Shooting a gun without ear protection

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i really aught to save my posting on hearing protection so that I can copy it in when one of these threads start.

following is a link to the OSHA hearing standard. http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=standards&p_id=9735

For those of you who are interested you should look at the Impact standards. Any exposure above 140 dba will cause i irreparable damage to the ears. Above 150 dba the noise will be transmitted through the bones in the skull.

While working as a Safety Professional we had to use full face"motorcycle helmets" for workers in one application.

1 NRR will reduce the exposure level by 1 decibel measured an the A scale. The A scale simulates human hearing.

The cheap foam plugs, provided they are tested and rated in accordance with the NIOSH standards are the most effective hearing protection on the market. When properly inserted they mold to the ear canal. When you move the ear canal shifts and reduces the effectiveness of all other forms of protection.

Ear muffs do not mold to the face and give a good seal. Any penetrations such as glasses will reduce the effectiveness of the muffs. In some cases the stems of a standard of pair of shooting glasses reduced the actual protective factors by 25%. In other words the muffs may be rated at 25 Nrr but actually are providing only providing 18 dba of protection. This is significant when shooting a pistol which generates 130 db of noise.

Having spent a good deal of my life around things which go boom and generators i suffer from Tenitus and hearing loose. If it were not for hearing protection I would be stone deaf. Each time I shoot I than that retired AF LT Colonel who introduced the Military to those little yellow foam E. A. R. Plugs.
 
I have had tinnitus for two years now. I don't know if this is appropriate to post this, but maybe it will help someone. After seeing an ear doctor to get all my information, I have taken this product along with occasional anxiety medication on the bad days, and it has really helped. I went three months without realizing I couldn't hear my tinnitus. It still gets ramped up, and it's awful when it does that, hard to concentrate, so annoying, makes me really irritable, but that's when the doctor-prescribed anxiety meds help. I don't think the actual tinnitus completely leaves, but if your brain adjusts to it so you're not aware of it, that's a lot to be thankful for.

Anyway, this is what I use. It's herbal, customer service has been fantastic, and know that tinnitus often gets better with time, and they are working on treatments all the time.

Arches Tinnitus Formula, 800-486-1237
 
As with ANY repeated exposure to loud noises, your hearing WILL be affected. Maybe not immediately but in the long run the damage will be done.
Like others have said, in my younger days we never used or probably even seen anyone else using hearing protection. But now I wouldn't go without it at the range where you are exposed to repeated shots being fired.
 
My ears are totally trashed from my years in Army EOD and from shooting without hearing protection.

Recently the grandson of a good friend bought a .243 rifle. Sadly, he fired 20 rounds through that gun without hearing protection. Now the young man has severe hearing and nerve damage.
 
When I was a kid and just starting to shoot nobody used hearing protection. Later, as a Marine in Vietnam, the only folks using hearing protection were firing the big guns. As a result there are now, in my older years, certain frequencies and things I don't hear as well. I never fail to use hearing protection when shooting at the range now.
An emergency situation is the only instance where I expect to fire a gun without it. I've heard it suggested that people do some practice without hearing protection so that in an emergency they will know what it sounds like and not be startled. I strongly disagree with this. If it is truely an emergency situation the adrenaline will carry you through and you won't notice the sound until it is all over. I see no need to needlessly injure your hearing.
 
I always double up with plugs and muffs at the range. I bought the muffs with electronic amplification so I could hear in between shots. When I went duck hunting for the first time, the guy who took me told me he doesn't usually wear any. I didn't want to risk damaging my electronic muffs so I just brought plugs. In all of the excitement, I forgot to put them it before we started. Honestly speaking, it wasn't all that loud to me. Maybe it was because of the adrenaline, but there were no noticeable after effects such as ringing or reduced hearing. I believe that the report is directed away due to the the shooter's position and the longer barrel. I fired one over the other guy's position and he mentioned it was loud. Inside of an indoor range, shotguns really make a loud boom and I would never consider shooting one indoors without hearing protection.

I went to a club for a bachelor party and it was loud as HELL. The worst was when they started playing techno and it felt like someone sticking a drill in my ears. I was the best man so I couldn't just split, but I did take a few walks outside to rest my ears. Some of those guys stayed in the whole time and I'm surprised they aren't all deaf. We all experienced short term hearing loss and I'm sure some long term hearing loss. I wish I had ear plugs that day!

I still have phenomenal hearing but I have occasional ringing in my ears. It isn't bad, but I know some damage has already been done.
 
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I've shot rifles, shotguns, and handguns before without hearing protection.

Primarily because I was a stupid teenager who thought I was invincible.

Now I have the diminished hearing to show for it.
 
Thallub said:
Recently the grandson of a good friend bought a .243 rifle. Sadly, he fired 20 rounds through that gun without hearing protection. Now the young man has severe hearing and nerve damage.
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If he fired 20 rounds of .243 without hearing protection, they should check him for brain damage as well. Pain is meant to let us know we are damaging our bodies. I might have fired one shot without hearing protection by accident, but that's it.

In a pinch, I have used bullets as hearing protection. I had to disable a fire alarm that was going off. It was so freaking loud (especially up close) that I had to find something to plug my ears. Since I had my carry gun with me, I stripped out 2 rounds of 9mm from the mag and stuffed them in my ears case first. Let me tell you, it actually worked fairly well. It reduced the volume to tolerable levels since it blocked the sound from going directly into the ear canal. You guys with bigger ears may need to go up to .40 S&W, but make sure it is a snug fit for best results.
 
