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Anybody fire their self defense gun...

Just go to an indoor range, preferably one that is kind of cramped and small, strap on yer' hearing protection, and let some off...

Wouldn't recommend no hearing protection though... If you value your quality of life... I had been in the same room as a ND with a modern .50 caliber in-line muzzleloader. Full charge too. Dumbass shot the ramrod into his ceiling. Wasn't pleasant for the rest of us in there with him either, I'll leave it at that...
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Depends on situation. If you’re in fight/flight mode with adrenaline, you won’t hear anything. No ringing or anything after. It’s a phenomenon medical professionals and experts are still looking into the cause. If you’ve ever been hunting without ear pro and shot at an animal, you’ve likely experienced it.

If your body/mind isn’t prepared for it, it’s going to be very loud, possibly painful, and your ears will be ringing or muted for a while.
 
Well this isn't me but you ever see Terminator 2? There's a part in it where Linda Hamilton fires off a 1911 inside an elevator. Or, rather, a fully-enclosed elevator set. Her earplugs weren't in properly and she suffered permanent hearing damage from the 9mm blanks she was using and the 10-gauge blanks Arnold was using in his shotgun.

Now, that's in a tightly enclosed elevator so maybe you wouldn't get hearing damage if you had enough space around you in your home and some stuff like curtains and doorways to dampen the sound, and I don't think you're gonna be having a 10-gauge going off. But it'd be pretty darn loud. Try what @Blue Sky Country suggested, but that's why suppressors and hearing protection were invented.
 
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Depends on situation. If you’re in fight/flight mode with adrenaline, you won’t hear anything. No ringing or anything after. It’s a phenomenon medical professionals and experts are still looking into the cause. If you’ve ever been hunting without ear pro and shot at an animal, you’ve likely experienced it.

If your body/mind isn’t prepared for it, it’s going to be very loud, possibly painful, and your ears will be ringing or muted for a while.
Yep, auditory exclusion, a function of all the adrenaline and its friends going through your body in a high stress situation.

OP, it’s loud, but you won’t know it. Never think “There’s an intruder, I need my gun and hold on, where the hell did I leave my muffs at!” Just don’t make a habit of it, ear pro otherwise is a very good thing.
 
I ND’d an SKS into the floor once was pretty loud but nothing serious. Was mostly surpised and happy I didn’t hit anything important.

I’ve been a witness to a .22 ND through a wall. I heard of someone who ND’d a .40 cal and that one seemed to be the loudest based on multiple accounts.

I’ve fired from inside vehicles and it’s not bad with earpro, without earpro is pretty loud. My guess is the loudest place would be inside a large diameter pipe.
 
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ive let a 12G off indoors without ear pro...shits fucking loud....there is ringing in your ears for a day or so, and once the ringing stops, it feels blocked for another day or so..then back to normal...

its uncomfortable for sure....but no where near debilitating or otherwise prevents you from hearing....and really wouldnt have reservations about doing it again if i had to.

and for what its worth, ive had my ears checked since then, and i have suffered no hearing loss.
 
Just go to an indoor range, preferably one that is kind of cramped and small, strap on yer' hearing protection, and let some off...

Wouldn't recommend no hearing protection though... If you value your quality of life... I had been in the same room as a ND with a modern .50 caliber in-line muzzleloader. Full charge too. Dumbass shot the ramrod into his ceiling. Wasn't pleasant for the rest of us in there with him either, I'll leave it at that...
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I did that at a local indoor , ears off, suppressed, when I was all alone but the structure of the Room is Hard surfaces and extremely Eco- y. I Don't believe it is any close similarity to inside a home which is filled with sound absorption materials and surfaces.
 
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I was next to a 1911 45ACP that a dumbass fired into his floor. He was wanting to show it to me and he didn't check to see if it was safe and unloaded properly. He dropped the mag and pulled the trigger. He didn't bother to check the chamber.

My ears rang the rest of the day, it was super loud.
 
I was next to a 1911 45ACP that a dumbass fired into his floor. He was wanting to show it to me and he didn't check to see if it was safe and unloaded properly. He dropped the mag and pulled the trigger. He didn't bother to check the chamber.

My ears rang the rest of the day, it was super loud.


All you had to deal with was temporarily ringing ears... I wonder how that guy was going to explain that hole in the floor to his wife later... Talk about real ouch!...
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I did that at a local indoor , ears off, suppressed, when I was all alone but the structure of the Room is Hard surfaces and extremely Eco- y. I Don't believe it is any close similarity to inside a home which is filled with sound absorption materials and surfaces.


That is one of these things which I hope I will not have to find out... However, I will be ready to, if an immediate danger to my and my family's safety appears...
 
Deaf or dead...not that I want to be deaf.....just sayin'. Too much duck hunting before electronics kinda doomed me. Try calling ducks when you cannot hear tone - almost impossible.
 
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Been near two nd’s indoors.
First was a 4” 357 mag that was about 10’ away inside a large room, it was the loudest thing I have ever heard, ears ringing for days.
Second was a 22-250 rifle that was only 4-5’ away but it was pointed up and away from me, loud but not even in the same league as the 357.
 
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i made a video just for you j/k


I call bullshit on this one.

He must have made special light rounds . Believe me, I had a 107/M-82 Barrett. First the recoil is a lot more than what showed there, likely it would have broken the glass table top. Second, it barely spit out the spent round...a full load will throw the brass 5-6 feet. Third, even with the suppressor it would have been a LOT louder than it seemed in the video. I took a bunch of guys out to shoot mine one day, in the middle of a huge field, and in the business of setting up and all I forgot my 'ears' and pulled the trigger. It really fucking hurt and for two days about all I could hear was the action cycling. I still have tinnitus and hear a lour whine most of the time. Even louder than the Jefferson Airplane concerts I went to.
 
