Raechal Leone

Magnifying viewfinder and laser viewfinder, which one is for you?

When it comes to owning a gun, a person doesn’t need to think twice before committing. There aren’t many reasons why you would want to own a gun, but rest assured, our glorious Second Amendment allows the average Joe to own a gun at their peril. But if owning a gun was enough, we wouldn’t need to go to the shooting location to do a target shoot, which brings us neatly to the case of two attachments aimed at helping in this regard.

There are several visual attachments that you can associate with different types of weapons and improve their characteristics, especially when aiming. Since the average has a pistol, the most popular options are limited to two competitors: a) reflex sights and b) laser sights. Both of these attachments are used for a wide range of applications, but if you’re the average person without knowing what these are and which one you should choose (if any), it can get confusing quite quickly. So, to get a better understanding of both items, let’s take a quick look at some of the features of magnified reflex sights and laser sights.

Accuracy

Both are incredibly accurate when it comes to close positions, especially reflex sights, due to the faster acquisition of their target in close range. These can be easily used not only with firearms but also with rifles and shotguns. The reason for their imminent popularity is that reflex sights allow you to fine-tune the characteristics of the reticle displayed in the finder. But that doesn’t mean lasers are poor quality in close combat, oh no, especially for tight spots with restricted light. Laser accessories take the cake, as you can be extremely precise about your target, both near and average.

Cost

It varies greatly depending on the business that sells it to you. There are many options for you to browse, and with increasing functionality, the price will increase further. However, you do not need to spend as much money on a pair of sights because you can use some of the priciest red sights for much less from companies that care about your money.

Reliability

Both run on batteries, and like anything battery-powered, those run out of power as well. But that doesn’t mean that the product itself becomes part of the landfill, as batteries can be swapped out for newer ones. Lasers, in particular, drain their batteries very quickly, but this is expected, as they offer a much narrower focus across the spectrum.

Conclusion

The reflex viewfinder is preferable when used at close distances with an adequate amount of light as they allow the acquisition of a much better daylight target. However, lasers are best used in low light, as you can aim at very tight targets in these conditions.

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What differentiates the battue glasses from other types of glasses, and how to choose

Some hunting goggles are suitable for the hunt, just like other models are recommended for the lookout, without also forgetting the mixed goggles. Whatever device you decide to adopt, however, it will have:

an objective (or lens);
an eyepiece, which will allow you to receive clear images;
and finally comes the body of the device itself.

The illuminated reticle, often installed in the eyepiece and sometimes adopting the shape of a cross, is also an integral part of the telescope. Its function is to make the sighting as impeccable as possible.

To distinguish a battue scope from another intended for the lookout, it will be necessary above all to refer to the usual notation used for this type of hunting accessory.

Thus, when the diameter of a telescope is high (reception of less light in the lens/objective) while having the least possible magnification (reduced zoom), we will generally be in the presence of a telescope for the beat.

We can take the example of a product showing the notation 1-6 × 24: the diameter of the objective is thus 24 mm, with a zoom which goes from 1 to 6 times.

You can understand that, about the beat, the lowest magnification will always be 1 or close to 1. On the other hand, if it was a mixed product, the notation could have been 1.8 -6 × 42. Finally, with the glasses for the lookout, the diameter of the lens is large but with a possibility of still increasing magnification. We will thus have a 4-12 × 55 telescope.

Difference between red dot sight and battue scope

The red dot sights are perhaps more famous because of their frequent appearance in the cinema. But apart from that, it is still an innovative technology since it also allows the hunter to be precise in his actions.

With this type of viewfinder, there is no longer any question of closing an eye to look into the eyepiece; the two eyes can remain open, and the hunter can be guided by the red light which appears on the game.

Despite such practicality, these accessories with red dot do not necessarily replace the beating scope because they become less efficient when the animal reaches 60-70 meters of distance.

