My Grande Journey

[Esox]

Bachman Turner Overdrive - remember them?

 

[Somerled]

View attachment 963581

You aint seen nothin yet!

 

[Esox]

You aint seen nothin yet!

I'm too busy takin care of business! hahaha.

 

[Clay S]

I have, to many times to count.

The first shot hunting with a high powered rifle. I've never worn ear plugs when hunting. At the shot I'd hear a 'bong' sound like my ears had been boxed or something, then loud ringing. Its always faded, sometimes in the first few minutes, sometime its taken hours. It also depended on where I was shooting. If I was in the open it wasnt as bad, caliber depending, but if I was in thick trees and the sound couldnt disperse as easily it was worse.

Thats only happened with calibers from .270 and larger and there was no pain. The most uncomfortable was a .22 handgun without ear protection. They hurt my ears more than anything. I've never had any of that shooting a shotgun.

"Recreational Firearm Noise Exposure

Michael Stewart, PhD, CCC-A, Professor of Audiology, Central Michigan University
Audiology Information Series

Firearms Are Loud

Exposure to noise greater than 140 dB can permanently damage hearing. Almost all firearms create noise that is over the 140-dB level. A small .22-caliber rifle can produce noise around 140 dB, while big-bore rifles and pistols can produce sound over 175 dB. Firing guns in a place where sounds can reverberate, or bounce off walls and other structures, can make noises louder and increase the risk of hearing loss. Also, adding muzzle brakes or other modifications can make the firearm louder. People who do not wear hearing protection while shooting can suffer a severe hearing loss with as little as one shot, if the conditions are right. Audiologists see this often, especially during hunting season when hunters and bystanders may be exposed to rapid fire from big-bore rifles, shotguns, or pistols."

Recreational Firearm Noise Exposure

I guess the Van Halen concert had the same effect but it was so loud I dont remember hearing a change while they were playing, but I still remember when we left being in the parking lot and not hearing anything. I wasnt the only one either. Everything sounded muted and dull for 3 days.

After reading that article, it reminded me of my first hearing tests after having hearing loss. (I had tests as a young child due to a speech impediment.)

Audiologist - "Raise whichever hand you hear a tone in"
Me - <raise both hands>
Audiologist - "We haven't started the test yet"
Me - "So a different ringing than what I'm hearing now?"

tinnitus - but I don't play tennis

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

There's just about nothing I like less than going to the range when people are playing with their magnums.

Take 'em to the woods where it's just you and that horrible gun.

No, I'm not anti magnum, just anti magnums at the range. Indoors or at a covered shooting stage where the sound bounces off the roof the vibrations drive me away every time. It just feels bad in my body and my mind and my head and my ears.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Esox]

After reading that article, it reminded me of my first hearing tests after having hearing loss. (I had tests as a young child due to a speech impediment.)

Audiologist - "Raise whichever hand you hear a tone in"
Me - <raise both hands>
Audiologist - "We haven't started the test yet"
Me - "So a different ringing than what I'm hearing now?"

tinnitus - but I don't play tennis

I had that same test when I was young. I fell down the stairs and developed tinnitus. I couldnt even sleep because of the ringing in my ears. I still have it too, I can hear it right now but I've become use to it. It still aggravates me when I'm trying to sleep without some kind of white noise playing though.

When I finished that hearing test they said my hearing was 7 points above normal. I still have very good hearing too. I was sitting here watching TV the other night with the window cracked open about 6"s and heard what I thought was someone walking around outside. When I got up to look all I saw was a skunk so I dismissed it. Then I heard it again, like quiet stealthy footsteps, so I went to look again. The same skunk was all I saw, then it started walking and I could hear its footsteps on the frozen grass lol.

 

[Clay S]

I had that same test when I was young. I fell down the stairs and developed tinnitus. I couldnt even sleep because of the ringing in my ears. I still have it too, I can hear it right now but I've become use to it. It still aggravates me when I'm trying to sleep without some kind of white noise playing though.

When I finished that hearing test they said my hearing was 7 points above normal. I still have very good hearing too. I was sitting here watching TV the other night with the window cracked open about 6"s and heard what I thought was someone walking around outside. When I got up to look all I saw was a skunk so I dismissed it. Then I heard it again, like quiet stealthy footsteps, so I went to look again. The same skunk was all I saw, then it started walking and I could hear its footsteps on the frozen grass lol.

