Let's play, Would You Rather. Shoot Guns/Deaf

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OK - the guy at the store is an idiot. When I shoot long arms or go to an indoor range, I use plugs and electronic muffs. I should let this go on so we can make more fun of this idiot?
 
I feel for you! I do have some tinnitus and would rather not increase it because music is a huge part of my life. I'm about to purchase a keyboard to do some ambient music....perhaps even ambient music that would incorporate an aspect of tinnitus issues...of course, I'm sure not everyone's tinnitus is on the same pitch.

Anyway, thank you for telling your part of the topic.

Took one time shooting this without hearing protection and I was done.

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An interesting academic inquiry to me would be how loud a particular firearm is to the shooter. I have seen plenty of before and after decimeter readings regarding the use of suppressors but never any large scale measurement of typical firearms with typical loads.

For instance, Kim don’t use hearing protection while hunting. I have never gotten ringing ears from taking a shot on game with any long gun or rimfire. However the second I fire any handgun without ears in, I immediately get some discomfort and mild ringing in my ears. This indicates to me I just lost a bit of hearing no matter how little it was. AR carbine is real loud but the rifle is not as bad. I have really limited experience shooting without hearing protection. These are about all I have as examples.
 
An interesting academic inquiry to me would be how loud a particular firearm is to the shooter. I have seen plenty of before and after decimeter readings regarding the use of suppressors but never any large scale measurement of typical firearms with typical loads.

For instance, Kim don’t use hearing protection while hunting. I have never gotten ringing ears from taking a shot on game with any long gun or rimfire. However the second I fire any handgun without ears in, I immediately get some discomfort and mild ringing in my ears. This indicates to me I just lost a bit of hearing no matter how little it was. AR carbine is real loud but the rifle is not as bad. I have really limited experience shooting without hearing protection. These are about all I have as examples.

It doesn't matter if you're hunting or target shooting. It really doesn't even matter whether or not you have a supressor on the gun. Every time you pull that trigger without hearing protection you're doing permanent damage to your hearing. Sooner or later you will be where I am

FWIW a gunshot is 160 DB anything over 140 causes permanent damage
 
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I wish that I had taken better care of my hearing. Thousands of rounds of .22 as a teenager with no hearing protection, Dove and Quail hunting each year with no hearing protection. Exposure to .50 caliber and 7.62mm machine guns and 105mm with marginal hearing protection.

I am pretty much deaf in the right ear, to the point that even with hearing aids that ear is useless, and not much better in the left. Couple that with Tinnitus, and you have a trifecta/hat trick.

I still shoot as much as ever, but make sure that I have much better hearing protection to preserve what little is left.
 
So the gun shop commando\know-it-all\jackass said he'd rather disable himself than stop shooting?

1. If he ever has to live with tinnitus, he'll rue the day he ever said anything so stupid. (I know and wish I didn't.)
2. To channel my father, "I know you've been busy and haven't had time to keep up with the latest advancements, but we have something new now, called hearing protection." (Originally, he was lecturing me on paying attention, but the concept is the same.)
3. Remember that the free advise\wisdom that you glean from the gun shop commando\know-it-all\jackass is usually worth less than what you paid to hear it.
4. Protecting your hearing and shooting are not mutually exclusive.
 
Idiots:

1. Don't need eye protection
2. Don't need ear protection
3. Don't worry about lead poisoning

Typical crap we see here periodically. It's particularly sad when someone argues that a pregnant women shouldn't worry about such. We will post some peer reviewed sources but they say that Uncle Clem blah, blah says ...
 
I worked about 10 years drilling water wells, we drilled over 250 a year. The noise was not to load with the cat going, the air compressor made more noise, but we would drive the cassing about 5 feet in to bedrock. That is well over 200db's. So loud your body would shake for a few hours after work.

I get the ringing now and then, but I am only 28. Double up on the hearing protection guys.
 
If I had to choose I'd rather stop shooting, luckily I don't have to choose and I can use adequate hearing protection and shoot whatever I want.

I'd shoot indoors to stop a threat at risk of deafness though.
 
Took one time shooting this without hearing protection and I was done.

