Anybody Ever Fire a .357 in a SD Situation?

I had a brain malfunction many years ago, and fired a Colt Government Model in 45 acp inside my house. Praise God, I had enough sense to have it pointed at a book case, and only a few books were damaged (and my "I know everything" attitude, also), but the thing that surprised me is that no one in the house heard it, including me. :eek:

I'm sure in my case, shock/surprise whatever blocked it out (after all, it was "unloaded"), but my wife's uncle was on the sofa in the next room, about 20 feet away, through an open double door, in plain sight of me, and he thought I had "popped a primer" reloading. My mother-in-law, just down the hall, and my wife in the other end of the house, heard nothing at all.

And it was a full power load. Gun functioned perfectly, big hole in the side of the bookcase, and through a couple of hardcover books.

Still scares me to think about it.

Oh, my ears ring today, but I don't believe that or shooting in general had much to do with it. I blame on years of roaring V-6 outboard motors, and the wind rushing by my ears driving bass boats.
 
Deaf Smith- No comprende:
They have fired REAL .357 Magnums in defensive situations over the years.
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Theirs were REAL-ER than any of ours? I don't think I get what you thought you were thinking along that line of thought.
 
I fired a 4" 357 mag 4 times inside a 10'x 10' room once upon a time. It was painful but not really an option at the time. Also not nearly as bad as having a mortar round land 15' away.
 
I was at the indoor range once with my 9mm's, .357, and .41mag. I forgot my ear muff and was only using ear plugs. They worked fine with both the 9mm and .41 but when I got to the .357 I put it away after the first round. It wasn't necessarily painful but enough of a noticeable different I didn't want to take any chances. The 9mm was just a pop, the .41 was a loud boom, but the.357 was a piercing crack that seems only mitigated by using ear muffs, not just ear plugs.
 
I STILL regret firing a couple of Mini-Mags out of my Browning Buckmark without wearing hearing protection. .357 without protection would be unimaginable.
 
I never fire firearms without hearing protection anymore , but its to late for my hearing . I can hear ok but cant hear a soft spoken voice like my Daughter very well . And that bothers me and forget about a whisper .
As for the .357 in self defence . One unpleasant situation that happened here was 2 brothers that had bad reputations and drug/drinking problems got into a argument one pulled a knife went for the other . The other one pulled a .357 Black Hawk and fired one shot to the center of the others chest and he dropped where he was . Dead . That was when about all you could find was standard hunting 158 gr jhp's
I know someone that shot a big White tail buck straight facing in the chest and the shock damaged the heart wich it just missed and damaged both lungs and stoped in the stomach that was full of bean leafs from a bean field . Also a 158 jhp .
 
I blamed my hearing loss on my use of personnal firearms. This post got me thinking (no easy job), walking past 155 batteries at the wrong times got my attention, and were '70s Chinooks as loud as I remember? 81mm mortar rounds, ours were 81mm, right? Other crew served armament and aviation items. Then there is all the abuse my hearing took after the military, considerable. While most long term shooting enthuiasts' (gun nuts) favorite word is huh, I may blame other reasons.
 
I've alway's heard in the intensity of the moment, your senses are so finely tuned to the situation that you don't even hear the shot or feel recoil. Can't say if that's true, but the human mind being what it is, it would not surprise me. For myself, I fired a 44 magnum in 1976 repeated times because I didn't need no sissy hearing protection! I swear my ears started ringing that day and never stopped. I suffer from tinnitus 24/7 every since because of it. Damn stupid and frustrating. I never go without it or let anyone with me shoot without protection. I was young once , and stupid. I'm not young anymore. Can't swear to the second part...
 
I also once fired my Dad's S&W Model 37 five times without hearing protection, outside in the woods.

My ears felt like I'd stuffed cotton in them for over a day, pretty unpleasant unto itself.

I once fired my Glock 19 with a Remington 115 grain ball round outside once too. Not nearly as bad as the .38 snub. A light ring to the ears, then no real effect.

I've fired my 91/30 Mosin Nagant without ear protection as well one time just to see what it was like, it really wasn't bad at all but still a dumb idea. Did the same with my SKS, seemed more loud. Also did the same with a 12 gauge shotgun, not terrible but not too bad.

But a .357 hot load has some blast to say the least... I'm convinced those earbuds saved my hearing. I don't think I'd be too keen on trying THAT one out again, at least voluntarily!!
 
I cant talk about the sound a 357 makes.
But I have been next to a MA Duece and my ear plug fell out.
Unbelievable just how loud a full auto 50 cal is. Could not hear out of my right ear for two weeks and still have ringing.
And that was 34 years ago shooting at Cardboard commies.
 
10-96,

Lots of shooters use .357s loaded with .38s.

