moderator obsession

[Jagare]

Dislike them. I will never despoil any of my weapons with a moderator. I want my nieghbours to hear when i shoot and as i have said before , i want the sky to light up with the muzzle flash and trees to bend with the muzzle blast. I do wear peltor sport tac for all my shooting hunting.
Recoil from a .243? you must be joking.

 

[timbrayford]

Recoil from a .243? you must be joking.[/QUOTE]Not at all, you would however have to try a mod to appreciate the benefit.atb Tim

 

[Jagare]

Shot a .243 for years. Never thought it recoiled. .308 recoil, don't notice that either. Try shooting my slug gun with Remington buck Hammer slugs. The recoil from that will loosen you teeth . Useing moderators must make people turn all girly .

 

[patjack]

App wise there's already loads out there - bought a set of roe, fox, and rodent calls for £3 the other day... cheaper than a buttolo

I borrow my mates buttolo so does not cost a penny,
as for apps how do you find them do they work you could post them on here and then they would be free to all...

 

[bewsher500]

Dislike them. I will never despoil any of my weapons with a moderator. I want my nieghbours to hear when i shoot and as i have said before , i want the sky to light up with the muzzle flash and trees to bend with the muzzle blast. I do wear peltor sport tac for all my shooting hunting.
Recoil from a .243? you must be joking.

The bellow from a un-restrained .270 as it shatters the silence of an late autumn day in the glen is something to be cherished.....not controlled.

 

[flyfifer]

I quite literally cannot imagine carrying a rifle on the hill or for extended time with a moderator, a bipod, and even a heavy x50 or x56 scope, it would drive me up the wall with not only the weight, but the balance being all off and the bipod digging into your shoulder. how do some of you guys do it?

just put it in a bag

 

[diverdave]

Reasons for not having a Moderator
Cost
Cosmetic
Like the noise and flash
light weight
Better rifle balance if shooting free hand

Reasons to have one
Hearing protection
less disturbance to others
No loss of night vision due to the flash
See and hear the impact through the scope
less recoil
Balance not an issue of shooting of sticks or bipod

For me, with the type and places i shoot it is vital, and i have one on the .22, .177. 243 and 30:06.

All my elderly shooting friends are deaf, and for me the slight difference in weight, less than the weight of vital binnys and a mars bar, and cosmetic look of the rifle is way less important than a lifetime of hearing damage, decent hearing aids i am told cost a couple of thousand, more than a lifetime of moderators. That alone is enough for me. The other advantages again far outweigh the cost and cosmetic looks of the rifle for me and the way i shoot.

All my shooting friends use moderators, i would probably lose one excellent piece of ground if i let fly without one.

D

 

[Border]

Dislike them. I will never despoil any of my weapons with a moderator. I want my nieghbours to hear when i shoot and as i have said before , i want the sky to light up with the muzzle flash and trees to bend with the muzzle blast.

I love this much repeated, well yearly to me at least , statement. So much so that I had to let the Swede bark without it's can this year
Sounds like something Samuel L Jackson would say on a Tarantino flick.

I have however moderators for all my rifles, both rimfire and centrefire and as a general rule use them. Better accuracy and less disturbance to the surroundings against more weight and the cosmetic issue.

 

[bewsher500]

decent hearing aids i am told cost a couple of thousand, more than a lifetime of moderators.

pair of pop in sonic plugs cost me £10 I think.
I guarantee the heard report through those is less by some significant margin than any moderator

 

[barkin` buck]

Even though I can go where I like and fire what I like on thousands of acres if I could have "hollywood silencers" on all my rifles I would. Just to see deer and foxes fall over with barely a hiss audible from 6 inches would suit me fine.

 

[bruce w]

with good ear plugs in i can still hear my bullet strike from a 30-06 without a silencer , i fortunaly have no need for one , as it would be difficult to fit one to my rifle

 

[diverdave]

pair of pop in sonic plugs cost me £10 I think.
I guarantee the heard report through those is less by some significant margin than any moderator

I was talking about hearing aids for those with damaged hearing, the new digital ones, and not ear plugs to reduce noise. I have two family members who have them, and i think they were a couple of thousand a pair.

I would get free ear plugs from work. And you are right, they deaden the sound. I would miss the thud of impact with them. I use digital sound blocking ear plugs when out with the shot gun, they work fine. I dont like wearing them, but they are ok. I guess a good moderator would cost under a pound a days shooting, or about the same as one shot.


I suppose the choice is comfort, and the look and weight difference in the rifle, versus permanent damage to one of the senses.

 

[Ranger22]

Use a rifle everyday, you try it PKL. You'll soon discover why we use mods!

