Loudest Muzzle Blast

[Rapier]

What was the loudest muzzle blast you have ever heard, civilian only please. Describe the gun, load and event, if you can do so.
Best,
Ed

[MtnMike2]

This guy came to my club's range with an AR-50 type rifle. Had a muzzle brake along w/ the usual shock absorbing features on the frame. It was mounted on a bipod and sitting on a shooting bench; when it fired, the pea gravel around the bench moved like a wave.
He was setting it up for competition and let me shoot it. I shot at a target at 200 yds (short distance for this baby) and hit within 1/2" of dead center - it was better than he was doing. He gave me the target and the case which I still have.
I have no desire to get one of those bad boys - way too expensive for me and I'm not a target shooter. But it was pretty cool...:)


Mike

[GoodOlBoy]

A 7mm mag rifle with a BOSS muzzle brake. I had to get up and move because it was so loud that it physically hurt to be in the next stall over EVEN though there was a baracade with indoor/outdoor carpeting between us. I don't know if the brake was installed wrong or what but it made my chest, teeth, and head hurt every time he pulled the trigger. The earmuffs I was wearing at the time make my 270 barely audible.

On the flip side the guy left after half a box of ammo and told the range overseer-o-doom that he was trading the rifle off because he hated it with the brake on it.

GoodOlBoy

[Rocky Raab]

I'll have to enter two categories. Under Sharpest/Most painful I have to nominate the Ruger Blackhawk in 30 Carbine. That little monster will peel paint off a wall.

Under Most Powerful Blast, I have no hesitation in naming the 585 Nyati rifle I shot twice. With its muzzle brake on, it would knock hats off people standing nearby - and the pressure wave felt like getting punched in the chest.

The recoil, BTW, was calculated to be just about like a 458 Win. With the removable brake off the gun, it supposedly went double that: something like 250 ft-lbs of recoil energy. It was a modified Win 70 weighing about 12 pounds - and it launched a 900 grain bullet at 2400 fps.

Ouch.

[Larryjk]

I'll go with Rocky. I never thought of peeling paint with my Ruger Blackhawk in 30 Carbine but Rocky is right. It would do quite well. Have never shot that revolver without plugs in and muffs over, but have moved back of another shooter about 50 feet and my ears still hurt.
I don't shoot that gun much because I am always scared I might see something to shoot at and get so excited I might forget to plug and cover the ears.

[RagingBullPa]

the 8 3/8 inch magnaport type barrel actually bothers my poor brotherlaw so bad he throws up it actually turns his stomache , i have to admit the sucker is loud , as my son says thats insane dad, my own 300 rem ultramag turns heads many a time especially when the leaves are on the ground , it usually belches a flame on a dark day plus the leaves look like the red sea parting as it was commented by a newspaper reporter who happened to be there that day, he had the case of the jumps and twitches after watching me sight my arsenal i took with me along with my cousin who just happened to show up with his armory , the writer reporter was doing a story on deer and bear season and sighting in , i guess he learned first hand that day

[M.T. Pockets]

The first time I shot my old .300 Win Mag A-Bolt with a BOSS. I was practicing field positions and was prone in some bean stubble and didn't bother with hearing protection. I thought I got hit by lightning.

I developed a flinch that I cuoldn't get rid of with that rifle and it got traded in for another .300 without a brake and it is much more pleasant to shoot.

I've been around a friend's .50 BMG and with hearing protection it's no problem. I wouldn't think of shooting it or standing by without hearing protection though.

[Rapier]

Ah, yes, the unexpected, unprotected, close proximity, big bore, centerfire explosion, a real eye watering experience. My HS buddy in NH has a brother that tends to learn the hard way. He and his hunting buddy were moving from one place to another "just down the road" during deer season, a while back, so the 270 did not get unloaded. Shortly after the vehicle started moving, there appeared just above the windshield, in the roof, a brand new modification, something like a port hole, except jagged. With the windows rolled up, I understand it was a week or so before either of them could hear again. Thankfully I was not present so I cannot recount the level of the muzzle blast, but needless to say it had to be at the top end of the decibel scale. Now that would be something for a rolling boom box, "crank-em up" contest.:D
Best,
Ed

[muledeer]

I'd have to say my Barrett M-99 50 cal. It's LOUD. I have a Weatherby Mk V 300 mag with a muzzle brake and it's tame compared to the Barrett.
muledeer

[Larryjk]

Rapier, I am a "Hunter Safety Instructor" in Wyoming. We call those accidental deaths as a result of a loaded firearm in a vehicle "hunter suicide". We used to lose about 15 to 20 people a year to firearm accidents in Wyoming (early 1970s). We started the program and by analyzing accidents, came up with one rule that covered over 90% of all the firearm accidents. "Never have the firerms loaded in the home, hunting camp, or in the vehicle". We said don't load it until you are 50 feet away from whatever and unload when you get within 50 feet when you return. We are down to about 1 fatality a year and less than 5 accidents. The worst offenders are still loaded firearms in a vehicle. Tell your buddy how lucky his brother is. Maybe he will be willing to listen to good advice; as soon as he can hear again.
I'm am really glad they escaped more serious harm.

[Classicvette63]

Use to have a car-15, the kind with 10" of barrel and 6" of flash hider. Loudest, most worthless P.O.S. I ever owned. Still is the only gun I've ever sold.