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I had a fucking asshole toss a Hoffman device in a room I was defending at Doughboy City back in the early 90s. It dropped me to the floor and the entire room filled with dust. It was just SLIGHTLY worse than a .357 mag in a partially blocked off area we used to shoot from. My hearing sounded like I had plugs pushed up to my brain for 3 days, and I was an AG on a M60 team. 357 is nothing to play with.
 
I call bullshit on this one.

He must have made special light rounds . Believe me, I had a 107/M-82 Barrett. First the recoil is a lot more than what showed there, likely it would have broken the glass table top. Second, it barely spit out the spent round...a full load will throw the brass 5-6 feet. Third, even with the suppressor it would have been a LOT louder than it seemed in the video. I took a bunch of guys out to shoot mine one day and in the business of setting up and all I forgot my 'ears' and pulled the trigger. It really fucking hurt and for two days about all I could hear was the action cycling. I still have tinnitus and hear a lour whine most of the time.
It was a subsonic load, he even explained it in the video and said it probably wouldn’t cycle.
 
It was a subsonic load, he even explained it in the video and said it probably wouldn’t cycle.

That explains some of it. I just skipped trough the video and missed that. When we were shooting out at the Whittington center and pulling targets the rounds were still supersonic at 1000/
 
When your adrenalin is going and you are thinking "Oh Fuck" you won't hear a thing.

This.^^^^^^^
I cant ever remember having ringing ears after shooting a deer. Not saying it doesn't cause hearing damage. I've shot close to 80 deer, and I cant hear myself fart anymore. Yes, I know they make electronic hearing protection, but in my hunting heyday, they were unobtanium, price wise.
 
1) Tossed off one round for reasons not worth getting into, on a range but into a target backer at like 3 ft range. Outside, handgun, and just the one, so left the ears off. Backer was some scrap paperboard, but apparently acoustical tile of some sort, ALL the sound bounced back at me. Ouch. Bad.

2) Auditory exclusion is a cognitive function. Like tunnel vision, or time slowing down, it isn't actually happening in the physical world. Meaning in this case that your ears still work, and loud noises will totally damage your hearing anyway. It is not a safety mechanism, but a fight-or-flight related reflex. If there's even a few seconds, get some earpro on before your gunfight.
 
I shot a snake from inside my truck with my 1911 sticking out the window not to bad, about a week later it’s raining and I see another snake. This time I have my 2 1/2 inch model 19 with 38 specials in it same thing roll window down pull the trigger and my eye balls hit the windshield and I couldn’t hear for a week. Now in a self defense situation I will gladly give up my hearing for my family’s safety
 
It’s all about pressure, 1911/45acp isn’t crazy. A 223 SBR braked is full on nuts
Everything in the house is suppressed now,,,,with MSA Sordins to boot. You can hear a mouse fart across the hallway
 
... in their house?

How loud was it?

Pls specify if suppressed or with hearing pro.

Tell me about it. Thx.
I ended up shooting a SAW and a party pack(100rds) from inside an MRAP out the emergency hatch after we hit hit an IED. I dont remember the sound much, but my ears were ringing a couple days afterwards.
 
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In the heat of the moment with the adrenaline flowing, you won't hear a thing. Your gun will actually sound ridiculously quiet. To a lesser extent, hunters frequently experience a similar thing.
the thing we also need to remember, is when we hunt, we are out in the open, or there is a bunch of foliage to absorb the sound.......so there isnt much being reflected back to us.....so even without the adrenaline, its going to be quieter.

indoors, there is only so much that adrenaline can block out....while true, youll have some "adrenaline filtering".....its still going to ring you pretty well.

in my experience, indoors with adrenaline, its "quieter"......but its definitely not "nothing"
 
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When I was in high school I shot a 243 out the passenger window of my 1973 Chevy pick up. It had no headliner, no carpet, just a metal box. I did not have ear plugs on and I did not get the muzzle out the window. It felt like someone smacked me. I have no idea if I hit the prairie dog.
 
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Spent a bit of time in an indoor rifle range. Even doubled earpro doesn't block some stuff. Had a guy with a Scar H in the lane next to me, sounded like a fuckin canon going off! I do already have pretty bad damage in one ear tho so I will say do everything you can to protect hearing if it is anything but a life or death situation. Being under 40 and having 80 yr old hearing sucks :confused:
 
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I fired a Dragon missile in ITS with no earpro.

I think I blacked out and buried the missile at what was likely the minimal arming range.

I was fucked for a week.

My ears deserve better.
 
1) Tossed off one round for reasons not worth getting into, on a range but into a target backer at like 3 ft range. Outside, handgun, and just the one, so left the ears off. Backer was some scrap paperboard, but apparently acoustical tile of some sort, ALL the sound bounced back at me. Ouch. Bad.

2) Auditory exclusion is a cognitive function. Like tunnel vision, or time slowing down, it isn't actually happening in the physical world. Meaning in this case that your ears still work, and loud noises will totally damage your hearing anyway. It is not a safety mechanism, but a fight-or-flight related reflex. If there's even a few seconds, get some earpro on before your gunfight.

I respectfully disagree.
Without going into the (when seconds matter) debate, I prefer to hear everything. The creaking of a door, the light footsteps on stairs, a window being opened... Too many things going on to have my 2nd most important sense to be muffled.
 
1) After the first shot without earpro, you don't hear anything. Certainly no more creaking steps or crunching leaves. That whole sense is gone for a whole.

2) My earpro is electronic muffs. I hear better (including localizing sounds, pointing to proper azimuth) with them on.