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Originally posted by dry-fly:

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Originally posted by dsiets:

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Originally posted by dry-fly:
I had a negligent discharge some 25 years ago inside my bedroom with a 9mm. That one shot damaged the hearing in my left ear permanently.

This wants me to get electronic muffs for home defense. If I'm serious enough to do the armed part, I should be serious enough to prepare for all consequences.

I think in a home invasion scenario, the potential for some hearing loss is just a given. I’d be afraid of losing what little situational awareness I had in the middle of the night to add ear pro to the mix. A suppressor on the other hand

On some of those, can't you turn them up? So you have better hearing?
I'm an ear plug guy and have never messed the the electronics.

All my no hearing protection escapades were thankfully outdoors.

-Shot .22lr with some friends no big deal but stupid as it is enough to cause issue.
-learned to shoot as a kid with an M16 (not an AR15 but a real M16). I lit off a round forgetting my earpro.......34 some years later....haven’t made that mistake again. Do the math.
-Was at Knob Creek on the firing line one year and simply didn’t pay attention to ready on the right, ready on the left......fire and was sans earpro as a line of MGs and cannon went live. That resulted in a millisecond of sharp pain and then a waterfall type sound/sensation until I scrambled for earpro.

That’s about it. My scientific takeaway is “Gunz iz loud!!!” .

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Originally posted by dsiets:

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Originally posted by dry-fly:

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Originally posted by dsiets:

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Originally posted by dry-fly:
I had a negligent discharge some 25 years ago inside my bedroom with a 9mm. That one shot damaged the hearing in my left ear permanently.

This wants me to get electronic muffs for home defense. If I'm serious enough to do the armed part, I should be serious enough to prepare for all consequences.

I think in a home invasion scenario, the potential for some hearing loss is just a given. I’d be afraid of losing what little situational awareness I had in the middle of the night to add ear pro to the mix. A suppressor on the other hand

On some of those, can't you turn them up? So you have better hearing?
I'm an ear plug guy and have never messed the the electronics.

They do, higher end electronic ear pro allow you to hear fine to have a conversation

The only time I don’t wear hearing protection is when hunting and 30-06 and 7mm-08 is pretty damn loud and will make your ears ring.

I bought a S&W 686 many years ago, and being young and foolish I grabbed a box of shells and went to shoot it. No hearing protection. I shot the entire box in one session, 50 full house .357 Magnum rounds.
I went home and noticed my ears ringing a little. No biggie. Then I felt the wall vibrate, and stop, and vibrate again, and stop again. It finally hit me that the vibration was the phone ringing on the other side of the wall that my chair was against. I couldn't hear it, and when I answered I didn't hear anything but scratching on the other end.
My ears ring badly to this day, and while I don't know for sure that one day caused it, I'm sure it didn't help.

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Originally posted by PASig:
The only time I don’t wear hearing protection is when hunting and 30-06 and 7mm-08 is pretty damn loud and will make your ears ring.

I've started wearing protection even while I'm hunting. I use the electronic muffs so I can hear better till I shoot.

When deer hunting I never wore ear protection, dove hunting I use foam plugs, target practice/plinking muffs and foam plugs.

Every round you fire without hearing protection does damage. And when you fire with it too, though a much much smaller amount. It's cumulative.

I've literally shooting since I was in diapers. I'll be 50 next summer. In that time I've fires a grand total of 2 centerfire rounds without ear protection. One by mistake, one on purpose. (sure there have been times were someoneelse shot unexpectedly without me being ready. But I am an ear pro fanatic. I carry plugs in my pocket all day, every day and use them almost every day. I do 95% of my shooting with plugs AND muffs. I wear plugs for everything. I wear them for things most people laugh at... using a vacuum, a drill, hammering. everything. And despite that, I still have tinnitus. It all ads up.

People's macho "it doesn't hurt" BS is just plain stupid, you're doing damage. It's like taking a little bit of poison, it may not kill you right away...

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Originally posted by cas:
Every round you fire without hearing protection does damage. And when you fire with it too, though a much much smaller amount. It's cumulative.

I've literally shooting since I was in diapers. I'll be 50 next summer. In that time I've fires a grand total of 2 centerfire rounds without ear protection. One by mistake, one on purpose. (sure there have been times were someoneelse shot unexpectedly without me being ready. But I am an ear pro fanatic. I carry plugs in my pocket all day, every day and use them almost every day. I do 95% of my shooting with plugs AND muffs. I wear plugs for everything. I wear them for things most people laugh at... using a vacuum, a drill, hammering. everything. And despite that, I still have tinnitus. It all ads up.

People's macho "it doesn't hurt" BS is just plain stupid, you're doing damage. It's like taking a little bit of poison, it may not kill you right away...

TRUTH.

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Originally posted by cas:
Every round you fire without hearing protection does damage. And when you fire with it too, though a much much smaller amount. It's cumulative.

I've literally shooting since I was in diapers. I'll be 50 next summer. In that time I've fires a grand total of 2 centerfire rounds without ear protection. One by mistake, one on purpose. (sure there have been times were someoneelse shot unexpectedly without me being ready. But I am an ear pro fanatic. I carry plugs in my pocket all day, every day and use them almost every day. I do 95% of my shooting with plugs AND muffs. I wear plugs for everything. I wear them for things most people laugh at... using a vacuum, a drill, hammering. everything. And despite that, I still have tinnitus. It all ads up.

People's macho "it doesn't hurt" BS is just plain stupid, you're doing damage. It's like taking a little bit of poison, it may not kill you right away...

