How long will your ears ring?

Well if it is permanent loss, it sets you up with a way better story than "loud rock concerts." 50Cal = Silver lining!

(Hopefully you saved the spent casing for added emphasis when you retell the story. By the way, add bad guys to the story.)
 
Constantly shooting .308 without hearing protection did it for me. Not even 27 years later, and still there. You'll learn to live with it. Just treat it like you'd treat a nagging girl friend: ignore it.
 
I wouldn't hurt to go get checked just to make sure you didn't perforate an ear drum
Especially if you felt any pain.
I say "What?" a lot more these days and I've had a nice dial tone in my own noggin for about 30 years.
 
Makes me wonder how all those guys in the Revolution and Civil War stood in crowded lines and fired without ear protection for years and years.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Queen Bee said:
from what i am reading concerts are at about 120 decibels, which granted you are spending a prolonged amount of time which offsets the lower decibel compared to the 50 cal but honestly it is going to be hard to judge the damage without a hearing test.
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even tougher without a base line to compare it to. Cant judge "loss" without knowing what you had before. The military keeps a record of all personnel over the years. Over 22 years i would say my hearing has been tested 15 times easily.
 
briz said:
Well if it is permanent loss, it sets you up with a way better story than "loud rock concerts." 50Cal = Silver lining!

(Hopefully you saved the spent casing for added emphasis when you retell the story. By the way, add bad guys to the story.)
Click to expand...

Depends on the concerts. I still have the opportunity to shoot a .50 while the concerts are for the most part are gone forever. :)
 
A road trip to Hampton one night in a friend's Mustang with Dokken and The Cult did some damage for me, as did a KISS concert without protection. Also a few years of a loud JEEP muffler, no top, and wind buffeting.
 
First time at an indoor range I did not have sufficient hearing protection and my ears rang for about 4 days. Day 1 felt like I had cotton balls stuffed in them.
 
Definitely takes a couple days to get back to somewhat normal in my experience. I've have that "Fuuu.." response more than once because I've gotten caught up dialing in sights, reloading mags, etc. and then popping off a round without realizing the muffs were not on my head. As another guy that attended WAY too many loud concerts in the 80's and 90's, as well as exposure to loud machinery for most of my life, I can say that hearing loss definitely sucks, but I doubt your one accidental exposure will do much, if any noticeable, permanent damage. For me, I'm lucky not to have tinnitus, but definitely have issues conversing in loud crowds. My wife also complains that I like to have the tv up higher than she likes when watching movies. I remember the first time I took her to the range (indoor), she started to cry after a guy a couple lanes down fired a .45. I ended up having to double up on her ear pro to get through the session, and even then she still flinched with almost every shot.
 
Had the same happen to me 2 years ago July 4th, it was a good week before I felt ok. No permenent damage
 
Finalygotabeltfed said:
View attachment 171239............................fortyfive years laterView attachment 171240.[laugh][laugh][laugh]

Not laughing at you.......laughing with you. I've done the same thing on a couple of occasions with a State Arms .50........ITS LOUUUUUUUUUD!!!!!!!! Especially under a covered firing point.
Click to expand...

Yah, it was covered. Yah, it was LOUD. LOUDLOUDLOUD

briz said:
Well if it is permanent loss, it sets you up with a way better story than "loud rock concerts." 50Cal = Silver lining!

(Hopefully you saved the spent casing for added emphasis when you retell the story. By the way, add bad guys to the story.)
Click to expand...

Already wrote DUMBASS on the casing in a sharpie. That one will not get reloaded

Supermoto said:
If it doesn't clear up by your next period, I would go see your gyno
Click to expand...

Maybe some day I can be as cool as you, and thank you for the helpful input.

Dean Crawford said:
260gr of powder is unforgiving.

Dean
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Agreed.

Still pretty good ringing. Still some definite acuity loss, and some additional sensitivity to noise. Just bad judgement. I'm going to have to upgrade earpro to keep shooting this, because I already had some ringing after shooting it even with the earpro I had on.
 
I am hoping for the best, I've done it at the covered range at the Rutland Club with my 300 Weatherby and I can still hear my kids doing stupid things in the middle of the night. I now shoot at the Fitchburg Sportsmans Club and it is stupid loud. It's a non blue sky range and has solid walls between shooting stations with a solid back and cement floor. I wear muffs and plugs, and I still have a headache when I'm done.
 
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Medium NRR in-ear plugs at all times with over the ear muffs on top when the range goes hot.
 
