“Just firing any kind of handgun at arms length without hearing protection, even a .22, is very loud and will make your ears ring for days.”
I never had a problem when outdoors. Indoors? I would never fire a gun without good hearing protection. . . unless it was a matter of life or limb of course.
“I never had a problem when outdoors.”
Well, all I can say is that you’ve never fired an AR outdoors then! They are far worse that an .40 pistol. I have both and for me, the AR tops anything I have.