Serious need of better hearing protection!

[GunXpatriot]

To make a long story short, I was going to the range with a few people. I had always rented before because I was too lazy to go and buy a set. I was in home depot the night before and decided to look for some. I wound up buying 3M Tekk's Professional Hearing Protector model. I bought 2 since I do shoot a lot and if I was shooting with someone, they'd have protection too. They work fine, great actually. But there's one problem. They're just too big for what I do! I mostly just shoot .22lr and sometimes louder things like a .22WMR and 7.62x54r. What I need is something less clunky for when I'm shooting things like a .22lr. Does anyone have a good suggestion for an affordable, compact pair? I paid about $22 a pop for the 3M Tekks, so I guess I don't have any problem spending more. Also, I'm kinda not ready for electronic protection yet, so regular products would be preferred. Thanks so much to anyone who can help me!

 

[brmfan]

Howard Leight products are very popular and highly effective. http://www.howardleight.com/ear-muffs/leightning-l0f

 

[AK103K]

Ive always found ear plugs to be the most effective at reducing sound.

They are also a lot more comfortable and dont interfere with your natural head position when shooting long guns.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

I use regular foam plugs a lot. Depends on weather and if I want to hear other people.

Might I ask why you would not be ready for electronic protection? That seems odd. Electronic muffs work great. I can't think of any reason why someone would specifically NOT want electronics.

I get great protection by wearing foam plugs under slim electronic muffs. Hearing is close to normal and protection is excellent. Not needed for 22 rifle shooting though.

 

[Edgehill]

I bought a set of the custom molded earplugs at Walmart and they surprised me at how well they work. For .22 shooting they will be fine.

Radians Custom Molded Earplugs

They seem to work for me when I'm on the range by myself or with a few other handguns. But the other day I got dropped into the rifle range because they were busy. Standing in the stall next to a guy shooting a Mossberg and a AR-15 made them feel lacking. My wife had a set of foam plugs and normal earmuff style cans and it was difficult on her too.

But normally, they are fine.

 

[sigcurious]

+1 to the Leight L0Fs. Use them in combo with plugs. Although now that I shoot outdoors, I find myself just using the plugs.

 

[GunXpatriot]

To be honest, the Howard Leights are looking pretty good! And yeah, combo with plugs for bigger stuff seems really good. I think I may just get them. I was wondering though, are there any products that offer more hearing protection in a compact design? Not that I would really need it, but out of curiosity.

The custom earplugs look good as well.

The reason I don't really wanna go with electronic is because 1. They're more expensive, 2. I hear more people having trouble than standard ones. 3. There's too much to look at as fa as features (at least for me), to be honest, I like simplicity, and most electronic protectors don't seem very simple to me. It's funny, I'm 16, you'd think I want something more techy.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

The electronic muffs I use right now were like $24 at Gander Mountain. They're low profile and work quite well. Add the foam plugs for higher protection. I think the muffs are Caldwell brand.

 

[Cool Breeze]

I've been into some relatively large handgun loads lately (.44mag and 45-70)..........

they are loud and I use foam earplugs with silicone plugs over those. Then I put on the ear muffs........between the 3, it works well.......

 

[Sheriff Gotcha]

I used these:

Peltor 97010 Ultimate-10

Last I went to the range they worked just fine, however, I will probably be coupling them with plugs as well when I decide to go to the range more often than once every few months.

They are a bit "sizey" though to say the least, but I'm not shooting anything with a stock so it doesn't bother me. In the future I will probably be investing in some nice electronic headphones. Until then the Peltor's will do nicely.