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The sonic crack isn't going to amount to anything compared to the blast of firing.

A 1911 with 230gr FMJ is subsonic. I forgot my ear protection one time shooting outdoors. The first (and only) shot from a 3" barrel rang my ears so bad they hurt.

Needless to say, I laid the pistol down and walked back to the house to retrieve my muffs.

Pawpaw wrote:The sonic crack isn't going to amount to anything compared to the blast of firing.

A 1911 with 230gr FMJ is subsonic. I forgot my ear protection one time shooting outdoors. The first (and only) shot from a 3" barrel rang my ears so bad they hurt.

Needless to say, I laid the pistol down and walked back to the house to retrieve my muffs.

Well, I carry the lesser manly 9 mm and rest assured, the difference between sub and supersonic is noticeable indoors. A car is considered indoors for me. Outdoors is a whole different story because sound waves don't reflect in air. The sonic boom is apart from the initial blast when the gases expand but only visible on a graph. The human ear and successive the brain can't sense the time difference between the two "booms". But the sum of the subsequent noises add up on the eardrum and can cause serious damage including hearing loss. So why would I go for 115 gr +P+ instead of 147 gr subsonic? A car shooting, as discussed in this thread, happens inside the car from the shooter perspective which puts the shooter indoor while the target is outdoor. That said, the worst case would be if you miss the attacker outside but your hearing is damaged because you've been inside.

Hey y'all, don't take my comment to serious. This is just my opinion but I'd suggest to try 5 rounds sub sonic and compare it with 5 rounds of +P+ when you are in an indoor range next time. Use just standard foam plugs and you'll hear what I mean.
As Pawpaw said, your ears will hurt from a subsonic blast outdoors using a .45 with a 230 gr load. As we all know, a 9 mm produces a sharper crack and indoors in your car, the sound will reflect and add pressure to the ear drums. That is a given fact and my point is just to reduce the affect as much as possible. I do not recommend anybody should test this scenario. This is basic physics. Also, a person with hearing problems already caused by 800 Watt speakers may handle a situation like this better than a person with sensitive hearing.

Cheers

Canon1d4 wrote: ... if I can't hear for a few hours, who cares.

Canon, while I well understand that it may become necessary to fire your handgun while in your car, and unavoidable, and I am prepared to do so if unavoidable, take it from one who is stone deaf that you may not count on your hearing suffering for only a few hours. I am confident that my both my duty and hobby firing guns of all kinds for almost 60 years, much of this before ear protection came along, was largely, if not solely, responsible for my hearing loss. It is clear now that just one such blast nearby an unprotected ear can cause severe permanent damage to one's hearing.

Jim

I have had hot brass land between my glasses and my eyes.

I was at a gun range with narrower than usual stalls. My gun was slammed down on the table in front of me, thankfully in a safe direction, and I flipped my glasses off so fast that they ended up halfway down the range. It took me about 10 seconds to realize what happened.

Now I wear a hat at the range, but this is an unlikely, but possible scenario.

Brass anywhere else would probably be ignorable in a stressful situation, but between the glasses and your eyelids will quickly grab your attention.