Indoor or outdoor? I've only ever shot outdoor, and never had a problem with the noise overcoming my hearing protection.
SKS's are damn loud, though.
1: I shot and spent most of the the time outdoor. I did visit the indoor range for maybe five minutes (with ear protection), but I didn't shoot there.
Huh. Maybe I should have my hearing checked.
Maybe the sound got in through your nose?
My only personal experience with guns that I can recall was a party in high school where the host fired a pistol down into a stack of magazines maybe two feet high to see how far the bullet would go. (About halfway, IIRC.) My general impression of the affair was similar to Stanley's: damn, that was loud.
3: I might be unusually protective of my hearing. I carry with me at all times a set of these and seem to be among the first to "plug up" at music shows.
5 makes my headache funnier if still hurty.
Yeah, they're loud, although I must wonder whether your headache could be from wearing overly tight "over the head dealies." At least for myself, I've gotten headaches from that, but never from noise when protected to the extent you were.
7: Yeah, these days I wear earplugs at live shows, but I didn't when I was younger. (I can still remember my ears ringing after the Living Colour/Guns 'n' Roses/Rolling Stones at the Coliseum. 20 fucking years ago.) I've definitely noticed that following conversations in loud environments has gotten more difficult.
It would be hilarious if this thread ended up being about hearing loss rather than guns.
then the next thread can end up being about ED.
Don't make fun, neb. That damn horse demanded earplugs for every damn show.
max
['Do you know how hard it is to get earplugs for a horse?']
I heard all manner of rifles and handguns and shotguns, and even having worn earplugs plus the over-the-ear dealies, I'm still sitting here with a headache, hours later.
Eh? Speak up son, I can't hear damn thing you're saying.
max
['Guns aren't loud, people are loud!']
Guns are boring.
I'm deaf!
Really, I am!
Okay I'm deaf in one ear. And you know what's great about being married? I used to forget which ear I was deaf in and sit at a table such that I couldn't hear a damn thing people were saying, but now Blume reminds me where I should sit.
They have implants for that, you know.
(Sorry, Sifu, I couldn't resist, because for some reason that's all I could think of when I saw the post title.)
They have implants for being married?
I remember constructing grain bins. You'd be inside a giant steel cylinder using an impact wrench while two other people did the same. I don't know if it is louder than a gun or not, but I use it as an excuse for my horrible taste in music. I've probably fired less than 500 shots in my life and I don't think that is enough for hearing trouble.
18: Depending on who you want to marry and how badly, yes.
To actually address the serious point: I've listened to entirely too many different kinds of ammunition fired off at close range. Enough to generally identify gunfire heard when the shooter cannot be seen. The downside to this is that there's entirely too much in the way of firecrackers that sounds like particular weapons going around. I have also destroyed my hearing by standing in front of Marshall amp stacks at concerts (there's room there - nobody wants to get close). Throw in cars and banging things and, well. I can hear, which is probably pretty amazing.
max
['I'm glad you've protected your hearing Stanley, but you are obviously Mr. Virgin Ear.']
The great thing about still having my hearing is that I can listen to stuff like this.
Now that's a cover song. Somewhere, Woody is smiling.
20: Planet Terror shows us how it's done.
23: Hey, Witt, I know you're rooting for the Phillies, but who do you want to win tonight, Angels or Yankees?
It's a tough call, but I'm going to go with Yankees, because I don't want to have the whole country rooting against us in the Series. (Also, I am descended from Red Sox fans, so it's kind of incumbent on me to hate the Yankees.)
Although I wouldn't mind if the Angels forced them to a Game 7. Embarrassing *and* tiring!
The whole country would root for the Angels over the Phillies? Why's that? (I admittedly don't follow baseball closely.)
22: I'm surprised to hear you refer to concerts -- you never mention music.
There's a gun shooting range near enough to my house that I hear a continual pop-pop-pop all the time, at least on weekends; it bothered me initially, but has become background noise now.
