HandgunHTR
Gold $$ Contributor
The industry accepted threshold for instantaneous hearing damage is 140dB. A 6ARC shot out of 18" rifle with a decent suppressor will produce somewhere on the order of 128-132dB at the shooter's ear.
6 ARC for youth.
- Thread starter CJ6
- Start date
The industry accepted threshold for instantaneous hearing damage is 140dB. A 6ARC shot out of 18" rifle with a decent suppressor will produce somewhere on the order of 128-132dB at the shooter's ear.
Why would you want a suppressor?
I am an adult and I still prefer to shoot suppressed, and that is after a lifetime of shooting and using power tools. A child’s hearing is so much better making it more sensitive to noise. They can still hear the faint buzz of a mosquito across the room. Honking your horn as your kid crosses in front of your car is deafening to them.
Reason for Suppressor:
You want your kid to come shooting more often, reduce risk of creating a “flinch” (brain’s anticipatory response to concussive force), as well as reduced recoil.
Downside of Suppressor:
Expensive: $800 - $1400 for center fire can
* this is an investment into your health & safety. What is a lifetime of your hearing worth?
** What the price tag you put on your child’s well-being.
Proof is in the Pudding - there is a reason that once you buy your first suppressor you start planning for your next several…
I am an adult and I still prefer to shoot suppressed, and that is after a lifetime of shooting and using power tools. A child’s hearing is so much better making it more sensitive to noise. They can still hear the faint buzz of a mosquito across the room. Honking your horn as your kid crosses in front of your car is deafening to them.
Reason for Suppressor:
You want your kid to come shooting more often, reduce risk of creating a “flinch” (brain’s anticipatory response to concussive force), as well as reduced recoil.
Downside of Suppressor:
Expensive: $800 - $1400 for center fire can
* this is an investment into your health & safety. What is a lifetime of your hearing worth?
** What the price tag you put on your child’s well-being.
Proof is in the Pudding - there is a reason that once you buy your first suppressor you start planning for your next several…
Instantaneous hearing damage is not the only kind of hearing damage. You will do damage to your hearing at 128-132 decibels also over time. It is a bad idea to shoot supersonic ammo with a can without hearing protection but it’s a choice everyone has to make and they have to live with the results.
After nearly 60 years of experience I make no judgments on suppressor use. Smoke'em if you got'em.
There are Pros, Cons and Compromises.
Facts are facts, from a military perspective they are a necessity. Shooting supersonic ammunition suppressed without hearing protection can damage your hearing.
You can shoot subsonic ammunition in a firearm where the action needs to be cycled manually where the only sound you hear is the striker drop, the bullet hit and a very, very, very, soft pop. If you're indoors in a confined space with the windows closed you will feel a pressure in your ears and smell the powder burn and possibly the fluid in a liquid suppressor. There is (if memory serves) a very effective Russian suppressed revolver.
There is a hearing disorder Meniere's and I've seen suffers of this have dizziness and balance issues with repeated firing suppressed indoors, in closed environments. Between the effect of the change in airpressure to their ears and the smell of the propellant it can be a not so pleasant experience. I find it smelly but rather quiet to shoot.
You can shoot subsonic ammunition in a self loading firearm that will cycle the action and in addition to the above sounds you'll hear the action cycle and the brass fall or possibly go into a catcher. The sound of the action cycling is loud.
A suppressor is a very useful tool, but requires reasearch because while it's useful when used properly, it can be dangerous when used carelessly. I do not currently have any suppressors.
I use ear plugs under my ear muffs at the range, I use hearing protection in the field. I use a muzzle brake on my self loading rifles with intermediate cartridges. I practice drills hitting steel at 300+ yards, the drill is to launch round 2 before round 1 hits.
My heavy rifles have no muzzle brakes but use recoil reduction techniques, weight, recoil pads and balance.
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JaoeyP
Silver $$ Contributor
@David Milisock starting new shooters with a silenced rifle is the way to go. Teach them to focus on fundamentals without the distraction of excessive noise and with reduced the recoil. Shooting suppressed is so much more pleasant than not.
JaoeyP
Silver $$ Contributor
Almost none of the silencers being produced today are wet cans.
Really the only downside to silencers are the cost, the NFA bs (approvals, wait times, registry), and the length and weight.
Not really sure how they're more dangerous. Those indoor pressure changes you're talking about would be there unsupressed as well. Also, yes it is possible to still damage hearing with a suppressor, just like you can still damage your hearing shooting with ear pro. Exposure matters. You will suffer hearing loss with ear pro shooting thousands of rounds. You will suffer less hearing loss shooting suppressed with ear pro.
When they're improperly attached, when people assume that they don't need hearing protection because they have a (silencer), a suppressor they still produces over 120 decibels.
Yes the indoor pressures would still be there but unless the need is dire no one fires a weapon indoors without ear muff protection. The sound throught the jaw bone ruins your hearing if you just use plugs, I shot an indoor range for quite a few years. That's why I use plugs and muffs.
I don't have one but I can see the use.
If a person can't handle the distraction of gun fire they maybe shouldn't be participating in the sport. Depending on the need focusing through distractions needs to be part of the traing.
JaoeyP
Silver $$ Contributor
Firmly disagree.
I will 2nd that!
Talking out your ass there. Especially when talking about a new shooter and a young shooter. Shooting is a learned skill and whatever gets the person in and more comfortable is fine.
No wonder 77% of our kids can't meet military standards.
I'll say this again, nonwonder 77% of our kids can't meet military standards.
Again talking out your ass. Nothing to do with military standards when trying to get a young girl comfortable with shooting.
I had the same problem with my son who has a hearing disorder and my daughter who was sensitive to sound.
I started with proper hearing protection on a private range, 22 shorts, longs and long rifle in a rifle then in handguns. Then small caliber centerfire rifles and handguns. Then being there when I shot medium and big bore rifles and handguns.
Then we moved to public range sessions with random gun fire of small caliber, the random gunfire of medium and big bore, moving on to actual cannon fire from civil war cannons, acclimating them to heavy concussion.
There are methods that acclimate people to conditions so they can act as they are required.
After about a year of this, I was confident that both my son and daughter were capable of being in circumstances where they were armed and that firearms may be discharged without them acting in a dangerous and irresponsible manner.
It's called training and training requires that the process faces the full spectrum of what to expect. I've found that acclimatization to close spaces for those with claustrophobia and swimming for those with aquaphobia more difficult than acclamation to noise for those sensitive.
I myself had to deal with a fear of heights when learning parachute jumping.
I mention military stands to emphasize how weak this younger generation is, there is a reason for that.
And what’s that reason?
While there are certainly children born with physical health issues, the main reason in my opinion that 77% of kids fail to meet minimum military standards is parenting.
Not standing up to do the job of being a parent, allowing our schools to enable poor behavior. Parents enabling poor behavior themselves, rewarding mediocrity, punishing meritocracy.
Overweight soft kids running around on electric scooters and bikes, inside playing video games, fathers not manning up. School playgrounds 99.9% empty all summer for many years.
JaoeyP
Silver $$ Contributor
So basically because you didn't use silencers to introduce your kids to firearms there's no benefit to anyone else to do so? Cool story.
That certainly says something about you.
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