When hunting I dont wear my hard shell ear protectors but while just practicing I do wear them.

I know I hold my head differently when they are on - a different cheek weld.

I am thinking I should be practicing with plugs that stick in the ear rather than the the more effective Peltors.

What do others do?

Plugs and muffs while on the range for me. Nothing when out hunting.

quote:

Originally posted by Muletrain:
Plugs and muffs while on the range for me. Nothing when out hunting.

+1 for me as well.

Why not get custom moulded ear plugs that fit inside the ear? I use a pair for skeet and I just recently bought a "kit" over the Internet for less than $20. You just mix two things together (one is a hardener) and let it sit in your ear. I use these ALL the time for ALL my shooting, pistol, rifle and shotgun. And yes, I do shoot double rifles! The skeet ones have lasted over 20 years.
Peter.

quote:

Originally posted by 500N:

quote:

Originally posted by Muletrain:
Plugs and muffs while on the range for me. Nothing when out hunting.

+1 for me as well.

Make that +2 for me as well. Plugs and muffs on the range.

Custom molded plugs and muffs for me too (there's a guy who does them at our club).

Anyway, a little warning about muffs and expensive guns -

I got a nice unwanted dent on the stock of my Weatherby Mark V from impact of the muffs against it.

I sure don't want that on my Searcy, so I'm coming up with a way to protect the stock. It'll probably be a piece of thick leather wrapped around the stock and held in place some way. But, I haven't entirely thought it through. I just know it's an issue.

quote:

Originally posted by Shack:
Custom molded plugs and muffs for me too (there's a guy who does them at our club).

Anyway, a little warning about muffs and expensive guns -

I got a nice unwanted dent on the stock of my Weatherby Mark V from impact of the muffs against it.

I sure don't want that on my Searcy, so I'm coming up with a way to protect the stock. It'll probably be a piece of thick leather wrapped around the stock and held in place some way. But, I haven't entirely thought it through. I just know it's an issue.

Well I'll be damned. I noticed a small dent in the comb of my stock the last time I was cleaning it. Could not figure how it got there. I was being super careful with this rifle not to get any dings on it. It matches up with the adjustment leg on the side of the muffs.

While hunting, I often wear my Walker Game Ear in one ear with a soft plug in the other. That protects my hearing while increasing my ability to hear. It works.

Joe A.

I developed a dent in my Searcy comb also which is why I started lifting my head up a little while wearing the hard shelled muffs.

Its an awkward way to shoot the rifle and I would not think it is a good way to practice shooting because its not how I shoot when hunting.

I use muffs on the range, Allen try turning the muffs where the band is on the backside of your head this will help with stopping the wack on the comb thus the dent process.
I always, always have ear pro when hunting I use the Howard Leight shooters ear pads, wear them around your neck till you have to take the shot you can put them on in one second, sometimes you don't have that second, take shot without them. I could kick myself in the ass for all of the times I have not protected my ears over the years, so far by an act of God my ears are still fine but I'm not going to press the issue anymore.

quote:

Plugs and muffs while on the range for me. Nothing when out hunting.

You're asking to get to wear hearing aids all the time. I used to only wear muffs and sometimes muffs and plugs while at the range or shooting skeet. I NEVER wore anything hunting. Though heck only shooting one or two. Then by age 55 I had lost 60% of my hearing in the left and 40% in the right.

Do yourself a favor and get some molded plugs. If it bugs you because you can't hear in the field spend the $700 and get the molded ones like ESPs that allow you to hear then shut down when you fire. Trust me wearing them in the field sure beats wearing aids 100% of the time.

I don't have any choice about it because of the permanent ringing and sometimes sharp pain in the ears caused long ago by no hearing protection. You MUST use something for ANY shooting including ALL forms of hunting.

1) Muffs and molded plugs for all covered range work with all handguns and rifles.

2) Muffs and molded plugs for magnum handgun deer hunting.

3) Molded plugs for trap and skeet.

4) Molded plugs for all other hunting including shotgun, rifle and .22 rifle and .22 handgun.

On the dents, it's not caused by the in between connection. That part can be switched from behind the head to on top. But it doesn't matter. The real problem is caused by the right side (I'm right handed) bottom portion of the muff body where it contacts the stock when shooting on a range. On my Weatherby it was actually several very small dents at the same spot. That's something I just can't have going on. Only something to cushion it will work that I know of. The recoil will cause this to happen no matter how I position myself.

Shack, I had the same thing happen to my Winchester 458 after I had it converted to a Lott, since then I have seen it on a lot of rifles. I now never shoot with muffs, just plugs. I am happy to say that none of my other heavy rifles have muff marks.

Matthew

I had the same problem with muff dents on my 416 and my 470. Some double sided tape and scraps of leather on the muffs seems to prevent it.

quote:

Originally posted by Marty:
I had the same problem with muff dents on my 416 and my 470. Some double sided tape and scraps of leather on the muffs seems to prevent it.

Or buy some muffs that don't touch the stock ?


The Big Round one's do but the indented / scalloped one's don't touch the stocks.

Hard shell muffs will ding the stock on a hard recoiling rifle.

When shooting my doubles I use a molded ear plugs.

Personally I hate wearing muffs or earplugs while hunting, but years of shooting without ear protection has taken a big toll on my hearing.
If I had my time over again, I would spend the money to get high quality earplugs which could be used while hunting.

Gents:
When hunting I use moulded ear plugs with the valve to let in low noise and talking but blocks out loud sounds. When at the range, I wear the plugs inside quality ear muffs. With all the medical advances today, they can't do anything about lost hearing except a good hearing aid. I learned this the hard way.
Cheers,
Cal

What............I'm sorry, what did you say Cal???

quote:

I sure don't want that on my Searcy, so I'm coming up with a way to protect the stock. It'll probably be a piece of thick leather wrapped around the stock and held in place some way. But, I haven't entirely thought it through. I just know it's an issue.

What do you think of these:

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewp...productnumber=467776

I was wondering about something like this to get my cheek a tad higher for use with a scope.Maybe for me 1/4 inch extra padding under. It might also protect the stock from ear muff scratches.

I think it looks just fine excepting, for my use, two things. With shipping you'd be basically burning a C note, and I'm only interested in this for bench rest range shooting, where I use the hard shell muffs on top of molded plugs. I have to do that there, because it's a covered range with various structures that trap and greatly intensify the sound. The range is also not just one or two shots like in hunting and there are others shooting nearby who are about as many decibels.

In the field I don't use the muffs with rifles, but just the molded plugs.

I'm thinking cheap, which is a thick leather piece with rubber bands. Up to now I've been wrapping a worn out wallet around the stock, but it falls off easy and is a bit funky looking at the range.

My wallets tend to not be thick enough anyhow.

Try wrapping the stock with .o63 safety wire and covering that with duct tape. The safety orange should work just fine.
In all seriusnes please wear hearing protecton
Bill