Anyone used these while hunting? I shoot a 340 Weatherby with a muzzle brake(very LOUD) and I need something in my ears to prevent damage. I wear muffs while at my range but need something while hunting. Would quality ear plugs with decimal rating of 33 work okay? I realize that I would have to install them prior to shooting. Advice?

I would get some custom fitted ear plugs. Go see an ENT or audiologist. Should run less than $100. ($65-85). It is what I use.

You can keep them in your ears, cracked out just a bit and hear fine. When time to shoot, just wiggle them back in place. It works for me and no electronics to worry about.

WGE is okay, but at the bottom of the barrel as far as protection/amplification.

They work good but, you need two of them so that you can course the direction of the sound.

Good Luck!

Reloader

I need hear help as well as to protect the hearing I still have. I bought 2 of the Walker's and they work fine, but the foam on them gets really uncomfortable after wearing them for an hour or so. They were a pain to put on, too. I then switched to the Songbird disposables and they worked excellent, but at $100 a pair and they're disposable, that didn't seem too practical, although they worked great. Now I'm using Sportears and they seem to be what I'll use from now on. I got mine on Ebay for $310 a pair. They use a standard 10A hearing aid battery.

http://www.harrisquest.com/sportear.htm





http://dillonprecision.com/template/p.cfm?maj=7&min=1&dyn=1&CFID=481676&CFTOKEN=65103099



http://www.nrahq.org/youth/specialoffers/sportear.asp

Check out January 2005 Guns&Ammo magazine. On page 12 is an article on most of the different types of electronic hearing protection systems including the ones that you are asking about.

I wore the Walkers for the first time this fall. They DO ampilfy the sound in the woods. I have a slight hearing lose in my left ear so that's where I put it. As dawn came to the woods it started to rain on my pop-up blind, it sounded like the heavens just opened up and dumped gallons of water down on me it was still a little dark so I could see that much anyway, as it got lighter the sound of the rain was deafening and I thouht I'd better head back to the cabin. I started to pack up my stuff and pulled the Walker out of my ear, that is when I realized it was a very light drizzle hitting the pop-up not the deluge I had head with the Walkers.
When things quieted down a little I put them back in, you could hear a squirrel bark 200 yds away, you hear a twig snap but had know idea where or how close. They worked almost too good, it's something you're going to have to get use to. I'm not done playing with them but the conditions you hunt in will make a difference on how well they work.

The noise direction detection is why I wear 2 of em, trying to pin point a turkey that answers your call will be tough if you can't tell what direction his reply came from. When I used the Songbirds last spring, I could hear turkeys way down the canyon that were answering other hunters, but my partner couldn't hear any of what was going on. One of the problems with the Songbirds is they have no volume control, so immediate area sounds like the crunch under your own feet, or as in your case, rain falling on your blind, can be muted some with a volume control, but you can still hear well, you're just not overwhelmed by the local sounds. The Sportears are nice cuz the fit in the ear, not over the ear like the Walkers and they have a volume control.