Indeed, the red dot sights do not have a zoom, and the target becomes much too small to be hit with precision (with a red dot appearing larger).

The hunting scope for all hunting conditions

Battue is a classic hunting group in a group, with the big game being close to the range or quite far away. Fortunately, the battue scope can be used in all circumstances: over short and long distances, when the animal flees, or when it comes to a stop.

Whatever the type of hunting, I can advise you to adopt the battue scope because it will simplify your visibility and aim, which would not be the case with scopes made exclusively for close-range hunting.

It is also a type of tool that we would gladly suggest to a beginner who wants to get his hands on and train, whatever the hunting conditions he is facing.

Nonetheless, the scope for the beaten remains an accessory that confirmed hunters like to have in their hands, even when it comes to the cheapest models on the market.

How to choose the best battue scope

For starters, you have to keep in mind that battue scopes are those with magnification starting with 1, although you could also go for a model that is close to 1 (1.4, 1.5, for example, for combination glasses).

This type of device will not have a magnification greater than 8. It’ll be up from each shooter to acquire experience to understand which scopes he needs precisely, knowing that this choice may depend on his area hunting.

Indeed, if the hunting area is not very large, we can anticipate that there will be no need to zoom very much.

The best reticles are those that the hunter can see clearly, which means that the reticle lines should be thin enough.

It will also be helpful to turn to glasses that offer luminous reticles of various colors (blue, red, green, etc.). Which is very practical, especially when the environment in which you have to operate lacks or has too much light.

If the design of a scope appeals to you and the equipment in question matches the type of hunting you want to do, this may be the model for you. Ergonomics can sometimes seem secondary when it comes to such an accessory, but it is certainly not for everyone.

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What Are Hearing Protectors (Made to Measure Hearing Protectors)?

Ear protectors are personal protective equipment specially designed to protect the hearing system from noise and excessive volumes. There are many types of hearing protection ( ear protection ), and they all share one very important feature: the ability to protect us from external agents that could cause damage to our ears.

Some are intended for those who, for work or as a hobby, spend a lot of time in noisy environments, others for athletes or those who love being in the water, and finally the last ones to sleep peacefully.

It is evident how, in everyday life, but also work, noise has become one of the most important and widespread problems in our country; Prolonged noise exposure can lead to a progressive and irreversible decrease in the hearing capacity of the exposed subject (hyperacusis).

Did you know that hearing damage from prolonged exposure to noisy workplaces causes other harmful health outcomes? Other noise-related health effects include stress, anxiety, high blood pressure, sleep disturbances, and fatigue.

There are several working conditions in which we inevitably expose ourselves to disturbing noises and sometimes produce an unpleasant and aggressive feeling. Hearing protectors are very useful in such situations, as they provide comfort and help avoid the dangers of noise.

Of course, damage from prolonged exposure to noise can also occur outside the workplace while doing DIY jobs or hanging out at the club. At work and home, it is essential to understand which sounds can cause hearing loss and therefore require hearing protection.

What Are Custom-made Hearing Protectors?

It is important for people who work in extremely loud conditions to use hearing protection equipment. Such hearing protectors can be made to measure based on the anatomical features of the auricle.

Custom-made hearing protectors can be optimally adapted to the shape of the ear. For the otoplasty to be custom-built, it is necessary to take the impression of the external auditory canal.

Thanks to their anatomical shape, the custom-made hearing protectors with filters guarantee a high comfort of use without oppressing the middle ear and avoiding sweating while providing high attenuation. Through the filters, it is possible to increase or decrease the sound attenuation according to the working environment or other fields of use.

Complete hearing protection must be able to ensure comfort and convenience to the users. Those who work in noisy environments, for example, must on the one hand protect their hearing faculties, using specific hearing protectors, but on the other hand, they must be able to communicate with colleagues or with the boss both verbally and over the phone.

When to Use Hearing Protectors in Noisy Work Environments?