This for sure. Indoors plugs & muffs. Outdoors plugs and muffs if walls are present, if it's an open course with no walls or drums to shoot through I may only do plugs, but usually both. If I'm ROing for match always wear both.

I can't hear well if there is any background noise. I've not shot without hearing pro for 20+ years and my hearing will not come back. I wish I realized how bad hammer drills were and didn't discount RamSet shots as just .22s. 99% of my hearing loss is from work and being too lazy to spend the five minutes to go grab my hearing pro.

Do not shoot at all if you don't have hearing pro, it adds up. One day you just wake up and realize you can't hear as well as you should, by then it's way too late.

I always wear hearing protection in loud situations now, even on a school bus full of six year old kids. I was a chaperone on one of my son's field trips when the teacher noticed I was wearing ear plugs on the bus. She got a chuckle out of it and admitted that it was a good idea.

When I was about 10 years old, my father took me and my siblings to the range. We were shooting .30-06 rifles without hearing protection. Even now, 40 years later, I remember the pain. My father is a physician and should have known better.

Growing up I never used to wear hearing protection when we went hunting, nor when I worked my way through college working construction.

Now, I wear hearing protection for everything: Shooting, cutting grass, driving military vehicles etc.. I even wore them in AFG when I was driving MRAPS even just down the road to the wash station.

The Army has sent me to numerous audiologist, and it is just a specific range that I have that loss but it has curtailed my military career and has limited me in certain MOS's that I can hold.

It almost prevented me from deploying and I needed a waiver for ABN school.

My hearing loss started when I was 23, and I never knew until I went to MEPS the first time I enlisted. I wore the crappy protection the Army issued in the 90's and being around chain guns,240C and M60's along with the Bradley Fighting Vehicle itself didn't help either.

I will never forget the time when I went to an outdoor gun range in Ohio. I had just got out of my vehicle, and someone let off with a rifle and it my made ears ring. I have no idea what the caliber was but it rung my ears the rest of the day. Heck I was about 55 yards away in the parking area.

Because I am so anal retentive about my hearing I wear plugs and a headset for everything.

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Originally posted by 4x5:
I started shooting about 30 years ago in college. My roommate had a Sig P226, and we went shooting maybe 2 or 3 times. we never used hearing protection and, as far as I know, I didn't suffer any noticeable hearing damage, although undoubtably some damage did occur.

Today, I took my girls to the range, and I let loose with some 357 magnum rounds from my GP-100, the gun I keep close at hand for home defense. Between rounds, I could hear the guys a few lanes down saying things like "I don't know...must be a magnum". Clearly, the rounds I was firing were much louder than 9mm.

My question to you is, have you ever fired a 357 magnum without hearing protection? What was the immediate and long-term effect on your hearing?

I do not know what one magnum round might do to your hearing. I can say, with full confidence that the cause of my hearing problems came from 10s of 1000s of rounds of MI, M2, M3, 50 BMG, M14, etc with no hearing protection. We were never issued hearing protection until shortly before I left the army.

Not to mention 90 MM tank gunnery, mortars, artillery, etc.

Last time I done that was on the rifle range in 62 with the M1, never since.

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Originally posted by cas:
And despite that, I still have tinnitus. It all ads up.

People's macho "it doesn't hurt" BS is just plain stupid, you're doing damage.

You, of course, are absolutely correct. I earned my tinnitus by being a musician in rock bands that played at insanely high volumes. However, I learned that coffee aggravates tinnitus. Since I have cut back on my coffee intake, my tinnitus has been noticeably less intrusive on my life. YMMV

If you only shoot outdoors it might not effect you as negatively. As I sit here reading responses, my ears are constantly ringing with tinnitus from years of shooting with lesser hearing protection, building custom bikes and cars and using shop tools without ear protection...and listening to my wife.

Hearing damage is cumulative, so every time you shot without protection, mowed the grass, ran the vacuum in the car or listened to some hard rock music at killer levels, it all adds up, each one, and you don't get it back.

My favorite way was to hold my Model 29 in one hand, reach around stick my finger in my ear with my arm coming over my head covering my other ear to provide some protection. It looks funny, but is easy a quick. Those were good times, hunting water moccasins with shot shells.

Due to enforcement liability, NRA, CMP, NSSF, and even ISSF say "should" or "urged to" use protection devices. Although some also say a match director "may require".

NRA says: Wear eye and ear protection as appropriate.
Guns are loud and the noise can cause hearing damage. They can also
emit debris and hot gas that could cause eye injury. For these reasons,
shooting glasses and hearing protectors should be worn by shooters
and spectators.
CMP says: Protect Your Eyes & Ears
Everyone on a range where firearms of any type are used is urged to
wear eyeglasses or shooting glasses to protect their eyes and ear plugs
or ear muffs to protect their hearing. Your vision and hearing are
priceless and irreplaceable so protect them. At the range, it is
common courtesy not to begin firing until everyone nearby has been
given an opportunity to put on their eye and hearing protection.
NSSF says: All shooters should wear protective shooting glasses and
some form of hearing protectors while shooting. Exposure to shooting
noise can damage hearing, and adequate vision protection is essential.

It seems a lot of us have experienced the .357mag as the worst offender, in terms of hearing damage. Personally, I think it's worse than the .45acp.

Is the .357sig comparable to the .357mag in this regard? I know it was developed to duplicate the ballistics of the .357mag 125gr load, so I imagine the muzzle blast may be similar.

quote:

have you ever fired a 357 magnum without hearing protection?

No

I've never stopped a blender with my finger,
I've never punted a cinder block
I've never taken my tv in too the bath tub,
either