jeepwj992002
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Hunting is the only time I do not wear plugs. My hearing is soo screwy I have to have unobstructed ears to hear critters rustling in the woods.
Sound of a muzzleloader
- Thread starter markinstettler
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When I attended a shootin club in the wild north, I fired the first shot from my new CVA percussion .50 Hawken (50 gns starter load with patched ball, right?). Every head on the range turned.
After a moment's silence someone said 'What are you doing, BOY? Load it up 'til it crackles!'
At 120gns it barked like a .303. Definitely 'crackled'. And kicked like one too. It was fun - but not relaxing.
After a moment's silence someone said 'What are you doing, BOY? Load it up 'til it crackles!'
At 120gns it barked like a .303. Definitely 'crackled'. And kicked like one too. It was fun - but not relaxing.
markinstettler
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Well, this isn't where I wanted the thread to go, but Frankenstein couldn't control his creation either. Rather than a chase to the arctic, I'll just go with it:
It depends what I'm hunting and with what. Honestly, if I was hunting deer, I wouldn't bother with hearing protection. We're only talking at most three shots a year around here (assuming you don't miss) and the potential loss of a good deer justifies the risk of damage IMHO.
When hunting ground squirrels with a .22, I don't wear hearing protection either. The .22 just isn't loud enough for me to think damage is occurring. (Maybe I'm wrong on that.)
Of course, lately I mostly find myself shooting at ground squirrels with my .54" GPR. I know it's silly, but I'll be shooting target and get side-tracked by ground squirrels running around. Since I can easily take 20 shots at the hoards of the little devils in an outing on our pasture,and the .54 roars pretty good, I use plugs.
I suspect that next summer, on the look-out for ground squirrels with a .40" long-barreled flinter in hand, I'll have plugs hanging ready around my neck.
It depends what I'm hunting and with what. Honestly, if I was hunting deer, I wouldn't bother with hearing protection. We're only talking at most three shots a year around here (assuming you don't miss) and the potential loss of a good deer justifies the risk of damage IMHO.
When hunting ground squirrels with a .22, I don't wear hearing protection either. The .22 just isn't loud enough for me to think damage is occurring. (Maybe I'm wrong on that.)
Of course, lately I mostly find myself shooting at ground squirrels with my .54" GPR. I know it's silly, but I'll be shooting target and get side-tracked by ground squirrels running around. Since I can easily take 20 shots at the hoards of the little devils in an outing on our pasture,and the .54 roars pretty good, I use plugs.
I suspect that next summer, on the look-out for ground squirrels with a .40" long-barreled flinter in hand, I'll have plugs hanging ready around my neck.
Sometimes I use hearing protection with loudenbanger CF guns, not with BP though.
Years of working offshore/onshore around pounding recips and screaming stationary gas turbine units got to my hearing long ago, even with earplugs and muffs. As a maintenance mechanic, had to peel off the protection too often catching underlying sounds when things were going bump in the night.
Years of working offshore/onshore around pounding recips and screaming stationary gas turbine units got to my hearing long ago, even with earplugs and muffs. As a maintenance mechanic, had to peel off the protection too often catching underlying sounds when things were going bump in the night.
The different calibers have somewhat of a different sound. It was explained that the sound is caused by two (2) differnt things.
The first being the amount of powder burned, more powder, more noise. The second is the ball exceeding the speed of sound. This is why the smaller calibers, 32 and 36 have more of crack sound than a boom, less powder and the ball exceeding the speed of sound.
I always wear hearing protection, except when hunting.
Richard
The first being the amount of powder burned, more powder, more noise. The second is the ball exceeding the speed of sound. This is why the smaller calibers, 32 and 36 have more of crack sound than a boom, less powder and the ball exceeding the speed of sound.
I always wear hearing protection, except when hunting.
