My left ear durm was busted by shooting a 7mm-08 from a 20" barrel out of a treestand in Altoona, PA. I got the deer but my left ear hearing is gone. I'm not gonna hunt with ear protection you do what you like.
.............OK! So your left ear drum was busted by shooting a 20" tubed 7/08? Had you been shooting a 24" tube instead of a 20" er, your left ear drum would have still ended up the same way. The shorter tube probably caused your drum to bust sooner, but eventually sooner or later, the end result would have been the same from the longer barrel too.
Just because you happen not to like wearing ear protection in the field, you can`t blame a busted ear drum on the shorter barrel.
I`m sympathetic to your hearing loss, but I also understand that it could have been avoided.
