Today’s topic is important. To break from our normal writing voice, I’d like to write this article in the first person and share some of my experiences from the past 18 years working in the airgun industry. Hopefully, these will help everyone consider safety gear with airguns and safety in general. Let’s get started.
Ear Protection, Yes or No?
It’s not macho to be deaf. If you asked a group of people who have suffered hearing loss if they wish they could go back and do things differently, you’d probably get a much higher percentage saying yes than no. It’s really all in the name, right? It’s called ear “protection,” which implies that our hearing is valuable and needs to be protected. Fortunately, most modern, moderated (suppressed) airguns are very gentle on our hearing and don’t really push the need to wear ear protection.
Continuous exposure to loud noises can have a negative and permanent impact on hearing. Not all airguns are suppressed, and even some suppressed airguns can be loud. A general rule of thumb is to always wear hearing protection for airguns that exceed 85 dB. If you are curious as to the rated dB of your particular airgun, then using a simple phone app may give you a place to start, although I’ve personally found most dB meters or apps to be more random than reliable. But either option can at least give you a starting point.
On a personal note, I was one of the “macho” ones that didn’t need hearing protection. Now, I have a constant ringing in my ears that never stops. Ask my wife or daughter about my hearing, and I’m sure they would say that I don’t hear well. As I’m getting older, it’s getting harder and harder to make things out and I would certainly be one of those who wished they could go back and do things differently. So, I’ll do what I can going forward to protect what I have left.
Lastly, other noises go with airguns, specifically PCP airguns. For example, I have several different compressors that I use to fill my tanks or airguns. I even have a gas-powered compressor that can get very loud. Anytime you overload your hearing with unnecessarily high sound pressure, you run the risk of causing damage. And that does not account for accidents that can happen. One time in particular, I was testing and setting the pressure relief valve on a gas-powered compressor when the second condensing tower exploded. I’ve been around some loud noises in my life, but that was most definitely the worst, and it took over 8 hours for my hearing to normalize. I wish I had been wearing ear protection.
I recommend that you lean on the side of caution and common sense. Don’t let what others may think about you play a role in your decision-making. Protect your hearing. What you lose, you can’t get back.
Fortunately, there are many great products beyond big ear muffs and foam plugs. I really like the active gear that allows normal sounds at normal volume but instantly muffles sound over a certain threshold. Some of these new devices are the same size as AirPods and double as Bluetooth devices, so you can protect your hearing while going about your daily life. That’s pretty cool.
Eye Protection, Yes or No?
Some may argue that your sight is certainly something that you don’t want to take for granted. I would be one of those people. I’ve had some scary close calls over the past 18 years. I wear pretty thick glasses just to be able to see. Whenever I get new glasses, I always pay for the impact-resistant, safety-rated lenses. That way, I’m always wearing safety glasses. Not all glasses are impact-resistant, and sometimes that doesn’t even help.
I was at an event where one of the helpers was working on a CO2 pistol. The CO2 powerlet had been improperly installed and shot out of the grip like a rocket. It hit the worker in the glasses, shattering them and causing permanent damage to their eye. While they had impact-resistant glasses, having safety glasses in addition may have saved their eyesight. I don’t want to think about what may have happened if they hadn’t been wearing their glasses.
On another occasion, I was testing a new airgun. It was getting late in the day, and something felt a little “off” with how the gun was performing. But I wanted to finish my evaluation, so I reloaded the air cylinder, dropped it in the magazine, and set it up for my next shot. When I pulled the trigger, the hammer hit the valve, and the entire pressure tank and valve separated from the receiver and dumped the entire contents of the cylinder into the right side of my face. Fortunately, my glasses protected my eyes, but had I not been wearing eye protection, it would have put me in the hospital.
If you value your eyesight, then take protecting it seriously. That may be spending a bit more for better lenses or having a special set of shooting safety glasses just for the range. Or, it may be willing to look “funny” with the big wrap-around safety glasses. I am pretty sure that it’s better to look funny for an afternoon versus losing your sight for the rest of your life.
Final Thoughts
99% of the time, testing, shooting, and filling tanks and airguns goes smoothly. Protection, whether ear or eye, is less about routine day-to-day activities and far more about protecting you when things go terribly wrong. And there’s a lot that can go wrong. You don’t think about those things until after the fact, and then it’s too late. So please take my advice, as an airgunner with 18 years in the sport. Things will go wrong at some point. Be safe and protect yourself from the unexpected. You and your family will be very happy you did.
