Peltor Tactical 6S Hearing Protectors

Peltor Tactical 6S Hearing Protectors - Unfolded

Peltor Tactical 6S Hearing Protectors - Collapsed

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I'd been considering trying some of the electronic hearing protectors for some time,and when CWSA announced that they were going to add Steel Challege matches to next year's schedule, I could see the writing was on the wall.

When shooting bowling pins and hanging plates, you don't need to be able to hear anything beyond the start buzzer. With pins you can tell when you hit it because it leaves the table, hopefully. With plates, you only get one shot per plate, so it's up to the scorer to figure out how many you hit.

Steel Challenge, however, is a different story. It's up to the shooter to determine if you missed a plate, and if you did, you want to shoot it again to avoid penalties. You need to be able to hear the bullet hit the plate. Not easy to do if you have a non-electronic muffs.

When I saw Midway USA put the Peltor 6S on sale for about $65.00 bucks, I grabbed a set to try them out.

The basic concept is that they put a small audio amplifier and speaker inside each ear piece, with separate volume controls on each side. A small foam covered microphone is mounted on the from of each muff, and supplies audio to the amplifier and speaker.

At lower volume levels, sounds are picked up by the microphone and transmitted to the speaker inside the muff, producing realistic sound in normal conversation. Since there are two microphones, one for each ear, you have stereophonic sound, and you can tell from which direction a sound is coming from, just as if you weren't wearing hearing protectors. That is, if you have the volumes set approximately the same. Set one higher than the other and it sounds like the sound is coming from a different direction than it actually is! Kinda weird the first time it happens.

High intensity sounds, like a gun shots, are also picked up by the microphones, but due to the intensity, the sound volume is instantly turned way down blocking the loud noise.

The Peltor's are light weight, and quite comfortable. Putting the batteries (2 AAA's each side) into each muff is easy enough, once you get the ear cushion part pried off. The instructions say you can get it open with your fingers, but a slot is provided for using a small screw driver, which is a lot easier. The Off-On/Volume knobs aren't particularly positive when you click them off, so you have to be careful not to bump them, turning them back on, thus running down your batteries. ALWAY carry spare batteries!

Another feature of the Peltor 6S is that you can take the muffs off and put them back on upside down, giving more clearance for a rifle or shotgun stock. Big thick hearing protectors can be a problem, especially for shotgunners.

Now that I've shot several matches and a lot of practice with the Peltors, I have no hesitation recommending them. The are reasonably priced, comfortable, and seem to do just what they say they will do.

Probably the best recommendation I can give them is that I gave KeeWee a set of Peltors for Christmas!