The DPS used full loads and didn't go deaf in gunfights.

In fact I've never heard of any PD that used full .357 loads having hearing problems after shootings.

So any worry about that is just misplaced.

Deaf
 
In fact I've never heard of any PD that used full .357 loads having hearing problems after shootings.
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You would have if you had read the thread. I gave one example of a Texarkana LEO who had hearing problems after firing a .357Mag in a job-related shooting.

Here's another one from the second post on the thread:

"On the other hand I'm aware of 2 cops who were forced to retire early after discharging their 357 mags in SD situations. They suffered enough hearing loss that they could no longer perform their job."​

The round I discharged was a Federal 125gr .357Mag round from a 4" bbl. and it certainly caused hearing problems. The shooting wasn't SD related and I'm not an LEO, but I can't see how that would make any difference.

There are many aspects of the aftermath of shootings that are not generally reported in the news, that doesn't mean they don't exist--it just means that the media doesn't consider them newsworthy.
So any worry about that is just misplaced.
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Firing a gun without hearing protection is likely to cause hearing damage. Some people seem to be more prone to this kind of damage while some people seem to be pretty resistant. The chances of permanent damage tends to go up if the gun is fired inside and go up even more if the gun is particularly loud. The numbers I've seen indicate that full house .357Mag rounds from a relatively short barrel (4" & under) are about as loud as it gets for handgun shooting.

The worry of incurring hearing damage from shooting without hearing protection is not misplaced in the least. However, it should be balanced against the alternative. I think that most of us agree that saving a life is worth accumulating some hearing damage.
Did not feel the recoil or hear anything...
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That matches my experience. However, not feeling the recoil or noticing the noise of the shot didn't protect my hearing at all.
I've alway's heard in the intensity of the moment, your senses are so finely tuned to the situation that you don't even hear the shot or feel recoil. Can't say if that's true, but the human mind being what it is, it would not surprise me.
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Auditory exclusion is fairly common, but it is important to understand that the exclusion happens in the brain and does nothing to protect the physical structures of the ear.

There is some research that suggests there is a protective mechanism in the ear that may be able to reduce the potential for hearing damage in some people if they are expecting a loud noise. It's not clear how or why it seems to work in some people but not in others and it doesn't appear to offer any protection at all for people who are startled/surprised by a loud noise they aren't expecting.
 
So ive fired a fww rounds from a m16 (atleast 20) unprotected while iwas firing it. I am a right handed shooter with tinnitus in my left ear for sure, possibly on my right. Audiologist said a shadow effect occurs with sound which is why ny left ear may have tinnitus.

Anyways on top of that, i have absolutely excellent top of the line hearing. She couldnt stop saying that. Kinda weird eh?
 
2 cases out of thousands?
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No. If you had read the post you would note that one of the reports involved two LEOs. So that's three cases reported on just this one thread..

As far as how many there really are, that would be impossible to determine from a thread like this given that only a limited number of people will read this thread, even fewer will respond and even fewer still will have any information on that particular subject.

We do know for certain that unprotected exposure to firearms discharge noise can cause permanent hearing damage. There's no reason to believe that LEOs, or people in SD situations, are immune for some reason.
I'd worry about the effectiveness of the round and not the potential of hearing loss.
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Well, that's your choice, and it might even be a good choice for you. But it doesn't necessarily mean it's the right choice for everyone out there and it certainly doesn't change the facts about firearms and hearing damage.
NO. If I pull I will kill and lose my savings to lawyers.
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Well, statements like that in a public forum certainly won't help the situation. But I guess it's your money, and potentially your freedom at stake...
 
I would be willing to bet if you fired a 357 in a SD situation you would probably not even hear the blast because you would be preoccupied with other things.
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You might well be sufficiently distracted that you wouldn't notice the blast. However, the damage to your hearing will occur regardless.
 
I have multiple times, back when I was 18-25 or so and way more smarter than I am now. Also fired a .41 mag several times with no protection, which was much worse. And now at 57 I have enough hearing loss to regret my youthful stupidity. On the other hand, most of the loss seems to align with the frequency range of my wife's and teenage daughter's voices, so it's not all bad.

My BIL keeps a 4" S&W .357 in his nightstand but has never fired it in the dark with no ears on. I've told him to make sure the first shot in his hallway at 2am counts, cause he'll pretty much be blind and deaf after that.
 
Well I hope you guys here were earmuffs 7/24 if you are so worried about hearing damage in a SD situation cause if you pack any serious gun it is going to go bang and might hurt your ears.

See the .357 is loud, but go try a .45 or 9mm or and higher pressured cartridge and you will find they ring ears to.

Bummer, right?

So lot's of luck finding a hearing friendly gun to defend your life.

Deaf
 
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