And back around again: people in the vicinity of loud noise should always use earplugs! Many musicians do. In the same way that people working with chemicals or metals, whether in the arts or in working on cars or industrially, should wear masks! Youths pooh-pooh it, but it's really not a joke (I particularly think of an ex I got a little shouty with when he was probably gradually killing himself because the mask apparatus he'd have to wear in order to be safe was (a) heavy and uncomfortable, (b) a bit expensive for the proper filters, and (c) made him look unsexy. Well, tough shit, my love -- do it anyway.)
(/end sermon)
I prefer the radio, but my understanding is that the TV announcers have been leaning heavily on the emotional losses suffered by the Angels this year.
It is heartbreaking, to be sure. And the Phillies don't have a particularly high profile nationally; our claims to fame are mostly things like being the oldest franchise, being the first to record 10,000 losses, etc. Also, we have excellent uniforms, and have had for some time.
(Don't get me started on our claims to infamy; I'm a fan but I'm not in denial.)
Also, lots of people who don't care much about the World Series will care enough to root against the Yankees. Although I suppose they'll be canceled out by the people who root for the Yankees because they root for (presumed) winners. Both groups probably outnumber regular Yankees fans.
Both groups probably outnumber regular Yankees fans.
Until Bloomberg O.K.'s my plan for putting fiber in Manhattan's water supply.
Huh. I just assume sane people hate the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dallas Cowboys (America's Team!), and sort from there.
In baseball, I always root for the Cubs. Probably because we got WGN on cable.
I fired off 40 rounds from my 30.06 today (I bumped the fuck out of my sight or something, took forever to get sighted in). Until I saw the post, I hadn't noticed the slight ringing in my right ear. Damnit, Stanley.
Having seen far too many punk and metal shows without hearing protection (and listened to far too much of it on headphones cranked too loud), I already have trouble following conversations--especially with women--in crowded rooms. I shudder to think how bad it's going to be in another 30 years.
(Metallica, Nirvana, and Mission of Burma (separate occasions, obvs.) without earplugs: totally worth it.
I generally root for teams that have either never won a World Series or haven't done so for a long time. But never for the Yankees. I was a Giants fan back during the couple of years I followed baseball closely. As a result, I still don't particularly like the A's, but I don't pay much attention to either team.
33: I graciously left the Cubs off my hate list. The South Side Irish canonically route for the go-go White Sox and whoever plays the Cubs. (This version kind of sucks, but it's a common tune in that part of town.)
36, 37: I'm not big on baseball anyway, so I never bothered to re-think things upon reaching adulthood.
"Route", Stanley?
My culture's hatred for the Cubs enlittled my spelling capacity.
34: I already have trouble following conversations
I still can't figure out how people can really hear each other properly on cell phones. Never mind adding in partial hearing loss.
For no reason other than its sheer brilliance, you should look at xkcd's tribute the Geocities. I'm assuming it won't last.
Central New Jersey has been an interesting place from which to view the playoffs. I suspect it'll get considerably more so if the Series ends up being Yankees-Phillies.
Clearly I haven't been paying very close attention.
My sister and I (both Mets fans by birth; she a Yankees-hater) had a long discussion at the outset of the playoffs trying to figure out who to root for*, and settled on the Phillies as representatives of the NL East, our home and native land.
She was really scarred by traveling to NYC for the 2000 Series - she never got into a game, but ended up in bars with asshole arrogant Yankees fans, which turned distaste into hatred.
* That pained me, but the alternatives were too toolish
12: By all means! Suggested discussion points: how apologetic should a gentleman be about such things? How understanding can one reasonably expect a lady to be?
Feh. I've never listened to loud music much at all, nor do I have any noisy hobbies. And yet I still have lousy hearing.
She was really scarred by traveling to NYC for the 2000 Series - she never got into a game, but ended up in bars with asshole arrogant Yankees fans
OMG! Vocally enthusiastic Yankee fans? In New York City?! Oh, the humanity!
I'm not even a Yankee fan, but the world seems to have devolved to a position that Yankee fans are not allowed to root for their team without being deemed "arrogant assholes." (I witnessed two egregious and ridiculous examples of it this week. In both cases a Yankee fan issued an entirely anodyne "Go team" sort of statement and was met with a sneering, "Jesus Christ you Yankee fans are fucking loathsome." The proper response to someone saying "Go Yankees" is "Yankees suck!" not some self-admiring nonsense.)