In certain areas of work, it is important to wear hearing protection. These are work activities that involve constant exposure to noise exceeding 80 dB. Specifically, it is essential to use hearing protectors in the sector:

Transport, whether carried out on the road or in airport contexts;
Agriculture, when using noisy machineries such as electric saws, threshers, and tractors
Education, wood or metallurgical industry;
Education or call centers;
Of the show;
Construction, especially on construction sites;
Industrial production of beverages and food;

Please note that the entire subject of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including hearing protectors (PPE-u), has been regulated by the new European Regulation on PPE 2016/425, currently in force and which places hearing protectors in Class III (PPE necessary to avoid serious or permanent damage)”.

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How to choose a hunting noise-canceling helmet

There are a few ways to shield yourself from a weapon detonation. Each anti-noise system has its own set of features. and it is not always easy to measure its usefulness or to know which model to choose.

Types of noise protection

There are two types of hearing protection:

Passive protection
Active protection

Passive protection

Passive protection is a device making it possible to permanently attenuate all exterior sound to a greater or lesser extent.

If the protection against dangerous noise is correctly carried out, it has the big disadvantage of reducing the sounds, which are not risky (we say that the protection is linear). For the practice of hunting, only the detonation of a weapon is a harmful sound. With this type of protection, all other sounds, before and after the shot, will be blocked or greatly diminished, creating the impression of being cut off from the world.

The solution is then only to wear it for shooting. If this is easily achievable for sport shooting or Ball traps because we know precisely when the shot is made, it is much more complicated for hunting because it is difficult to predict in advance when the game will appear.

Additionally, when hunting, it can be dangerous to be cut off from outside sounds, such as a person approaching out of sight. It can be dangerous not to hear these kinds of sounds correctly.

The main advantage of this type of protection is that it is the most economical and does not require energy to operate (battery or batteries). This type of noise reduction device will be recommended for occasional hunting or sport shooting, the Ball Trap.

Active protection

Active protection, on the other hand, offers the same quality of noise reduction, but, unlike passive protection, it can filter sounds according to their intensity. Thus it only reduces harmful sounds, i.e., all sounds above 85-87 decibels. All other noises are broadcast using a microphone and a speaker. Active protection can even, depending on the device, amplify the quietest sounds to improve hearing.

This type of protection then allows you to wear your noise reduction device throughout the activity, without worrying about anticipating or not a firing start, while communicating with other people around you and hearing everyone surrounding sounds.

In addition, as technology advances, integrated circuits are becoming increasingly miniaturized, many features are emerging, such as the walkie-talkie function or even the reception of telephone calls via Bluetooth, etc. The anti-noise devices offering active protection are thus perfectly suited to all types of activities, whether hunting, sport shooting, or ball trap.

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Active protection is kind of the best of both worlds. Powerful protection against dangerous noise while having a normal hearing capacity for other sounds. This allows you to wear your protection throughout the day without worrying about the protection of your hearing capital.

However, this type of protection has a few small drawbacks. Indeed, noise-canceling devices with active protection embed high-performance electronics and technology, with the primary consequence of a more expensive purchase price than passive protection devices.

The second drawback is that these devices use up energy and therefore have a more or less limited autonomy before having to recharge them. Some devices operate on battery power, others on batteries.

Finally, these devices are often heavier, which may change the comfort, especially for long sessions, such as during hunting. The comfort aspect will also depend on the type of device chosen.

Types of noise reduction devices

There are different types of noise protection devices:

Protective helmets
Earplugs

Protective helmets

Protective helmets generally offer the best possible noise reduction and optimum protection for the hearing system. These helmets have better protection because they encompass all around the ears, including part of the temporal bone, the mastoid, which is located behind the ear and acts as a sounding board.

Helmets with passive protection are the cheapest, the lightest, and those that reduce noise the most, quite simply because they do not embed electronics.

However, quality active protection helmets will offer excellent protection and allow you to wear the helmet throughout the shooting session without having to remove your helmet to hear outside sounds, talk to other people, listen to instructions. Receive calls, etc.

