Now that I’ve started down the rabbit hole of suppressed, I have questions.

First being appropriate ear pro. Sandman S on a 11” AR is primary, M-4 type secondary, and 7mm-08 being least likely host at this point.

I like the idea of the valve type shotgunners might use.

My ears are such that my go-to, an 11.5" AR with a regular-length silencer, is highly shootable without protection. If I am doing an extended static range session, with a high round count, I'll wear ear protection anyway.

I'm working hard to protect my hearing as youth motorcycle racing did some damage. I wouldn't run any kind of reduced hearing protection with a short barrel AR. Its still really loud. Even the full bore Sordin setup I normally use doesn't get to really hearing safe levels on my 10.5" AR with a surefire. Me firing a short barrel AR even suppressed I double up.

quote:

My ears are such that my go-to, an 11.5" AR with a regular-length silencer, is highly shootable without protection.

KSGM is well on his way to losing his hearing (or maybe he already did?) as I know he fires lots of rounds all the time day and night
But in any case I think the fact that its shootable short term doesn't equate to its not affecting your hearing longer term. NO suppressor an a short barrel AR gets the sound levels to a safe long term exposure level. OK have to shoot the bad guy for a few rounds in your house great choice to suppress it and not use ear pro (side bar note my bump in the night has a set of amplified ear pro as I see that as a significant advantage) but at the range shooting without some level of additional protection exposes you to noise levels above any reasonable threshold even if its less than an extended range session.

I wear full ear pro shooting suppressed, except subsonics, but only once in a while. I am nervous about hearing loss, which is why I got into suppressed in the first place, so I don't want to take unnecessary chances with my ears. I am shooting 9mm and 300 Blk suppressed (8" barrel range for both).

I use Surefire plugs when shooting suppressed or unsuppressed. I RARELY double up unless I'm shooting indoors without a suppressor.

When suppressed, I tend to shoot as listed below:

-5.56/.308 always gets ear pro
-9mm sometimes gets ear pro
-.22 never gets ear pro.

quote:

KSGM is well on his way to losing his hearing (or maybe he already did?)

I don't doubt that you are correct, hrcjon. I am actually the most disciplined ear protection user, among the folks I tend to shoot with. As I said in my first post, I do don the ears for extended sessions, but I admittedly don't bother with them when tinkering with a build or doing any kind of lower round count practice that requires communication between team members. When I say "shootable", I mean "not distracting", not "safe". I am aware of the damage to my hearing that's caused by my choices.

KSGM fair enough. probably over read the OP that he was looking for guidance on hearing safe rather than just tolerable. I've shot a number of suppressed 5.56 rounds in concrete shoot houses with no ear pro to have the experience in case it happens. Its loud but not debilitating. I don't practice doing it as I stated above as I'm doing my best to be proactive about my hearing, but if sh** happens it happens.

I want to hear what’s going on around me while a range. Many times kid’s in the mix. The kids are primarily why I’m getting the suppressor. I can tell my ears are damaged somewhat.

The best solution to that for me is amplified ear protection. I use sordin for that but peltor and everyone else makes the same thing. ambient sounds at a comfortable hearing level and loud sounds attenuated to the level of the NRR of the underlying device.

I pretty much always wear ear pro when I shoot suppressed.

In my case, the only place I can shoot something that might be hearing-safe in a rifle caliber (e.g. subsonic 300 BLK) is either on a covered range or indoors. Neither of those is pleasant. Done a few rounds outdoors, but it really gets loud from the roof.

I'll shoot subsonic .22 from the same range, and that's fine.

I can shoot pistol caliber carbines on an uncovered bay, but I still wear electronic plugs.

Always wear ear pro while shooting suppressed. I have SOCOM suppressors which aren't the quietest on the market.

Frankly, I'm wearing ear pro while shooting anything that goes bang or if someone else is shooting near me.

^
Amen to that !!!