Go to Mass Eye Ear immediately. It sounds like it could be permanent if not taken care of soon. They will put you on steroids for week to reduce the inflammation of the inner ear and it will possibly save some of the hearing you may lose if not treated right away. Ask me how I know. Been there done that. However I waited too long and suffer permanent hearing damage from just one .380 round going off next to me at the range.
 
If you're young and healthy you (should) recover. Trashed mine via 7.62mm M-14 in RVN. Army issued ear plugs. Farmers running around in the jungle trying to kill me and I'm going to wear ear plugs? VA gave me the best hearing aids made so I can hear conversation in quiet places but the tinnitus is constant screaming in both ears every waking hour. Not fun. You'll probably suck it up like the rest of us but advice from Quincy is dead on.

Wear highest NRR you can find.
 
My ears are ringing still to this day, noticeably today even though I was wearing ear protection at the range this AM, it does not go away but there are some homeopathic drops of some kind. It sucks trying to fall asleep with tinitus. Get it checked out asap
 
Go to a pumpkin shoot or something like that, and have someone next to you (on your left) unload a 30 round AK mag. These are the worst, firing line, events for hearing damage that I have ever seen. Clubs should be considered liable.
 
1776 said:
Go to a pumpkin shoot or something like that, and have someone next to you (on your left) unload a 30 round AK mag. These are the worst, firing line, events for hearing damage that I have ever seen. Clubs should be considered liable.
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I hope I am reading this wrong, maybe you should just move down the line, you know, all that personal responsibility stuff.
 
SteelShooter said:
I hope I am reading this wrong, maybe you should just move down the line, you know, all that personal responsibility stuff.
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How about a giant sign and warning handouts stating that attending this event can result in permanent hearing loss, which would be the truth, just to cover the lawyers. And also to explain to the children in the future why attending dad's or a friends event caused cumulative damage that resulted in tinnitus and hearing loss.
 
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JayMcB said:
So let's say hypothetically that you decided to go to the range today and shoot a large caliber rifle....like a Barrett, for instance.

Let's say you were careful, assembled your rifle, walked down the 100 yards and posted targets, dialed your irons for 100 meters, and carefully and deliberately fired off a few rounds.

It's stressful shooting .50, so you're sweating like crazy. After 4 rounds, you've safed your rifle, and want to walk down to see if the ones that aren't in the black are on paper, so you take off your earpro to cool off a little on the 200 yard round trip. Despite the fact that you are literally alone on the entire range (you unlocked the gate to enter it), you still follow range rules and turn on the cold range lights.

Disappointed that you've only put 2/4 on paper at 100 yards with your irons, you go back to shoot a couple more. At ~$4/round, this is not mag dump territory here.

You get back to the bench, take your rifle off safe, line up another shot, and in the millisecond before the trigger breaks, you realize your earpro is there next to you on the bench. The scene where Ralphie in Christmas story when he loses the lug nut plays in your mind, saying fuuuuuuuuuuu** in slow motion.......

So 6 hours later, ears are still ringing and still generally less hearing acuity. So how long are they going to ring? Hypothetically....
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Mine was from a .40 fired indoors. Took about a day or so for the ringing/pain to stop and hearing to recover to normal, I think in about 2 days my hearing returned to what I would consider as normal. I've rung my bell at other times but that one was worse by orders of magnitude.

Now I muff and plug whenever I am on the range- because even if I take my muffs off, the custom plugs would still prevent me from getting a full bell ringing going on.

-Mike
 
JayMcB said:
Already wrote DUMBASS on the casing in a sharpie. That one will not get reloaded
Click to expand...

Put it in a place that will remind you. I saved that piece of .40 brass and put it in my handgun safe so it would remind me of that incident so I'd never repeat it again. I've lost it in the shuffle at this point but I think it got the point across. [laugh]

-Mike
 
I always wear protection while shooting but not hunting. Years, decades actually, of duck and deer hunting have taken a toll on my hearing. At least according to my wife. Maybe she won't accept that I did actually hear her!

3 years ago on a moose hunt in NH I pulled the trigger with my 30-06 on my moose. My hunting partner was beside me and a little behind. I was basically muzzle level with his ported 300 weatherby magnum. He let go 2 follow up shots, that weren't needed (and neither connected) but holy shit did my ears ring for days. That had to be the worst for me.
 
Take it from me: it sucks having any kind of hearing loss before you're thirty. I "feel like" I've had decent hearing, but deep down I know I don't. I always tried to wear ear pro when shooting in the Army, but not while riding in C-130s/141s and not while jumping out of them. And not, stupidly, while FDCing mortar ranges. Or shooting blanks during training.

It all adds up. I miss a lot of what people say to me, especially my wife...
 

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