Hello again. Sorry about the thread I started on new vs older hunting rifles, I am sorry if it caused some discord on the site.
I was reading the stickied thread, "Avoiding hearing damage with powerful rifles," and I am glad to hear I should double my protection. I've always used either muffs or plugs, not both.
However, doing some research:
I'm going to assume that the most common rifles people will be shooting(on average) are going to be .308(plentiful, once this silliness is over, surplus ammo), 30-06(until a few months ago, plentiful surplus ammo, still, I think, the most common hunting round in the US), or 7.62x54(people love their Mosin's). The DB ratings I could find(http://www.freehearingtest.com/hia_gunfirenoise.shtml):
.308 in 24" barrel 156.2dB
.30-06 in 24" barrel 158.5dB
.30-06 in 18 _" barrel 163.2dB
I don't know if these are the reported db at the muzzle, or near the buttstock, so take those numbers how you will.
According to this chart(http://www.noisehelp.com/noise-dose.html), more than one hour's time spent hearing decibel's in excess of 94 will cause hearing loss. Now, I am assuming that every single second is not spent hearing high decibel sounds. Let us assume that we are hearing, overall, 10 minutes worth of high decibel noise over the course of, say, 1-3 hours at the range, from your own shots, and those near you. This would likely go up greatly in a crowded indoor range. That would be around 102 decibels.
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Now, I am leaning in two directions, and I am sure most people have the same problem:
1. Maximum protection
2. Ability to hear ambient noises(say, below 87db, as 90 is considered dangerous), for example, friends, range officer, or if you are getting firearms training, or even hunting.
-----------------------------
The molded ear plugs are nice, I don't know about you, maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I always have trouble putting in, and keeping in, the disposable foam plugs. However, according to this(http://www.earplugstore.com/gennoisprot1.html) the hearing protection provided by foam earplugs is by far greater than that of molded ear plugs.
Even the best ones, I have read a good bit about Ear Inc's, are less. The best foam have a noise reduction rating(nrr) of about 33. Ear Inc's Chameleon Acoustic filtered, which have the ability to let you hear ambient noise, don't list their nrr(http://www.earinc.com/p1-filtered-afiltered.php), but their non filtered model(http://www.earinc.com/p1-nonelectronic-instamold-rec.php) is 29.8. I'm not a math whiz, but I do know that decibels are on a logarithmic scale, so the difference is huge, between 33 and 29.8, right? Also, I would assume the filtered ones would have a lower nrr.
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On to muff's, what I hear is the gold standard among electronic ear muffs are the Peltor Tactical Pro(http://www.amazon.com/Peltor-MT15H7F-SV-Tactical-Protector/dp/B0006968YM), which have a nrr of 26. The much less expensive passive ones(http://www.amazon.com/3M-Peltor-H10...UTF8&qid=1361234461&sr=1-1&keywords=ear+muffs) have a NRR of 30.
------------------------
Is there any number whiz out there that can determine what the nrr rating would be for using two devices? I know they wouldn't just add on to one another. How does one calculate that?
And does nrr just subtract from the db given(unlikely), or is that another calculation?
Is it safe, long term, to use molded, filtered plugs and electronic muffs, or should one stick with the more deadening passive muffs and foam plugs?
Are you still going to get hearing loss, regardless?
Sorry if this seems stupid. I have been a recreational shooter, only rarely shooting. I wanted to take this more seriously(picked a bad couple of months to decide that ), and wanted to know the best course.
Edit:
Also, in the stickied thread, hearing loss via bone conduction through the buttstock was mentioned. Is this an issue? Also mentioned were there were things that could mitigate that, but not what those are. Any idea's?
-----------------
Edit 2:
I'm sorry if this seems really complicated, I'm just trying to get all the information out there.
My basic question is:
Is a plug and muff "good enough" protection, or will it just lessen the hearing damage? And if it is "good enough," is it just the maximum(foam plugs/passive muffs) that is good enough, or are filtered plugs/electronic muffs(to allow you to hear conversation) safe to use?
