A couple people had expressed interest in this topic, and I have a bit of extra time for a couple days, so here goes:
Bona fides: I am a former infantry NCO and sniper, hunter, competitive shooter, reloader, hobby gunsmith, sometimes firearms trainer and currently work in a gun shop, mostly on the paperwork/compliance side. Back in the day, was a qualified expert with every standard small arm in the US inventory circa 2003 (M2, 4, 9, 16, 19, 249, 240B, 21, 24, 82 etc.), and today hang around the 75th percentile of USPSA classifications. I've shot Cap-and-Ball, Trap and Sporting Clays badly; Bullseye and PRS somewhat better and IDPA/USPSA/UML/Two-gun with some local success. Been active in the 2A community since the mid-90s, got my first instructor cert in high school, and have held a CPL for almost twenty years now.
I certainly don't claim to be an expert in every aspect of firearms, there's huge areas that escape my knowledge base, but if you've got questions I'll do my best to answer.
Technical questions
Gun control proposals for feasibility
Industry
Training
Wacky opinions
General geekery
Some competition links (not my own) just for the interested.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=U5IhsWamaLY&t=173
https://youtube.com/watch?v=93nEEINflXE
https://youtube.com/watch?v=utcky0zq10E
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Notes -
Tell me everything about hearing protection.
....how about some things?
The most important bit is the NRR (noise reduction rating), which is essentially how much noise (in decibels) they lop off the top. Don't bother with anything less than 25, 30 is better. After that, you're paying for comfort or electronics. Comfort is somewhat important, but moreso if you're wearing them for long periods of time.
Shooting indoors is much louder than shooting outside, consider wearing in-ear foam plugs as well as muffs. This is known as "double plugging", despite there being only one set of plugs, and the term sounding vaguely dirty.
Pro Fo Sho makes some very good ear protection that is reasonably comfortable for twenty bucks a set or so.
Is there a functional difference between hp for sustained sounds (ie lawnmower) vs overpressure? Shooting earmuffs I see tend to be much thinner than earmuffs you see at the hardware store.
Is ANC for that level of protection hokum? I see some electronic earbuds that claim (to me) unbelievable NRRs.
I don't see how ANC can provide any better protection than just wearing the buds while they are turned off, but... maybe?
Most electronic shooting muffs are just regular muffs with a mic and speaker in there, which cuts out at a certain noise level -- which I think is fine so long as the "cut-out" part happens fast enough. (which you would probably notice if it weren't)
ANC produces sound that cancels incoming sound via destructive interference. It's ability to cut sound is therefore limited by how loud of a sound it can produce and how well it matches the incoming sound. It's a surreal experience when it works right. But I have doubts that it could match the volume of a gunshot.
I know how it works, which is why I said maybe -- but yeah, I don't think tiny earbuds can match gunshot volumes, and most of these buds don't really fit that well (compared to earplugs) so there will be a lot of leakage needing cancellation.
Maybe good for .223 though? I'm kind of a buckaroo on this anyways, and don't usually bother at all for 22lr. OTOH I don't mind my electronic muffs, and don't have many rifles set up for a stock-crawling cheek-weld -- so there's not much point.
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That's mostly to let people get a better cheek weld on long guns without lifting the muffs off the ear. It still doesn't work all that great, and unless they are pricey, the NRR suffers. If you're only shooting handguns, regular safety muffs may be a good option. Overpressure really isn't an issue for firearms usage.
I'm not really sure. ANC does cancel sound audibly, but the sound is still happening, so I'm not sure if that can still damage hearing.
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Should I get something better than those ribbed, earwax-scraping earplugs I've worn to the range before, then? I feel like they give me pretty good protection, but they are a little fussy to get right.
Personally I don't like the rubber ribbed inserts, I prefer the foamy plugs. Either work, but I find it harder to get a good seal with the rubber ones.
Muffs are the easiest, and as I said, you can get pretty good ones for twenty or twenty-five bucks. Worth the investment if you shoot even semi-regularly.
Do you have any opinions on peltors or whatever other active hearing protection things are out there now? Do you think they make situational awareness better on the range/in competitions?
No, I don't. Peltors are really nice, I have a very nice set of MSAs, but the electronics broke a couple years back and I never bothered to get it fixed. They're very comfortable, which is nice on a long competition day, but you just don't need the electronics, and in fact I found it a distraction. Electronics can be handy situationally, but for normal shooting and competition, save your money and buy comfort.
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Foam plugs are extremely effective. I don't think the ribbing is doing anything for you compared to comfortable expanding foam plugs.
If you want more hearing pro, keep in mind that big over-ear equipment is going to mess up your cheek weld on most rifles and shotguns. Electronic buds are going to be expensive. Over years of (admittedly just comp/target shooting) I've relied on over-ear for pistol-only events and foam plugs for any long guns.
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