I did something the other day that I would NOT want to do on a sustained basis, but I felt the experiment was valid. I fired one round of 150 grain FMJ in .300 Blackout and one round of XM193, both through respective 16 inch barrels, both with a Claymore linear comp installed, and both without hearing protection. I went without ears just to see if I could really stand to fire either round without hearing protection if things ever get really bad.

With the Claymore, the .300 BLK was somewhat tolerable. With the same style linear comp on an M&P 15T, the 5.56 was still deafening in comparison, even outdoors. There was a huge difference.

This confirms my resolve to stick with .300 Blackout for defense, and 5.56 for range practice.