I’ll probably write a separate post, but here’s my experience. My whole life, I’ve been very careful with my hearing. When I started hunting pheasants as a young boy, nobody wore ear pro. My ears rang the first time out, and I wore ear pro from that time forward. Also, I have always avoided loud music…can’t stand it.
I was not an avid hunter or shooter, and pretty much stopped any consistent hunting around 20 (50ish now). Since then, I would very occasionally go to an indoor range (double up) or shoot pheasants. Overall, I’ve probably been hunting with shotguns (20 ga) or rifles 150 times, and I’m being very generous.
Two years ago, I got bitten by the prairie dog shooting bug, mainly shooting .204s. Last year, I was at an outdoor range and a buddy brought a 30-30 lever action; kicked hard as it was very light. I was single protected with Peltor Sport Tactical 300s at 24 NRR with the fantastic 3M HY80 gel ear cups. After I shot AHE 30-30 two or three times, we walked to the targets. On the way, I got a little dizzy. It went away in a half-hour, I kept shooting small calibers like 17 Hornet or 204. No ringing in my ears. Others were shooting around us too, but not .375 H&H’s, just regular rifles.
The next day, my left ear was ringing a bit, but not my right. I’m right handed, so behind a rifle the left ear obviously faces a bit more forward than the left. I wear glasses too, but the gel ear cups mold around them pretty darn well. (Btw, according to 3M’s site, those gel ear cups reduce the muffs NRR by ~1db)
After that, I always doubled up that left ear if anyone else was at the range. One time, I was there alone, and didn’t double up because I was talking to the range officers between shots. I was shooting a 17 Hornet. No “ouch” ringing occurred; I was very comfortable.
The next day, I noticed the left ear ringing had increased.
Since then, I NEVER shot without the left ear doubled up. Haven’t had any increased ringing despite shooting 1500 rounds prairie dog shooting this spring (17 Hornet, .204, .22).
Until now. I decided to take my son out deer hunting. Haven’t done that in 35 years. Was sighting in a 30-06 outside at a farm, totally out in the open and alone. Nothing to reflect the sound back at me. I doubled up both ears. Shot about nine rounds. No ear pain.
Next day, my left was ringing quite a bit and hasn’t let up for a couple weeks. The ringing after each of the three left ear episodes doesn’t go away.
My ear doc said it could be an anatomical thing that makes me more susceptible to loud noises or maybe it’s
Ménière’s disease, although I didn’t fit the classic diagnosis. I’ve read about bone conductivity and thanks to this thread, about sound going up the nose.
I’m done shooting 30 cal. I don’t trust my Peltor Sport 300s anymore. After this last episode, I just got custom molded plugs at a gun show and Peltor X5a passive muffs (for when I’m just watching…they’re frickin’ massive and hit the stock). Haven’t shot with either yet.
I don’t know if the 300s are defective. No way to easily test, although 3M has some sort of Ear Fit test (looks like only for large businesses).
Not sure where to turn. It’s be nice to:
- Find an audio doctor who’s an expert in shooting sports, really experienced and knowledgeable of all the solutions out there.
- Find electric ear pro that has the highest NRR for gun shots, not high frequency.
- Maybe talk to someone who knows something about this type of thing or has experienced it themselves.
This sucks. I really like this activity and it’s great to do something with my son, getting him away from video games.
).