My hearing, not so great. As I said earlier, it was bad at 18. Then when they do frequency drop offs when you hear them vs. how old you are. I should be 70-80 from my hearing. Being almost 55, well not much to say.

 

[Esox]

There's just about nothing I like less than going to the range when people are playing with their magnums.

The muzzle blast from my Sako .338 Lapua needs to be witnessed lol. 96 grains of powder from a 24" barrel is something to see, especially in the dark. Forget about a follow up shot, you're blind lol.

When I was developing loads for it I set my chronograph 6 feet from the muzzle. First shot it blew the sticker off the face of it and knocked the tripod over.

I can feel the concussion from it hitting me but its worse for those 6-10 feet from me. Prone from a bipod is the worst though. The concussion from it is doubled and you get dirt in the face.

Its even noticeable at the range. The 300m range has a baffle at about 40 yards from the firing line and with that rifle I can even feel the concussion bounce off the baffle and come back at me. Worse again are the concrete benches they made, which are pretty long and the barrels of rifles dont go past the edge so its bounces off the bench top and straight into the steel roof over your head. Its like being inside an echo chamber, which essentially, it is.

People would leave the firing line when I brought that rifle out and I dont blame them. They didnt take acoustics into it when they designed it, but they should have. Sounds waves need space to propagate into and they can be directed.

This is the 300m firing line.

Incidentally, that baffle also screwed up my 200m and 300m .44 magnum handgun shooting. I cant get enough elevation to make a hit without hitting the baffle. I cant even make a hit at 100m with a .45ACP 1911 anymore.

 

[Esox]

My hearing, not so great. As I said earlier, it was bad at 18. Then when they do frequency drop offs when you hear them vs. how old you are. I should be 70-80 from my hearing. Being almost 55, well not much to say.

I very much doubt mine is as good as it was but I've never had another test. I think hunting and shooting so much over the years has damaged my hearing more than anything else.

These days thats not so much an issue. My nephew has some sort of ear plugs that only block sounds over a certain decibel level but let you hear everything else. He uses them when hes rifle hunting.

 

[Clay S]

I very much doubt mine is as good as it was but I've never had another test. I think hunting and shooting so much over the years has damaged my hearing more than anything else.

These days thats not so much an issue. My nephew has some sort of ear plugs that only block sounds over a certain decibel level but let you hear everything else. He uses them when hes rifle hunting.

​

The VA gave me a set of Hearing Aids. So I had them tested a couple of months before that. That was about a year ago. Turn signals in cars now sound like clackers* going at a slow pace.

When I first walked into my kitchen from the garage, I about jumped out of my skin. I brushed against a plastic potato sack that I probably ran into forever, but I never heard it before. Sounded like something hissing at me.

*

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

The muzzle blast from my Sako .338 Lapua needs to be witnessed lol. 96 grains of powder from a 24" barrel is something to see, especially in the dark. Forget about a follow up shot, you're blind lol.

When I was developing loads for it I set my chronograph 6 feet from the muzzle. First shot it blew the sticker off the face of it and knocked the tripod over.

I can feel the concussion from it hitting me but its worse for those 6-10 feet from me. Prone from a bipod is the worst though. The concussion from it is doubled and you get dirt in the face.

Its even noticeable at the range. The 300m range has a baffle at about 40 yards from the firing line and with that rifle I can even feel the concussion bounce off the baffle and come back at me. Worse again are the concrete benches they made, which are pretty long and the barrels of rifles dont go past the edge so its bounces off the bench top and straight into the steel roof over your head. Its like being inside an echo chamber, which essentially, it is.

People would leave the firing line when I brought that rifle out and I dont blame them. They didnt take acoustics into it when they designed it, but they should have. Sounds waves need space to propagate into and they can be directed.

This is the 300m firing line.

View attachment 963599

Incidentally, that baffle also screwed up my 200m and 300m .44 magnum handgun shooting. I cant get enough elevation to make a hit without hitting the baffle. I cant even make a hit at 100m with a .45ACP 1911 anymore.

You might have just the gun for fixing part of that baffle.

Somebody should have done a bit more homework before building that thing, Mike. Well, that thing means more than one of "that thing" as somebody built several things without enough homework. They might have asked you what to do! Seriously? Not accounting for obvious factors wasn't smart design or engineering or whatever you call it.

It's of the form of mistake we all should have learned long ago.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

The VA gave me a set of Hearing Aids. So I had them tested a couple of months before that. That was about a year ago. Turn signals in cars now sound like clackers* going at a slow pace.

