Muzzle Devices

[just_john]

gf - hearing loss is accumulative, non-healing and accumulates on a logrithmic scale. You may have had significant loss while in the military but it did not reach the threshold of "awareness" until more damage was done - ie, steam pipes, etc. I believe my major damage was done back in the mid-70's, shooting under a tin roof with minimal ( if any ) hearing protection. But, the ringing didn't start until I started spending a lot of time flying and a flight had cabin pressure problems while I had a "really good" head cold ( ears were seriously plugged up ). Because of the work that I did at the time, had access to sound-proof room with tone generators so I did a lot of "self-testing" and saw a rapid degredation of both hearing sensitivity and frequency capture. Now, everything above 4.5kHz is gone, if there is any background noise in the room, discernment of speech is difficult and the ringing is always about 3dB above ambient room noise and constant. My greatest issue now is the inability to hear / understand my younger grandson and some women's voices ( not always a bad thing? ). Have tried some hearing aids but they just make the ringing louder.
Every frequency of sound that issues from the muzzle also propogates back thru the weapon. And, at the moment of impulse, everything that moves makes a sound. If it isn't dampened by something, then it oscillates. If it oscillates, it propogates. There is a broad range of frequencies that are generated by this impulse, the lower the frequency, the greater its ability to transfer that impulse sound to / thru other components and materials.

[grayfox]

I'm with ya bro on all points!! I've been doing some studying on the pressure wave propagation of the powder burn and would agree that some transmission occurs thru the rifle during/after the shot and all of the mechanical movements.
Were there some decibel levels for the waves coming back thru the gun to the shooter?
And +1 on the wife's voice levels... my losses start I think around 6-9Khz... Navy had steam pipes as well that's where it started I'm sure (72-80).
O well, the USN did a lot of good for me so I won't complain too much!

Sorry not trying to hijack or anything...