Richard
Richard is pretty much on base here. I will add that different powders (black and smokeless) all have different pressure curves,which with ball weight , barrel length and all the other afore mentioned variables, factor into what we hear or perceive we hear.
hear acrack, it broke the sound barrier, more of a boom, its probly sub sonic.
As for ear protection.....after years and 10s of thousands of rounds shooting competitve trap, I have some hearing loose.its not across the board, but certain frequencies have damage. its a cumulative effect over time. Now is a good time to start minimizing the loose!
hear acrack, it broke the sound barrier, more of a boom, its probly sub sonic.
As for ear protection.....after years and 10s of thousands of rounds shooting competitve trap, I have some hearing loose.its not across the board, but certain frequencies have damage. its a cumulative effect over time. Now is a good time to start minimizing the loose!
50cal.cliff
58 Cal.
I do not at present use hearing protection when hunting. However I am thinking of using something like the game ear in the future. Suppose to enhance sound, but block damageing sound like that of a gun shot.
I grew up doing construction, my generation did not use hearing protection on the job. High pitched noise and continual all day noise of skillsaws , routers and such has severlly damaged my hearing. Believe me once your hearing is gone it's gone!. Folks laugh because you don't hear or mishear them, but it's rarely funny to me. :shake: I did not realize I had lost my hearing untill, I realized I was reading lips and running converstions over and over in my mind because I missed one word and what you just said to me didn't make since. It was a gradual loss. :surrender:
That's why at present I don't use hearing protection while hunting, because my ears are bad enough I miss alot of the sounds around me. I have to depend upon my eyes being sharp enough to see things. Does anyone out there use sometning like the gameear, and how does it work?
I will say this I try nowdays to wear hearing protection around any continuious noise or loud noise. Kind of like shutting the barn door after the cows have all run out, but I don't want to lose the little hearing I have. I can mow with the lawn mower and after a couple of hours without hearing protection, I can't hear anything well for several hours. Protect your ears, you do not relize how precious your hearing is till a little girl is trying to tell you soemthing and no matter how you try you can't understand what she is saying!!!
I grew up doing construction, my generation did not use hearing protection on the job. High pitched noise and continual all day noise of skillsaws , routers and such has severlly damaged my hearing. Believe me once your hearing is gone it's gone!. Folks laugh because you don't hear or mishear them, but it's rarely funny to me. :shake: I did not realize I had lost my hearing untill, I realized I was reading lips and running converstions over and over in my mind because I missed one word and what you just said to me didn't make since. It was a gradual loss. :surrender:
That's why at present I don't use hearing protection while hunting, because my ears are bad enough I miss alot of the sounds around me. I have to depend upon my eyes being sharp enough to see things. Does anyone out there use sometning like the gameear, and how does it work?
I will say this I try nowdays to wear hearing protection around any continuious noise or loud noise. Kind of like shutting the barn door after the cows have all run out, but I don't want to lose the little hearing I have. I can mow with the lawn mower and after a couple of hours without hearing protection, I can't hear anything well for several hours. Protect your ears, you do not relize how precious your hearing is till a little girl is trying to tell you soemthing and no matter how you try you can't understand what she is saying!!!
Down here, there are ne'erdowells in the muzzleloading season that hunt with shotguns. They keep a front stuffer in the truck. The boom is similar to a shotgun, and a hole from a slug looks like a hole from a muzzleloader's ball or conical...
Oh, if you want to hear the big blocks go to a vintage race. They don't flog them as hard, but you can still hear them sing!
Oh, if you want to hear the big blocks go to a vintage race. They don't flog them as hard, but you can still hear them sing!
I have some hearing loss. I use hearing protection when I target shoot, but not hunting. I also wear it mowing the lawn. My grandkids are young and just starting to talk, I want to be able to hear them as they get older.
cheatherly
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I don't use the game ear, but I do use the baffeled ear plugs when handgun hunting. They seem to help my hearing because they muffle the back ground noise, but I can still hear the important things. I would try the game ear, but I don't like things that rely on batteries, and the baffled plugs work good enough.
