Gentlemen,
Not long ago, I was next to a primer that went off indoors. The sound was surprisingly disorienting, as the sound reverberated around.
I know through training, we’re conditioned to be used to muffled gunshots, however, I’d imagine in a HD scenario, gun shots out of our pistols/rifles/shotguns would be significantly different than what we experience in shooting/competing/training.
How important do you consider ear pro in a HD scenario?
Consider that your average HD scenario involves some jerk breaking into your house, presumably to do damage to you, to your wife, and to your children. You are generally operating with a time deficit…meaning that you have a limited window of time before the bad guys gain entry into the residence (because few houses are truly set up to do more than delay an intruder) and in that time you are probably getting your firearm and are trying to corral the wife and kids behind the protection of your muzzle.
Hearing protection will not be on your priority list.
When you’re minding your own business, perfectly relaxed, with no signs of danger and you hear a gunshot, it’s loud. Really loud. When your adrenaline is pumping because you’ve detected enough danger to respond with lethal force, you may not even hear the shots. Google auditory exclusion.
If you have the luxury of abundant time and you can put on good electronic ear pro, so be it. Most situations where you are reaching for a firearm to defend yourself, however, don’t usually provide you with abundant time to prepare for the moment where you have to pull the trigger.
At the range I wear safety glasses, ear muffs, long pants, shoes and a hat for safety.
If a BG enters my home at night he’s getting shot by a naked old guy.
Just think the last thing he’ll ever see is my naked old ass and then a flash of light.
Not a pleasant thought either way.
This is textbook “WHAT-IFFING.”
Textbook.
You’re right. They will be very different. You likely won’t even hear them.
Read Grossman’s ON COMBAT.
This exactly!
I always post this example…
I was shooting my 11.5 AR one day and stepped back up to shoot some more with my muffs sitting up above my ears, but on my head still… Anyway… I let a round fly and thought my friggin gun Kabizzled.
That was stupid loud because I was in my casual practice mindset… but I still keep that very gun unsupressed for my home defense weapon. On Combat explains why it’s really a non issue.
Keep in mind though, auditory exclusion merely prevents you from HEARING the shots.
Your ears however are still going to take a beating, and doing it repeatedly (prolonged firefight for instance) your hearing will be impacted, whether you realize it or not.
So don’t try to train to get used to the sounds of gunshots without earpro, or it won’t be long before you need hearing aids.
I had an ND indoors and never heard the shot. Literally I figured out what happened because the hammer was back when it should have been down. Weirdest thing.
Not worried about being disoriented. At 180 beats a minute youcould blow your eardrums out and not know it until you see blood.
This always comes up… and I always post that Grossman provides evidence to the contrary.
Grossman has examples of guys getting damn near blowed up and unexplainedly not suffering hearing dammage.
i have been in a situation with shots fired by both sides inside a tight hallway didn’t really notice the shots till it was over(my ears were ringing)in these type of situations you have more to worry about then your ears ringing.
no… by the time shots are fired, you’re going to be so amped up and tunnel-visioned that you won’t even notice the shots.
train to kill- do not train to have anxiety.
The disorietation is a shock to one of three natural balancing mechanisms. Your vision and hearing work togther in a mannner as a gyro and the skeletal/muscle, etc system is the third. Under stress one may compensate for the other and may not be as noticeable until you have recovered from that “shock”.
“I was aware of the “loud noise” but did really feel the pain and blood running from my ear until afterwards when things settled down”.
That’s why a drunk can’t walk to well-can’t see and his muscles are relaxed more so.
http://www.sightandhearing.org/news/healthissue/archive/hi_1003.asp
Its been said and I agree 100% you wont even think about your ears till most likely well after the situation has calmed down and your adrenaline slows.
I remember hearing that pop from the .45, but it didn’t seem as loud as it should have. I know my ears were ringing for a good while after the fact.
My takes have varied even indoors and outdoors. Under stress in a quick compressed time frame I have had full or classic auditory exclusion. I have had ringing ears in a longer or stretched out time frame. On a 5 round shoot of 12ga, I have had full exclusion on 3 quick rounds. After a pause in the action the last 2 fired left slight ringing but much less than I would have expected if I were just on the range without ear pro.
I have some unscientific guesses…
I almost gather that if you are the shooter under stress you hear less. Unless if the period of time is prolonged. This can vary from person to person in how they process the action happening and how the stress may diminish over time even though the action might still be happening.
If you are not the shooter and are not expecting any shots period, it can sound extremely loud and leave your ears ringing.
If you are expecting possible gunfire directed at you and you are not the shooter, shots sound muffled, again depending on the duration and person.
I surmise over a more extended time, your overall stress focus diminishes and as such the auditory exclusion lessens as time of incident increases. Again this of course depends on the person. I may think that trained individuals bodies may react or accept what is happening quicker and adapt to their circumstances quicker. In other words when the incident kicks off tunnel vision sets in. As time increases and training or experience kicks in, their “world” or the tunnel starts to open back up and things like auditory exclusion start to go away.
Again just my non scientific thoughts.
Seriously dude, I remember a .50 BMG going off about a meter from me. I didn’t phase me, I only thought was ‘wow, that is sort of loud’.
At night, in the dark, in an HD situation, remember you know when the shots will go off. The BG will not. Action beats reaction. If you maintain the initiative you will have a huge advantage because you already know what the battle rhythm will be. Yes, it might be loud and there might be some flash, but you know that is coming. The BG is not prepared for that nor the ensuing loss of blood pressure.
markm is spot on. Read Grossman’s on Killing the book is full of excellent information. Don’t worry about your ears. Worry about protecting your family. I have three kids and a wife in the house I would need to account for, ear pro would not make my list at all.
This is correct. Happened to me. 26 rounds from AR, and no ringing ears or anything else, temporarily or permanently. I never heard the report of the rifle, but could hear the buffer and spring as the bolt cycled. Kinda neat when I look back at it.
I can attest to part of this also. I was the shooter, but the guy kneeling beside me was not expecting rounds to be fired, and his ears rang of days. It all relates to the stress and mindset, I think.