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mykeal · November 16, 2011, 08:03 AM

One of the purposes of posting experiences on a forum like this is to provide people new to the sport with useful knowledge - there are people who look to us to help them learn and enjoy this way of life.

When you see a post that contains dangerous activity without a warning, it's important to post a dissenting opinion; at the very least this raises a flag to the uninitiated that this isn't necessarily the normal way of doing things in this sport.

Shooting without hearing protection is a dangerous activity; dangerous in that it causes injury. It isn't life threatening, but it is definitely quality of life threatening, and it is most certainly injury as any qualified physician or physiologist will testify. As I said above, it is insidious, in that the damage isn't obvious at the time of the injury, and it is cumulative, so that repeated events add up over time.

The initial post implies, quite clearly, that firing a .36 cal black powder revolver on an open range will not cause hearing damage. Seeing no dissenting opinion, a shooter new to black powder sports would easily accept that premise without question. But, that's simply not true - the damage isn't noticeable, and it isn't major, but if continued over time it will result in permanent, significant hearing loss.

In a later post we learn that the reason the OP claims no hearing damage is that his hearing is already damaged. That's certainly a much different scenario than what was initially represented. It's possible that his hearing loss is so profound that no further damage is possible, or that the amount of additional damage is negligible. But that doesn't apply to a young person just getting into black powder shooting sports, and we have some responsibility to provide those new shooters with accurate information relative to their circumstances.

Frankly, if one wants to go out and enjoy the BOOM, and accept that in doing so he's doing damage to his hearing, that's just fine with me; they're your ears, Bubba, have a ball. You can even tell yourself that it's not hurting you - no skin off my nose. But I won't sit by an let you promulgate that lie to others. They at least deserve to know that not everyone agrees, so they can go get honest, accurate information.

November 16, 2011, 08:03 AM	#19
mykeal Senior Member Join Date: October 8, 2006 Location: Northern Michigan Posts: 2,772	One of the purposes of posting experiences on a forum like this is to provide people new to the sport with useful knowledge - there are people who look to us to help them learn and enjoy this way of life. When you see a post that contains dangerous activity without a warning, it's important to post a dissenting opinion; at the very least this raises a flag to the uninitiated that this isn't necessarily the normal way of doing things in this sport. Shooting without hearing protection is a dangerous activity; dangerous in that it causes injury. It isn't life threatening, but it is definitely quality of life threatening, and it is most certainly injury as any qualified physician or physiologist will testify. As I said above, it is insidious, in that the damage isn't obvious at the time of the injury, and it is cumulative, so that repeated events add up over time. The initial post implies, quite clearly, that firing a .36 cal black powder revolver on an open range will not cause hearing damage. Seeing no dissenting opinion, a shooter new to black powder sports would easily accept that premise without question. But, that's simply not true - the damage isn't noticeable, and it isn't major, but if continued over time it will result in permanent, significant hearing loss. In a later post we learn that the reason the OP claims no hearing damage is that his hearing is already damaged. That's certainly a much different scenario than what was initially represented. It's possible that his hearing loss is so profound that no further damage is possible, or that the amount of additional damage is negligible. But that doesn't apply to a young person just getting into black powder shooting sports, and we have some responsibility to provide those new shooters with accurate information relative to their circumstances. Frankly, if one wants to go out and enjoy the BOOM, and accept that in doing so he's doing damage to his hearing, that's just fine with me; they're your ears, Bubba, have a ball. You can even tell yourself that it's not hurting you - no skin off my nose. But I won't sit by an let you promulgate that lie to others. They at least deserve to know that not everyone agrees, so they can go get honest, accurate information.