Charles D. Prokopp
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Thanks to having a blank-firing Mauser go off right next to my right ear during a performance of "Incident at Vichy" 35 years ago, I have severe hearing loss. Until I got back some rudiments of hearing, I had to lip-read my way through the rest of the show. Since then, I have had a small armada of cicadas living in my head, singing day and night. Needless to say, to protect what's left of my hearing, I always use silicon ear plugs. The FWOOM of black powder is sure nicer than the WHANG of that modern stuff!
Guest
I always wear hearng protection when at the range. But I never do when hunting - and I need to start. I am almost 60 and everything is still working well but the ears are starting to kick up a bit. As a very young man I had a job in an automated mill where nobody wore hearing protection. That experience + shooting without hearing protection (mostly bird hunting) has taken a toll. Also there were the years of Heavy Metal and just plain loud rock & roll.
I usally wear ear protection (earplugs) while shooting my centerfire guns, never thought of not using them with muzzle loaders. I dont think it would damage the ears much because its sound is deep instead the ''crack'' of high powered centerfire rifle. IMO even smokeless guns shooting cartridges under the sound barrier are much more unpleasent than BP firearms.
Two weeks ago we had a small championship, lots of people shot their .58, .69's and .72's with well over 100 grains loads, supersonic minés only. Even if the sound was extraordinary powerful, it was a real pleasure listening to it 3 metres behind the shooter without hearing protection, it was not painful, it just rattled my bones and I had no ringing ears like when I am shooting CF firearms without protection. :shocked2:
I am pretty shure shooting ML without heariing protection causes damage to the ears, but I cant imagine that you would notice it, and the ear is able to heal minor damage; damage we receive every day from loud music etc.
Two weeks ago we had a small championship, lots of people shot their .58, .69's and .72's with well over 100 grains loads, supersonic minés only. Even if the sound was extraordinary powerful, it was a real pleasure listening to it 3 metres behind the shooter without hearing protection, it was not painful, it just rattled my bones and I had no ringing ears like when I am shooting CF firearms without protection. :shocked2:
I am pretty shure shooting ML without heariing protection causes damage to the ears, but I cant imagine that you would notice it, and the ear is able to heal minor damage; damage we receive every day from loud music etc.
My shooters plugs have a maximum of 5 dB gain and were tuned by a professoinal hearing tech. They help a little but the mike's on the inside to keep down the wind noise, so it ain't much use. My wife still has to translate what my Granddaughter is tellin' me.50cal.cliff said:
Maynerd62411
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A friend of mine that I hunt on is deaf. There can be shots near by from shotguns and he can't hear them, but if I shoot my .54 , he can hear it. And I'm usually about 1/4 mile away from him. It's not just the amount of noise it produces, but I believe the pitch is different. There are very few things he can hear and it amazes me some of the things he picks up. Seems to be mostly lower tones. :hmm:
My brother has the game ear plugs and they work very well. You can adjust the volume so that you hear birds singing, leaves rustling, etc. When you shoot it shuts down and you do not hear any of the blast amplified.
When hunting if you put an ear plug in the ear facing the muzzle it will provide good hearing protection. For a right handed shooter this would be the left ear. The ear by the stock and away from the muzzle is somewhat protected from the blast.
When using a pistol both ears are toward the muzzle so plugs in both ears are needed. I did not use earplugs during a few limited shots when handgun hunting and saw a definite change in my hearing test at work the following year. You do not have to shoot unprotected a lot to have hearing loss.
When hunting if you put an ear plug in the ear facing the muzzle it will provide good hearing protection. For a right handed shooter this would be the left ear. The ear by the stock and away from the muzzle is somewhat protected from the blast.
When using a pistol both ears are toward the muzzle so plugs in both ears are needed. I did not use earplugs during a few limited shots when handgun hunting and saw a definite change in my hearing test at work the following year. You do not have to shoot unprotected a lot to have hearing loss.
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