Gun Trade World - April 2023

More documents

Recommendations

Info

great gear HEARING PROTECTION Don’t fall on deaf ears Shooting without hearing protection permanently damages your hearing. Even after just one unprotected shot. It’s as simple as that. There are a whole host of hunters and sport shooters – especially the older generation – who suffer to varying degrees from hearing loss, even deafness. At one time, hearing protection was seen as not necessary, not cool even. Those times are thankfully over. It is simply part and parcel of responsible shooting and hunting with firearms. Hence, in this article, we take a closer look at what hearing actually is, how you can damage your hearing and ways to best protect it. UNPROTECTED EARS SUFFER How do we actually hear? The outer ear consists of the auricle and the ear canal. This part, our ear, serves to catch sound vibrations. In addition, you have the middle ear with three ossicles. This system converts sound vibrations from the air into mechanical vibrations and transmits them to the inner ear. The latter consists of the 30 www.guntradeworld.com
cochlea with the auditory and balance nerves attached to it. The cochlea is the organ responsible for sound perception. This is where the conversion of mechanical vibrations into nerve impulses takes place. Wave movements occur in the cochlea, causing the hair cells in the inner ear to move. When the hair cells are stimulated, they transmit nerve impulses via the auditory nerve to the part of the brain responsible for sound processing, also known as the hearing centre. When the ear is exposed to excessively loud sounds – such as a gunshot - the hair cells in the inner ear are overstimulated, causing them to die at worst. Once the hair cells are damaged, or dead, the damage is irreversible. After all, they are not replaced. This is why it is so important to protect those hair cells as much as possible. SOUND A sound, perhaps even better as sound pressure, is measured in decibels (dB). The sound pressure of a normal conversation at a distance of one metre is 40 to 60 dB. So far, no problem. In addition, the ear can be exposed to brief moments of sound pressure above 120 dB without permanent damage. However, this kind of sound level can already feel uncomfortable and even hurt. It is the long-term exposure to sound pressure above 80 dB that can cause permanent hearing damage. Regular shooting without hearing protection can gradually damage the hair cells in our inner ear, shot after shot, and cause hearing loss. Specifically, let us consider the sound pressure of a shot from a firearm. A single shot from a rifle in calibre .30-06 Springfield creates sound pressure peaking at up to 170 dB at a distance of one metre. Even a .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge still produces more than 130 dB of sound pressure. A 12ga buckshot cartridge produces 150 dB of sound pressure, as do most handgun calibres. A morning on the geese or a round of clay pigeon shooting without hearing protection is therefore already pernicious for your ears. Let alone doing this every week, year in, year out. Exactly, hearing damage occurs. And there is no way to reverse this. Only to prevent it. TYPES OF HEARING PROTECTION By now, the reason for hearing protection is clear. It is a must when handling firearms, in the field or on the shooting range. However, there are lots of options for protecting your hearing, from simple and efficient to high-tech custom-made ones. Hearing protection can be roughly divided into two groups, earplugs, and earmuffs. Both types ensure that harmful sound pressure is kept out of your inner ear. Earplugs Foam earplugs are the most common and cheapest way to protect your hearing. You roll these between your thumb and forefinger until they form a thin rod that you insert into your ear canal. Once in place, the foam expands back, completely sealing off the ear canal. Silicone earplugs offer an equivalent alternative. These earplugs made of both foam and silicone have a limited number of uses. Solid earplugs are also available and much more durable. These block the ear canal rather by their conical shape than by expansion as with the flexible plugs. The biggest advantage of earplugs is their very small size and the fact that they therefore do not get in the way when shooting. On the other hand, the feeling of constantly having two plugs in your ear canal is not the most comfortable when wearing them for hours. Besides, it is difficult to communicate with your colleagues when wearing such plugs. Earmuffs Earmuffs consist of two caps, usually made of plastic, lined with sound-absorbing material, and connected to a headband. Because you wear these muffs over your ears – there is nothing in your ear canal like with earplugs – these muffs are much more comfortable to wear. However, they are much bulkier than plugs and can therefore interfere with shooting. Active hearing protection The types of hearing protection we have discussed so far are passive protectors. They mainly serve to block out noise. Any sound. This means that soft, non-harmful sounds, such as animal noises, but also the words of your hunting buddy, are blocked off. Not really useful when you are out hunting together with friends or want to hear game approaching through the thicket on a driven hunt. This is precisely why advanced, active types of hearing protection were developed earlier. This type of active, electronic hearing protection, available in both earplugs and muffs, lets ‘normal’ sounds through but filters and blocks out harmful sounds. The next step is hearing protection that will even amplify certain sounds. Think of it as binoculars for your ears. Also Hearing protection is like a good pocket knife. It is best to have it on hand constantly and it always comes in handy. possible is hearing protection that connects via bluetooth to your mobile phone or a walkie talkie. Totally luxurious are active, electronic earplugs that are completely custom-made for your ear canal. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT The question is not ‘do you want hearing protection?’, but what type do you want? The need to protect your hearing as a hunter is obvious. Everyone has an uncle, grandfather or elderly hunting friend who hears very badly, or no longer. You don’t want this for yourself, do you? Passive hearing protection is the bare minimum, while active hearing protection offers so many possibilities. Hearing protection is like a good pocket knife. It is best to have it on hand constantly and it always comes in handy. GTW hearing protection www.guntradeworld.com 31
Page 1: over 11,000 copies every month in m
Page 4 and 5: APRIL 2023 ROB SMITH Editor rob.smi
Page 6 and 7: april 2023 Contents contents 03 New
Page 8: news Winchester awarded US Army con
Page 11 and 12: Professional user depicted. Observe
Page 14 and 15: NEWS SIGHTRON PARTNERS WITH BCE MAR
Page 16 and 17: news Bergara opens its subsidiary i
Page 18 and 19: LAW ENFORCEMENT NEWS Mossberg appoi
Page 20 and 21: FEATURE The Streamlight booth was a
Page 22 and 23: FEATURE Armament Technology’s Tre
Page 24 and 25: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE PITS PRESIDEN
Page 26 and 27: FEaTURE Robert nioa (centre) flanke
Page 28 and 29: FEATURE KEY DECISIONS PUSH PRO-SHOT
Page 32 and 33: SPOTLIGHT WHEN AMMO RULES SUPREME I
Page 34 and 35: spotlight In rimfire the firing pin
Page 36 and 37: Usiness ALAsKA D O I N G B U S I N
Page 38 and 39: usiness Hunting - and guided huntin
Page 40 and 41: Usiness famous creek street boardwa
Page 42 and 43: MAKING CONTACT The Bull Rifle Rest
Page 44 and 45: MAKING CONTACT BLASER Blaser plants
Page 46 and 47: MAKING CONTACT MOSSBERG 28148 PATRI
Page 48 and 49: MAKING CONTACT DAVIDE PEDERSOLI Ped
Page 50: MAKING CONTACT DERYA Derya sees DY9

Gun Trade World - April 2023

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?