Had a J.C. Higgins pump with a cutts compensator. Took it out squirrel hunting one day. Fired two shots and walked back to camp to get a different shotgun. Those compensators are miserable if you don't have ear protection.

A buddy of mine had an AMT in .22mag. That had the sharpest CRACK I ever heard. It would make you flinch just from the noise.

[Rocky Raab]

Oh boy, I forgot those little 22 Automags. A customer brought one in to the shop, complaining that it jammed.

It became my job to troubleshoot it, which entailed firing it in our little makeshift range - in the cellar. Hoo boy.

He was right, it simply would not feed his CCI Maxi-Mags, and required Winchester ammo, with which it functioned perfectly. I know because the boss had me fire a full box of Winnies through it to be sure. If I close my eyes, I can still see that fireball - and even with muffs, my head rang all day.

Double dittoes on the CAR-15. That's what we carried in our cockpits, and they were brutal to fire.

[denton]

We have a woman show up at our range from time to time to test government owned firearms that she maintains.

My SIL and I were shooting a couple of benches away, and using a brass catcher that was basically fabric on a rebar frame with a square steel tubing base. The muzzle blast from her 50 BMG single shot routinely knocked our brass catcher over. SIL and I both got to shoot it... not too fierce on the recoil.

My 20" Browning 30-06 with muzzle brake BOSS is no slouch in the noise department. I only used it once, and switched to the non-muzzle brake BOSS, but in the meantime the guy next to me up and asked what kind of monster magnum I was shooting... no wonder Browning now automatically gives you both.

[Dan Morris]

LOL, gotta have been a 357 ......in the car...trooper was dry firing his 28 and left one in the dirty cylinder....dang Rem MP didn't exit the ash tray! Another lifetime...
Dan
:o

[8X56MS]

Probably a long barrel three screw flat top Ruger in .30 Carbine. Wow.

[gumpokc]

I will agree with the others who mentioned the ruger blackhawks in .30 carbine, my dad had one when i was in highschool and that thing was bad if you didnt have hearing protection on.

[PJgunner]

I can think of a few. :rolleyes: Yup! The .30 carbine Ruger Blackhawk is right up there with the best (worst? :confused: ) of them.
Two more that come to mind are the Lazzaroni cartridges and my old remington 660 in .308 loaded with a stiff charge of H-335 and 150 gr. Sierras.
First the Lazzeroni. Firtst off, I fon't know whichc artridge he was working up, but when John Lazzeroni was doing his load work up for his super-hot rounds, he's sit at the far end of the benches at my range. Whenever possible, I'd sit at the farthest end away from him I could get. The shock wave from his muzzle brakes would literally blow the headphones off my head and I was about 70 feet away. Them's one bad azz cartridges. :p
Now my .308 was something else. I don't remember the load other than it was H-335 and a 150 gr. Sierra but the blast from the muzzle would melt solid steel and the flash, even at high noon on a bright sunshiny day would be brighter than the sun itself. The rifle wasn't all that light weight but the bark from the barrel made what recoil there was seem much more that it actually was. Restocking didn't help and it wasn't til I got a set of hearing protecters for my birthday that I realized that the pain was from the noise and not the recoil. :eek: They sure took the "OUCH" out of that rifle.
Paul B.

[RagingBullPa]

i had one of those it was the first rifle i bought , nice rifle kicked like a mule but nice , but i only weighed 135lbs back then , can't remember why i sold it oh yeah i took a life sentence i bought my wifes diamond with it and haven't looked back since, am i sorry heck no , that gun is discontinuednada i'm still married to the same woman guess i made a good call

[FromBearCreek]

Well, I remember once crouching beside an M1A1 tank while it fired its 120mm cannon.

Hard to beat that.

[gumpokc]

Originally posted by FromBearCreek
Well, I remember once crouching beside an M1A1 tank while it fired its 120mm cannon.

Hard to beat that.

Yeah I was a M1/M1a1 crewman for 9 years, but they did specify no big bore military stuff :)

[billy ahring]

The most impressive muzzle blast from anything in my safe has got to be hands down my Weatherby .30-378 with the accu-brake. Holy moly you can't stand to shoot it without muffs, its like having 10 penny nails pierce your eardrums. I only shot it once without ear protection and I learned my lesson. That's probably the biggest reason that I've never shot game with it, only punching paper at the range.

Once while at the range firing it I just fired a shot when I noticed a bird nose dive into the ground just in front of me. There were a couple guys that were standing behind me watching and I guess admiring the sheer noise this thing creates and they saw the bird as well. We walked down and looked at the bird and he was dead as a stump. One of the fellas that was watching said he saw the bird fly over us just as I fired so we figured that the concussion from the muzzle blast must have been what killed him. Talk about crummy bird luck! This gun is generally viewed as a nuisance by fellow shooters at the range because it will bounce stuff that does not weigh much like ammo boxes etc. off the bench when fired. I usually only shoot it when there is no one else at the range. I have gotten some dirty looks from some of the old timers at the range. I know that I have sparked many a debate in the clubhouse as to you can only kill them so dead you know. I also view as extreme overkill for the kind of whitetail hunting that I do. I have considered selling it but have always talked myself out of it because I have only gotten rid of 2 guns in my life and I regret getting rid both of them.


Billy

[RagingBullPa]

Just pass out extra pairs of hearing protection plugs or offer them too them i always warn people when i shoot my Ultramag or my Raging bull 454casull because some people will whine about anything