When I first walked into my kitchen from the garage, I about jumped out of my skin. I brushed against a plastic potato sack that I probably ran into forever, but I never heard it before. Sounded like something hissing at me.

*

It took months for them to gradually turn up my HA's to the level they knew I needed to be at. One's brain simply can't deal with it right away.

 

[Esox]

The VA gave me a set of Hearing Aids. So I had them tested a couple of months before that. That was about a year ago. Turn signals in cars now sound like clackers* going at a slow pace.

When I first walked into my kitchen from the garage, I about jumped out of my skin. I brushed against a plastic potato sack that I probably ran into forever, but I never heard it before. Sounded like something hissing at me.

*

My sister and I both had a set of those when we were little lol.

Turn signals are loud in most cars these days and people still forget to turn them off!
_____

Cold day at the lake today. Two weeks too soon for the fish to I think, but the commercial boats are are working already. It took him 30 minutes or more to break his way back into the river from, at most, a mile out.

 

[Esox]

You might have just the gun for fixing part of that baffle.

Somebody should have done a bit more homework before building that thing, Mike. Well, that thing means more than one of "that thing" as somebody built several things without enough homework. They might have asked you what to do! Seriously? Not accounting for obvious factors wasn't smart design or engineering or whatever you call it.

View attachment 963692

It's of the form of mistake we all should have learned long ago.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Myself and 5 others were in charge of clearing the land so the ranges could be built. Six solid months of chainsaw work was enough for me. I did make a suggestion or two at a meeting about the range setup but was quickly drowned out. Too many cooks in the kitchen for the easy work but ask for help clearing 6 acres of bush and a hush falls over the room lol.

A friend and I felling limbing and bucking logs, another friend with a friend of his felling, limbing and bucking and the club cook, Ken, on the tractor. Ken did more work than all of us. Him and that old 1940's something tractor dragged every log out we all cut and he did it all by himself with gloves and a chain. He was older then than I am now.

The year after it was all cleared and bulldozed. Myself and two friends were again in charge of designing and laying out the trap range to ATA and Ontario Government specifications so that was another two weeks of laser ranging, staking and stringing. Then forming, pouring and finishing all the stations from 16 to 27 yards. Our names are stamped into the pad in the range building for the Trap range.

All of that was after three of us designed and built, in a friends auto shop, a take down trap house with a hinged roof. The floor, 2x12 White Ash sheeted with 5/8" ply, take down walls pinned together then lag bolted once in place, installed the automatic thrower machine, then the roof went on framed with 2x4's with 1/4" sheeting split in half lengthwise. Hinged at the front so one half of the roof lifted at a time for loading the house with cases of birds. Then I painted it all one afternoon and then someone put steel siding on the roof without talking to anyone and somehow managed to not understand that the roof was two parts that opened independently of each other so it all had to come off and be done again lol.

I suggested 2x2 for the roof but was overruled. After it was finished they said they should have listened to me and used 2x2 lol. I just shrugged and said "Its not my job loading the house but I did say it was gonna be heavy..."

Because it is so heavy someone thought a prop system to hold the doors up when open was a good idea. So they installed a cut off 2x4 on a rod that rotates as a lever arm to hold the doors open. I went down and had a look at it and saw it didnt have a safety lol. I asked them, "What happens when someones elbow hits that prop?" Each side of the roof weighs about 150lbs and the back end is likely 5 feet in the air when propped open lol. I picked up a scrap 2x4 and whacked the prop, BANG as it closed, then I said "Now imagine you're standing bent over under it and it just hit you flat on the back. It needs a safety." So now when either side of the roof is open and the prop in place, a rod goes through the prop and the wall frame with a cotter pin so it cant kill someone if it falls closed by accident.

I've done a lot of work at that club. There were around 150 members then. Now, the last I heard, there were over 1000.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Myself and 5 others were in charge of clearing the land so the ranges could be built. Six solid months of chainsaw work was enough for me. I did make a suggestion or two at a meeting about the range setup but was quickly drowned out. Too many cooks in the kitchen for the easy work but ask for help clearing 6 acres of bush and a hush falls over the room lol.

A friend and I felling limbing and bucking logs, another friend with a friend of his felling, limbing and bucking and the club cook, Ken, on the tractor. Ken did more work than all of us. Him and that old 1940's something tractor dragged every log out we all cut and he did it all by himself with gloves and a chain. He was older then than I am now.

