Shooting without hearing protection

[Moonastray]

Only ever intentionally shot 22lr without ears on. Though there was one time I went out to BLM with a friend, and while we were packing up, I hear him say, "Oh, there's that extra mag. Going hot." Heard the bolt on the AR closeAnd before I could even think to put my ears back on he proceeds to dump the mag. My ears were ringing pretty bad after that for the rest of the day.

[JDay]

If you think that's bad you should hear what a round sounds like when discharged indoors.

[Moonastray]

I'm hoping I never have to, haha

[jdben92883]

I can assure you those that "shoot all the time w/o ears" and hear just fine, don't hear just fine.

I always use protection, but at age 43 I have some tinnitus and recently learned I have some frequency deafness (lots of loud music in the younger years). I was laying in bed one early night and was hearing some piece of equipment running. Don't remember what it was, but it was a mid-range frequency around 400hz or thereabouts. I asked my wife why she thought it was going on-and-off and she told me it was running constantly. I didn't realize when I was laying on one side I could hear it, but when I switched to the other I couldn't hear it at all. It was just that particular pitch.

I'll bet those manly men that are just "used to it" would be surprised what was revealed in a formal hearing test.

[deltadelta]

Close friend was telling me one time he was hunting, without ear protection, with his 7mm mag, with a muzzle break, and while aiming at a deer he put the muzzle directly next to a tree. He took a shot and he said he stumbled to the floor and lost hearing in his ear for a few hours. He's lucky he didn't permanently loose his hearing.

[iron cannon]

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?

This Ha ha if someone saw you with hearing protection they would ask "whats wrong"? My dad started wearing them too late( shooting trap) and has almost total loss in his right ear. He is very old , but lost his hearing in his 30s. .

[alfred1222]

See, to everyone here commenting about how everyone should wear earpro and how its better for your hearing, i agree with yall. You are 100% correct that when shooting recreationally, a smart shooter will wear ear protection. Now, in certain scenario's, i personally choose to forgo my ear protection, but thats really a personal choice more than anything. However, the OP was not asking about ear protection as a staple in recreational shooting. He was specifically stating that he was thinking about an HD situation and was gauging how loud his weapon would be. Call it conditioning, i think he was preparing himself for what might have to happen someday.

Like i said OP, if you want to avoid being in extreme pain, take some time to get your adrenaline up, and then shoot. Sprint 50yards and back, do some jumping jacks, whatever. Then shoot like your life depended on those one or two bullets.

^^^ This. I have experience Auditory Occlusion when I had to use my weapon as an LEO. I don't remember hearing the gunfire at all. I also don't remember actually thinking about drawing my weapon and pulling the trigger. I reacted to my training and the threat I faced. A real gunfight is most likely not going to go down how you think it is. Train as you would fight, but use hearing protection. I have tinnitus 24/7, and it's not fun.

I completely agree. My ranger buddy always says "Humans dont rise to an occasion, they fall to their lowest level of training"

[vtrigger77]

I went shooting with two of my friends(both marines) this past sunday and they made fun of me for using earplugs. We were shooting .45acp out of a 1911 and a usp also some 7.62x54r.

[deerdeerdeer]

I poured two pints of human blood on my new livingroom persian rug so that I'd know what to expect if I ever have to defend my family. Sure, it's a one in a million chance I'll ever have to shoot an intruder in my home, but I think the damage I did was worth it.

Persian rugs are $2,000 to millions, you talking a lot of VP9's, I'll ask him to scoot his cooch to the left first!

[small hole shooter]

When I first started shooting in '94, I used muffs because a neighbor had fired his shotgun at some cattle that were on his property, above them, but I was down range and got the full blast. I asked guy I knew that had been in the Army for 20 years when they started ear plugs. He said around '74, most of them were damaged....I always wondered how anybody thinks with all the racket on an actual battle field. That would be completely insane to experience that.

You get used to it. You have other things to worry about.

[Bansh88]

When I first got my MAK90 years ago, I forgot any ear protection. Put a few magazines thorugh it. eh

Put a few magazines through my 1911 at camp last month. Ears rang for half the day. eh.

Stuff is loud. I'll try and ALWYAS use plugs. But it's pretty low on my worry list. Definitely not letting it dictate my home defense guns like I've seen posted around here.

[ziconceo]

When I first got my MAK90 years ago, I forgot any ear protection. Put a few magazines thorugh it. eh

Put a few magazines through my 1911 at camp last month. Ears rang for half the day. eh.

Stuff is loud. I'll try and ALWYAS use plugs. But it's pretty low on my worry list. Definitely not letting it dictate my home defense guns like I've seen posted around here.

You gon b def son

[gwgn02]

tinnitus sux...almost worse than hearing loss...wear your ears guys

[Mosin1944]

I did once, went out to BLM land near Tehachapi and the only thing missing from my bag was earplugs. Didn't shoot the M44 as much as I wanted to that day. Damn, it's loud!

[geoint]

Wait. Youre telling me that a bunch of cops from the 70's are retired now, in 2014? I dont believe ya