Can you hear me now ?

Zeo

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Anyone ever forget to put on/in their hearing protection and discharged their firearm ?

What caliber bullet was fired, and has it affected your hearing today ?
 
Anyone ever forget to put on/in their hearing protection and discharged their firearm ?

What caliber bullet was fired, and has it affected your hearing today ?

Yeah....sure have but didnt have ear pro available......spent a couple of minutes of quality time behind ma deuce with no ear pro.....in combat you don't get the opportunity to tell the other guy to hold on why you plug up! Also fired two each 3 round bursts from my m4.....from the passenger seat of a 5 ton truck!

Ma duece gave me 48 hours of a good ear ring. The m4 was not too bad.....bout 8-10 hours of ringing. No permanent damage.

I get my hearing tested annually. No change. I'm fine.
How many WW2 Korea Vietnam and oef oif vets do you know? We aren't all deaf you know! Relax.

I also hunt alot. Countless shots. Never a ring. No damage.

People need to chill about the hearing loss worries. One shot without protection is going to be uncomfortable. But you'll live. Lol

Edit.....an indoor range might be a different story! Touching off a snub 357 in a small indoor range might just **** you up!
 
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Outside: 44 and 357 mag 1 time each. 12 ga a few times on the trap line, many times in the field. 40, 45, 222 Rem and 223 a few times. 20 and 410 ga many times and hundreds of 22 rimfire.
Inside: 22 rimfire a few times on the buzzer.

I don't have any ringing but my wife says I don't listen to her.
 
I was the first shooter on the first stage of this 3 gun match, shot 40 cal pistol and 12g without any ear pro. (30 second mark) I realized I had forgot to put them in after the first shot, but continued through the stage. If it were a stage with rifle shooting, I would have stopped myself.

 
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i shot a rifle qual in the army without ear pro by accident, i got up on the line and realized on the first target that i forgot it, but i was stupidly so obsessed with having a perfect score that i kept going without putting my plugs in, dumb.
 
I shot an extremely loud AR, new build, was too excited..., without earpro a couple of years ago and while it hurt at the time, i don't believe I have any lasting damage. Ringing for the rest of the day.
 
At my club's indoor range. Was by myself and took my hearing protection off as I was changing guns and hanging a new target. Loaded hot 44 Mag rounds into my S&W 629, took aim and fired. It was bad, very bad. I had pain in both ears but my right ear hurt the worst. I was pretty sure I had ruptured my eardrum. Luckily not, but my ears took several days before they felt normal again.

I already have some hearing loss and tinnitus from years of working on jets while I was in the Navy. Can't tell if it caused anything permanent, but it couldn't have been good.

Made me wonder how GIs in WWII weren't all deaf by the time they came home.....
 
At my club's indoor range. Was by myself and took my hearing protection off as I was changing guns and hanging a new target. Loaded hot 44 Mag rounds into my S&W 629, took aim and fired. It was bad, very bad. I had pain in both ears but my right ear hurt the worst. I was pretty sure I had ruptured my eardrum. Luckily not, but my ears took several days before they felt normal again.

I already have some hearing loss and tinnitus from years of working on jets while I was in the Navy. Can't tell if it caused anything permanent, but it couldn't have been good.

Made me wonder how GIs in WWII weren't all deaf by the time they came home.....

They are not all deaf because shooting a rifle outside while uncomfortable.......won't give you that much damage in the long run.
 
If you ever forget your hearing protection live 9mm para cartridges work great as temporary ear plugs. If your allergic to any metals you might not want to use this option.
 
I fired some CB shorts out of my Ruger 10/22 once without any hearing protection. I was fine.
 
An old friend of mine shot on the Army rifle team in the '50s. Never used any earpro. He's deaf as a post now.

Only thing close to that for me was a Bowie tribute concert I was to a couple years ago. Hearing didn't come back to normal until a day or two later. Now I'm one of those no-fun guys who brings ear plugs to events.
 
I have never worn hearing protection for any animal I have ever killed. Deer, ducks rabbits etc in the last 30 years of hunting. worst one was my partner letting go 2 rounds of 300 weatherby Magnum on a moose hunt beside me with my head close to his muzzle 5 feet to my left. Do I have hearing damage??? I certainly can't say no.
 
https://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/312863-How-long-will-your-ears-ring?

Update 50 weeks later: permanent tinnitus and definite loss of hearing acuity in right ear. Audiologist shrugged on tinnitus, and said if the ringing wasn't loud enough, that I could get hearing aids to make it louder.

I don't go into a noisy environment now without custom earpro under muffs. Only shooting the .50 outside now. At the range, plugs in every minute, muffs when shooting
 
"Cumulative" hearing loss is the key word. My ears have been ringing constantly for approximately 15 years. Not a single-event that I can recall where ringing lasted more than a few hours.
 
They are not all deaf because shooting a rifle outside while uncomfortable.......won't give you that much damage in the long run.

I don't believe this for a minute. Even prolonged low level noise is very bad. Once it's gone, it's gone.
 