However, compared to earplugs, helmets have the drawbacks of being bulky, heavier, less comfortable to wear, and less pleasant if you wear a hat or headgear, for example. In addition, the helmet can hit the butt of the rifle during the shoulder.

Finally, we must pay attention to a detail that may reduce the effectiveness of the protection of the helmet. Indeed if the helmet is not completely pressed against the head, this is the case, for example, with a helmet that has aged having a less firm and less flexible foam. But especially for hunters and shooters wearing glasses, the latter’s branches raise the helmet a little bit, causing air to leak, and therefore sound.

Earplugs

Earplugs offer incomparable comfort and discretion. The anti-noise plugs, whether they are active or passive protection, have good protection and are very small when the weapon is on the shoulder. The caps can thus be completely forgotten even if you are wearing a beanie, hat, or cap.

With earplugs, the perception of sounds at 360 degrees is better because the ear is free. It is thus possible to better discern where the sounds come from, compared to the headphones which cover the ear entirely.

With earplugs, the seal is perfect at the level of the ear canal. The main downside is the price, quality earplugs with active protection are much more expensive than headphones.

How many decibels does it reduce?

Different headphones and earplugs do not offer the same protection in terms of decibel reduction. Indeed, the reduction will be around 20 to 35 decibels, depending on the models. This characteristic will have to be taken into account depending on your activity, and the weapon used.

While any protection will be sufficient for a handgun, it is not the same for shooting with a large caliber long gun, which will require high protection.

To optimize protection and possible, there is a solution; you just need to combine the wearing of earplugs and noise-canceling headphones. This will give you the best possible reduction.

Autonomy

Battery life is only taken into account for noise-canceling devices with active protection, and therefore electronic. Most active noise canceling devices have a battery life of 10 hours, up to more than 50 hours.

Depending on your activity and its duration (shooting sessions, hunting trips, hunting weekends, etc.), it will be necessary to check the satisfactory autonomy to benefit from active protection at all times.

Automatic switch-off of the device

Devices with automatic battery shutdown are generally more expensive but will avoid running out of battery when you forget to turn off your headphones or earplugs.

Amplification level

Sound amplification enables noise-canceling devices with active protection to be able to hear non-harmful sounds. However, this amplification is carried out using one or more microphones and speakers and will not be of the same quality depending on the models.

Noise-canceling headphones equipped with 4 microphones, particularly greatly improve the perception of sound, which will be 360 degrees, thus delivering optimal results.

The amplification of the finest noises can be adjusted more or less finely using the amplification level. This adjustment is therefore very useful for adjusting your helmet according to all situations. Too sensitive and amplification could be counterproductive in an area with many leaves and dead branches, for example.

A wind filter system will also be useful so that the wind does not interfere with the perception of sounds.

Communicating headset

Communicating headsets make it possible to communicate via walkie-talkie with other communicating headset wearers.

This type of communication, therefore, makes it possible to chat for free at more or less long-distance (a few hundred meters or even kilometers). Some microphones are triggered by voice, which eliminates the need to press a button to speak.

Bluetooth

Headsets with a Bluetooth connection allow a wireless connection to, for example, a telephone or other communication devices, making it possible to receive calls or notifications.

What To Look For In Shooting Ear Protection

Hearing protection is essential once you are shooting and can be convenient for a wide range of different scenarios you may experience in your daily life. The problem is that deciding on a choice from the huge amount available on the current market is not easy, and you will want to try to narrow your search whenever possible so that you don’t spend hours searching through thousands of potential choices. If you can develop a general idea of what you need, it might be a lot easier to start monitoring ear protectors that provide everything you want.

