Shooting without hearing protection

[smle-man]

How many here are geezers? Meaning you started shooting back in the 50's, 60's and 70's. Nobody used ears and eyes. I started shooting trap back in the early 70's at a gun club. No one used ears or eyes. We just didn't know any better. My ears would ring for a couple of days after shooting. I was the first one to start wearing ears at the club.

So if you were shooting in those days, when did you start wearing ears and eyes?

I started using ear plugs on my high school rifle team. They were the type with the little valves in them that supposedly closed when the sound wave hit them. I got a lot of guff from the coach and other team members over them. The Army is what did in my hearing between ranges, vehicles, tracked fighting vehicles, industrial type noise, etc. When I got my first .22 at age 16 in 1970 my Dad bought me ear muffs and yellow tinted shooting glasses. I think that the protective stuff was more common than you think back then.

[cannon]

OP and others who prepare themselves for a shoot situation this way.

When the adrenaline dumps and time goes into super slo mo. You won't hear the gun you are shooting anyway. No need to prepare yourselves this way.

Being of an age where smoking was allowed everywhere, Cars did not have seat belts and if they did. No one used them and all the paint was lead. Anyone else remember riding in the back of a pick up truck as a child?

OP's one shot while not good won't make him deaf.

[LAWABIDINGCITIZEN]

I keep a pair of the electronic ear-muffs in my night stand in case something goes bump in the night. I may not have time to grab them and turn them on, but at least its an option.

Wow! I never thought of this before. A good set of electronic muffs could be on your night stand next to the tactical flashlight. When I use mine, I can hear a pin drop. This wouldn't be just to protect your ears, but to hear every sound in your house.

Have you ever woken up to a sound and thought did I really hear that? With muffs, you might hear sounds of an intruder that you might otherwise miss.


I've fallen, and I can't reach my GLOCK !

[LAWABIDINGCITIZEN]

This thread shows why suppressors need to be an off-the-shelf item available at Walmart and everywhere else.


I've fallen, and I can't reach my GLOCK !

[RudyN]

I went to an indoor range and shot without protection as I forgot it. I now wear hearings aids and have quite bad hearing. Don't do it more than maybe one or two shots.

[SWalt]

OP and others who prepare themselves for a shoot situation this way.

When the adrenaline dumps and time goes into super slo mo. You won't hear the gun you are shooting anyway. No need to prepare yourselves this way.

Being of an age where smoking was allowed everywhere, Cars did not have seat belts and if they did. No one used them and all the paint was lead. Anyone else remember riding in the back of a pick up truck as a child?

OP's one shot while not good won't make him deaf.

I think those of us who grew up or were living before everything in life kills you are fortunate to have lived before the nanny state became over whelming. I still remember when riding in the back of a truck became illegal, a group of taggers over turned on the freeway, then the "why do we allow this senseless activity" reason pushed a law through. People should determine what risks they take and live with the outcome but society is no longer allows that.

But when it comes to wearing ears or using ear plugs when shooting or other loud activity, I will wear them. My hearing isn't bad but as others have mentioned its accumulative and I can see myself being hard of hearing later if I don't protect them now. For all the abuse I have put my ears through it should be impossible for me to hear anything, if I were to believed everything I hear. Everyone should wear them, not because a few gun shots will make you deaf later, but because its just prudent. JMHO

[epilepticninja]

I've shot 9mm, 12GA, and 5.56mm without hearing protection. Each time was in the performance of my official duties. However, if you asked me afterwards, I don't remember even hearing any of the weapons going off. I know it messed with my hearing, because it was difficult to hear anything immediately after the incidents. With 5.56, my ears rang for a day. That sucked balls.

[12ga]

Almost 1 year ago, I inadvertantly fired a single round of. 357 mag outdoors without hearing protection, and I suffered permanent hearing loss as result. I was careless and forgot to put my plugs back in. My left ear went from being able to hear frequency up to 18khz down to only 10khz with one shot.

[ziconceo]

I've accidentally shot an m91/30 without hearing protection in the woods. That felt like I smacked my head into a wall! Then shot an hk 45 and a glock 19 both I forgot one earplug because I was talking to a friend between mags Ears rang for a good hour but I never noticed a loss in hearing. In fact. Just did a frequency test. My hearing stops at 19500 Hz so maybe I did loose a little but I could've been born like that, who knows.

[tommyfly]

ive shot my .270 a few times while hunting w/o protection, and a 7mm rem mag once. ears only rang for a minute or two, and i still hear just fine. I don't recommend it, and i would never want to hear a handgun go off w/o protection, but I also don't think doing it once in a blue moon is a huge deal.

[Deimos887]

Did it once unintentionally (on BLM by myself) with a .40cal...
it hurt, went deaf for a few seconds.... ears rang for a few hours.

I'm sure all the hard rock/punk/metal I listen to over the years has done more damage than that single incident though.

[RustyIron]

With the disclaimer that I'm not a doctor and don't know what type of damamge is done by doing it, I suggest that anyone that plans to use a pistol for your primary HD tries this at least once,

Since you're NOT a doctor, and since you DON'T know what damage is done, then to suggest that people do it is careless and reckless.

I'm not a doctor either. But in my younger years, I was stubborn, I was cool, and I didn't have a good mentor to lead me in the right direction. I frequently shot with no hearing protection. And today, I don't hear very well. I really @#$%ing wish that I could hear better. Perhaps you have no clue regarding the limitations that hearing impairment can place upon you, but let me assure you, it totally sucks. I wish that I wasn't so stupid back then, but perhaps I can convince some of you youngsters to not make the same mistakes I made.

Don't smoke cigarettes, don't have unprotected sex outside a monogamous relationship, and don't shoot without hearing protection.

[96chevjumps]

Grew up shooting 7mm mag, 257 wetherby mag, 357mag ect with out protection. Notice no ill effects. It has been years since ive shot without protection though. Having said that I have a shooting budy that I've never seen use protection and he says he can hear fine. I honestly have never noticed him miss a word anyone has said. I bet at night while it silent out it sounds like a train is driving through his house!

[johnthomas]

I was at the tank range once, I had hearing protection on, the problem with tanks though, is the concussion shakes your guts. It feels like someone is hitting you in the chest. Shooting without hearing protection will make you look like old guys that never answer a question, they just nod and smile.
My old boss was that way, I used to say crap to him because I knew he couldn't hear. Then he got hearing aids.

[NapalmCheese]

To all of you that proclaim something to the effect of "I was around loud noise x, n number of times without hearing protection and I haven't noticed a loss of hearing", you don't know what you're missing.