In the Marine Corps hearing protection on more than one occassion took the form of cigarette butts in my ears. Do not know if my hearing was adversely effected, but it helped my lungs as that was two less I would smoke. [laugh]
 
Indoor range, in the basement.

Basic Firearms Safety Class. String of five or six students with S&W Model 41 .22's. I was there as a range coach.

Instructor gave the order to fire, then leaned towards me to say something. When I turned an ear towards him to hear through my ear pro, he pulled my ear pro off my head. No idea what he ever said. Nausea for the rest of the day through the night. Ear ringing couple more days. May have lasted longer but I've had tinnitus since childhood so can't be sure.
 
Anyone ever forget to put on/in their hearing protection and discharged their firearm ?

What caliber bullet was fired, and has it affected your hearing today ?

On the line with about 6 other guys, 14 in barreled M4's. Some of life's lessons are best learned the hard way. I'll never do that again.
 
I don't believe this for a minute. Even prolonged low level noise is very bad. Once it's gone, it's gone.

Did you read my initial post?

Not all combat vets have hearing loss.....

Not all hunters have hearing loss.....

Look.....I'm in no way advocating shooting without earpro. The op asked if anyone has fired a gun without ear pro.......an if their hearing was damaged. I'm telling you I have.........many ****ing times.......even a 50 cal machine gun administering suppressive fire for a couple of minutes......and hearing has been tested many times........and my hearing shows no detectable adverse effects.

Can you get hearing damage from one shot without muffs......yes it happens........but I'm living proof it's not a guarantee to have damage from one shot without muffs. Not all vets are have hearing loss
Not all hunters have hearing loss


Hoe do YOU explain that?

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On the line with about 6 other guys, 14 in barreled M4's. Some of life's lessons are best learned the hard way. I'll never do that again.

Do you have hearing damage from it?

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Indoor range, in the basement.

Basic Firearms Safety Class. String of five or six students with S&W Model 41 .22's. I was there as a range coach.

Instructor gave the order to fire, then leaned towards me to say something. When I turned an ear towards him to hear through my ear pro, he pulled my ear pro off my head. No idea what he ever said. Nausea for the rest of the day through the night. Ear ringing couple more days. May have lasted longer but I've had tinnitus since childhood so can't be sure.

That guy was an *******!
 
.....

Not all combat vets have hearing loss.....

Not all hunters have hearing loss.....

Look.....I'm in no way advocating shooting without earpro. The op asked if anyone has fired a gun without ear pro.......an if their hearing was damaged. I'm telling you I have.........many ****ing times.......even a 50 cal machine gun administering suppressive fire for a couple of minutes......and hearing has been tested many times........and my hearing shows no detectable adverse effects.

Can you get hearing damage from one shot without muffs......yes it happens........but I'm living proof it's not a guarantee to have damage from one shot without muffs. Not all vets are have hearing loss
Not all hunters have hearing loss
....!

This is also my experience..

no hearing loss or ailments.
 
If you ever forget your hearing protection live 9mm para cartridges work great as temporary ear plugs. If your allergic to any metals you might not want to use this option.

This -- I went to the range a month ago and forgot all of my ear protection after a range bag cleaning. Range is a 35 minute trip so I needed to go MacGyver to salvage the day. Empty 9mm cases fit perfectly in my ears and probably blocked 60% of the damaging sound. Now I always do a last second double check for Eye/ear pro before leaving the house.
 
When I was young and stupid my buddy and I decided to see what it was like to shoot without hearing protection. We shot about 50 rounds each of .357. Our ears rang for about 3 days after but there didn't seem to be any lasting effects. ...What?

On a side note, as a police academy firearms instructor, I tried to get the idea of shooting without hearing protection introduced into the curriculum to give some real life experience as the cadets wouldn't have hearing protection in a police shooting situation. My idea was shot down due to liability issues. I still think it would be valuable training, even a string of 5 or 10 rounds.
 
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When I was young and stupid my buddy and I decided to see what it was like to shoot without hearing protection. We shot about 50 rounds each of .357. Our ears rang for about 3 days after but there didn't seem to be any lasting effects. ...What?

On a side note, as a police academy firearms instructor, I tried to get the idea of shooting without hearing protection introduced into the curriculum to give some real life experience as the cadets wouldn't have hearing protection in a police shooting situation. My idea was shot down due to liability issues. I still think it would be valuable training, even a string of 5 or 10 rounds.
liability trumps

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I have forgotten my ears a few times sadly I tend not to notice until later. It really does not appear "load" when I shoot...well if im shooting my or next to a gun with a obnoxious brake I notice!
 
...., I tried to get the idea of shooting without hearing protection introduced into the curriculum to give some real life experience as the cadets wouldn't have hearing protection in a police shooting situation. My idea was shot down due to liability issues. I still think it would be valuable training, even a string of 5 or 10 rounds.

Adrenaline muffles the sound of gunfire a lot, believe me,
getting shot at, or shooting at a person.
 
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