The year after it was all cleared and bulldozed. Myself and two friends were again in charge of designing and laying out the trap range to ATA and Ontario Government specifications so that was another two weeks of laser ranging, staking and stringing. Then forming, pouring and finishing all the stations from 16 to 27 yards. Our names are stamped into the pad in the range building for the Trap range.

All of that was after three of us designed and built, in a friends auto shop, a take down trap house with a hinged roof. The floor, 2x12 White Ash sheeted with 5/8" ply, take down walls pinned together then lag bolted once in place, installed the automatic thrower machine, then the roof went on framed with 2x4's with 1/4" sheeting split in half lengthwise. Hinged at the front so one half of the roof lifted at a time for loading the house with cases of birds. Then I painted it all one afternoon and then someone put steel siding on the roof without talking to anyone and somehow managed to not understand that the roof was two parts that opened independently of each other so it all had to come off and be done again lol.

I suggested 2x2 for the roof but was overruled. After it was finished they said they should have listened to me and used 2x2 lol. I just shrugged and said "Its not my job loading the house but I did say it was gonna be heavy..."

Because it is so heavy someone thought a prop system to hold the doors up when open was a good idea. So they installed a cut off 2x4 on a rod that rotates as a lever arm to hold the doors open. I went down and had a look at it and saw it didnt have a safety lol. I asked them, "What happens when someones elbow hits that prop?" Each side of the roof weighs about 150lbs and the back end is likely 5 feet in the air when propped open lol. I picked up a scrap 2x4 and whacked the prop, BANG as it closed, then I said "Now imagine you're standing bent over under it and it just hit you flat on the back. It needs a safety." So now when either side of the roof is open and the prop in place, a rod goes through the prop and the wall frame with a cotter pin so it cant kill someone if it falls closed by accident.

I've done a lot of work at that club. There were around 150 members then. Now, the last I heard, there were over 1000.

I'm far lazier than you but I get the problem. For a long time I've been a member of a non-fancy neighborhood pool. The pool was built in 1964. It's old but big and simply beautiful if you don't care about new and fancy. It requires a good bit of preseason maintenance (during the season when the pool is open it's mostly just adding chemicals). The grounds require a good bit of work, too.

Many members have opinions. Almost as many have criticisms. Few show up to do the hard work. I'm by far not the hardest or best worker (one man, my friend who is an engineer of the type who also knows how to actually do everything right and is a super good guy to boot, gets that title).

I've actually retired as a pool labor pool member. Age has few benefits but I'm old enough to not be ashamed when I miss work day at the pool (work day is actually work days, but most people don't know that; they think the work is done by elves or something like that). Now I just bore everyone talking about razors.

Your gun club looks like an amazing enterprise. I'd join if the drive were shorter.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Esox]

Properly maintaining a pool is a lot of work and time. The friend with the auto shop had an in ground pool and he wasnt happy with it unless the water sparkled just right lol.

The workbee at the club for the general membership was every second Saturday of the month, but yeah, for most of us it was a workbee every time we went. The work never ends and the more members, the more needs to be done. A 10% turnout of the membership at a general meeting is pretty good. For a workbee, 5% is good. Less cooks and more cookin' lol.

Its the best club around, but its not the same as when I was a regular. Everyone knew everyone. A good old boys kind of place and people use to show up just to shoot the ****, but not anymore. I dont know anyone down there anymore and its like strangers passing on the sidewalk or in the grocery store. A totally different environment. I still havent seen the inside of the new clubhouse since it opened 5 or 6 years ago. It even has heated floors and an elevator to the second floor. The Ontario government said that every club area needs to be wheelchair accessible so if we're already 350k over budget, why not put in an elevator! lol.

 

[jmudrick]

Enders Speed Razor (30s version)/Schick Proline. Right now my favorite SE set up. Efficiency up the wazoo.

 

[jmudrick]

Timeless DC .95 vs Barbasol Floating Head. The Barbasol is a bit more efficient and better handling. If I had to choose I'd stick with the Barbasol. Particularly well matched with the mild Treet Platinum.

 

[Esox]

This is a process of elimination so is the Timeless going on the B/S/T next?

 

[pyros]

My nephew has some sort of ear plugs that only block sounds over a certain decibel level but let you hear everything else. He uses them when hes rifle hunting.

i do?!?!