All such meaningless chauvinism looks assholic if you don't share it.
Oh, and the whole Cubs situation saddens me. My dad was born across the street from Wrigley (straight down the right foul line) and grew up a few miles away; I've made occasional trips to Wrigley since I was a little kid. Yet the franchise is widely viewed as detestable, and douche doesn't even begin to describe people who purchase and wear t-shirts such as and .
Note that the latter one is apparently tit for tat with a similar t-shirt worn by Cardinals fans. OTOH, the former is offensive to a popular Cubs player, which is insane.
If I was a stock picking type I'd put all my energy into studying companies selling remedies for hearing loss. Somewhere out there someone is working on a product that will be Viagra for ears. They will make a lot of money.
52: No, my sister is pretty rough and tumble as these things go (she played rugby for ~10 years). It was the smugness she found loathsome, not the fact of rootage.
Me, I moved away from NY at age 6, so the Yankees were simply the other team from my hometown that I wanted to see do well (same deal with the Jets). Then I moved to NJ at age 13, and learned that this position was untenable. But I never developed any hatred for them (I just hope that my children's children will someday see the Pirates field a respectable ballclub).
Deafness will be a mercy when there is less arranging and negotiating to be done, the ultimate "leave me alone."
53: As a lapsed Cub fan, I feel compelled to defensively question whether it's fair to assume those t-shirts are representative of Cub fans generally. I feel safe in assuming there are jackasses with jackass t-shirts for every MLB team. Of course, I've probably been to Mass more often in the past decade than to a baseball game (and long since cease to consider myself Catholic), so I acknowledge that I have no really basis for any opinions here.
42-44: Wow. I looked at xkcd this morning for the cartoon and noticed the new layout but didn't really think about it and didn't hand around long enough to notice the banner explaining it.
Geocities is no longer around, and people are putting together kitschy, nostalgic tributes to it. This makes me feel old.
54
Somewhere out there someone is working on a product that will be Viagra for ears.
Which will be marketed to LARPers and other serious geeks, no doubt.
59 was me. Also, "didn't hand around" s/b "didn't hang around".
kitschy, nostalgic tributes
This puzzles me. Isn't the appropriate response dancing on the grave? I mean, that stuff was vision-damagingly ugly even when it was new.
Yes, Geocities was a kitschy, nostalgic tributes to itself, but where a lot of young and/or non-tech involved people cut their "Web 2.0" teeth.
All such meaningless chauvinism looks assholic if you don't share it.
But it's especially bad to root for the Yankees, because they are the enemies of the Red Sox, who love Jesus and whom Jesus loves, if the summer Sunday school lessons of my childhood can be relied upon, and I think they can.
I think we can be pretty sure that the good Lord probably follows more interesting sports.
How does the Lord feel about the Parramatta Eels?
I think we can be pretty sure that the good Lord probably follows more interesting sports.
Right. Like, say, cricket or American football.
re: 66
Both sports notoriously beloved by the Scots.
Why would the Lord allow Stranraer to lose to Inverurie Locos?
A true sport:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOyQBSMeIhM
What we clearly need here is LARP football, played by deaf people wearing cricket uniforms.
max
['Someone would watch it.']
I've shot only a .22 caliber rifle and an AK-47, and I don't remember either being especially loud. I'd probably find a shooting range to be oppressively noisy, maybe even with ear protection. Seems like fun, though.
72: A .22 rifle really isn't loud. I've never messed with an AK so I don't know about that one.
Both sports notoriously beloved by the Scots.
I know, right!
A .22 rifle really isn't loud. I've never messed with an AK so I don't know about that one.
.22's are not bad, and if you're outdoors you can get away with no hearing protection. AK's are 7.62, the Euro version of the .308, which is a shortened 30-06. Really, really loud.
I've never messed with an AK so I don't know about that one.
See 1. The SKS is closely related to the AK.
76: I once had a 22-250. 'Twaqs great (spectacular!) for attacking zombie watermelons, not so good for my hearing.
