J E Custom
Well-Known Member
For many years I hunted without ear protection because I though "Just one shot won't hurt anything" well I can tell you it did.
Once I started match shooting, I had to wear some form of ear protection
To stop the ringing in my ears. So after that I started using ear plugs as a minimum and have never looked back. After many ear exams later, my hearing has remained the same since using ear protection every time I fire a pistol or rifle.
When I started designing muzzle to find out how to make them quieter,
I discovered that there were NO quite brakes so we started testing our brakes against Un braked rifles. Then another surprise was discovered, Brakes are not louder, They are perceived to be because the redirect the muzzle blast closer to the shooter. We place a DB meter directly beside the shooters head and the DB meter gave us some interesting results.
Another interesting thing that we discovered while testing with a DB meter was that the DB levels on un braked rifles were often different in the same rifle with the same load and ranged from 105 to 108. But rifles fitted with tuned muzzle brakes were very consistent shot to shot.(If they shot 105 DB it remained 105 for the three shots fired, If it shot 107 DB then all three shots were 107 DB. Very consistent and maybe an explanation for the reason that they seamed to be more accurate.
(Maybe it had an effect on harmonics) Who knows.
DBs (Decibels) are responsible for the damage to the ear if a certain level is reached. Our highest level reached was 108 DB and it was an un braked rifle, the lowest level was 105 DB with a brake. Both levels will damage the ear. Even though the levels don't sound that far apart, Going from 105 to 106 Is a big step it is a 10x jump so going to 108 is huge. If you place the DB meter out in front of a firearm, DBs will reach as high as 160 DB.
At 85 DB the ears can tolerate 15 minutes in a 24 hour period. At 100 DB the exposure time is 1 minute in 24 hours.
So ear protection is needed for any firearm even for one shot. Ear protection is not a good excuse for not wearing ear protection in my opinion. and if you want to hear better while hunting, the electronic hearing protection that crops the sound to a safe level when the rifle is fires is the cats meow.
Just my two cents
J E CUSTOM
Once I started match shooting, I had to wear some form of ear protection
To stop the ringing in my ears. So after that I started using ear plugs as a minimum and have never looked back. After many ear exams later, my hearing has remained the same since using ear protection every time I fire a pistol or rifle.
When I started designing muzzle to find out how to make them quieter,
I discovered that there were NO quite brakes so we started testing our brakes against Un braked rifles. Then another surprise was discovered, Brakes are not louder, They are perceived to be because the redirect the muzzle blast closer to the shooter. We place a DB meter directly beside the shooters head and the DB meter gave us some interesting results.
Another interesting thing that we discovered while testing with a DB meter was that the DB levels on un braked rifles were often different in the same rifle with the same load and ranged from 105 to 108. But rifles fitted with tuned muzzle brakes were very consistent shot to shot.(If they shot 105 DB it remained 105 for the three shots fired, If it shot 107 DB then all three shots were 107 DB. Very consistent and maybe an explanation for the reason that they seamed to be more accurate.
(Maybe it had an effect on harmonics) Who knows.
DBs (Decibels) are responsible for the damage to the ear if a certain level is reached. Our highest level reached was 108 DB and it was an un braked rifle, the lowest level was 105 DB with a brake. Both levels will damage the ear. Even though the levels don't sound that far apart, Going from 105 to 106 Is a big step it is a 10x jump so going to 108 is huge. If you place the DB meter out in front of a firearm, DBs will reach as high as 160 DB.
At 85 DB the ears can tolerate 15 minutes in a 24 hour period. At 100 DB the exposure time is 1 minute in 24 hours.
So ear protection is needed for any firearm even for one shot. Ear protection is not a good excuse for not wearing ear protection in my opinion. and if you want to hear better while hunting, the electronic hearing protection that crops the sound to a safe level when the rifle is fires is the cats meow.
Just my two cents
J E CUSTOM
