Home Defense Gear - Some Questions

When I was much younger and stupider, I had the smart idea of touching off a hot hand loaded .357 into my basement bullet trap (installed next to my safes for checking function, disassembly, making sure hand loads will chamber, etc) without ear protection. Literally stunned me to where I couldn't have made a follow up shot or done anything useful for at least a few seconds after. Didn't do any noticeable damage but boy it was a couple hours before I could hear anything at a normal volume or have quiet conversation. I would never use a high pressure round like .357 or 10mm or .44 mag for home defense after that experience, you may very well render yourself useless for several seconds and do permanent hearing damage touching one off indoors without ear pro. Stick to standard pressure/low velocity like 9mm, .45acp, or low recoil/low velocity type 12ga, they have much less muzzle blast.
In the heat of an actual fight you won't even notice the bang or the ringing until well after the adrenaline wears off. I speak from experience.
 
There is no replacement for a couple of well trained dogs. I trained them not to bark at intruders. Dogs are there to wake me up when intruder is still outside. Then the scenario is very simple; Dial 9-1-1 and let dogs run their first line of their defense.
An Angry Latina or old angry Souther Italian might be right there with the dogs... maybe even worse.
 
I’m disappointed no one mentioned bayonet and katana yet: you never run out of stabiness and naked man on a bayonet charge will dissuade all but the most determined intruders, and no hearing damage!
 
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When I was much younger and stupider, I had the smart idea of touching off a hot hand loaded .357 into my basement bullet trap (installed next to my safes for checking function, disassembly, making sure hand loads will chamber, etc) without ear protection. Literally stunned me to where I couldn't have made a follow up shot or done anything useful for at least a few seconds after. Didn't do any noticeable damage but boy it was a couple hours before I could hear anything at a normal volume or have quiet conversation. I would never use a high pressure round like .357 or 10mm or .44 mag for home defense after that experience, you may very well render yourself useless for several seconds and do permanent hearing damage touching one off indoors without ear pro. Stick to standard pressure/low velocity like 9mm, .45acp, or low recoil/low velocity type 12ga, they have much less muzzle blast.

How about an AR with obnoxious Mass legal muzzle brake?
 
I'm a fan of hammering the nail with a sledge. 9mm Carbine with 30 and a surefire foregrip. Motion cameras cover the perimeter and stairwells for advance warning if possible. Wife goes to kids room dogs free call 911. Few unmentioned surprises along the way.

Legos on the floor?
 
If the gun isn't on you, it's probably too far away to do you any good...
I disagree, unless you leave the door unlocked. We’re not talking about what you’d do if you woke up to a guy standing next to your bed. Even a mild hardening of your entryways will give you plenty of time to access a firearm located in the same room as you, but not on your person.


No I don't expect to have a gunfight, period.
And I personally am not going out of the bedroom, barefoot, and in my underwear to " clear the house" or anything else.
The bedroom door gets locked down and barricaded, 911, loud verbal warning given, wait for the kopsh. Anything or anyone tries to breach it, now it's time to stop the threat.
YMMV...

Many of us DO have to clear a good portion of the house to get to family members. Your mileage does vary.

In the heat of an actual fight you won't even notice the bang or the ringing until well after the adrenaline wears off. I speak from experience.

I disagree. That may be the case sometimes, but is far from certain. I engaged a threat with my M4 from a cement guard tower before hopping on the M240B. The 240 was never an issue because the muzzle was past the window. The M4 reverberated the entire tower room and I was thoroughly disoriented. I could still function, but it was not ideal. Although, I hope nobody’s house would encounter the same kick-up of dust that occurred in that tower.

I think we can all agree that being able to put on earpro is not going to happen in most circumstances. Also, if you absolutely had to, yes saving lives is better than hearing damage. However, I still prefer to mitigate hearing loss when possible. At room distances, quality pistol caliber JHPs are going to get the job done while being a whole lot less noise and concussion than a rifle caliber SBR(unsuppressed). If I know somethings going down ahead of time and can wear earpro, then yeah, give me 5.56.
 
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I disagree, unless you leave the door unlocked. We’re not talking about what you’d do if you woke up to a guy standing next to your bed. Even a mild hardening of your entryways will give you plenty of time to access a firearm located in the same room as you, but not on your person.




Many of us DO have to clear a good portion of the house to get to family members. Your mileage does vary.



