I have done that with a SIG P229 chambered in .357 SIG (great gun). I was in a small closed room, low light, no ear protection (left ear next to a wall), no eye protection, and no problem whatsoever. I also did it with Underwood 65 gr. ammunition rated at 636 ft. lbs. which is considerably more powerful than the HST .357 SIG ammo. The recoil is very light being a 65 gr. bullet (lighter than a 115 9mm but with more muzzle blast). My left ear rang for a day or two as if I went to a Metallica concert (I won't do that again, but that would have happened with 9mm as well with my ear next to a wall) but my right ear didn't ring at all. The ringing would have been perfectly acceptable in a real world situation if it put the guy down faster and it certainly is no worse than a 10mm or .44 Magnum, that's for sure. There was no problem with flash as my vision was not affected at all. Other than price, there is NO advantage to 9mm in my opinion as a .357 SIG is a 9mm (.355") bullet. It's essentially the same projectile with the capability of more velocity when needed, and it requires one less round on average to stop someone, one-stop-shots are higher, and it is more accurate, so those are advantages in my book. I still love and prefer 9mm for smaller guns (compacts, subcompacts, "single" stacks, etc...), but in a full-size or SIG "compact"-size gun I would choose .357 SIG even over 10mm unless I was shooting a brown bear. LEO's with experience also claim it does a better job than 9mm dispatching canines and even black bear.