Wacky stuff I've heard about firearms

[Runs With Fire]

I have heard a few things lately that I thought were off . It usually comes from martial arts instructors who "have done reasearch on using firearms" but either have limited experience and knowledge, or constantly blow things out of proportion.
I have heard that since all ranges require hearing protection, you don't really know the volume of the percussion from a gun, and percussion of a 9mm will be painfull and disorienting to the shooter. I guess some people never went tromping through the woods and just decided to shoot at something.
Next up, after firing a full magazine, the small barrel of a pistol gets hot enough to burn you during a disarm. Well, I suppose, if you have incredibly dainty hands and someone fires a Glock with a 30 round magazine and you grab the toe of the barrel after hold open, maybey.
And this one: the spent brass flies out of the chamber with enough force to hurt. Why, his (my) 10mm hand cannon can take off a finger with spent brass.
Two more,
The force of slide blowback on a semiautomatic pistol can injure your hand, rendering it useless in a fight. I mean, I've seen scratches from slide bite, but that's all. Nothing much.
And I someone fires a large caliber pistol or a rifle or shotgun at you or too near you, the sound will stun you and break the eardrums. Well, that .300 mag carbine with a two way horizontal muzzle brake level with my ears and three feet away was pretty loud, though not painful and I have had a 12 gauge fire barely over my head from 15-20 feet. That's why you need to be careful while hunting. We were in a cornfield, corn was a hand taller than me. The top of the corn took shot. Needless to say, I didn't hunt with him again on that trip. Anyway it wasn't that bad, just ringing ears.
I don't think that I am just insensitive, half deaf, and brutish. I do think that some people seem to think that guns are more powerful or more scary than they ever seemed to me. And please, if you're not a firearms expert, don't be the only firearms information some poor people will ever get. Just make buddies with an expert and invite them to share wisdom.

 

[Runs With Fire]

Btw, I'm no expert. I'm just a redneck who is trying to be proficient and striving toward expertise. Edit: I think that just turned into my first rant.

 

[hoshin1600]

i understand what you are saying and im no expert so ill pose this as a question.
does where the firearm is discharged have influence on the percussive decibels?
i would assume that a corn field would have a lower impact than in a block concrete range and these would be different than inside a residence and even more different than inside a vehicle.
i have heard a story where a police officer had a firearm discharge while fighting with an assailant within his vehicle and the sound was deafening and disorienting.
it is possible that people hear rare, extreme examples and apply them to all situations. to those who are not familiar or comfortable (or even politically against) with firearms , they are deadly and very scary.

 

[Flying Crane]

I was target shooting with a friend in a rock quarry, he fired his .30-30 rifle from about ten feet to my side while I was about even with the end of the muzzle. The shockwave and sound felt like I was punched in the back.

This might have been different if we were in an open field instead of a semi-enclosed quarry. But yeah, under certain circumstances, it can be deafening and you can feel it.

Another time, as a child we were target shooting with our fathers. My friends father fired a semi-auto .22, and the ejected cartridge flipped out and burned my friend’s arm. So yeah, things can happen. Maybe some stories are exaggerated, but things can happen.

 

[Runs With Fire]

An enclosed area would make a big difference. Is a cartridge, even if it were red hot, going to do anything worth complaining about if it just bounces off your arm. I mean, it would leave a red spot, Mabry a tiny blister or scab, but what's that? I think most of this comes from the sort of people who make exaggerated complaints about everything. Sure, shooting my mosin in the bedroom would be loud, but probably no louder than when I tried to make firecrackers. DON'T EVER TRY AND MAKE FIRECRACKERS WITH BLACK POWDER! #NOMOREEYEBROWS

I mean, I guess even if it is loud or gets hot/ burns a little, who cares?

 

[Runs With Fire]

Mabry It's just because I'm a recheck and guns are just to dadblamed fun to ever complain about.