Al

 

[bewsher500]

Use a rifle everyday, you try it PKL. You'll soon discover why we use mods!

Al

but surely a CF shot with a moderator is still worse than one without heard through earplugs?

 

[Pine Marten]

I bought some Peltac digital ear protectors for £50 on eBay from the US, and they're really good when I use them at the range, but they let me hear all the normal sounds. Not all that comfortable but after a bit you forget they're there. When I'm out stalking or wildfowling though I don't use them, as I fire very few shots. It's different of course for people who do lot of shooting. But I fire maybe a box of shotgun cartridges in the course of a wildfowling season. Anyway, I may start wearing the ear defenders in the field, as I prefer to do that than use a moderator.

 

[User00003]

I don't remember the last time I didn't see the bullet strike with any of my rifles, up to and including the 30-06, unmoderated.

I don't recall any of my neighbours or landowners complaining about the noise of me using an unmoderated rifle, ever. Yes I could 'assume' they would be bothered, but I could also 'assume' they won't be!...

I'm reasonably fit, in my thirties, run 4 times a week, run a 3:30hr marathon a couple of times a year, do mountaineering, etc,,,yet, I find the unbalance and weight of moderators and harris style bipods an incovenience, call me crazy. yes, harris bipods 'do' dig into the shoulder, at leaste every one I've ever owned has.

anti-slip slings - I like my leather slings thank you...mind, the problem is not the sling slipping, it is the butt of the gun flying under your arm the second you stop supporting it due to the top heaviness.

muzzle flash - are you kidding me, you really saying you've ever noticed or been bothered by this? are you afraid of the deer counter-sniping you?

people getting bothered on the range - F-them, who cares, if you can go to the range and shoot comfortably in every other country in the world without moderators, surely you can here too.

hearing - yes, but seriously, stick in an earplug now and again. do you know how many people go on driven shoots and blast away all day long without any hearing protection, yet refuse to leave the house and sit and shiver in the shower with fear at the thought of firing a .22 without a moderator...

moderators to help concealment - see above on counter-sniping...LOL

multiple shots on quarry - am I living on a different planet? I don't ever recall not seeing the bullet strike, nor having problems with multiple shots on quarry. If I've picked my targets before I take the first shot I can usually move onto the 2nd shot pretty swiftly and without hesitation.

...hhmmm, not convinced...I still think it's a money maker that the police happen to think is good for H&S and people thinking it's a 'must'..however, please don't tell me you smoke/drink AND use a moderator, like a vegetarian wearing leather belts...LOL..

 

[User00003]

Use a rifle everyday, you try it PKL. You'll soon discover why we use mods!

Al

I've got mods, just don't use them as I find they ruin just my day..

 

[j0e_bl0ggs]

what's the obsession with moderators? why does everyone feel they need to have one before they can even go out the door with their rifle...

is it really 'that' great given most countries don't even allow them, or are people in the UK being led down the garden path and subsequently spending a fortune on threading, mods, and having their barrels chopped, top-heavy, potentially leading to barrel-stock touching issues, leading to more money on bedding and eventually expensive american synthetic stocks...etc. etc.

I don't know, I'm not convinced yet... LOL

Well, if you had the tinnitus that I suffer (need an audiobook on at night to mask the ringing), you would not ask such a question.
Only reason I use one is to save what little hearing I have left - yeah don't much care for the unbalance it causes but the choice is a simple one.
I was pretty much the first person granted a mod in my county all them years ago - never looked back!
Never wanted to use ear plugs etc. in the field.

Oh yeah just for fun I tested my 30-06 brake / thread protector the other day (with ear plugs) - last time I shoot it without the mod!!!

 

[bewsher500]

I think we are seriously talking about two different things here.

1) using moderators (with or without ear plugs/protection)

2) shooting CF rifle without hearing protection

one does not negate the other IMO

How many of you zero your rifle with moderators on and no ear protection?
Afraid to say if you are relying on your moderator to protect your hearing you may be in for a shock in later life.

 

[User00003]

I think we are seriously talking about two different things here.

1) using moderators (with or without ear plugs/protection)

2) shooting CF rifle without hearing protection

one does not negate the other IMO

How many of you zero your rifle with moderators on and no ear protection?
Afraid to say if you are relying on your moderator to protect your hearing you may be in for a shock in later life.

indeed, moderators do help reduce noise, but mostly recoil imho. if you want to protect your hearing get real hearing protection aids that you either wear or plug into your ears. whilst moderators do help, again, IMHO, it's not enough to make it worth all the disadvantages. I personally use digital peltor type things on the range, etc. and when I'm stalking and have enough time (waiting for a deer to turn or on approach), I quiclkly slip decent ear plugs in, both of which I've found to reduce noise much more.