running as well. Love them, but I don't spend any real time in indoor ranges. Same here |
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If you are in CR you aren't that close to a Mills but they have them for $40 this week (the Howard Leight).
Here $42 at amazon |
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Midwest Shooting. They're just off Blairs Ferry right now, moving to Hiawatha next to Ketelson's RV by 380. Brand new facility being built. Having shot at other indoor ranges in the area, I think it's safe to say that it's going to be the best local (maybe even regional) range. I don't know of any other ranges in the area that offer rental guns and motorized target retrievers. Plus we're not in some senile old guy's basement. Something I haven't had a chance to try, but am definitely looking forward to, is the training simulator. It's an LE/Mil style virtual trainer where you stand in a room with a screen and a CO2 powered gun and can experience different scenarios. Everything from having to make a shoot/no shoot decision to being attacked by dogs to zombies.
When I shot in the range, the sound-proofing/deadening wasn't quite finished, but I am sure that it's still going to be very loud. The problem I noticed with my current ear pro is that during shooting, the muffs seemed to shut down and not let anything through. I couldn't even hear yelling. Obviously not the best thing for the RSO. I'm under the impression that muffs like the Sordin's do a better job of filtering out bangs while letting normal sound through. Is that correct? |
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They are quicker to respond and enable sound through than cheaper options but if there is constant fire going they will stay cut off and act like a normal headset till a pause in the fire comes along.
Do you mind PMing some hours, etc. I'd like to come through Friday or this weekend to support the new location and check out the range. Never mind I got the info on the web site. I'm going to setup orientation for my wife and I Saturday. It mentions rifles are allowed but it doesn't give any specifics. Most ranges don't allow steel core wolf stuff, some do. What's the rule here? |
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This is from a reply to a question on their Facebook page:
we will allow handloads on the range for use in your guns. We will require shooters to use our new ammo in our rental guns only. We will also not allow steel core, steel case, amour piercing, tracers, and incendiaries. |
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They are quicker to respond and enable sound through than cheaper options but if there is constant fire going they will stay cut off and act like a normal headset till a pause in the fire comes along. Do you mind PMing some hours, etc. I'd like to come through Friday or this weekend to support the new location and check out the range. Never mind I got the info on the web site. I'm going to setup orientation for my wife and I Saturday. It mentions rifles are allowed but it doesn't give any specifics. Most ranges don't allow steel core wolf stuff, some do. What's the rule here? Rifles are allowed as long as they don't interfere with other people on the range (think really loud stuff with brakes). It's the RSO's discretion if something is too loud. My buddy and I shot a couple ARs there. We'll see how the finished range sounds, but anything much louder than an AR is probably going to be too much. |
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The old location has been closed Tue-Thu this week to finish up the move. I don't think the phones are ringing at the new place yet. The old location will stay open for a few weeks to sell some stuff they didn't want to move and direct people to the new store.
There's a 30 person class room where we'll do the range safety briefings. I don't know how long they should take, but not too long. Those briefings will run regularly until demand tapers off and then they will be done as needed. We don't really have any idea how busy it'll be this weekend, but my guess is very. It's all walk-in right now because I'm sure they'll have no trouble filling full briefings all weekend long. |
| Oh yeah, something else you might be interested in. There's a USPSA club starting up that's going to use the range. The range is divided into two by a wall (bulletproof haha) with 10 lanes on the left and nine on the right. The club will set up and run matches out of one of the sides (I think the right). I talked to one of the guys setting the club up and they think they can set up a full 3-5 CoFs in the range. I think the club is called "Eastern IA Practical Shooters". Look them up on facebook. They should be all ready to go and I think the plan is to run monthly or semi-monthly matches during the week in the evening. |
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Hey, Spyw, can I ask what you wound up with and how it's working for you? A) I've been thinking about ear muff style hearing protection for a while, cause I hate sticking things in my ears (I have three pairs of unused Apple earbuds to prove it), and B) I want to hear how loud it is in that range, since I saw a lot of stuff in the rental case today that I want to shoot.
Although I don't think any ear pro is enough for that Desert Eagle... 
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Hey, Spyw, can I ask what you wound up with and how it's working for you? A) I've been thinking about ear muff style hearing protection for a while, cause I hate sticking things in my ears (I have three pairs of unused Apple earbuds to prove it), and B) I want to hear how loud it is in that range, since I saw a lot of stuff in the rental case today that I want to shoot. Although I don't think any ear pro is enough for that Desert Eagle... I got my MSA's and have been running them for a week or two now. They're great for me, and definitely worth the investment. My previous set of muffs was Caldwell's Platinum Series G3. My reason for replacement wasn't necessarily the lack of quality, but rather me doubting they'd stand up to this much prolonged use. I'll give you some pros and cons of both my old Caldwell's and my new MSA's. Caldwell Pros Cheaper (I think I bought them at a discount for something like $40, MSRP is $80) Adequate noise reduction Caldwell Cons Takes 6 AAA batteries, 3 on each side (one side was dead within a week of the range opening) Two power/volume dials (I prefer the one set of controls) Not very comfortable for extended wear Bulky Couldn't hear radio while on the range Audio had static and wasn't exceptionally clear MSA Pros 2 AAA batteries with 600 hours of run time One set of power and up/down switches that gave audio feedback on press Super comfy with gel ear pieces Very slim and light weight Aux input for radio Superb audio quality Decent noise reduction MSA Cons Expensive, very (ended up setting me back about $300) What conclusion do I draw from this? For me, the MSA's were definitely worth the price of admission. I'm an active shooter and will use the hell out of them for years. The important question to ask yourself is how much you shoot. If you shoot a lot, I have no doubt the MSA's would improve your shooting experience. If not, something like the Caldwell's will protect you just as well for almost a fourth of the price. There is one caveat, however. Extended time spent in an indoor range almost necessitates plugging and muffing. Muffs do a decent job of reducing the sound energy to levels that are tolerable and not painful. I don't know how well I can describe it, but the reverberation of the enclosed space can cause uncomfortable concussion inside the ear canal, regardless of the muff being worn. Plugs muffle that concussion almost entirely, but extended firing from large calibers can be uncomfortable with muffs alone. If you're not going to be shooting very long or have to listen to very loud guns, muffs alone are fine, but anytime I'm going to spend a long time in the range, I'll always stick plugs in as well. Mirage, I'm going to be working Monday and Tuesday nights from now on. I'll let you know if I see you. |
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Thanks, Spyw and M3A1.
I stopped by Midwest on Sunday, and noticed they had some basic, non-electronic, pretty high NRR earmuffs for like $15, and I've been thinking about those lately. I can't see myself doing double earpro, I can barely stand plugs by themselves, so I can't even imagine how annoying they'd be with muffs over them. And yeah, M3A1 makes a good point that you can only lose your hearing once, but I'm unlikely to be in the range for more than the hour rental and maybe not even that long... Anyway, I don't know what the heck I'm gonna do, but I appreciate y'all's input. 
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