Originally Posted by
st381183
First, I own the Surge 762, the Obsidian 45, and the Oculus 22 - I’m a Rugged Suppressor fan boy. Secondly, I know the Surge 762 is not hearing safe because the the shots ring my ears when I try shooting 7.62 & 5.56 thru the can causing pain. It’s is much quieter than without the can but the port pop and shot going off together is not hearing safe. That is how I know.
The Obsidian 45 and Oculus 22 are great cans and hearing safe. The Obsidian is hearing safe with 9mm subs in long or short config, .45s in long config but I don’t like shooting .45s without earpro. Even though .45s are inherently sub-sonic they are still quit loud for my taste, hearing safe but not pleasantly. The Oculus 22 is hearing safe with all 22Lr depending on config.
Rugged makes great cans but the dB levels cited above for the center fire rifle calibers are BS. The Military Arms Channel has a decent vid on YouTube regarding the Surge 762 that doesn’t give the at ear performance any where near the numbers quoted above. My own ears tell me that the Surge 762 is not hearing safe with .308 or 5.56. It is probably hearing safe with sub-sonic .300 Blk but I don’t have a .300 Blk to confirm.
If using specific sub-sonic hand loaded cartridges maybe it is but the average schmo doesn’t have access to hand rolled sub-sonic centerfire rifle cartridges and those are very expensive to buy for plinking.