Hearing protection?

Hi all,

For bullseye shooting I use regular muffs to protect what little hearing I have left. I like them as they are comfortable to wear and easy on/off. I am now shooting rifles and have found that muffs don't work so good. The muffs get in the way of sighting etc.

I know I have seen a number of people at the ranges that have what appear to be molded ear plugs and that is all they wear. I assume they are comfortable and assume the block sound well. Normally I don't like to wear plugs at all but I think this is the only option for shooting rifles.

If any of you have those custom fit or molded ear plugs can you tell me a bit more about them?

Chris

There's a lady at Perry every year that makes them, she's usually on the front side of commercial row. They work ok but I have to use muffs in addition to get the noise down to an acceptable level. Macks makes some really good foam earplugs but they aren't as quick and easy as the molded ones.

If memory serves me correctly, her name is Cece. I got mine in 02, my first trip to Perry.

While they're well made and neat, I find the disposable foam plugs more efficient in blocking the sound than the custom ones I had made. Since then I've picked up several sets of "make your own" molded plugs. One set I inserted a set of cheap ear buds into when I was molding them so I could comfortably use the ear phones under my muffs and hear my recorded range commands on my mp3 player.

The molded plugs are nice but with the two pairs i have one from perry another from a local , both at best are about 22 on the suppression chart. Out doors alone they are adaquate for 22 but not 45. I uase a good muff when the big guns come out.

The Howard Leight Impact Sport are the best ones I have found so far.
Link

If you get custom fit ones make sure you find ones that are rated for 28db NRR or more. Many of the cheaper custom fit ones or molded ones are around 21-26db which really isn't enough IMHO.

I have a set of custom molds from EarInc called InstaMold. They are fit by an installer (lady at a gun show) and have an NRR of 29.8. You can find out more at: http://www.earinc.com/p1-nonelectronic-instamold.php

When I want electronic muffs I use the Howard Leight R-01902 Impact Pro. You can get them on Amazon for $66. Unreal quality and features for the price. They have an NRR of 30 and work excellent. They also have an MP3 input.

33NRR is about the best you can get and they happen to be the soft foam disposable. The key part of getting to the rating is to install them correctly. I see lots of people not insert them in far enough to get a proper seal.