I disagree. That may be the case sometimes, but is far from certain. I engaged a threat with my M4 from a cement guard tower before hopping on the M240B. The 240 was never an issue because the muzzle was past the window. The M4 reverberated the entire tower room and I was thoroughly disoriented. I could still function, but it was not ideal. Although, I hope nobody’s house would encounter the same kick-up of dust that occurred in that tower.

I think we can all agree that being able to put on earpro is not going to happen in most circumstances. Also, if you absolutely had to, yes saving lives is better than hearing damage. However, I still prefer to mitigate hearing loss when possible. At room distances, quality pistol caliber JHPs are going to get the job done while being a whole lot less noise and concussion than a rifle caliber SBR(unsuppressed). If I know somethings going down ahead of time and can wear earpro, then yeah, give me 5.56.
I never once noticed the noise in a fire fight.......only the ringing in my ears after.

Everyone's experience is different.
 
I never once noticed the noise in a fire fight.......only the ringing in my ears after.

Everyone's experience is different.

How many of your firefights were outdoors vs inside? Because yeah, I never noticed the gunfire during firefights in palm groves, or on streets, etc. Inside shoot houses, that wasn’t that bad either, but there was no roof and the walls were rubber. They absorbed the sound and concussion much better. And I suppose there was proper ear pro inside shoot houses too. Inside real structures, it was considerably worse if no earpro was worn.

Like you said, everyone’s experiences are different. And like I said, your experience may be the case sometimes, but it’s not a certainty. You may not have had any issues, other people may.
 
How many of your firefights were outdoors vs inside? Because yeah, I never noticed the gunfire during firefights in palm groves, or on streets, etc. Inside shoot houses, that wasn’t that bad either, but there was no roof and the walls were rubber. They absorbed the sound and concussion much better. And I suppose there was proper ear pro inside shoot houses too. Inside real structures, it was considerably worse if no earpro was worn.

Like you said, everyone’s experiences are different. And like I said, your experience may be the case sometimes, but it’s not a certainty. You may not have had any issues, other people may.
If you read my other post one of my experiences involved m4 carbines being fired from inside a hmmwv.

You sound like you speak from experience so I'll pose this question. If you are heading into harm's way.....fast.....like your life depends on it ....and it involves a building ......are you stopping to put ear pro on?
 
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So, I sent for a 5.11 Two-Banger to hold a few mags, trauma kit (TQ, pressure dressing, hemostatic gauze, chest seal) and flashlight. If it doesn't work for me Amazon will take it back. My pistol/carbine can sit in the quick-access box and bag in a drawer underneath.

Again, this is the downstairs gear - upstairs gear includes a subsonic 300BO suppressed rifle that is kinder on the ears.

Hard doors/windows, motion lights & visible cams - streetlight out front. The neighbors are much softer targets so I won't be the first hit.
 
That would be also brutal, I don't care how much adrenaline you've got going, it's like setting off a flash bang next to your head. It flat out hurts.

Ya it does. Had a FB go off about 3-4” from the left side of my face before. Live one not a 4g training load.

Burned my face and ruptured my eardrum. The whole side of my face like 3 hrs later was sagging down like I took a stroke and was completely filled with fluid. Literally hanging down below my jaw line all fat and squishy like.

Took a couple days of anti-histamines to dry up the fluids, thankfully the sagging self corrected once all that was gone also, but I still wake up sometimes with fluid leaking into my ear, it gets kinda crusty but still wet when I stick a finger in there to itch it or clean it out. I can hear my heartbeat coming thru that ear when it’s quiet at night, creepy drum beat sound that keeps you awake and always aches.
 
If you read my other post one of my experiences involved m4 carbines being fired from inside a hmmwv.

You sound like you speak from experience so I'll pose this question. If you are heading into harm's way.....fast.....like your life depends on it ....and it involves a building ......are you stopping to put ear pro on?

Oh yeah, you did say that about the vehicle.

And no, I agree that it’s not realistic to throw on earpro during a home invasion. I mentioned before my method for mitigating the noise and concussion is to use pistol caliber firearms for home defense. To me, they’re adequate to stop threats at room distance. Modern JHP rounds and hydraulic redirection rounds make 9mm pretty effective. If had prep time, knew something was going down and could throw on ear pro, then I’d use a rifle caliber SBR.
 
How many of your firefights were outdoors vs inside? Because yeah, I never noticed the gunfire during firefights in palm groves, or on streets, etc. Inside shoot houses, that wasn’t that bad either, but there was no roof and the walls were rubber. They absorbed the sound and concussion much better. And I suppose there was proper ear pro inside shoot houses too. Inside real structures, it was considerably worse if no earpro was worn.

