Using ear plugs when shooting Were you ever in a room where a gun went off? Did you ever witness or by yourself deploy a firearm? Did you ever go hunting, or were in the military service? Then you would understand why it is a necessity to protect your hearing, when you are close to a firearm, which is spewing bullets.
The explosion of gun powder is deafening and has rendered some tinnitus affliction to an ignorant shooter.
This affliction does not inspire the thousands of thugs in the United States to stay away from guns and firearms; they just take the hearing impairment as a part of their job description, completely ignoring the stroke of genius that created ear plugs for shooting.
The idea was to allow sounds up to a certain level to proceed undisturbed into the ear canal, but any sound over an 80dB ratio should be automatically blocked.
While the idea seems to work, frequent users say that they do not work properly, advising people to use these with protective ear muffs.
Nevertheless, ear plugs for shooting do not have to be of such a kind.
Many recommend using simple disposable foam ear plugs, like the army uses, which work just as well.
The use differs with how often you deploy your firearm, for instance, if you are hunting, you would be better off with the loud noise suppressors, although they do not work well enough when practicing in the firing range.
Fortunately for such weapon buffs, the technology did not stop there.
Several houses designed and sell digitally controlled ear plugs for shooting, like for instance the company ESP, or Electronic Shooters Protection - who would have guessed? These sophisticated ear protection devices are custom molded to fit perfectly.
What they are supposed to do is to block all sound and allow you to only hear filtered and processed sound from the outside.
The trick is to put the incoming sound through a microchip, which will not allow any sound beyond 80 or 90 dB to pass through.
This device is expensive, over hundred and fifty dollars, but if you are a passionate shooter, this may be a viable option.
On the other hand, if you are visiting the shooting range every other week, you may be better off with the disposable ear plugs for shooting noise protection, for the amount of money you would spend on the ESP plugs, you can buy enough disposables for a lifetime and if you lose them, or they break you will not howl and need to spend another bundle.
The simple analog loud noise plugs may be good enough if you are going hunting a few times every year, more often than not, you may use your rifle once or twice, if that.
If you are a cop on the street, then you should not use any ear plugs and go into early retirement as soon as tinnitus develops, with workers compensation in your pocket.
Better to go deaf than not hear the thug pull a fast one on you.