 

[Flying Crane]

An enclosed area would make a big difference. Is a cartridge, even if it were red hot, going to do anything worth complaining about if it just bounces off your arm. I mean, it would leave a red spot, Mabry a tiny blister or scab, but what's that? I think most of this comes from the sort of people who make exaggerated complaints about everything. Sure, shooting my mosin in the bedroom would be loud, but probably no louder than when I tried to make firecrackers. DON'T EVER TRY AND MAKE FIRECRACKERS WITH BLACK POWDER! #NOMOREEYEBROWS

I mean, I guess even if it is loud or gets hot/ burns a little, who cares?

Well, my friend was burned enough to start crying, but we were probably 7 or so years old at the time.

I made plenty of firecrackers with pyrodex in my youth. No bad mishaps, but there is a lot of potential there.

 

[CB Jones]

percussion from a gun, and percussion of a 9mm will be painfull and disorienting to the shooter.

Actually most of time the shooter never hears or notices the sound or percussion when in a shooting due to auditory exclusion.

I wouldn’t expect permanent damage to occur due to a shooting unless the muzzle was within 1 foot of someone’s ear. Outside of that I would expect only temporary damage or discomfort.

 

[Oni_Kadaki]

Actually most of time the shooter never hears or notices the sound or percussion when in a shooting due to auditory exclusion.

I wouldn’t expect permanent damage to occur due to a shooting unless the muzzle was within 1 foot of someone’s ear. Outside of that I would expect only temporary damage or discomfort.

This may be getting into the weeds, but caliber makes a huge different here. A 9mm fired off in close quarters a few times may make your ears hurt, but I doubt there will be significant long term damage. An AR-15, on the other hand, is loud. Really loud. Not to mention the flash and blast from the muzzle is considerable, especially from shorter barrels. That is actually one of the reasons I prefer pistols or pistol-caliber carbines for home defense despite the inferior ballistics.

 

[Runs With Fire]

This may be getting into the weeds, but caliber makes a huge different here. A 9mm fired off in close quarters a few times may make your ears hurt, but I doubt there will be significant long term damage. An AR-15, on the other hand, is loud. Really loud. Not to mention the flash and blast from the muzzle is considerable, especially from shorter barrels. That is actually one of the reasons I prefer pistols or pistol-caliber carbines for home defense despite the inferior ballistics.

Louder than a small pistol, but petsonally, I don't consider a .223 to be loud even with a 16 inch barrel, at least in comparison to other common hunting rifles. Might be why I am biased. I am including in my experiance some guns a heck of alot louder and more powerfull than what alot of people are exposed to these days. I mean, a.223 isn't quiet, but it's no 30-06 or 7mag. A 10mm carbine would be sweet! But my wife just informed me of a sudden need to save a bit more money, another little one on the way. Woo hoo!

 

[Danny T]

This may be getting into the weeds, but caliber makes a huge different here. A 9mm fired off in close quarters a few times may make your ears hurt, but I doubt there will be significant long term damage. An AR-15, on the other hand, is loud. Really loud. Not to mention the flash and blast from the muzzle is considerable, especially from shorter barrels. That is actually one of the reasons I prefer pistols or pistol-caliber carbines for home defense despite the inferior ballistics.

A 9mm on discharge is rated at 159 dB. while a .223 is rated a 155 dB.
For reference; a .357 Magnum 164.3 dB while a Colt 45 ACP is 157dB.

 

[Oni_Kadaki]

A 9mm on discharge is rated at 159 dB. while a .223 is rated a 155 dB.
For reference; a .357 Magnum 164.3 dB while a Colt 45 ACP is 157dB.

Source? That doesn't match with my experience at all.

Also, Run With Fire, I am in no way arguing that a 5.56 is louder than a .30-06, but it's still plenty loud, especially from an SBR. Also, congrats on the new addition!

 

[Runs With Fire]

Source? That doesn't match with my experience at all.

Also, Run With Fire, I am in no way arguing that a 5.56 is louder than a .30-06, but it's still plenty loud, especially from an SBR. Also, congrats on the new addition!

Do you think the .223/5.56 is loud enough to hurt?