Had a battery of M109's ripple fire about 50 ft from my tent on an FTX one night. I'm pretty sure my tinnitus got worse that night. the suckiest part was it was about midnight, and I had just got to sleep.

Glad they weren't M110's!
 
Had a battery of M109's ripple fire about 50 ft from my tent on an FTX one night. I'm pretty sure my tinnitus got worse that night. the suckiest part was it was about midnight, and I had just got to sleep.

Glad they weren't M110's!

We had a battalion commander who was real big on implementing the sleep plan. I have slept right through numerous 8-inch fire missions while I was under the net with the gun
 
Yeah, but you were in an Arty unit, I wasn't. :) They cozied up right behind the Medical Battalion because it's not only the enemy that does that in hopes they won't get fired on.
 
At this point, I'd just as soon keep shooting. I'm pretty sure that deafness runs in my family. Despite my safe habits at the range, I've still got tinnitus. It wasn't so much the exposure to gun fire that did it, but the aircraft engines and subsequent heavy equipment. You know, the stuff that happens when you aren't expecting to need PPE.
 
As someone who has had "ear crickets", "snare drums" or any of the other euphemisms about tinnitus for almost 40 years (too much Jimi at volume 9 with headphones on back in the 70s), it is NOT something to be taken lightly. Some days are fairly quiet, some days are not. Shooting clay targets i use muffs, shooting ANY metallic, I use plugs and muffs. Even doubled up, shooting pistols indoors or under a cover outside is LOUD. And it is not just shooting; if you use any serious power tools, especially with gas engines like lawn mowers, leaf blowers, power washers, trimmers, saws, etc., you are damaging your hearing with prolonged exposure - like your vision, once it's gone, it is gone.
 
Hearing loss is acceptable if I had no other choices. I know sign language. Definitely wouldn’t give up the best personal defense calibers.
Could I make due with .22 mag, absolutely.
 
Spent a career in Army EOD and never wore hearing aids while shooting. i'm reduced to reading lips. My ears ring like the liberty bell.

i have the expensive VA hearing aids; they don't help much.

Shorter barrel rifles have become very popular, so have muzzle brakes. Last year a friend purchased a nice rifle with 16" barrel for his son. While sighting the young man fired that rifle 20 times without hearing protection. His hearing is trashed and the nerve damage is severe. The rifle caliber is .243 Winchester.
 
Hearing loss is acceptable if I had no other choices. I know sign language. Definitely wouldn’t give up the best personal defense calibers.
Could I make due with .22 mag, absolutely.

Do you have a copy of Dark Side of the Moon ? Go put it on your stero, now unplug one of the speakers and go sit in your bathroom and listen to the album. Welcome to life in my world.

The only time hearing loss is acceptable is when it's your ears or your life.

ETA the reason I specify Dark Side of the Moon is because the last time I tried to listen to it on my stereo I put the disc in, pushed play and sat there and watched my equalizer move for 5 minutes. So I knew the disc was playing I just couldn't hear it
 
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I have come to a place where it bothers me that some people don't SEEM to fully comprehend what they are saying. There is SO much more to life than "being able to shoot a larger caliber" [if has become an issue with you]. To me, hearing and playing music is FAR more valuable than "shooting 9mm or .223 firearms", yet the LGS guy would "rather go deaf". I'm not sure if it is a variant of the "...from my cold dead hands" motif, but it's how I see it.


Heck I destroyed my hearing listening to music in the late 60s and early 70's They I blew an eardrum scuba diving
My Wife has tinnitus in one ear, so we communicate through our right ears only.:uhoh:

What??
 
One round of .357 Magnum completely took my father's hearing in his left ear. Justified line of duty LE shooting, so no hearing protection.
 
Do you have a copy of Dark Side of the Moon ? Go put it on your stero, now unplug one of the speakers and go sit in your bathroom and listen to the album. Welcome to life in my world.

The only time hearing loss is acceptable is when it's your ears or your life.

ETA the reason I specify Dark Side of the Moon is because the last time I tried to listen to it on my stereo I put the disc in, pushed play and sat there and watched my equalizer move for 5 minutes. So I knew the disc was playing I just couldn't hear it

I made it a point to say If I had no other choices, as in hearing vs continued existence. Sorry for your loss, have you discussed cochlear implants with your doctor?
 
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