A note to my fellow shooters

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HIPOWER

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Hi folks. I write this post with a deep respect and admiration for all of you who enjoy our second ammendment rights responsibly. No doubt there is a brotherhood of shooters that not only share the same hobby but also many important values and morals. I hope to do some good to our community by posting this following concern.

I have been an avid shooter all my life. When I was a kid my brother and I would disappear into the woods on sunny summer days and just enjoy shooting...all kinds of long guns, handguns and every caliber under the sun. We were taught safety and responsibility with firearms, and I am thankful that we were. But the one aspect of safety we were never taught was the imporatance of hearing protection. I now wince as I remember how many times I shot without any ear plugs but never thought anything about it at the time.

Now at the ripe old age of 31 I have significant hearing loss and tinitus (ringing in the ears). I have learned to live with this fact, although the tinitus gets me down from time to time. Now I don't even clean a firearm without earplugs in! My brother and I still enjoy our sport together, but now I always double up with earplugs and muffs. Can't afford to lose any more hearing.

I learned the hard way, and my plea to you as fellow shooters is to remember this important aspect of firearm safety before it's too late. Especially you younger folks getting started. Please believe me that not protecting your ears will catch up with you. Don't worry about how "cool" or "uncool" it is to wear muffs. Protect your ears! Your hearing is a precious thing.

Thanks for hearing me out. Stay safe, and protect those ears.
 
I'll second that...

I was talking to my son (25) about this just Saturday. I'm 53 and when I was a kid my dad and his buddies would take us to their shooting sessions and fire their .270's, 06's and 300 Win mags and nobody used hearing protection. Couple that with many hundreds of shotgun rounds hunting birds.

I have that constant ringing in my ears (all the time, day and night) and my dad (75) is almost stone deaf. I always use hearing protection now and have for 25 years, but its too late to get back what I lost. :(
 
Hipower,

You make a good point; too bad many wont heed your advice.

I'm a contractor and never run grinders, hammer drills, etc. without hearing protection. I can't remember the last time I saw anyone else wearing any.

I also notice that some of my friends don't wear protection when shooting.
 
Very good advice. My Dad also has tinitus, and has lost a great deal of his hearing. This is due to four years in the Army, and forty plus years of working in manufacturing plants. Although he wore ear plugs, that many years of constant noise has taken it's toll.

I wear plugs when using the lawn mower, weed wacker, power tools, etc. Safety glasses too. Protect your hearing and your vision. Do it now so you don't regret not doing it later.
 
I can remember so well the times my dad, brother, and I went to the range and spent hours shooting .357 magnums with no ear protection. Should have known that it wasn't normal for your ears to ring for a week afterwards!
Certain ranges of my hearing are gone forever, and I too have the constant ringing in my ears.
I am 56 years old, and one of my most used words is........huh?
I certainly recommend hearing protection any time you are around any loud noises.
 
HiPower,

Amen. I am 27 and in the same boat, I don't have the constant ringing, but pretty good amount of hearing loss, those little quiet soft womans voices I don't hear so good. I started out and always used hearing protection to practice but neglected it hunting. After to many years in the dove fields and duck blinds it started to get bad.

Spackler,

Good deal on the shooting glasses, I bought some yellow lensed glasses and wear em all the time. I shoot some older guns from time to time and never trust em totally. I've found that the yellow really makes things look sharper. I know my iron sight shooting has really improved.

I got my first eye scare a couple years ago when I flipped up my welding mask and got smacked in the eye by some grinding sparks from my helper. Scared the crap outta me. I wear em all the time now, even to hammer nails when I do that.
 
Excellent reminder! :D

My hearing loss and tinnitus was courtesy of military airplanes even though I always wore ear plugs and helmet.

If something doesn't get your hearing, something else will. What breaks my heart is that so many people have profound hearing loss from loud music. :(

Shootin? Ear plugs and muffs, always!
 
What breaks my heart is that so many people have profound hearing loss from loud music.
Click to expand...
Indeed...we are raising an entire generation of young folks who have permanently damaged their hearing.

'Course, listening to bad poetry set to boring music played at high-decibel levels will do that...
 
I learned early and avoided damage. I have some high frequency loss due to exposure to high speed impact printers almost 20 years ago.

These days, I use ear protection whenever shooting, or using any sort of high speed power tool (circular saw, lawn mower, leaf blower etc) and eye protection as well.

I like hearing the voices of young ladies, and being able to see them....
 
Lost a bunch of mine in Artillery. You can't wear them 24/7 there and sometimes you are asleep during firemissions so you of course can't put them in. It's amazing how a tired soldier can sleep through a battery of 155mm Howitzers firing and swear no one shot a round when you woke up. :D

Now an unprotected shot from a .357 mag can set my ears ringing for days.

Protect your hearing folks.

I'd be a terrible Mall Ninja candidate. I couldn't hear a foe attempting to do a stealthy approach through a cornflake factory.:D

Good Shooting
RED
 
This is one thing that hubby stressed and still does since teaching the girls and I to shoot. NO ONE fires without first checking to see if EVERYONE has "their ears on"...

What I'm curious about is military... Do they/you wear ear protection during training? What about in real combat situations?
 
What I'm curious about is military... Do they/you wear ear protection during training? What about in real combat situations?
Click to expand...

Answer to 1. Yes. Do we always or is it practical? No.

Answer to 2. On the ground..No. Ear protection is limited to dirty fingers in the ears whenever you hear "FIRE!" or "FIRE IN THE HOLE!".

Good Shooting
RED
 
I was playing in a Rock-Band from the mid to the late 60s (not good, but VERY loud) and lost nearly hearing on my left ear (where my position at the speaker was) with the constant tinnitus.

Sins in the early years will be retaliated! There is NO Dorian Grey painting!

Wide brim hat, glasses, and ear-protection are a MUST if you don't want to wear hearing aids, a white cane, or some scars in the face.
 
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Me too.


When we grew up in the Fifies it wasn't cool to wear ear protection just to shoot a few 22s, they"re not loud . HUH!

If we didn't need to protect our ears shooting 22 rifles, then we certainly didn't need them for 32 cal.revolvers. Couple that with discharging 12 ga. shotguns while in hunting mode , ands it is no wonder my friends and I all suffer from tonitis. It's just a good thing I've got a "Hearing Ear Wife"

On a serious note. I won't shoot anything without hearing protection and I make it a priority to see that my sons do the same. I miss hearing the squirrels barking from up in the trees>
 
I learned early from working in cabinet shops and running all kinds of saws and the like that hearing protection is a MUST.

All the old timers I used to know are as deaf as belfry bats now. :uhoh:


CAP
 
Good advice, reminder for all.
I always for the most part wore something, as a kid, wax plugs, cotton. Exposure to something years ago affected for a while, pretty much ok now, still hear tones some don't, don't hear some I should...Doc said I was in normal range..surprised becaused once lost not regained. My body does weird stuff like that anyway.
 
HUH??

Lost all my upper range and have tinnitus from shooting, racing cars, and loud music. It was fun but it wasn't worth it. Now I do this :neener:
 
I didn't take up hunting until the past few years, so I avoided the larger calibers without ear protection as a youth.

But I too shot .22 rifles without hearing protection. No telling how much hearing I lost because of it.
 
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