 

[Tez3]

I wouldn’t expect permanent damage to occur due to a shooting unless the muzzle was within 1 foot of someone’s ear

My OH has high tone deafness along with most of the British military. You can't wear ear defenders in war though the powers that be have come up recently with custom made for each person little bits of expensive plastic ( about a thousand quid a pair) that fit in the ears, not a lot of help though. My OH's is due not just to weapons (SLR, GPMG, mortars etc as well as 76 mm L23A1 gun on the Scorpions) but because he was in the RAF Regt, also the noise of aircraft. One squadron he was on looked after Harriers in the field, they'd take off feet away, straight up, impressive but noisy. Most of the time it was weapons though ( Falklands war, Northern Ireland, Oman).

 

[CB Jones]

My OH has high tone deafness along with most of the British military. You can't wear ear defenders in war though the powers that be have come up recently with custom made for each person little bits of expensive plastic ( about a thousand quid a pair) that fit in the ears, not a lot of help though. My OH's is due not just to weapons (SLR, GPMG, mortars etc as well as 76 mm L23A1 gun on the Scorpions) but because he was in the RAF Regt, also the noise of aircraft. One squadron he was on looked after Harriers in the field, they'd take off feet away, straight up, impressive but noisy. Most of the time it was weapons though ( Falklands war, Northern Ireland, Oman).

Absolutely.

I was talking about a single shooting event is not gonna cause permanent damage.

 

[Oni_Kadaki]

Do you think the .223/5.56 is loud enough to hurt?

I do, and again, especially from an SBR.

 

[JR 137]

Do you think the .223/5.56 is loud enough to hurt?

If an AR-15 is .233, yes, it’s loud enough to hurt. We were at an outdoor gun range, and my idiot cousin decided to start shooting while I was about an arm’s length away from the barrel of the AR-15. I didn’t get a chance to put my ear plugs in. It wasn’t disorienting, but it was quite loud and painful enough. It was before noon, and my ears were still ringing when I went to sleep. I was 15.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I have heard that since all ranges require hearing protection, you don't really know the volume of the percussion from a gun, and percussion of a 9mm will be painfull and disorienting to the shooter. I guess some people never went tromping through the woods and just decided to shoot at something.

Firing without ear protection will (assuming we're not talking about a .22 riffle here...) make your ears ring, and can lead to hearing loss. Painful? Meh. I doubt it.

Next up, after firing a full magazine, the small barrel of a pistol gets hot enough to burn you during a disarm. Well, I suppose, if you have incredibly dainty hands and someone fires a Glock with a 30 round magazine and you grab the toe of the barrel after hold open, maybey.

Depends... obviously you don't generally grab the barrel, and the slide certainly isn't going to be hot. However, when I'm shooting my suppressed Glock 41, it doesn't take very many magazines before the suppressor is too hot to touch comfortably (and suppressors do require tightening).

And this one: the spent brass flies out of the chamber with enough force to hurt. Why, his (my) 10mm hand cannon can take off a finger with spent brass.

Clearly nonsense.

The force of slide blowback on a semiautomatic pistol can injure your hand, rendering it useless in a fight. I mean, I've seen scratches from slide bite, but that's all. Nothing much.
And I someone fires a large caliber pistol or a rifle or shotgun at you or too near you, the sound will stun you and break the eardrums.

Rampant silliness.

 

[Tez3]

Absolutely.

I was talking about a single shooting event is not gonna cause permanent damage.

And there's also that 'husband deafness' when you are telling him something you need doing!

 

[Runs With Fire]

If an AR-15 is .233, yes, it’s loud enough to hurt. We were at an outdoor gun range, and my idiot cousin decided to start shooting while I was about an arm’s length away from the barrel of the AR-15. I didn’t get a chance to put my ear plugs in. It wasn’t disorienting, but it was quite loud and painful enough. It was before noon, and my ears were still ringing when I went to sleep. I was 15.

The standard ar15 and simular fifles are 5.56mm, which is functionally a .223 Remington. If I remember right, 5.56 is loaded a smidge lower pressure and the brass is a tad thinner. However, depending on how tight the tolorace of the chamber and throat, they both fire and cycle well to fine in each other. The 5.56 does better in .223 tham vice versa.