please use ear protection. I keep a couple foam ones in wallet at all times in case I forget. dude, you could seriously cause a life-long condition and fast. I think I have taken 3 or 4 shots total w/o ear protection from a rifle caliber and after that first shot, i am either finding ear protection immediately or calling off shooting. DO NOT SHOOT center-fire rifle w/o protection....period. of course only 3 shots makes it unbearable one shot should make it unbearable, it's not your rifle that's the problem, justa common rule of firearm ownership. more power to you in your hobby, but if you can't follow a simple step of keeping ear plugs around at all times, I dunno man, maybe this just aint for you. I am not trying to be a dic, that just really concerns me that you would even try to shoot a medium caliber rifle like that. get a 38spl lever action or a .10/22 if this is going to be a reoccurring thing