It's too late now but if I could do it over I wouldn't shoot even a .22 short without hearing protection. The hearing loss is both annoying and socially isolating to some extent; it's enough trouble to have conversations so that I tend not to bother.
It's too late now but if I could do it over I wouldn't shoot even a .22 short without hearing protection.
Yeah, I got lucky in that .22's outdoors are the only unprotected shooting I've ever done, and I seem to have escaped without damage. My kids have their own ear protection and are told that you don't shoot without, period.
I once had a 22-250
I used to have a .300 Win Mag. Definitely a wee bit blasty.
It's been years since I've shot anything but handgun calibers. Next year I'll probably pick up a Colt or a Noveske to have in the back of the patrol car. I need to start buying components and some .223 dies for the press. Ammo prices are absurd.
Ammo prices are absurd.
I was informed yesterday by someone at the gun club that high ammo prices are Obama's fault.
AK's are 7.62, the Euro version of the .308, which is a shortened 30-06.
I thought AKs were a short 7.62 round with a much slower bullet than the 7.62 NATO/.308.
82: Indirectly. Everyone is afraid he'll ban or tax it. So, stock-up now.
Or, you know, don't. Speaking of ammo, does anybody know the shelf-life of shotgun shells?
Like, at what point are they shot?
85: No, but I'd bet that it's fine if it was purchased in your lifetime.
high ammo prices
Didn't the Times or someone have an article that the prices are falling back to earth? I think that the hook was that an ammo maker is going public, possibly at just the wrong time.
I can't quite figure out the mindset behind stockpiling ammo. Guns are kind of loud, so you're not going to get away with a lot of shooting if there's still public order after they're banned. And if you're expecting a breakdown in public order, you really think that your solitary John Galt patriotic ass is going to last a week in some bullshit backyard bunker?
89: It's for bartering with after TEOTWAWKI.
85: My kid and I just replaced the 9mm we've had since the mid-Nineties just in case. A friend and I shot a brink of .22LR he had lying around since WW2, then about 35 years in the past, and about 1/3 misfired. A lot depends on storage condtions and whether oil can get at the primer. In other words, you won't know until you pull the trigger.
87, 89: I should be O.K then. The shells are about 10 years old and have never been stored anywhere that wasn't climate controlled.
Now I just have to figure out how to throw-away some old (expired in 2006) cans of mace without violating whatever laws are on that. (I have relatives who think I am insufficiently armed, so stuff floats my way.)
92: take 'em out back and plug 'em with the ammo. Fun!
"But officer, somebody on the internet said it was the best way."
AK's are 7.62, the Euro version of the .308, which is a shortened 30-06.
I thought AKs were a short 7.62 round with a much slower bullet than the 7.62 NATO/.308.
British .303 [1889] (that is, 7.7mm) (rivals) -- 7.62x54R [1891] -- .30-40 Krag [1892] ( --> .30-03 --> .30-06) -- .30-30 [1894] -- Savage .303 [1894]
Savage .303 -- > .300 [1920] (to rival .30-06) --> T65 [1954] (fork of prototype to --> .308 [1952] ) --> 7.62x51 (almost the same as T65).
7.62x39 is the Soviets recyling/modifying their 7.62 equipment for a shorter round (they were religious about sticking to their original diameters), and is the odd man out here.
g: AK's are 7.62 [...] Really, really loud.
It's the gas porting for the ejector. Big and loud, but reliable.
max
['Jesus loves my commie deer rifle!']
I had a Valmet M76 in .223. It's a very nicely finished version of the AK done by the Finns. Very light recoil, and accurate enough so I could out-shoot some of my plinking buddies using scoped bolt actions while standing. It was far too ugly for Los Angeles, I traded it in for a much more lovable urban varmint rifle in .223 for the DE to use during TEOTWAWKI.
M1 carbine - startlingly loud. Most of the modern 5.56 weapons are not nearly as WTF! as that.
DShK is the worst, though - 12.7mm, (.50 inches) and loud enough to stun fish within 50 metres. Literally too loud to think if you're anywhere near it and forward of the muzzle.