wmhawth

Amen to that. I am a former artilleryman with personal experience.

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William

retsupt99

EdC...pretty cool experience, I'm sure...not my 'cup of tea'.

Have you ever thought about jumping from a moving vehicle, free-falling off of a cliff, dodging cars on the expressway (really gets the adrenaline going), or swimming in shark infested waters?

I have experienced gunfire up close without ear protection...we can all make mistakes, but not something I would do intentionally.

Stay armed...no experiments...stay safe!

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NRA Life Member

oldogy

Protect your hearing. I am an older guy who did not use hearing protection of any kind until a few years back. Hunting, shooting as a kid, no protection, military, no protection, much time around rotary wing aircraft, no protection. Now I have tinnitus and moderate to severe hearing loss both ears. It is a real PIA not being able to hear and understand your grandchildren even with hearing aids.
oldogy

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"If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of examples of crime rates reduced by such legislation. That they cannot do so after a century and a half of trying -- " Sen Orrin G. Hatch

bmcgilvray

Hear here! Never really occurred to us. Hearing protection was not stressed or perhaps even considered when I was young.

Of course that was so long ago we'd have had to use rocks for ear plugs.

These days I can't hear so well.

Wolf357

I was a US Army13B10 during the '70s. I suffer from tinnitus in my left ear. As long as there is some kind of background noise around me, I hardly notice the constant buzzing sound. But sitting here at the computer in a quiet room, it can become quite annoying.

Occasionally, while shooting at the informal range I belong to, I'll forget to don hearing protection, which I always use, but I'm rudely reminded to do so by the first round I discharge.

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A modern firearm is just an inanimate tool that is incapable of discharging until a human finger pulls the trigger.

RemMod597

Ahhh... tinitus... the "other" voice in my head. Sometimes it screams, sometimes it whispers, but it is ALWAYS there.
16R20 - Vulcan gunner. Bad even with hearing protection - not just the cannon, but the LOUD noises generated by the APC it was mounted on. Anyone in Mech. Infantry can attest to the noise inside an M113.

gwhall57

Amen to that. I was a helicopter mechanic (67X20), when some moron cranked the APU of a CH-54 in a closed hangar 20 feet away from me without warning everyone to don hearing protection... and then, in anoither MOS (17K20) in a tank battalion in Germany, I had another moron think it would be funny to toss an artillery simulator 3 feet from my head when I was asleep in a f--t-sack... err...sleeping-bag... Not only got tinitus, but was also peppered with "shrapnel" from the gravel it landed on...

Moral of the story: ALWAYS wear hearing protection; once you have tinitus, you have it until the second you shuffle off of this mortal coil...

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Springfield XD 9mm Sub-Compact
Taurus PT111 Millennium Pro 9mm

NC Bullseye

I sure hope it never "dawns" on you that you've never been shot at close range before!

That lesson could cost you in the long run. However slight, it's a cumulative thing. I too have a background in being around jets and I always had ear protection and still have the effects of tinnitus.

Save your uncovered ear shooting for when you really need it.

onetuza

As a teen I shot a 22 rifle with no protection and not a flinch. That of course was a 22. You shot a 45, which even with protection sounds substantially louder to me at the range.

I wonder if any of you tried it with a 9mm?

I especially have always wondered what would happen if one had to fire from within one's vehicle.

Also, I'd like to hear from LEO's out there? I'm sure they don't ride around with ear plugs.

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boscobeans

After too many unprotected rounds and other insults to my hearing my daily life now sounds like it's being played on an old 45RPM record with a hissing batch of french fries being cooked in the background.

Put on the muffs or the plugs! Not doing it is just dumb.

bosco