I've brought this up before, but I am aware of a medical study that was being conducted in Billings Montana, in affiliation with Montana State University about the effects of Synthetic Stocks on rifle shooting..
Having a medical background myself, I can understand the problems... without going into full detail about it, the study was started because they found a large number of people who had hearing loss on their shooting side, even though wearing ear protecting...
the common thread was that they shot a lot, and also had used synthetic stocks..vs wood or laminate..
what they were finding is that a lot of synthetic stocks, absorb no recoil at all.. they just transfer it straight back to the shooter and the vibrations along with it..
this resonates to the mastoid bone behind the ear and causes granulation ( like turning it into sand..)
when you hear something the vibrations are reflected off of your mastoid bone, allowing the inner ear to hear..
as this granulates, there is nothing for the sound to resonate off of.. therefore it decreases the ability to hear dramatically..
I worked several years selling ENT drills, and would scrub into surgery frequently with the physicians on these cases.. the drill cleans out the granulation and allows the mastoid bone to regenerate good bone to restore hearing..
I am guilty of using synthetic stocks on several 223s but anything I do volume shooting on, I avoid synthetic stocks.. same as any real heavier recoiling rifle.. such as a 270 and up..
I am 58 now and my son still is always complaining about how well I hear....as I am constantly telling him to turn his IPOD done..if I can hear it, then it is too loud...