Like you said, everyone’s experiences are different. And like I said, your experience may be the case sometimes, but it’s not a certainty. You may not have had any issues, other people may.

Why doesn't the military issue helmets with ear pro or issue MSA Sordins to everyone in combat? The government is quite happen to shower us civilians with health regulations of every kind, but let's our military go with hearing loss?
 
^^^ $$$

But really it’s not that bad, hell WWI-II, Korea, Vietnam, the smaller battles in between during peacetime and up to the GWOT none of us ever used earpro unless we were at the range. If we were fighting you wouldn’t find one guy with ear pro on, mostly because it was those old crappy rubber plugs that you couldn't hear any commands or radios with.

It never disoriented us so that we felt ineffective or all curled up in the corner with bleeding ears or anything like that. You just do it and drive on. If you live thru it you’re ok that it’s only your ears ringing.

Last thing I’m worried about is the very very very slight possibility that I’ll have to fire 2-3rounds inside my house without hearing protection.
 
Ya it does. Had a FB go off about 3-4” from the left side of my face before. Live one not a 4g training load.

Burned my face and ruptured my eardrum. The whole side of my face like 3 hrs later was sagging down like I took a stroke and was completely filled with fluid. Literally hanging down below my jaw line all fat and squishy like.

Took a couple days of anti-histamines to dry up the fluids, thankfully the sagging self corrected once all that was gone also, but I still wake up sometimes with fluid leaking into my ear, it gets kinda crusty but still wet when I stick a finger in there to itch it or clean it out. I can hear my heartbeat coming thru that ear when it’s quiet at night, creepy drum beat sound that keeps you awake and always aches.
Jeese man, when I said next to your head I didn't mean 3". That had to suck. But yea, live flash bang is 170-180db. 5.56 with a muzzle break is about 170db, so the sound pressure is about the same, it's no joke.
 
If you are living in a situation about not only having your house broken into and having your life threatened that you have to arm yourself in such a way that you are ready for a breach and seage. I would be thinking about moving to a much safer location.
I can't imagine living in such paranoia and a feeling of being under such a threat.
 
Why doesn't the military issue helmets with ear pro or issue MSA Sordins to everyone in combat? The government is quite happen to shower us civilians with health regulations of every kind, but let's our military go with hearing loss?

SOCOM does issue helmet-mounted ear pro. However, that is generally to enable better comms. But there are a number of guys who do "re-appropriate" earpro, or buy their own Sordins or Peltors. Most guys just suck it up though.
 
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But really it’s not that bad, hell WWI-II, Korea, Vietnam, the smaller battles in between during peacetime and up to the GWOT none of us ever used earpro unless we were at the range. If we were fighting you wouldn’t find one guy with ear pro on, mostly because it was those old crappy rubber plugs that you couldn't hear any commands or radios with.

It never disoriented us so that we felt ineffective or all curled up in the corner with bleeding ears or anything like that. You just do it and drive on. If you live thru it you’re ok that it’s only your ears ringing.
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Yeah, grunts just suck it up and drive on. And luckily, most engagements happen outside anyway. Most guys in GWOT just didn't wear ear pro, or if they did, it was comms-connected headsets. Like you said, it's hard to hear important information with those crappy rubber plugs. Rangers and SF pretty much always have earpro on now for DA raids, though.

And yes, nobody's going to curl up in a corner with bleeding ears from a short barrel 5.56 inside a room. And yes, in the military you use the tools you have and you drive on. BUT, we're talking about civilian home defense where we can control some of the variables. We get to choose our weapon systems and don't just have to use the tools that are given to us. Also, unlike the military, I don't need to worry about exiting my house and immediately engaging a guy at 200 meters. I get to choose a caliber based on a range of 10 meters, max. We have trade space to play in.
 
Instead of three completely different firearms staged throughout your home wouldn't three of the same be better? Or at least setup similar vs irons on one and optics on another? Keep it simple, go with three of the same gun setup the same.
 
SOCOM does issue helmet-mounted ear pro. However, that is generally to enable better comms. But there are a number of guys who do "re-appropriate" earpro, or buy their own Sordins or Peltors. Most guys just suck it up though.

I remember in Desert Storm (?) guys were ordering body armor online and welding scrap metal to their Humvees. That's just not right.
 
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