In a pinch, I have used bullets as hearing protection. I had to disable a fire alarm that was going off. It was so freaking loud (especially up close) that I had to find something to plug my ears.
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My wife used to raz me because I have foam ear plugs all over the place- pockets of jackets, motorcycle saddlebags, back packs, truck consoles, glove compartments etc. But they do come in handy, for things just like you mentioned.
 
"Recently the grandson of a good friend bought a .243 rifle. Sadly, he fired 20 rounds through that gun without hearing protection. Now the young man has severe hearing and nerve damage."

You know, you REALLY have to wonder how anyone who served in the US military up through the 1970s ever came out of basic training without severe hearing damage.

Doubly so if they served in combat.
 
I've shot rifles, shotguns, and handguns before without hearing protection.

Primarily because I was a stupid teenager who thought I was invincible.

Now I have the diminished hearing to show for it.
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Sums things up very well in my case.

Also...along with auto/motorcycle racing, building engines(nothing like the sound of an uncapped race engine fired up on a dyno stand), loud music and the rest of the things we did as young adults that was torture on our hearing. All the while damaging our hearing, especially for our later years.

Yea, we're invincible at that age. :rolleyes:

Today I sit with constant ringing that is getting worse every year. Now to the point in which it is affecting hearing normal conversations, hearing things around the house(IE, noises at night that used to wake me up) or when hunting, not being able to hear wildlife like I used to be able to.
Can't imagine what the next few years will bring.
Not looking forward to hearing aids so I can hear a normal conversation over the ringing.

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but Please don't take your hearing for granted. Wear hearing protection.
 
You know, you REALLY have to wonder how anyone who served in the US military up through the 1970s ever came out of basic training without severe hearing damage.
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My grandfather was partially deaf in both ears, and suffered from tinnitus after serving in WWII. Even with large hearing aids in both ears he was very hard of hearing. As if the gunfire wasn't bad enough for the ears, his platoon was being moved out of an abandoned building they were sleeping in over night, as they were leaving and another platoon was being moved in a time bomb went off and destroyed his hearing, as well as sadly killing everyone inside the building. As if PTSD wasn't bad enough for him the ringing made things worse, and as a result for the first year back in the states he couldn't sleep and rode the subway through all hours of the night.
 
When I was a kid we used to shoot .22 cal rifles at an outdoor range without any hearing protection - I don't even remember it being loud. I cannot imagine not using hearing protection today. I'm in my 50's and just started shooting handguns at an indoor range. I use foam ear plugs covered with electronic muffs. When I have them turned up I can hear people talking softly at the other end of the range, but they do a good job keeping out the gun shot noise. The only think they don't work well on is when someone is firing a 308 "cannon". I jump anytime someone brings one of those to the range, fortunately it is not very often.
 
The only think they don't work well on is when someone is firing a 308 "cannon". I jump anytime someone brings one of those to the range, fortunately it is not very often.
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I was at trhe indoor range not to long ago . There was a guy shooting an AR10 with a muzzle brake on it . You could feel it to your very core OMG I think my heart skipped a beat a couple times . Man it was load , I was just using plugs and thank god I always keep muffs with me . I doubled up real fast .
 
Tried out a friends sw 1911 without putting my plugs back in long ago and I promised myself I would never make that mistake again! Just 2 or 3 pulls of the trigger and my right ear was deaf for a week. This happened outdoors
 
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I suspect that had the OP's question been asked in person, rather than over the internet, a great many of us would simply have responded:

WHAT?
 
I suspect that had the OP's question been asked in person, rather than over the internet, a great many of us would simply have responded:

WHAT?
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I remember years ago seeing a little spot on TV about one of the local gun clubs, where most of the older guys were shooting without earpro. The reporter asked one of them "Doesn't that loud gunfire bother you?" and the response was "Not really. You eventually get used to it." Indeed.
 
I worked construction before I joined the Army as a Cannon Crewman and worked Construction after I came out. Between the power tools and the Howitzers I always have a ringing in my ears. I can't watch any TV show or movie and hear the whole thing or have a conversation without asking multiple times to have things repeated.
Wear your hearing protection or pay for it later in life.
 
I shot my .22LR pistol once ( I mean only 1 shot) out at the family farm without HP. :eek: I didn't fire another shot till I put my HP on. I thought, Hell I am out here in the wide open. Nope. still need em... Eyes too. thats just not smart. I've also made sure all my Sunglasses are impact glasses too. Stihl offers a great line of Sunglasses.

At an indoor range I am a member of, there is a room that separates the range from the rest of the Gun shop/ range counter that is meant for you to set your stuff down and put on your eyes and ears. I made use of this room the first time I visited, but never again. I put them on at the range counter. they have a swinging door that is as thin as cardboard and wheather its closed or someone walking through it, it offers no Hearing protection.

I may just be really sensitive hearing wise,,, huh.

I have two pairs of the electronic Headphone type of HP. Got them both on Amazon, they say Impact on them. They seem really popular, I see alot of ppl at the ranges, classes and on Youtube with them. I have been really happy with them and recommend them to everyone. When I was out in the woods one day on the farm just plinking I had them on the highest setting and was hearing alot of stuff rustling around that I couldn't hear with them off my ears.

I also keep a spare foam pair HP that are connected by a solid piece of plastic as a back up..
 
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