Ear Protection

[markIIIronp]

I purchased moldable ear protection from Cabelas. These work fine for .22 cal. shooting. However, a guy next to me started shooting a .45 cal pistol and the molded plugs were not adequate. What do you experienced shooter recommend for good ear protection? Do you guys like electronic devices, such as the Peltor Tactical 6 Hearing Device with Backband?

[Glenn]

I wouldn't exactly call myself experienced. But, I nice set of $15 ear muffs from the Home Depot do the trick for me. They work great with the .22. I've been to an indoor center fire pistol shoot with them, worked great there too!

[toyfj40]

Ah... don't worry about it. after a couple years at the range,
you won't notice it nearly as much.

I use a pair of cheap-foam-plugs: I roll-them between my
thumb&index finger then insert them into the edge of my
ear-canal and let them expand for a snug fit... and not just
sitting in my "ear". THEN I wear a pair of cheapie ear-muffs
(mine are from HarborFreight, likely similar to HDepot/etc )

The TWO levels seem to keep the percussion down a bit...
but I can still be on the line next to (one in particular ) that
shoots 44Mag and .30-06...etc and hand-loads to be pretty
stiff shots. He is legit, he is actually Fed-Ag-Dept and his
dept gets calls for "varmints"... and they can shoot the
"protected-types"... ie. a cougar in FtWorth-city-limits...
when there is not much chance of a needle/trap...

anyway... *my* experience is that some of us are just "more sensitive"
to the nearby concussions... my 'gut' tells me that if I am
responding to it... I need to "move away"... so, I go visit, get
a fresh cup of hot whatever that stuff is that is in that coffee-pot...
and wait for the Hot-Load-shooters to cool-down.

as for the Noise-cancelling earphone... or the suppress-noise
but let-voice-thru types... I found them to be a waste of $$,
but for a fee, I'll sell you a couple samples.

good luck. I useta hear that you should protect your hearing...
but I don't hear that as much anymore...
-- toy

[DancesWithSquirrels]

I have a pair of the Peltor Tac 6 ear protectors. They seem to work fine for me. I use them at our gun club's indoor range when there have been anywhere from just one other shooter to as many as 9 others. I also use them at our local IDPA matches. We don't allow magnum calibers on our indoor range so I don't know for sure how they would behave with them. When I go to the rifle range I use some non noise cancelling protectors just to be ultra careful.

It is nice to be able to hear normal talking and still have the gunshot noise cut off with the Tac 6's. Mine seem to work as advertised.

DWS

[bearandoldman]

I have a pair of the Peltor Tac 6 ear protectors. They seem to work fine for me. I use them at our gun club's indoor range when there have been anywhere from just one other shooter to as many as 9 others. I also use them at our local IDPA matches. We don't allow magnum calibers on our indoor range so I don't know for sure how they would behave with them. When I go to the rifle range I use some non noise cancelling protectors just to be ultra careful.

It is nice to be able to hear normal talking and still have the gunshot noise cut off with the Tac 6's. Mine seem to work as advertised.

DWS

I have 2 pair of the tac 6's and a pair of the Peltoe 10's also. When someone is shooting the big boomers on the inddoor range I either use a pair of plugs under the Tac 6's or use the non electronic ones for more protedtion. When shooting my SA Micro indooors with the tac 6's ntided I was blinking my eyes when I pulled the trigger,not a flinch but close. Added the plugs and much more comfortable.

[Blindpig]

I've got a pair of Howard Leight L3's that I'm very satisfied with. They're not expensive but they seem to do a good job for me. I can shoot my 11.5" SBR with them on with no discomfort. I have to admit, though, my hearing isn't what it used to be anyway. When I was young and foolish, I shot a lot of trap and skeet with no hearing protection at all. I'm paying for it now. We bought a new plasma HD TV a while back and the other day I said to my wife "You'd think for the price we paid for that thing, they'd have put some decent speakers in it." She just looked at me.

[toyfj40]

... plasma HD TV ... they'd have some decent speakers

back when I was a teen-ager, I had my own-B&W-TV...
(yes they HAD TVs then... but it was Rabbit-Ears, though )
I opened it up and "installed" a HeadPhone-Jack to use later at
night when my parents had gone to bed and I wanted to stay up
and watch the "test-pattern".

a few years before mom passed away, she was turning up the TV
a bit louder... one visit I brought the 'stuff' and opened up the TV
and installed a jack... and had a nice (but used) auto-stereo-speaker
on a cord... ran it along the wall and put the speaker on a recliner-side
table she had... she was grinnin' from ear-to-ear the whole visit...
she did not have to turn it up to a slightly distorted-blare...
and was able to much more clearly hear the "news" without words
running together...

