so I fired a 223 inside a small room today

[bababooey32]

Thanks Zoog.

I currently do not own a suppresor, but I am considering it for HD only. Here in TX we have very favorable "Castle" doctrine sprinkled through our HD laws. I am fairly confident that I would only use my HD weapon as a last defense to a home intrusion and would have little chance of being indicted, much less convicted of anything inside my own home. I don't plan to go "hunting" through or outside the house for what made the strange noise.

Given the potential for hearing damage to my children of firing a gun inside, it seems downright negligent not to have a suppresor for my HD weapon!

It's a big investment though:

NFA Trust = $600
Tax Stamp = $200
9mm Suppressor = $300 - $600
Kids that are alive and can hear = Priceless!

 

[THE DARK KNIGHT]

When you guys say " that was X years ago and my ears are still ringing " are your ears really still ringing or it's just a figure of speech?

 

[waterhouse]

NFA Trust = $600
Tax Stamp = $200
9mm Suppressor = $300 - $600

You don't need a trust. It is an option, but you're in Austin and the Travis County Sheriff's Office will sign off on suppressors for free.

If your gun isn't set up for it from the factory, don't forget about the cost of the threaded barrel.

 

[PTK]

...and that's why my AR-15s are only fired with attached silencers.

 

[bababooey32]

Thanks Waterhouse...I like the NFA trust so that my wife can posses the suppresor as well. In the future, I'd like my children to also be able to use it without hassle.

 

[dom1104]

I guess I'm unfamiliar with how small a milk barn is. Is it a small room?
Initially, I though this was a AD/ND, but it looks like you did this on purpose.
What did you fire the round into? The floor?

This particular barn is rather huge, and many sectioned, but the area I was in was approx 8 x 10 with an open window on one side, and two doorways.

I fired it into the dirt floor underneath the drain trough thingy. sorry not sure about farmer terms. Downward at about an 10 degree angle.

My ears have stopped ringing, and all seems OK. Yikes tho. Going to buy some hearing protecters next for the home.

 

[Mr_Rogers]

Some background legal thought;

http://wcr.sonoma.edu/v08n2/44.clark/clark.pdf

 

[9teenEleven]

one thing to remember is that the decimal level for, say, a .223 and .45 may be the same, but that doesn't mean they make the same sound. I had the sound of a .223 with its sharp rapport. The .45 OTOH is more of a loud thud.

 

[W L Johnson]

Turbobuddha wrote in post #43

and shot through the class at targets

You did what?!!!!

PS I do know what you mean.

 

[kanook]

When you guys say " that was X years ago and my ears are still ringing " are your ears really still ringing or it's just a figure of speech?

it's a constant high pitch ringing, 24/7/365 some days really bad some not.

Mine was a Ruger #1 in 45/70, I was hunting in a 4x8 plywood pillbox up in MI. I thought the muzzle was past the wall, boy was i wrong.

 

[catspa]

158 grain-er out of a .357 Security Six inside a '74 Plymouth Duster was loud enough that I've never done it again. Through the (open) passenger window at a grouse on a brushy slope, if you must know. I think the statute of limitations has expired by now.

Parker

 

[eye5600]

one thing to remember is that the decimal level for, say, a .223 and .45 may be the same, but that doesn't mean they make the same sound. I had the sound of a .223 with its sharp rapport. The .45 OTOH is more of a loud thud.

Visiting the battleship Massachusetts in Fall River, I heard one of the guides saying that the boom of the 16" guns was not as damaging to the hearing as the sharp crack of the 5" AA guns.

 

[Wolfebyte]

dunno..

you could ask my ex about discharging a lever action 30-30 inside a sunbird.. I think it might be pretty close.

 

[el gato]

The louder the noise the better

 

[leadcounsel]

For under $100 you can buy Peltor electronic ear protection that amplifies quiet noises and instantly dampens loud noises to levels that protect your ears. Leave them on or near your rifle/handgun. They protect your ears while allowing you to hear other noises normally.

 

[offroaddiver]

I have shot at someone when in my own house. Adrenaline kept me goin. I had trouble understanding the cops when filing the report. The next 2 days had slight ringing. This was a small 25 auto that was fired in a tight hallway. That was when i was younger.

