Not to hijack the thread, but what about the noise from the shot? If you shoot a deer rifle at the range w/o earplugs your ears will ring. Yet you shoot at a deer and hardly notice the noise. I can understand being so focused, excited, etc, that you don't notice the sound, but it still seems your ears would ring after the shot. So why don't they?
Oh, except the time I had a muzzle break on my Browning BAR. That rang my ears good after shooting a deer. I switched to a solid piece for the BOSS system after that.