I have never heard a gun shot.
Not a real one and not close up. Not since I was a kid, certainly.
I do know they are incredibly loud.
The closest to a shot I have heard is a suppressed 45. That was still very loud.
I've had on ear protection every other time. Even hunting. It's cold out there and the noise cancelling headphones also magnify soft sounds.
I can't imagine how veterans in the older generation still have hearing. I guess a lot of them don't.
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That's one of the reasons I'm a big advocate of pistols (or pistol-caliber carbines) for home defense. Those who advocate ARs or shotguns may have ballistics on their side, but they've probably never shot one inside a building without ear protection.
When I was an instructor at a major multi-agency academy, all the ranges were indoors, and the range master sat inside a glass, semi-soundproof booth to work the targets. On the days we trained with the ARs, you had to wear ear protection inside the glass booth. Anyone walking outside the ranges could tell by the sound level (almost painful) when it was an AR class.
What??? What's that? Do I have a clearing?
Six rounds from a long barrel .41mag revolver on the roofed, open on three sides, porch of a log cabin, at age 15. That probably did some permanent damage, since my ears rang for several days. Not to mention the 1000's of various .22 rounds out of a long barrel rifle as a child. Or, the 30-30, the 8mm Mauser, 12 gauge shotshells, .45acp, etc.
At a three gun match, I got distracted and forgot my ear plugs, and fired a 12 ga under a vehicle. That convinced me that a shotgun for indoor work made sense, especially if hearing protection wasn't feasible.
One of the worst was the .223 carbine while prone in the desert, along with one more of those, plus a Garand and an M1A1 at school. I was switching between muffs and plugs during the class, and it was the first shots after a class break. Oops! That .30 cal next to me had a large muzzle brake, adding to the pain.
The worst was a 7.62 NATO fired toward me in a dim hallway at close range. The muzzle blast was clearly seen, a cone of dark matter, without any flash effect being observed. The shooter didn't seem to be much affected, but I certainly was. Tinnitus for sure after that. Constant ringing most of the time since then.
If you've ever heard G. Gordon Liddy's radio show, you will have noticed a certain vocal quality of his. Apparently, at one time he was in charge of a quad .50 installation.
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