A large church I attended in N.Dallas a number of years ago, had a
seating capacity of ... uh... maybe five-hundred... (??)...
but no big PA-system... Each pew-support had a speaker built
into the back-top of it... so, each person had a quality speaker
right behind them or just to one side (supports were off-set)...
and they did not have to be set 'loud'... as they carried only
4-6 feet, if that... a Very Pleasant 'surround sound'.

gee... makes me want to Re-subscribe to "Hi-Fi/Stereo Review"
ok, back to reality.. or what's left of it. --toy

[bearandoldman]

... plasma HD TV ... they'd have some decent speakers

back when I was a teen-ager, I had my own-B&W-TV...
(yes they HAD TVs then... but it was Rabbit-Ears, though )
I opened it up and "installed" a HeadPhone-Jack to use later at
night when my parents had gone to bed and I wanted to stay up
and watch the "test-pattern".

Did that TV run on wood, coal or kerosene, better knopwn in those days as coal oil.

[Bullseye]

I've always worn dual ear protection. I have molded ear plugs inside my regular ear muffs ( Mickey Mouse ears). This kept my hearing in good order over all the years out on the firing line. I've personally shot close to a million rounds of both pistol and high power rifle ammo, and been around others who were shooting what probably adds up to a couple of million more, and my audiograms show that I have not lost more than a few db over all those years. Not many folks can make that claim of virtually nil sound acuity loss, especially those who've shot as long as I have in competition and training. I owe this to my steadfast (practically anal) adherence to wearing my double hearing protection.

Too many of the older shooters I saw way back then had Huh? disease. That meant they said Huh very often because they lost most of their hearing by not wearing proper hearing protection when shooting or didn't wear any hearing protection at all. I decided that I wanted to hear when I got older and religiously wore the necessary hearing protection when I'm around loud noises. Yes, I even wear my muffs when I'm out riding on the mower cutting the lawn.

My eyesight has been declining but my hearing is great. Wearing muffs also as another huge benefit. As a corrective lens wearer, they hold my vision steady out on the highpower rifle line by keeping my glasses firmly in place during the rapid fire strings. The steady image gives me a consistent sight picture and allows me to perform up to my full capabilities.

R,
Bullseye

[Bullseye]

I've always worn dual ear protection. I have molded ear plugs inside my regular ear muffs ( Mickey Mouse ears). This kept my hearing in good order over all the years out on the firing line. I've personally shot close to a million rounds of both pistol and high power rifle ammo, and been around others who were shooting what probably adds up to a couple of million more, and my audiograms show that I have not lost more than a few db over all those years. Not many folks can make that claim of virtually nil sound acuity loss, especially those who've shot as long as I have in competition and training. I owe this to my steadfast (practically anal) adherence to wearing my double hearing protection.

Too many of the older shooters I saw way back then had Huh? disease. That meant they said Huh very often because they lost most of their hearing by not wearing proper hearing protection when shooting or didn't wear any hearing protection at all. I decided that I wanted to hear when I got older and religiously wore the necessary hearing protection when I'm around loud noises. Yes, I even wear my muffs when I'm out riding on the mower cutting the lawn.

My eyesight has been declining but my hearing is great. Wearing muffs also as another huge benefit. As a corrective lens wearer, they hold my vision steady out on the highpower rifle line by keeping my glasses firmly in place during the rapid fire strings. The steady image gives me a consistent sight picture and allows me to perform up to my full capabilities.

R,
Bullseye

[wlambert]

I use the foam plugs with ear muffs over the top. If I only wear the muffs, I tend to flinch if the person next to me is shooting a .45. With the plug and muff combination, I don't have a problem with the person next to me.

wlambert

[Blindpig]

Bullseye, you're right about the riding lawn mower. I use my earpro when I'm cutting the grass also. I wear a mask to keep down the allergies and when I get that on with the muffs and my Tifosi wrap-around sun glasses, I get some kind of strange looks from the neighbors.

[Glenn]

I wear ear protection when mowing the lawn or using the leaf blower. I usually have the MP3 player on, so the ear buds act like a first layer of foam protection.

[Bullseye]

Having a portable music player works as long as you don't have to crank up the music to hear over the annoying background noise. Otherwise you're pumping high db sound directly into your ears and may be doing more harm than good.

R,
Bullseye

[Glenn]

That's a very good point Bullyseye. I usually listen to the volume at a fairly low level. The ear muffs do a good job blocking mower/blower noise. I can have the volume at a pretty low level when doing yardwork.