Loudest gun you've ever shot?

[Bond007]

I’ve been thinking about this lately, what’s the loudest firearm you’ve ever touched off? Which one made your ears ring the hardest, even with protection? Let’s hear it

 

[critterpicker]

I put a 243 together for my wife 24" tube with 4 port brake. It might not be the loudest, but that sharp Crack, It's worse than the 50 BMG with a clamshell brake. I think it's the frequency more than decibels. I think that a .357 is worse on the ears than a .44 again it's frequency.

 

[CZMark]

I've shot a lot of rifles from .22 rimfire to .375 H&H. Believe it or not, the loudest was a Browning A-Bolt .22-250 with a vented BOSS on the end of the barrel. The sound volume coming from those vents has convinced me to never put a muzzle brake on any rifle.

 

[Tabby]

I’ve been thinking about this lately, what’s the loudest firearm you’ve ever touched off? Which one made your ears ring the hardest, even with protection? Let’s hear it

I don't know if this counts, but I was assigned to a Field Artillery group for several months. The unit had M109 155mm self propelled howitzers. While actually being assigned to their Aviation platoon I made friends with just about everyone. Being a gun person I asked questions about how it operated, how they adjusted fire to place the rounds where they wanted them etc. One afternoon when everything was done back at the hanger I grabbed a Jeep and headed out to the artillery range. I was in the fire control center watching and talking to a Major who was plotting the fire command for a shot at an old tank out in the middle of the impact area. He took me through all of the calculations used to adjust the fire to hit the target. Then when he was done he asked if I would like to go out to the track and watch the actual loading procedure and firing. The Major and I went out to the track and went inside. The crew explained everything they were doing, loaded the HE round then the bags of powder from the firing solution, then closed the breech. When it came time to fire I was asked if I wanted to fire the round. The gunner showed me the control handle and the button used to fire the round electrically. When the command was given to fire I got the push the button which initiated the shot, lots of noise, inside but not as much as I was used to outside and a vibration for no better words that shook the entire machine. The round hit about 3 meters (approx 10 feet) short of the tank but managed to liift and skid a bit sideways befroe settling back down. That was a great thrill for a blonde helicopter mechanic. About a week later I went back to Fort Rucker and to my turbine engine maintnance and repair instructors position.

 

[Donnie]

My loudest shot was from a short .308 with a brake that made dust fly and rang my ears, even with muffs on.

 

[Peter K]

460 S&W. I use plugs and electronic muffs......

 

[white eagle]

as far as crack nothing beats the 22o Swift
just something about pushing a small cal bullet at over 4000 fps get's your morning rolling