Off Topic Hearing Protection <shooting>

PeteyTwoPointOne

PeteyTwoPointOne

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I've got a set of plain Peltor's that I've used since the early 90's and I'm gonna retire them to lawn mow duty this spring.

I'm thinking I'll upgrade to some fan-dangled eletronic bang cancelling muffs...

I know Peltor makes those kind too. I'm leaning that way since I'm a brand loyal guy ;) when the brand has performed excellent for me in the past, know whut I mean Vern? :p

But these fancy battery operated ears are uncharted territory for me....

What do you guys wear?
 
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I like my Howard Leight Impact Sports. Considering a switch to the newer Walker Bluetooth models but will probable save the dough. I shoot more and more with my cheap custom molded Decibullz ear plugs and I’m usually suppressed on my rifles. Not a lot of need for fancy muffs anymore.

The electronics are really nice for shooting with other people (training others or being trained). I used to do a fair amount of instructing and attended courses to do so, and they were quite handy to have.
 
LOL! I love you guys. I refer to Vern all the damn time, and nobody ever knows what Im talking about. I dunno what I would do without this place.

Ive been using the basic green Howard Leights forEVER with great results. I own 6 or 8 pairs, so if I take people shooting, I can instruct without losing my voice, screaming above the range noise. Theyre on Amazon for 49 bucks...
 
+1 on the Howard Leight Impact Sports and an extra hygiene kit (ear pads & foam inserts). You'll be glad you bought the extra ear pads when the originals finally harden and take a set. Fortunately, they're a snap to replace.:thumbsup:
 
I use MSA Sordin and I know they are far more expensive than say Howard Leight or Walkers and others ...

but after using others and switching to the MSA Sordins ... to me they were worth it ... alot of the others especially if you shoot at an indoor range you need foam plugs inside anyway ...

will depend if you shoot indoors or outdoors and if you shoot handgun or long gun ... I have two models one is great for indoors and handguns ... but too bulky for long guns so I switch but I never shoot long guns inside ... and rarely do I shoot handguns indoors anymore.
 
Another vote for the Howard Leight Impact Sports. I wear them over standard foam ear plugs since I like to double up when it comes to hearing protection. The big benefit is that if you wear the electronic ear protection, you can still hear normal conversation at the range.
 
Sordins are awesome but very expensive. I’ve used the Tactical linekf Peltors and they work well and are pretty comfy.

The best solution...get a couple suppressors so you do t have to wear them at all!! My 300bo and can is a dream to shoot. But granted my hearing isn’t great after being a Marine Corps Infantryman and not wearing hearing pro
 
I also use MSA Sordins. It really depends if you are shooting outdoors or indoors. Even after a few hours in an indoor range the sound is a beating no matter what you spend. If it is hot outside I like to run the Surefire EP3’s or 4’s. The are comfortable and have a noise flap to reduce further. Electronic muffs really is geared to training and conversations on the range but I don’t mind monitoring the other idiots around me.
 
Thanks for all the info and background! :thumbsup:

You hogs never fail to come thru with the goods! :)

Adian said:
... But granted my hearing isn’t great after being a Marine Corps Infantryman and not wearing hearing pro
Click to expand...

Yup, one of my few regrets in life was taking a .38 out for an afternoon of shooting without muffs or plugs.

It was the 80's and I was 19 and thought ear protection was seriously uncool. :thumbsdown:

Heck these guys were in shootouts every Friday nite and never wore muffs and they're touching off sawed off scatterguns and 1911's like it's the 4th of July and they never complained of no stinkin hearing loss :cool: :rolleyes:...
Miami%20vice09.jpg


A month later when my left ear was still ringing I knew I'd screwed up big time, but it was too late then, of course. :(

If it's super quiet around the house, even to this day, my ear still has a ringing in it. And if someone whispers in my left ear I can't hear them at all. I'm lucky I still can hear anything at all in it.
 
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I went through this in the 90s when I was shooting a lot. I bought a couple brands of electronic sets including Peltor. Yet since they weren't as good as CVS foam plugs I'd use them both. Then I got fitted for a pair of custom molded ear plugs. You'll find them at gun shows. No electronics. Best results yet. Never looked back.
 
PeteyTwoPointOne said:
Thanks for all the info and background! :thumbsup:

You hogs never fail to come thru with the goods! :)



Yup, one of my few regrets in life was taking a .38 out for an afternoon of shooting without muffs or plugs.

It was the 80's and I was 19 and thought ear protection was seriously uncool. :thumbsdown:

Heck these guys were in shootouts every Friday nite and never wore muffs and they're touching off sawed off scatterguns and 1911's like it's the 4th of July and they never complained of no stinkin hearing loss :cool: :rolleyes:...
Miami%20vice09.jpg


A month later when my left ear was still ringing I knew I'd screwed up big time, but it was too late then, of course. :(

If it's super quiet around the house, even to this day, my ear still has a ringing in it. And if someone whispers in my left ear I can't hear them at all. I'm lucky I still can hear anything at all in it.
Click to expand...

Yea the VA guy asked “Well why didn’t you wear hearing pro?”

To which I responded:”Let me layout a scenario. I’m dug into a fighting hole, to one side I have an M1 Abram that shoots a round so big that it MOVES a 20+ ton machine. To the other side there is an AMTRAC firing off full auto MK19s, there are jets flying over and dropping ordinance, helos and then us. Needless to say, there isn’t a hearing protection that would help, much less the little foam roll up ones they gave us!”

Crickets
 
I have both the MSA Sordin and the Howard Leight. The MSA Sordin are certainly better but you can buy about 6 pairs to one... I paid $240 and $34 respectively. My dad has the Peltor Tactical's and they work good too and have held up well but they're larger and much thicker. All of ours are several years old so new Peltors may be lower profile now. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. The Caldwells that we owned on the other hand are complete pieces of junk--they do not last and one pair didn't even work brand new right out of the box. YMMV
 
MSA Sordins with the gel cups and behind the head band, you can wear a hat or helmet with them and the ear pieces for shorting glasses don’t dig into your temples.
 
For years I owned/wore Peltors. Next I moved up to Sordin, but bought my brother-in-law Howard Light just to be able to compare the three. Fit and comfort along with sound reproduction and sound cut off were progressively better with Sordin being my favorite. Bottom line, just use something to protect your valuable hearing...
 
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