Ear and eye protection for the range

[triggerb]

Firstly, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Now, picture thread time! Post your setup, and a quick review of the products you use to keep your ears hearing and your eyes seeing!

I use whatever the range gives me complimentary, and if they don't I go with a pair of sunglasses and the orange ear plugs. But, this is less than stellar so I just bought some 3M glasses from Whale Mart for $5 and I am thinking about one [edit: both] of the following for me ears:

@$20

@$10

 

[OKFC05]

If you want to be able to hear when you get my age, get some high quality muffs like Peltor or Pro Ear, and also get quality plugs to put under them for indoor ranges when the guy next to you is trying out his Magnum.

An advantage of electronic muffs is you will put them on and LEAVE them on, not get caught by a surprise blast because you took them off to talk.

By the way, hearing aids cost a LOT more than hearing protection.

 

[varmint243]

Double them up, Use plugs and muffs

I have small steady ringing in my ears most of the time these days.
I can only imagine it's going to get worse over the next 20 years until check-out.

You loose your hearing a little at a time in a way that most people don't notice until it's too late.

As far as eye protection, I think that is self explanatory.
You don't want people calling you Cyclops.

 

[Bkreutz]

I lost half my hearing many years ago in the garden vacation spot in SE Asia that so many of my generation visited. I protect what's left of it with Peltors (or any other high quality hearing protection). I have prescription shooting glasses that are polycarbonate, I wouldn't trust WalMart sunglasses to protect my eyes, you shouldn't either.

 

[shakyshoot]

I use the orange squishy plugs combined with the $9.99 Winchester earmuffs from Walmart. I don't know who really tests them, but they have noise reduction rating equal to or better than most of the expensive earmuffs. I think the main thing is to use both plugs & muffs. I was sandwiched between 2 guys both shooting .44 mags a while back, and they didn't seem overly loud. Some of the compensated AR rifles are a lot louder.

 

[Llando88]

I use these Howard Leight muffs (22 dB attenuation), about $40:

Amazon.com: Howard Leight R-01526 Impact Sport Electronic Earmuff: Home Improvement@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41bcSICIjBL.@@AMEPARAM@@41bcSICIjBL

I really like them, especially being able to hear range commands.

I wear them with these, about 24 dB attenuation:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001V2SS9G/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For eye protection, I wear glasses, so I use these Champion Over-Spec Ballistic ones, about $15:

Amazon.com: Champion Over-Spec Ballistic Glasses (Clear): Sports & Outdoors@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41qyMr0boYL.@@AMEPARAM@@41qyMr0boYL

 

[Llando88]

I use the orange squishy plugs combined with the $9.99 Winchester earmuffs from Walmart. I don't know who really tests them, but they have noise reduction rating equal to or better than most of the expensive earmuffs. I think the main thing is to use both plugs & muffs. I was sandwiched between 2 guys both shooting .44 mags a while back, and they didn't seem overly loud. Some of the compensated AR rifles are a lot louder.

That would be the EPA, here is a link to an osha page explaining NRR.

https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_id=9737&p_table=STANDARDS

Good call on muffs and plugs, no matter the brand.

Any ear muff sold (WalMart, Peltor, Harbor Freight, etc.) at any price point with the same NRR will protect equally well.

Muffs differ by construction, quality, comfort, with/without active electronic attenuation ($$$), but, from a NRR point of view, they are all the same.

It is also worth mentioning attenuation is logarithmic. Hence a muff at 25 dB plus plugs at 25 dB will add up to 28 dB total attenuation.

Sorry if this is TMI, it's the Electrical Engineer in me coming out.

 

[Comrad]

What.......

 

[varmint243]

decibels is a logarithmic scale
every 3db is up is double
every 3db down is half

if one pair of muffs is 25db
and one pair of muffs is 28db
the 28db muff have twice the noise reduction of the 25db muffs

(or something like that I'm not a EE but I worked with them enough )

 

[shakyshoot]

My $9.99 Winchester muffs are 26dB rating. They work noticeably better than the hand-out ones at my range. The only thing I don't like is that they're so tight on my head. Very little range of adjustment on them.

 

[coltle6920]

These seem to work for me....

 

[Llando88]

My $9.99 Winchester muffs are 26dB rating. They work noticeably better than the hand-out ones at my range. The only thing I don't like is that they're so tight on my head. Very little range of adjustment on them.

Shaky - Another option are these from Harbor Freight. They are on sale for $9.99, NRR 34 dB:

Hearing Protector

I have a pair of these and they are fairly comfortable. I will say the combination of electronic instant cut off at any gunshot, and excellent quality of construction of the Howard Leight muffs make them in my view well worth the price.

But as others have suggested, there are a lot of great choices out there, but the important thing to remember is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS use eyes and ears. The amount of overpressure required to permanently damage hearing is astonishingly small.

 

[vytoland]

10+ years I use peltor 105 H10A earmuffs and uvex S3300X high impact glasses OVER my polycarbonate prescription glasses.

I have sight in one eye only and don't want to lose that.

 

[Der Biermeister]

I don't skimp

Amazon.com: Howard Leight by Honeywell R-01902 Impact Pro Electronic Shooting Earmuffs: Home Improvement@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/412xe%2B2UTkL.@@AMEPARAM@@412xe%2B2UTkL

Amazon.com: Allen Company Over-Prescription Shooting Glasses: Sports & Outdoors@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41oO2o830tL.@@AMEPARAM@@41oO2o830tL

 

[Sansho]

Peltor Ultimate 10 muffs (around $18-$20) with NRR @ 30db, plus foam ear plugs.