The problem with electonic earmuffs.

Pilgrim

Pilgrim

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After doing some inyard BB shooting with my 5 year old granddaughter, I went down the my local range to meet a guy (he didn't show up).

While I was waiting I decided to pop off a few rounds from my new 1911. I brought the gun, three mags and a 100 rnds of ammo. I had my electronic ears. I set up a target at about 35 feet and emptied 3 mags at it. Took off my ears and went and replaced the targets. Came back, loaded the mags and fired one round before I realized I forgot my muffs!

The firing line is under a metal roof and the noise was horrible! My ears are still ringing.

When you wear the elec muffs you hear everything, so it's very easy to forget you have them on or don't have them on.

I'll be more careful next time.
 
I shoot shotgun with mine all the time, its nice to hear conversation and the trap release, when I shoot pistol or high power rifle I usually double up with foam plugs first. When I first bought the electronics it almost seemed like they didn't work but turning them off or taking them off made me realize how much they do work. I start leaving them in the bag when summer gets hot and shoot clays with just the foam plugs.
 
jshooter said:
I shoot shotgun with mine all the time, its nice to hear conversation and the trap release, when I shoot pistol or high power rifle I usually double up with foam plugs first. When I first bought the electronics it almost seemed like they didn't work but turning them off or taking them off made me realize how much they do work. I start leaving them in the bag when summer gets hot and shoot clays with just the foam plugs.
Click to expand...

When I was a kid, I used to shoot trap without earmuffs, and I think I used some cotton for earplugs. It wasn't awful, but not nice either. Times have changed.

tele_mark said:
To see what to expect if I ever had to fire the thing without hearing protection. Althoug, in retrospect, if I did, I probably wouldn't be caring about my bleeding eardrums too much.
Click to expand...

Just think of all the soldiers/veterans who fired MANY rounds without anything. I have a buddy who was in a "amtrac" (?) in Vietnam with a diesel in one ear and a 50 cal in the other. He is pretty well thoroughly deaf now.
 
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I attrbute my hearing loss to my Army days. I"m not deaf, I but suffered (and documented) high freq loss during my Army days. Overall loss has occured since then. Mrs Pilgrim says I should see the VA about hearing aids but I'm not ready yet.

I often wondered why more GI's, especially WW2 vets, didn't suffer serious loss. My WW2 Dad is 80 and can't hear very well but it just recently came on. He says that while he was going thru Nomandy, there wasn't ever a quiet moment.
 
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I was never in the Service, but spent 3 years as a civilian nuclear project engineer working on submarines at GD/EB in Groton, CT. It was a rare day that I wasn't in a few boats while doing my job. There was always constant chipping, welding, and grinding going on inside a 33' steel hull! The noise was constant . . . and hearing protection was unheard of in the shipyard back in the early 1970s.

A number of years ago I developed permanent tinnitus . . . I can "hear the ocean" in my ears 24x7 and don't need a conch shell to do it with! Very annoying and distracting. I also have very substantial hearing loss in my right ear and significant hearing loss in my left ear.

Do what you can to protect your ears, you only get two of them and once the damage is done, it is permanent!
 
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Last year I went shooting with my Dad and took my Serbu BFG-50 with us. It was the first time he shot it and as he tried to get a good look through the scope, he accidentally pushed his earmuff up so his ear that was against the rifle was exposed. Also, he put his free hand on the rifle as well so that his knuckle was right in front of his mouth. Before I could say a word, he let it rip.

Ok I'm not used to laughing at my Dad, but not only did he make himself deaf in one ear, he also punched himself in the mouth with the recoil. Split his bottom lip open and he was bleeding. He thought it was funny too and was laughing with me. That was until we got home and my Mom saw him. She was pissed. She kept saying he was deaf to begin with. Did I have to make him really deaf.

Eh, he's not deaf. He just selectively hears what he wants when she's telling him what to do.
 
There are already reviews here on NES of these muffs. I bought them from HF ~18 months ago for Derek, Brent and my Wife. I have Peltor Tac-7 and just got a pair of Tac-6 (for rifle shooting) and there is a big difference in speed of cutting back in after a shot goes off, but they do work as advertised and for a lot less money.
 
LenS said:
There are already reviews here on NES of these muffs. I bought them from HF ~18 months ago for Derek, Brent and my Wife. I have Peltor Tac-7 and just got a pair of Tac-6 (for rifle shooting) and there is a big difference in speed of cutting back in after a shot goes off, but they do work as advertised and for a lot less money.
Click to expand...

I agree, sometimes they do take a while to 'off' themselves, but I think it has to do with the sensitivity. They might still be picking up 'echoes' or something.

I didn't realize how well they worked until I forgot to put them on !
 
Just the high frequency environment I was in in the Army I have hearing loss. Glenn's is much worse between the military/Umass and working in the lumber mill when he was younger. I'll protect what I have left. Glenn also has the tinitus.
 
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Sue, if he can prove it happened while Active Duty, the VA will pay for Hearing Aids and Batteries. I'll warn you, it's a tough one to get approved. I had my paperwork rejected for BS procedural errors 3 times, before I processed it through Civil Service. In my case, both of them caused it.
 
With Glenn I would think it would be really hard to prove. Mainly because of the family lumber mill they had, and then also working in a high noise environment at U-mass. I know mine is from the Army, but proving the environment in Berlin caused it could be interesting.
 

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