J_Allen Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 Just a question I have been thinking about recently. Open is my favorite division so far, but also the only dot division I have participated in. I have an Atlas Chaos V1 in 38 super comp, which is super fun to shoot, but the noise is off the charts. Just too much for me and I don’t want to have permanent hearing damage. Curious what others would do in this situation - rebarrel open gun in 9mm major WITHOUT popple holes, or sell and use that money to switch to either CO or LO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Neill Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 Better hearing protection? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kujo929 Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 I double plug for open with in ear and then over ear electronics. open is more fun than the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzt Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 You can have the poppels plugged and welded. That will cut down on the noise. CO and LO are nowhere near as much fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chillywig Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 What powder you using? Bullet weight? And how many popples? I have a 9mm open gun. Buddy has a 38SC and it is noticeably louder. I think his having 8 holes vs my 3 makes a lot of difference I know my gun feels blastier shooting AA7 vs silhouette. 115s and AA7 I can feel my hair getting blown around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chillywig Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 And I will double plug sometimes too. Especially if doing something dumb like shooting through a barrel or under a covered firing line Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJH Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Put me in the double plug camp, and I don't even own a real open gun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Allen Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 (edited) Yep, already double plug with good ear pro. Using 9.8 grains of 3n38 under 124 gr JHP. Has three popple holes. It’s still crazy loud. Didn’t know I could plug the popples - will definitely look into that. Edited March 3 by J_Allen Added number of popple holes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzt Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 9.8 3N38 seems awfully high to me. Try dialing it back some. You'll have to anyway when you plug the poppels. 8.4 3N38 under a 124 JHP @ 1.161" OAL made major in 9mm. You are loading longer and will need more powder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Allen Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 (edited) I do load a lot longer than that (38 sc), and it makes 172 PF. Dial back the powder and plug the holes seems like a win-win on the noise front. Edited March 3 by J_Allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Mitch Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 You will need to accept some hearing loss even with double plugging. Popple holes are the way. If a little hearing loss is unacceptable, LO is the next most fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Quality and fit of ear pro makes a huge difference when shooting loud Open guns. I've gone through piles of them over the years, and without any hearing in one ear (not shooting related), I'd really like to keep the other one. If your glasses have big temples a lot of sound leaks right past the ear cups. Don't use cheap low-NRR muffs, although you probably don't need the huge 33 NRR ones either. 3M/Peltor makes some passive muffs that I like and don't break the bank (don't get the Tactical 500s; they have a headband with the tensile strength of graham crackers and will snap). I usually run electronic plugs so when I'm not shooting or RO'ing an Open shooter I can hear people, but the Howard Leight Max orange "rubber bullets" also work well if you don't want to spring for electronics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
392heminut Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 5 hours ago, Dr Mitch said: You will need to accept some hearing loss even with double plugging. Popple holes are the way. If a little hearing loss is unacceptable, LO is the next most fun. Being a career street cop, I stuck with Limited for most of my competition shooting, but I shot Open for 2 years several years ago. I built a 38 Super gun with a Scheumann Hybricomp barrel. That thing shot so flat it was amazing, the dot basically just did a kind of figure eight on the target when shooting. I don't remember what powder I was using, but it was loud as hell! After two years I gladly went back to Limited. I'm now shooting Limited Optics and love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzt Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 I use the Howard Leight orange plugs inserted properly. The reduce by 33dB. Put a pair of good electronic muffs over them and you end up with 36dB of reduction. Turn the electronics off when running Open shooters, and back on when not. For those of you running analog electronics, the muffs are not reducing in time. So the initial blast gets through until the circuit activates. Most digital muffs are better. The best activate in a few microseconds. Another tip. Replace the buff collar with a silicone collar and you get a couple more dB reduction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beltfedgoodness Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 If you want to maybe swap that chaos for a Hyperion v2 to go shoot LO hit me up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akarhi Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 I never had an issue with my ear pros with 38 SC and 9 major (i dont double up usually unless at im at an indoor range. I got tested and hearing stayed the same). You could try some custom fit ear pros (you can use your HSA if you have one). But for the issues. Might aswell get another barrel for 9 major. You cant really rebarrel a 38 SC to 9. Usually 38 SC is loader than 9 major in general due to the amount of powder and more room to expand initially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donno Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 My 9 open is louder than my 38, or at least I think it is. Powder charge for both is about the same but folks tell me the 9 is worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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