I was reading the stickied thread, "Avoiding hearing damage with powerful rifles," and I am glad to hear I should double my protection. I've always used either muffs or plugs, not both.
However, doing some research:
I'm going to assume that the most common rifles people will be shooting(on average) are going to be .308(plentiful, once this silliness is over, surplus ammo), 30-06(until a few months ago, plentiful surplus ammo, still, I think, the most common hunting round in the US), or 7.62x54(people love their Mosin's). The DB ratings I could find(http://www.freehearingtest.com/hia_gunfirenoise.shtml):
.308 in 24" barrel 156.2dB
.30-06 in 24" barrel 158.5dB
.30-06 in 18 _" barrel 163.2dB
I don't know if these are the reported db at the muzzle, or near the buttstock, so take those numbers how you will.
According to this chart(http://www.noisehelp.com/noise-dose.html), more than one hour's time spent hearing decibel's in excess of 94 will cause hearing loss. Now, I am assuming that every single second is not spent hearing high decibel sounds. Let us assume that we are hearing, overall, 10 minutes worth of high decibel noise over the course of, say, 1-3 hours at the range, from your own shots, and those near you. This would likely go up greatly in a crowded indoor range. That would be around 102 decibels.
-------------------------------------
Now, I am leaning in two directions, and I am sure most people have the same problem:
1. Maximum protection
2. Ability to hear ambient noises(say, below 87db, as 90 is considered dangerous), for example, friends, range officer, or if you are getting firearms training, or even hunting.
-----------------------------
The molded ear plugs are nice, I don't know about you, maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I always have trouble putting in, and keeping in, the disposable foam plugs. However, according to this(http://www.earplugstore.com/gennoisprot1.html) the hearing protection provided by foam earplugs is by far greater than that of molded ear plugs.
Even the best ones, I have read a good bit about Ear Inc's, are less. The best foam have a noise reduction rating(nrr) of about 33. Ear Inc's Chameleon Acoustic filtered, which have the ability to let you hear ambient noise, don't list their nrr(http://www.earinc.com/p1-filtered-afiltered.php), but their non filtered model(http://www.earinc.com/p1-nonelectronic-instamold-rec.php) is 29.8. I'm not a math whiz, but I do know that decibels are on a logarithmic scale, so the difference is huge, between 33 and 29.8, right? Also, I would assume the filtered ones would have a lower nrr.
---------------------------
On to muff's, what I hear is the gold standard among electronic ear muffs are the Peltor Tactical Pro(http://www.amazon.com/Peltor-MT15H7F-SV-Tactical-Protector/dp/B0006968YM), which have a nrr of 26. The much less expensive passive ones(http://www.amazon.com/3M-Peltor-H10...UTF8&qid=1361234461&sr=1-1&keywords=ear+muffs) have a NRR of 30.
------------------------
Is there any number whiz out there that can determine what the nrr rating would be for using two devices? I know they wouldn't just add on to one another. How does one calculate that?
And does nrr just subtract from the db given(unlikely), or is that another calculation?
Is it safe, long term, to use molded, filtered plugs and electronic muffs, or should one stick with the more deadening passive muffs and foam plugs?
Are you still going to get hearing loss, regardless?
Sorry if this seems stupid. I have been a recreational shooter, only rarely shooting. I wanted to take this more seriously(picked a bad couple of months to decide that ), and wanted to know the best course.
Edit:
Also, in the stickied thread, hearing loss via bone conduction through the buttstock was mentioned. Is this an issue? Also mentioned were there were things that could mitigate that, but not what those are. Any idea's?
-----------------
Edit 2:
I'm sorry if this seems really complicated, I'm just trying to get all the information out there.
My basic question is:
Is a plug and muff "good enough" protection, or will it just lessen the hearing damage? And if it is "good enough," is it just the maximum(foam plugs/passive muffs) that is good enough, or are filtered plugs/electronic muffs(to allow you to hear conversation) safe to use?
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