Guns: Howard Leight Impact Sport review

If you've ever tried to teach someone to shoot a firearm, you know that there's a hurdle you have to overcome before you even start: hearing protection. Yup, the same stuff that protects a novice's ears can also make it darn near impossible for a beginner to understand your spoken instructions.

Aside from yelling at each other, sign language, or writing notes, the only way I've found to make sense to a shooting student is electronic ear protection. My muff of choice? The Howard Leight Impact Sport:

 

The Impact Sport is a simple fold-up design that uses a single battery compartment and twin microphones to amplify sound, with a cutoff for gunshot-level noises. It works great; after equipping both yourself and your student with plugs, donning the Impact Sport, and turning up the sound, you can hear each other talk and still be protected from even the loudest gunshots (for a time, that is - no earpro can completely immunize you from an active indoor rifle range).

Even if you're not talking to anyone, the Impact Sport makes it easier to listen to range commands and gives you a better awareness of your surroundings while shooting. At $50, it won't break the bank, either. The Impact Sport therefore gets the Shangrila Towers stamp of approval.