Noise Reduction Classification (NRR)

The degree of sound reduction extended using a pair of hearing protectors is remarkably important as it is the most important reason you will use them in the first position. NRR is quantified at an overall level of sound reduction relative to decibels, and sounds above a particular level (typically 140 dB) could be harmful to hearing. For this reason, you will need to be sure that your shooting ear protection properly dampens and softens sounds.

A good amount of different headphones and earplugs will have around 22-34 decibels of sound reduction, but that depends on the brand, layout, and type of materials or technology used inside. The protection created for the shot will often have protection at the high end of the limit because it must have the ability to soften the sounds of the shots, which can reach very consistent levels depending on the weapon used.

There’s only one reason less noise reduction can be useful is if you’re already using some kind of noise reduction features or tools. For example, if you’re already wearing noise-reducing earbuds and only want slightly more safety, you can find some earmuffs that use a very low degree of sound reduction to use both at the same time. Aside from that, as far as filming is concerned, it’s almost always worth it. Some weapons will also be quieter than many others, particularly if they have attachments or modifications developed to soften the sound they create, so you must learn how much sound you might be creating when shooting.

Noise Amplification

Amplification can be just as easy as sound reduction, depending on the circumstances. Since you’ll want to eliminate loud noises from gunshots, it’s still important to make sure you get a fantastic amount of situational awareness – if you can’t hear people talking or get emergency directions if something happens in a public shooting range, it’s extremely easy to end up endangering yourself and the people around you.

Amplification is almost only a choice with electrical protection as it is nearly impossible to perform with a suitable microphone system. This should usually allow you to hear things like the address without amplifying any other noise around you, giving you a noticeably greater understanding of what’s going on. Remember that not all PA systems will handle every situation correctly; however, the breeze could often be a problem because the microphone could pick it up unless it is recessed into the rest of the piano.

Comfort

Another crucial component of protecting your hearing is making sure you are well. There is no point in using protectors that hit you in another way, and embarrassing headphones or earphones can ruin an otherwise enjoyable shooting experience. The same is true if you’re using them for practical purposes, like using power tools or dealing with noisy gardening tools – heartache often makes things worse, and there’s not much you can do to fix a couple that doesn’t match your mind correctly.

To begin with, make sure it’s comfortable in the traditional sense. This usually means that you will want to look for soft, comfortable, and protective things because these will be the backbone of everything you can wear in your body. The ear padding is worth having as the ears are the most influenced components of the headgear: the cushioning of the ear also leads to much more effective sound reduction, as they are more prone to completely enclose the ears and prevent the entrance of so much noise.

How strong is a standard pistol?

Various guns make various sounds, but some are much richer than many others. Normally, they will be at 140dB without any kind of suppressor or even noise reduction modifications, but some can go further if they fire a larger caliber bullet. Keep in mind it’s just to get a bullet, though – if you’re firing a lot in short streaks, which adds up to a lot more long-term hearing damage, particularly if it’s an automated weapon that could spit out—a large number of strokes per minute.

As stated earlier, you can combine certain accessories for your firearm, mostly suppressors, to soften the noise they create marginally. But not all guns can use them correctly, and it depends on the weapon itself.

Is ear protection for digital shooting better?

Electronic security tools and approaches are often more complex than their regular counterparts, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re better. You always have to make sure you choose something that helps you and meets your needs instead of going for an expensive digital option that you don’t need.

On the other hand, if you want to make sure you’re completely safe, it might be worth looking for a digital choice even when you’re satisfied with a routine, non-electronic type of gun range ear protection. It can lead to far superior protection and sound reduction at a slightly higher cost.

Professional tip

If you are in the market for shooting hearing protection that will help you search, you will want to focus on the look. A smart headgear can be very useful on shooting ranges as it lets others know where you are, but it could give your creatures your location. As a hunter, you will need a headdress that fits your clothing, hair, or rather your surroundings.

Did you know?

Some people today use many layers of hearing protection. It is quite normal for people with loud noise sensitivities to use both earphones and headphones at the same time, providing greater sound reduction without feeling uncomfortable.

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