The potential for harm from blast waves gets almost no attention from the shooting public, even though people can experience concussion-like symptoms after a day at the range, said Jeff Balcourt, who is an acoustic consultant for the National Shooting Sports Foundation and a designer of indoor ranges for Balco Defense Company.
“It’s one of those unspoken things,” he said. “You don’t realize that after a whole day of shooting, you have that ringing in your ears and that headache.”
Each blast creates waves of rapidly changing high and low pressure. The power of the blast is typically measured by recording the peak pressure of the biggest wave.
The U.S. military currently says that any blast wave that peaks below 4 P.S.I. is safe — though that guideline is not based on solid evidence, and will likely change as research progresses.
In The Times tests, sensors showed that the booth walls doubled the peak pressure for many guns, compared with shooting in the open. With a .357 revolver, the peak pressure tripled.
The smaller-caliber weapons that The Times tested at an indoor range created blasts that measured 1.3 P.S.I. on average — far below the military’s 4 p.s.i safety threshold.
But one gun far exceeded what the military says is safe. A .50-caliber rifle — one of the more powerful guns on the market, which shoots a thumb-sized high-velocity projectile originally designed to pierce vehicle armor — measured 7.6 P.S.I. on average when fired from a prone position.
— Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Dave Philipps and Target Shooting Could Be Causing Brain Injuries. We Measured the Danger.
Before the .50 Cal round started showing up on shooting ranges, the .300 Weatherby Magnum was a fair substitute for generating extreme noise levels. A few years ago, I had the pleasure of sharing a range with someone shooting such a rifle. Only in this case, the rifle was equipped with a suppressor. It was merely loud.
…about the NYT article…: ANTI-GUNNERS ACCIDENTALLY HELP US IN NFA FIGHT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZx72FOokXk
Seems like another good argument for over-the-counter suppressor availability.
Of course they interpret it as an argument to ban all recreational and sport shooting even as they support legal weed and defend drug addiction as an affirming life choice which of course have no affect on the brain.
But a solid punch to the head by the average ANTIFA terrorist to the heads of the journalist they assaulted in Portland is about 150 P.S.I (the average person can deliver a punch with about 150 PSI) – so lets ban far left ANTIFA and the left wing in general because they want to murder us.
Did ya know trivia: As a specific demographic, relative to other demographics, ‘demographic sect members’ within the left wing have seriously injured/wounded or murdered, using non-firearm weapons (including hand/feet) more people in the last six months than were seriously injured/wounded or murdered in all of the mass/school shootings in the last 10 years.
Legal weed is not a civil right. But keeping and bearing arms is. But weed certainly is part of the “bread and circuses” liberal agenda.
New York headquartered writers have never held or shot a BB gun. Let alone shot real guns. And they have chosen to not even try to learn about them.
It never occurs to them that a safety device called a suppressor is the answer to solve this harmful loud noise.
The media are the enemy of civil rights.
I was at an indoor range in Utah that rented machine guns. One dude had brought a Barret .50 cal semi auto to shoot. The range was built to handle it. It felt like the whole building rattled when he touched it off.
Fun day.
I used to shoot at an indoor range that allowed 50 cal. No dust in those rafters. I haven’t shot there in a while, since I signed up at an outdoor range where a membership is less than 1/6 the price, and I can shoot out to 300 yards. I do still go there to buy now and then, since they provide an in-house lifetime warranty on firearms.
Yes. I would much rather shoot outdoors. But this place was in the middle of a city. Just a short drive away.
Shooting my Ruger SuperRedhawk .44 mag indoors was fun, but it did beat you up a bit.
I can’t imagine myself wanting to experience a .50 BMG lighting off indoors, no mater what earpro I had on.
I wouldn’t enjoy that degree of concussive blast…
It wasn’t that bad. Dude with the fiddy was to my right. He was shooting semi auto and he was taking his time. Dude on my left was shooting a full auto, drum fed, 12 ga like from the predator movie. That thing sucked. Both these guys were several stalls away. We also had someone doing a belt fed down a ways. I think it was 7.62 nato. People in Utah believe in 2a.
My worst indoor experience was here in CA. Guy shooting a .50 cal Desert Eagle in the stall next to me. His empty brass kept raining down into my slot.
It was like having smoking trash cans thrown at you.
Moderation. Again.
In 40 years of shooting, I’ve never gotten a headache from shooting indoors and have no ear ringing.
Some folks musy just go cheap on hearing protection.
“Some folks musy just go cheap on hearing protection.”
Active noise reduction muffs backed up by 20 Db-down viso-elastic foam EAR plugs, junior…
I don’t use indoor ranges any more for just that reason. It seems there is always someone in the next lane with his muzzle braked, high powered rifle, a years worth of ammunition and 15 minutes to shot it all up.