Hearing Protection?

[Loyalist Dave]

Hey

I was at a large event this weekend and noticed nobody on the firing line was wearing any ear protection that I could see. This was a living history shoot at a historic site. I got a good look at many sets of ears and didn’t see anyone using them.

I also attended a little class about how to fire a flintlock rifle, with some live fire at the end. It was a lot of fun but no ear pro was provided to the students and the instructors didn’t wear any either. I fired two shots with none and it wasn’t too bad. The gun was loaded fairly light.

Do you wear ear protection when shooting your flintlocks or percussions? If so, why or why not? Thanks!

When at a living history site or event, doing a battle demonstration, no. I need to hear the commands and sometimes my officer starts to lose his voice.

When shooting targets, yes, as there are lots of other shooters on the line, and that's a recipe for hearing loss, Especially when the range is a "covered" range, and that sounds is reflected back down toward the benches. (Sometimes them "modern boys" are using such hot loads that it makes my sinuses hurt when they fire. Heck one time I got a nose bleed... )

I've always protected my hearing, and get regularly tested by my employer. I never used things like ear phones for loud music and such, and the only other time that I shoot without hearing protection is when hunting. I need to hear the critters, but then again... I don't shoot much.

A lot of the guys that I worked with either had sirens mounted on the roof of the patrol car, or went down the road in the Summer with the driver window open, and the wind flappity-flapping in their left ear..., not good ideas.

My kids actually hear worse than I do and they are in their 20's... but they love them "ear buds"

LD

 

[GBG]

Always wore protection when shooting, so guns didn't ruin my hearing.

I worked ten years on GW size coal fired electric generating plants where the "quiet" areas were 80 to 120 dB. When the supercritical steam boiler's safety valves opened, noise levels on the roof went off the scale of every dB meter we tested.

Plugs and muffs together were useless. You could feel the sound waves passing thru your body.

That quartet of 12" vent pipes dumping 3 million HP of
5500 psi, 1100 F steam into the air just 50 feet away, is the only continuous sound I've ever encountered that was louder than any gun blast.

 

[gunpa]

I've got tinites in both ears and have to wear hearing aids. That ringing drives me crazy er . I know it's not authentic but electronic muffs let me communicate and shoot. ( mostly talk to myself!)

 

[rmark]

The ear doctor held up four fingers and said ' mild, moderate, severe, profound', pointed to the middle and said I'd lost about half my hearing at age 55. I only shoot at the local range, and I Walker electronic ear muffs when shooting which work as well as my hearing aids do while greatly reducing the noise from the shot. Becoming historically deaf is a bad choice.

 

[hanshi]

Fortunately muzzleloading rifles when fired in the open aren't the ear splitters smokeless rifles are. In an enclosed space - car, small room, etc. - the concussion is actually worse than just noise. I have an old pair of earplugs that have a valve inside the plug body. I've worn these often while hunting. They do muffle the sound of a shot but I can still hear small sounds like a deer walking, etc. most of the time. Other than that I wear ear plugs AND ear muffs whenever I shoot. And I always wear glasses.

 

[bud in pa]

I started driving a truck back in the 60's. The first truck I owned had 2 cylinders under the hood, 2 cylinders under the dash, and no padding in the cab to absorb the sound. After a 500 mile round trip I had trouble hearing myself talk. Until a few years ago I never wore hearing protection. God must have smiled on me, because at 78 I still have decent hearing!

 

[George Andrix]

In my neck of the woods hearing and eye protection is required for any kind of shooting on all approved ranges.
The only time I shoot any type of firearm without hearing protection is when I am hunting. Lately, that amounts to about one shot every two or three years.

 

[morehops52]

Always now and sometimes 2 sets. When it's real bad at the range I'll add the foamies under the cups. Always look at the NRR when buying hearing protection. Higher is better.

 

[BlazingIron]

Always foam ear plugs outside and along with ear muffs when shooting indoors.

 

[Rawhide67]

Yes for sure. I use Walker earplugs while hunting and struggle with direction of noises. Before I got the Walkers a couple of years ago, I didn’t use anything while hunting. What got me to buy them was a shot (modern firearm) that definitely harmed my left ear. Hopefully with my dog, direction of the flush will be somewhat irrelevant. My Walkers were about 150ish and there is downside to them, wind as mentioned, you can kind of hear your breath and heart beat, batteries are a cost, and they cut out a little which is annoying. All considered though, I’ll wear them every time.

One of the worst things about hearing loss,.or enhanced hearing devices is the loss of ability to distinguish direction. Unless the noise is really loud.

 

[johnraleksa]

I set up two young teenage boys to shoot some clay pigeons with 12 gages one day. Tryed to get them to wear ear protection, but they knew better. At of day their ears were hurting them real bad. They been wearing them since then.

