[TimH]

So what do you wear for hearing protection when you're shooting? The ear muff type, the foam things that you roll up and put in your ear, the under chin type?

[BamBam-31]

Outdoors, I wear the Leightning (sp?) 31db muffs. Indoors, I wear the muffs PLUS foam plugs.

[Kevlarman]

Outside, just a pair of Radians noise-cancelling muffs.
Indoors, plugs plus muffs.
Once you lose your hearing, you never get it back. Protect it!

[Sharps Shooter]

I don't shoot at an indoor range, but when I'm just out by myself, I wear the foam ear plugs. When I'm shooting silhouettes matches, especially large bore handgun matches, I wear foam plugs plus muffs.

I've lost about 30% of my hearing because when I took up shooting I was too young and stupid to wear hearing protection.

[Stinkyshoe]

I have been wondering if using non foam type plug would be safer. If you take out the foam plug in the middle of a shooting session and then go to put it back in, contaminants from the spent rounds on your fingers get inside your ear canal. I am thinking about buying a bunch of the army style plastic rubber with the 3 fin type rings.

I have noticed my ears becoming more damaged. Just inadvertant things; air compressors and die grinders. Or someone starts shooting before you get your plugs in. I make a habit or carrying plugs every where I go. Blocking out sound really helps me to study too. Although I am pretty careful, I have been lax about protecting my hearing like I should lately. These kind of threads are good. In hind sight, doing trick pops with my bull whip has also been part of the problem. It just kinda creeps up on you....

[Darkside]

For outdoor use I wear a pair of Peltor electronic muffs. For very rare indoor shooting, I use some of the custom molded ear plugs and the muffs.

Darkside

[Matthew748]

I use the standard ear muff type. I do all my shooting outside and they work well.

[MoeMentum]

Earmuffs now, but its a little late for my hearing, thanks to uncle sam, sometimes even earmuffs and plugs, to save what I have left.

[cracked butt]

Foam earplugs and muffs over the top. I already have hearing damage and a bit of tinitis so I do what I can to prevent more damage.

[Murphster]

What? What? I use foam plugs under ear muffs. Use to use just muffs but had a couple of times when I was hunkered down on a rifle stock and the muffs moved just a bit. On two occasions, that little blunder left me deaf in my right ear for several hours. That, I'm sure, contributed to my current, permanent inability to hear high-frequency tones in that ear. Plugs under the muffs would probably have prevented it. Call me older, deafer, and wiser.

[redneck2]

I tried muffs for sporting clays. Problem is, the bottom of the muffs hits against the comb of the stock. If you shoot more than a few rounds, the stock will be permanently scarred. Muffs are great for pistol. I have Remington brand (cause they were cheap). They have a little belt clip thingy that holds the muffs when you take them off. Never throught it would be that handy, but now I'd never do without it.

Ear plugs...the local safety suppy company has over a dozen variations. There's plugs, then there's plugs. I work in industrial environments and have used all different styles over the years. The best ones I've found are bright yellow (actually chartruse) foam with a pink/red stripe. Roll them in your fingers to smash them down to a point and then insert in your ears. Within 30 seconds they expand to fit. These fit real tight and block out nearly all the noise. The soft plastic orange pre-formed ones don't work nearly as well.

I went to the NASCAR race at Bristol a few weeks ago. Three of my customers told me to take ear plugs. Noise is unbelieveable. With those plugs in your could barely hear the cars. Without, the noise was actually painful.

[Average Guy]

Indoors, foam plugs under Peltor Ultimate 10s (NRR 29). Outdoors, usually just muffs--depending on what I'm shooting. (I [enviously] bought my bro a pair of those Leightning 31s for Xmas.)

My major problem is finding shooting glasses that don't break the ear seal, which is why I double up.

[Soap]

Oh I hear you now, I thought you said "spearing projection". ;) I wear Peltor Tac 6s when outdoors and Petlors plus plugs when indoors. The one exception is that I don't wear hearing protection (I know I know) when I hunt.

[BryanP]

I have had plugs come loose at just the wrong moment. I have had muffs pushed up by a stock at a bad moment as well. As a result I wear both. I already have a permanent ringing in my ears. I'd like to keep the rest of my hearing.

[Dmack_901]

I use a sound supressor... Oh, I thought you were asking what we should use. Sorry, I use some generic muffs over plugs. Works good for me.

[hivel37]

Belatedly, I use Beretta electronics. Tinittus leaves me with 3 tones 24/7. I worked around noisy machinery, ignoring ear protection for too many years. Plus my toys make noise too.

[rwc]

+1 muffs & plugs all the time. When the guy next to me at the range is sighting in his magnum who knows what and I can feel the firing in my chest I only hope that is enough.

[benEzra]

Peltor low-profile muffs plus foam plugs, always.

[shermacman]

Plugs and muffs.
I just got a pair of the custom "pour in" moulded ear plugs. They are really amazing because you just can't shoot trap with regular ear phone style muffs.
I am getting to the point where I use muffs with the SkilSaw and lawn mower. They are loud and everything adds up to ear damage.

[BryanP]

I am getting to the point where I use muffs with the SkilSaw and lawn mower. They are loud and everything adds up to ear damage.

An excellent idea. I use muffs while doing yardwork myself. I wear a radio/mp3 player with earbuds under the muffs for entertainment while pushing the mower.