Hearing protection still hunting

[Molon5labe]

I use a silencerco harvester. No more ringing ears and it makes my lightweight 30-06 feel like shooting a 223.

[Dark2Dark]

I use a silencerco harvester. No more ringing ears and it makes my lightweight 30-06 feel like shooting a 223.

Beat me to it. Thunderbeast Ultra 7. My 300 WM is a peach with it (despite being under 6 lbs) and sounds like a 22. Brakes and non-suppressed rifles are for cavemen. ;-)

[Wolfdog2314]

Start the process for a suppressor. Lots of coin to drop. But worth it.

[Pnwrider]

Suppressor for the win. Especially if you bring your kids with. Don’t want their ear drums getting the same abuse mine have over the years. Kids make a great excuse for upgrades. I have my wife convinced I need to order a thermal to go predator hunting with the kiddos right now😂

[wadu1]

I know all about ringing ears as well. Military, guns, helicopters.... it all adds up

😂 

No helicopters but military guns, had a 20mm Vulcan do a 60 round burst 4 feet over my head. Hearing loss and ringing it also drained my sinuses at the same time. I now use Howard Leight’s impact sports all the time while hunting. They are better than my hearing aids.

[h3x0ctb1n]

Sorry about the hearing loss wadu1, but glad to hear your Howard Leight's work better than hearing aids - I just bought a set of those same ones.

[Platensek-po]

I appreciate all the advice guys! A suppressor has been on my radar for a while now! I’m gunna weigh my options and see what’s gunna make the best Christmas present this year. Glad to hear, no pun intended, that you all still get after it even with the hearing loss. Thanks again!

[kselkhunter]

Agree with the other posters on the suppressor.  That's why they were invented for, helping prevent hearing loss. 

I have some Peltor electronic ear plugs that work great for while sitting in the duck blind, cutting firewood, target practice, anything stationary.  My problem is they work too well at picking up sounds, and get annoying listening to my clothing rustle or leaves crackling as I step on them while I'm walking.  Haven't figured out how to turn down the mic pickup level yet.  I keep them in my pocket in their charging case when I'm walking for still-hunting, and put them in when I stop for awhile to watch an area.  The downside is I wouldn't have time to put them in before a quick shot. 

A suppressor is a better option.

[Stein]

Ignorant question here - do suppressors lower the sound enough to safely shoot without ear protection?  My assumption was you still had to wear something, they lower it significantly, but not low enough to be safe without protection, at least for a centerfire rifle shooting supersonic.

[kselkhunter]

 Depending on suppressor, it reduces sound by 30-40dB.  Which is similar to the reduction you get with most hearing protection devices (again depending on the device).  When possible, wearing hearing protection even with a suppressor is recommended.

[Bob33]

Ignorant question here - do suppressors lower the sound enough to safely shoot without ear protection?  My assumption was you still had to wear something, they lower it significantly, but not low enough to be safe without protection, at least for a centerfire rifle shooting supersonic.

The estimates I've seen show the reduced sound levels at around 140 decibels.

[kselkhunter]

Ignorant question here - do suppressors lower the sound enough to safely shoot without ear protection?  My assumption was you still had to wear something, they lower it significantly, but not low enough to be safe without protection, at least for a centerfire rifle shooting supersonic.

Here's a link to a interesting test results of various suppressors.  With dB measurement results.
https://www.silencercentral.com/blog/we-tested-27-rifle-suppressors-heres-what-we-found/

[Stein]

So you need to be careful in which one you buy, almost half of them were still over 140 dB which is instant hearing loss.  The test rifle was about 170 unsupressed.  It was also a .308, so bigger bang sticks might be impossible to make hearing safe with existing technology.

The best was about 134 dB which is about a 36 dB reduction which is very good, almost identical to the ratings on my new dumbo ear muffs.

The worst was only 23 dB.

[Russ McDonald]

I use Walker Razor ear buds.https://www.walkersgameear.com/silencer/ Also military so naval ship noise, shooting, constant high fan noise from high power transmitters.  I shoot ar the range and they are awesome.  Wife also has a set.  Only time I shoot a gun is turkey hunting archery for deer and elk.  The only problem I have is calling.  The ear buds work so good they muffle my call so I can't tell how loud I am.  Bug deal when calling turkeys.  I can hear them gobbling and yelping like I have bionic ears.

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