 

[SlidePicker]

During the early 60's as a Tanker in the army you were issued cotton to stuff in your ears. The first time at the range and my fist time to hear a 90mm fire was very scary. I was standing outside of a tank lifting 90mm shells up to the person on top of the tank. Primer side up for safety. The tank next to us fired a round with the muzzle blast blowing my helmet right off my head. For about 5 sec I thought the shell I had in my hands blew up. After many days on the tank range and using cotton balls it was pleasant to be where it was quiet. With that experience I always wear ear muffs at the range. And I am lucky, while my hearing is not like a kid and I do catch myself asking some people to speak up, but I am not deaf by far.

An older friend was a B-29 navigator in WWII. He was trained in operating the fire control system. They had a practice rig set up in the desert with a dummy fuselage with a turret with four .50s firing from behind just over his head with an open roof. That was mighty hard on his ears, he said, but he was an accomplished flute player into his golden years.

 

[Mad L]

Military (tanks) and loud rock concerts left me with bad ringing so I always wear the foam when shooting ML and head ones when with unmentionables.
My kids and grand kids learned from day one with Grandpa so hopefully they never have to go through what do.

 

[William Lincoln]

You can get the foam ear plug packs by the box in different colors. Throw several packs
in your glove box of car and trucks. Leave some at camps. In the old days we beeswaxed
ticking strips to roll up and pack our ears when shooting, chain-sawing or around airboat
straight stacks. This OP is a great reminder to have everyone hearing protected.

 

[stephenprops1]

I always wear hearing and eye protection. I know some clubs or individuals feel that re-enactors should not use plugs because they didn't have them in the old days. I have never been told I cannot use protection. Should that ever happen I would pack up my gear and never go back to that group.

 

[smoothshooter]

Hey

I was at a large event this weekend and noticed nobody on the firing line was wearing any ear protection that I could see. This was a living history shoot at a historic site. I got a good look at many sets of ears and didn’t see anyone using them.

I also attended a little class about how to fire a flintlock rifle, with some live fire at the end. It was a lot of fun but no ear pro was provided to the students and the instructors didn’t wear any either. I fired two shots with none and it wasn’t too bad. The gun was loaded fairly light.

Do you wear ear protection when shooting your flintlocks or percussions? If so, why or why not? Thanks!

I wear some kind of hearing protection without fail.
I don’t even hammer nails or run the weed-eater without foam earplugs, or plugs and muffs.
My tinnitus that I can hear as I type this reminds me that I should have started being more careful with my hearing a few years earlier.

 

[nhmoose]

Note: Shooting had nothing to do with my hearing loss. Proven in court. Why my hearing is paid for by my. .Gov job.

Federal sirens, Air horns, Large Deisel engines. I was once put up on charges for wearing issued ear cuffs cause the dumbass Deputy from training said I could not hear him, I heard him and ignored him as he was wrong. My commander backed me up so charges gone.

Over 5000 responses to the big Ivy league college buildings with 130-149 decibel fire alarm horns blaring. (false alarms) I wonder why Obama was not deaf as his dorm was a big offender, but he was there wat less yeas than I.

If you are playing in PC/HC and do not use eye and hearing protection to look HC/PC you are a moron and deserve to get eye injuries and go deaf. Sorry but that is my opinion and you want to go blind or deaf go ahead.

 

[nkbj]

Hey

I was at a large event this weekend and noticed nobody on the firing line was wearing any ear protection that I could see. This was a living history shoot at a historic site. I got a good look at many sets of ears and didn’t see anyone using them.

I also attended a little class about how to fire a flintlock rifle, with some live fire at the end. It was a lot of fun but no ear pro was provided to the students and the instructors didn’t wear any either. I fired two shots with none and it wasn’t too bad. The gun was loaded fairly light.

Do you wear ear protection when shooting your flintlocks or percussions? If so, why or why not? Thanks!

Say again?

 

[TFoley]

I began my shooting career at age six, but even then my dad stuffed cotton wool in my ears. That was seventy years ago next month, and in the meantime, thirty-three years in the Army, with shooting, bombs, helicopters, fast jets and slow jets as well as endless white background noises have left me with 20% left and 22% right side hearing. I lipread very well in English and quite well in French, but I also rely heavily on my hearing aids. As anybody who uses them might tell you, the horrendous cost of the things comes as a surprise to begin with, but its either buy 'em or live a life of endless 'eh's?

For shooting ANYTHING that goes bang, I've relied, since they came out, on electronic in-the-ear devices that let me cuddle down on the stock correctly. They, too, are not exactly given away, but are a brilliant idea, to say the least. The added plus is that they are as near as darnit invisible, if HC appearances matter to you.

 

[jarentz]

My hearing is shot from many years of trap and rifle shooting with no ear protection,I wear hearing aids now and when i take them out my wife and grand kids say i'll see you later when you put your ears back on. I wear protection now when at the range or events.