Ever shot without ear protector?

Never used it as a kid,,,

Never used it as a kid,,,
Even on the rifle team at high school,,,
(Oklahoma 1966) we never used hearing protection,,,
In Basic training for the Air Force we used muffs for our one day of live fire.

Didn't use anything in southeast asia either.

Plinking through the 80's & 90's none of us ever used muffs or plugs,,,
I do have some hearing loss at the ripe old age of 60,,,
Maybe from guns but probably from power tools,,,
Or Led Zeppelin through a 100 watt stereo. ;)

Nowadays I always use muffs,,,
When I take a new shooter to the range,,,
I gift them a set of shooting glasses and ear plugs,,,
I also loan them a pair of ear muffs to use while we are shooting.

What about our modern military,,,
Do the soldiers out on patrol wear ear plugs or muffs?

Aarond

.
 
tommyd78

Ever shot without ear protector?
As a general rule you would never shoot your firearm without hearing protection. . . . .
Just wanted to know if anyone has tried it or had reason to and how it felt to them.
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Many times I have fires firearms without hearing protection.
Duck hunting, deer hunting, target shooting when a kid at camp, dove hunting; and I have hearing loss to prove it.
I try to carry hearing protection when I think I will be shooting, but sometimes I fail.

Recently, I was at my sister's property and came upon about 20 feral pigs. I pulled my 10mm and shot one and the others ran off. No time for hearing protection.
 
My first experiance with firearms was firing my by Brother's 870 12ga without any hearing protection. He wonders why I don't like 12 gauges.

It is a miracle that I like the shooting sport.
 
Wow! And I thought I was the only stup . . . ummmm, careless one on here. 357s, 45s, 22s, you name it. My wife says my favorite word is "Huh?"
 
With all the above hearing loss stories, I wonder why anyone would use a high-strung magnum as a SD load when a relatively sedate .45 ACP or .44 special would likely do just as well. No point doing excess damage to your ears in a situation where you have a gun prepared for such an event.

http://www.freehearingtest.com/hia_gunfirenoise.shtml

The only gun I shoot regularly (outdoors) without protection is my Marlin .22LR rifle with run of the mill Federal ammo. The sound seems to be well directed away from the shooter and is more like a loud squirt than a bang. My Ruger Mark II .22LR, however, is quite unpleasant and requires ear plugs. I once accidentally let a round of .38 special go (4" barrel I think) and it was quite unpleasant as well.
 
I shot my 357 magnum J-frame at an indoor range with out hearing on. I was the only one there and I did not even know that I did not have them on until the first shot I then realized they where around my neck. Concrete and mettle kind of just bounce the sound around...
 
I have lost much of my hearing do to military service. Small fire, claymore mines, shotgun blasts. rocket blasts. and turbo prop aircraft. I wear hearing aids not the same. I still miss a lot of what is said. I wear ear plug and muffs now. I use to get after my son about load music and ear phones, that can damage hearing pretty quick too. Protect what you have cause it don't grow back.
 
Hot .357 round from a snub indoors with no hearing protection. My left ear rang for a almost a year, and that's no joke. Still rings a bit to this day.

With all the above hearing loss stories, I wonder why anyone would use a high-strung magnum as a SD load
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Couple weeks down the road after the incident I sold my model 60 in .357 and got an older 640 in .38. Never looked back.
 
I used to get pretty ticked when my gunner would test fire his M2 50 Cal before I could get my headset on.... Daily echoing inside the mrap is never fun!
 
I once fired a new 30-06 with a muzzle brake with no protection. I dropped the rifle...
I made the dealer take the gun back. I will never own a gun with a muzzle brake.
 
Fired off 10rds of .357SIG through a compensated P229 Sport with nothing a long time ago. You wouldn't believe how much louder already-painful .357SIG is when half the blast is routed straight up. I got a headache from my skull muscles trying to fold my ears back like a dog.

Oh to be young and stupid again.
 
A couple of times in South Korea where we were told that they would have ear-pro for us, and yet we fired over 600+ round without... Plus a tour in Iraq, equals poor hearing in my right ear...

If I am not looking right at someone, or if they arent on my left side, I usually dont hear them....
 
As far as the time perception effects, it's standard in the gun world to say things slow time. Research suggests that it doesn't happen but there it is a later memory effect.

Things do look clearer in the center of your focused vision as the systems responsible for fine detail tune up a bit. Thus, reports like Cirillo (IIRC) saying his sights were crystal clear is probably true.

Auditory exclusion is selective attention effect combined with memory. Your hair cells in the cochlea get fired no matter what you perceive.
 
ever shot without ear protectors?

I forgot when I started getting ringing in my ears if it was after the one time I shot a 357 round, the ringing is always there I'm aware of it but it doesn't really bother me even at sleep. I listened to a lot of loud music and only recently went to see a band and I had foam plugs in. Almost 60 and I still like loud music in the metal category.
 
I joined the USMC in 1963 and army 12 yrs. later. Retired in 1989. Never wore any ear protection. Never had any until lart 70's or early 80's.
Not practical in combat, I served 2 tours as a Marine infantryman. For incoming artillery supporting fire we used to open our mouths to equalize the pressure. Usually we could not hear much for a few hours after. This is one of the things we had to live with.
I still don't use hearing protection when firing in the open. No big deal. I guess I was raised in a different life style then most of you.;)
 
I hunt without ear protection. I typically rarely take more than a couple of shots per animal with a rifle most of the time taking only one shot per animal I shoot and then its only one or two animals per day.

When I bird hunt I also don't hunt with hearing protection. I take more shots with the 12 gauge shotgun than I do with my rifle. Ducks - you can make many multiple shots in a day. The same goes for pheasant and grouse hunting.

At the time of hunting I don't notice any ringing or adverse conditions in my ears.

I DO however wear hearing protection whenever I shoot trap, skeet or am on the line practicing with rifles/handguns etc.

I made the mistake once of not wearing hearing protection (I wanted to know what the gun - my 1911 - sounded like without hearing protection) and put two rounds downrange without hearing protection. I won't ever do that again. Thanks to that I had ringing in my ears for nearly 48 hours straight and I felt as though I had water in my ears for a week. Luckily that apparently didn't injure my ears.
 
When shooting a .22LR back in my younger days, I never used hearing protection. Then a .22 pistol. Wow, much different. About then I learned the benefit of using hearing pro, but of course by then it was too late. Lesson learned and I've been a staunch advocate of doubling-up on protection when at the range for well over twenty years, when just using muffs turned out to HURT at .44 magnum levels. Been also the victim of surprise shots by fellow shooters, fumbling with ear pro during commence firing calls, etc. It all hurts, but especially high-power rifles and magnum power pistols. Save what hearing you've got left, guys, at all costs. Please.
 
I used to do it all the time. '53 Army basic training, hearing protection did not exist. Later, aircraft maintainence, same thing.
 
Tinnitus, my constant companion. Too many times without at least one ear plug in while in The Corps. I'm sure live music didn't help either.
 
The only time I don't wear hearing protection is when I'm shooting a .22 rifle. I know I should but it's not much louder than a magnum air rifle and that range of my hearing is probably already gone from years as a mechanic. Anything else though, .22 pistols and up, is always fired with ears on. Beyond the ringing, the physical discomfort of being near gunfire without hearing protection is just too much for me.
 
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