Now I do have a pair of ear muff that are electronic that amplify sound then deaden upon loud noise. If I am alerted at night I have gotten into the habit of putting them on so I hear things a lot better. Overall if I'm protecting my family, I will eliminate the threat. If I'm lucky enough that I have hearing protection on... major plus after the fact.

 

[Defense Minister]

The worst hearing damage I've done to myself with gunfire was with a Smith & Wesson 915 9mm pistol that was fired outdoors. It isn't something that's limited to certain calibers in certain places.

 

[PT1911]

looks like .22 shorts for you my friend....

 

[WNTFW]

I would shoot in a borrow pit. The noise was bad. Even with just a .22LR.
One moring I was there by myself and took off my ears and shot some .22lr. I could visualize the sound bouncing around the walls until it found my ears. Like a ball on a billard table leaving the bumpers til it finds a pocket.

I caught some muzzle blast off of a .223 less that 6 feet away. (mini 14) It was behind me at a 45 degree angle no ears. It was outright stupidity on the shooters part. At first I thought I got shot.

 

[justashooter in pa]

try doing it with an RPG.

 

[crebralfix]

deleted

 

[Rally_Vincent]

Some several years back,

I've fired a Mossberg 590A1 12 gauge indoors (a shoot-house, doorways with no doors and windows busted out all throughout) several times (30-40 rounds maybe?) using low-recoil rounds -- without hearing protection. There was no piercing stabbing pain in my ears. Just instant deafening after each shot -- which lasted for a few seconds, then I could hear again (with some ringing). No ringing for days, just an hour or two afterward.

I've fired all of my firearms (handguns and rifles) outdoors in the forest without hearing protection. Sometimes entire magazines at a time.

Each time, it was on purpose, so I would know what to expect when the weapon had to be used in a real-life encounter without any hearing protection.

I'm certain all of it did permanent damage to my hearing of which I will never fully realize in my lifetime. But I can still hear things just fine.

Was it all a mistake? Was it incredibly stupid? Maybe. But I don't really regret it or anything. I can still hear my professors in class, can still hear things going on across the house/apartment, can still hear pins and needles drop. So unless I go flat-deaf in the future, I won't say that I'll have regretted it, either.

With all of that said, I will never, ever do any of that again. I've only fired my 10/22 Ruger .22 rifle and that 590A1 indoors. Not any handguns, and not any rifles -- especially not my AK or AR (the thought of which scares me despite my experience with firing weapons indoors without hearing protection). I can imagine what it will sound like to the point that I'm 99% sure that it will indeed sound like what I'll imagine it to be, should I need to use my AR in defense of home. The same can be said about my USP .45.

Either way, it's gonna be loud, it's gonna be deafening, it's gonna cause some degree of hearing-loss, and I'm probably not even going to notice/care.

Especially if I come out of it alive (and justified).

EDIT:

Oh yeah, I forgot.

I did fire my USP indoors without hearing protection once.

Negligent discharge into a wall (it was my one, hopefully my last). I don't even remember what it sounded like. It didn't hurt, just scared the crap out of me (I spent the next few minutes making sure nothing else was destroyed behind that wall).

I suppose it's a miracle I even have any hearing left.

 

[TheElyrian]

I've been wondering about this recently as well.

While I know the chances of having to defend yourself in your home with a firearm are remote, I would like to keep my kid and I's hearing intact if it should come down to it.

I would like to incorporate a suppressor into my home defense scenario, but 1500-2000 dollars altogether or some such makes it a bit out of my price range atm.

I think I will purchase some electronic earmuffs and sit them next to my gun at night (or close by during the day) but how will that help my kid? Should I buy some child-size hearing protection for my toddler and train her to put them on in a hurry if need be?

Small apartment + toddler...what is the best solution?

Am I completely off-topic and rambling? lol

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Worst indoor experience WITH hearing protection was being next to a guy shoot a Desert Eagle 50, that was so unpleasant that I gave up shooting until he was done.

And you need to be careful when using your car door as a rest while shooting at prarie dogs. The guy inside the car might bail out the other side holding his ears.

Just sayin'

 

[leadcounsel]

Hearing damage is cumulative and permanent.

You may be fine for days, weeks and months after. And then one day you'll wake up and start noticing a tinninitus or ringing in your ears on quiet calm days, or when you are wearing ear protection and there is pure silence. And it sucks.