[glock19owner]

I'm a new gun owner (Glock 19) and I want to buy my own set up hearing protection and safety glasses. My question is what should I look for in hearing protection. I've seen the standard ear muff type protectors but i've also seen the small plugs that just go into your ear. Do those protect your ears as well as the larger ear muff types?

As for the eye protection...I have some protective eye wear that I got at Home Depot for when I'm doing construction projects. Will that be sufficient when shooting at a range?

Thanks for any help!

[fapprez]

Your local harbor freight carries both. Western safety ear muffs that decrease noise levels by 18 decibels for about $5. Smith & Wesson safety glasses for about $5 as well. They are what I useand they work very well. Hope this helps

[G21.45]

Those little ear plugs are always an expedient; and, after a few hours, they can get damned uncomfortable to wear, too. Sometimes I'll wear them underneath my ear muffs, though, like when I'm shooting magnum cartridges or 50 caliber. What you, normally, want is any ear muff type hearing protector with a decibel rating at or above 27dB.

Yes, the safety glasses you got at Home Depot should be sufficient; however, my own safety glasses have always had side shields installed on them, too. As a matter of fact, I don't skimp on eye protection. I went to my optometrist and had him make me up a pair of Photo-Gray safety glasses with heavy glass lens and industrial side shields. (Buy them once; keep them forever; but, this is not something that you absolutely must do. However, I did!)

[matt g]

I wear in the ear type plugs because they have the highest attenuation rating. As far as eye protection goes, the Oakleys are ANSI Z87.1 rated and protected my eyes very well when a Mod Deuce blew up on me.

[oldandslow]

g-19owner, 9/9/08

I shoot twice a week and have gone through several types of hearing protection before I found one that I like. I prefer external muffs for most of my range work. I mainly shoot pistols at an outdoor range. The most important thing to look for in picking any hearing protection is the NRR (I believe this stands for the noise reduction rating). Look for a NRR in the high 20's to low 30's for the best protection. Then you have your choice of electonic ears or passive ones. If you are at a range where you must hear rangemaster commands then the electronic ones let you hear spoken voice commands but will decrease the sounds of gunshots. The passive muffs deaden all sound including voice commands. Passive muffs are quite a bit cheaper. I have tried two sets of electronic muffs- one set by Peltor and one by Pro-ears. The Peltors stopped working after a year and a half and the Peltor company would not answer my emails or phone calls about fixing the problems. The Pro-ears have been good so far for the past six months.
By far my favorite muffs are my Remington passive muffs with a NRR in the low 30's. They were inexpensive, comfortable and work great. I prefer them for general range use- I use the Pro-ears for pistol courses I take where I need to hear the instructor.
Hope this helps, good luck and protect those ears.

best wishes- oldandslow

[cpttango30]

I can't stand muffs. I find that for me they do not muffle the sound enough. I like Silencio. These I used to wear for 10 to 12 hours a day 6 days a week when running heavy equipment. They are comfortable and don't slide off your head.

No matter what muffs I wore they never did fit right from the $5 model to the $200 model. So I gave up on them.

For eye protection I am switching to Oakley Radar Range shooting glasses.

[adamhome]

Hi G21.45
I am captivated with the safety glasses description. If you do not mind a copy cat could you pls provide more data or a pic what will allow me to prepare a project?
thank you at front
adam