Surefire EP4 Sonic Defender Plus hearing protection

[phixer]

I am looking for some kind of hearing protection I can use for hunting and I wanted to see if anyone has tried these.

http://www.surefire.com/EP4-Sonic-Defenders-Plus

I have an old, 30 years plus, set of Sonic Disk earplugs but when I used the last weekend shooting a AR15 I found they were useless. (right ear is still not right) The specs on these don't make much sense as they rate them at NRR 19dB but they say that a 120dB level noise will be attenuated by 39dB.

I guess what I need to know is in the real world will these do the job and protect your hearing?

 

[Beer Snob]

You can change the dB reduction by opening or covering that little hole in the center. "Open" will allow you to still hear conversation while "closed" will do a decent job of blocking out almost everything.

They're fine for a few hours, but they can become a bit of a pain if you're looking to wear them all day. Also, make sure that you get the right size, because that will only exacerbate the issue.

 

[mrjones]

I've been using a set of them for 4 years now on and off at the range. They're comfy and easy to insert/remove, and perfectly adequate for .556 and 12 gauge. That said, they don't block as much sound as your standard cheap foam earplugs - which I discovered while shooting my buddy's 45-70 once. *riiiiiiiiiing*