Help searching for ear protection equipment with detailed NRR info??

[ihatecars]

Recently I noticed my ears ringing very very slightly for about ~5 seconds after every shot of 357Sig at my local indoor range - which has pretty looking sound dampening materials on the wall and ceiling. So in my short journey of searching for best earmuffs to wear on top of earplugs, I came across three very popular models.
1. MSA Sordin
2. Howard Leight Impact (Pro or Sports)
3. Peltor MT15H7F SV

One weird thing I noticed was that the most expensive MSA Sordins had "NRR = 18". But being a nerd I knew something was up. After a couple google searches I came across this interesting article
https://trevoronthetrigger.wordpres...me-performance-the-misleading-nrr18db-rating/

After reading it and realizing that Sordins could be called as "NRR = 40" (... yes I know..) I became highly skeptical about other manufacturers simply stating a single number for noise reduction rating, along with reviews from online "experts" thinking they can just add or subtract db numbers which are logs.

While my budget is limited I am willing to cry once to preserve my hearing as my shooting range allows people to shoot up to 30-06, indoors. I would like to ask if anyone has access to detailed NRR chart of the other 2 products I'm interested in, or would recommend a product they have been using for extended period of time to prove it really works - with gel pad availability because I wear glasses and the rental earmuffs I tried were awfully painful.
(Oh yes, I want those fancy microphone feature eventually, but I can do without them for now.)

Thanks in advance.

 

[dennymac]

Hearing protection

Good afternoon. I use ear covers with a NRR of 30dB. They work just fine, outdoors all of the time and indoors some of the time. Use ear plugs and ear covers for the best noise reduction. And, start off with at least 28dB NRR. Peltor makes 32dB NRR ear covers as well. You never regret being able to hear. Midway has 30dB earmuffs on sale now for $18. Best of luck. DennyMac

 

[OpticsPlanet]

I'm with both of you - I wear muffs with earplugs. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't be young and invincible, and i would have seen less Kiss and Ted Nugent, or wore hearing protection. Back then it was so cool to leave a concert with ringing ears.

Without sounding like "kids these days", I wonder what kind of problems the kids that have headphones permanently attached are going to have.

Interesting article, thanks for the link.

Mark H.

 

[Starter52]

I've used Peltor shooting muffs for decades and I see no reason to switch. I was at an indoor range today with shooters on either side blasting away with buckshot-loaded 12 gauges, and the Peltor muffs I wore did their job. I'm satisfied with Peltor.

 

[joem1945]

Get the Sordin brand. I have it and they are the best I've ever used.

 

[nyresq]

The best investment you can make for serious ear protection is a custom molded set of earplugs. If you use the foam type ear plugs, after a while you will find they irritate the ear canal. A good set of molded ear plugs are comfortable day after day for hours on end. If properly made, they will offer a higher NRR than anything else you can buy. This combined with even a modest set of muffs will protect your ears from even the largest rifle shots in an enclosed range.

As a firearms instructor, I have worn plugs under my muffs for 6 or 7 hours straight and for 5 days a week. With the foamies, even changing them daily for new ones, my ears at the end of the weeks were sore to the touch. With the molded set I have never had that problem again.

 

[ihatecars]

Custom molded earplugs do sound good. The vented versions (possibly paired up with electronic earmuffs) would be awesome since I want to hear normal conversations too. Custom = expensive but I should really look into that. What I particularly liked is Protect Ear (found them on the first page of Googling) provides detailed db reduction chart as opposed to generalized "NRR". If anyone would like to recommend custom earplug brand, I'm interested. Looks like they would be quite useful when I'm wielding air-powered tools too.

About earmuffs, I wonder if anyone fortunate enough to have both Peltor Tactical Pro and MSA Supreme Pro would compare them side by side...

 

[nyresq]

These are who I had make mine.
http://earinc.com/shop/chameleon-ears-series/chameleon-ears-solid/

There is a local guy about a half hour from me who is a dealer. He makes a mold of your ear by squirting a fast setting silicone into your ear, then he sends the molds off to the headquarters where they make the plugs. If you call the company they have a list of all their dealers nationwide. The guy I use works out of his home and a couple times a year comes to a few local gun shops and does a one or two day "come and get molds made" event. It took all of 15 minutes to get the molds made. My wife is a marine engineer and had a set made for work and a smaller stay in-the-ear set made for sleeping on board the ship.

I have three sets, one of them has the filters, the other two are solid. Wearing peltor com-tacs over them, they all sound the same and hearing a normal conversation is about the same with or without the filters. I wouldnt bother buying the filters again, just get the solids.

With the peltors and the solids in place under them, I have fired the biggest magnums in small indoor ranges with nothing approaching discomfort.

And as I said before, wearing the molded plugs all day is not a problem if you wash them once or twice a week.

 

[WestKentucky]

I tried these...http://www.radians.com/radsite/index.php/industrial/industrial-safety-products/item/radians-custom-molded-earplugs and was not super impressed until I figured out that I had done it wrong. My second set was very very nice. I used them a lot until I lost one while riding the motorcycle. Well worth the money, and you can put muffs over them and get double protection.

I did get them for free as samples though (I'm a safety manager, so I sampled about 10 guys at work who were shooters and ride bikes as well.

 

[Tirod]

Great link, thanks for that.

Basically the NRR ratings are about as reliable as Lumens or SAE net horsepower. It makes sense the .Gov not only has two measuring sticks, they also de-rate the performance to the worst case scenario.

Those low numbers aren't all that bad, the high ones aren't enough if enclosed or in close proximity. Makes sense, like a lot of things there's no one absolute answer.

I now know to disregard the numbers game some will play in future discussions. It's important, but like the caliber wars, there's a lot more to it. Bigger isn't necessarily better - and you can double up when necessary.