As long as FPSRussia continues to inspire impressionable firearms enthusiasts with his videos, TTAG will upbraid the faux Russian when he fails to wear proper (as in any) eye and ear protection. In fact, we’re kicking it up a notch. Anyone who hands a gun to FPSRussia and doesn’t insist that the shooter wear eye and ear protection is also an irresponsible gun owner. It’s time for gunmakers like Desert Tactical Arms to teach this guy a lesson, so that he doesn’t teach his acolytes the wrong lesson about gun safety. How many times do we need to say this? ALWAYS WEAR EYES AND EARS. Unless you’re in a self-defense situation. And maybe even then (many shotgunners keep a pair of active ears by their gun).

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55 COMMENTS

  1. I’m really wondering where this guy shoots. After he moves back a couple of times, you see a water tower on the other side of the tree line. I really hope his backstop is good and clear of people. I hope he isn’t just counting on trees to stop an errant round. Where I grew up from 14 years old, it was more than once I had a bullet whiz past my head from the deep woods around us, and that was at the center of the 20 acre property we had fenced in. One came so close once that I thought a hornet had buzzed my ear.

    • That said I do like the videos. Safety is my only concern. We can’t have accidental shootings or heinous injuries screwing it up for everybody, for that truly is what politicians like to do-make rules for everyone based on a few isolated cases. I do get concerned some kid will think it ok to go without protection and lose an eye or end up half deaf like me. I have worn PPE except in combat and being blown up once. Losing half your hearing puts you at a tactical disadvantage. Now I use the tactical advantage of electronic stereo ear muffs that increase your senses.

    • Hi! Well, the place where all the FPSRussia’s videos happen is his farm! It is a huge place, 10km² think. There is no possibility of someone get hit, unless that someone is illegaly inside his territory.

      • Well that’s cool, thanks. There are always some people who don’t stop to think how far a rifle bullet,specifically, can go. My grandfather use to scare the hell out of me, hunting with .30-06 AP rounds.

    • you dont always need ear/eye protection, i agree with you that he should have eye protection but ear protection i disagree. ive hunted for a good portion of my life and i have never used ear protection. When you are in an oustide environment there is nothing for the sound waves to reflect off of so they dont effect you as much as if he was indoors.

      • I’m going to disagree with this. After going through a basic rifle course, shooting 150 rounds of .223/5.56 with 14 other guys on an outdoor range, wearing only earmuffs, my ears were still ringing. I now wear double hearing protection any time I shoot my rifle. I also have tinnitus that usually isn’t too bad. But when it acts up, it can drive a person nuts. You don’t want that. Be nice to your ears.

        • Way to compare apples to oranges, Larry. There’s a big difference between shooting by yourself in the forest and being surrounded by 14 other guys shooting guns.

  2. watch out, some COD player might call you jealous for pointing out the obvious. Maybe FPS could be a spokesperson for miracle ear in a couple years.

  4. As long as this guy doesn’t endanger the lives of others I don’t see a problem.

    I think of it like cigarettes. Give him all the information he needs to make enlightened decisions, and let him make his own choices.

    His health is his responsibilities not anyone elses.

    • I ABSOLUTELY agree with this.

      There are too many other things in our OWN personal lives worth worrying about that should be demanding our attention rather than worrying about other people’s problems. People really need to learn to mind their own business.

      I -THOUGHT- that principle was essentially one major point upon which the United States of America was founded. It was certainly a principle upon which I was raised.

  5. but FPS is WIDELY followed by the ” too young to buy yet crowd”, but thinks they know abut weapons from their insane amount of time playing mulit player COD. FPS is no hickok 45, have you ever heard him discuss ANY technical aspects of the weapons he fires? or take them down? He seems like a rich kid with too many toys and not enough information. btw i think EVERYONE knows that he is not Russian, why does he still do his very fake accent?

    • FPS Russia knows way more guns then you think…. He might have a lot of money yes, but he has been using guns since he was a kid. He has won skeet shooting contests and such. He is not some random person with a lot of guns as you are thinking.

  6. One the ears for self defense option, I would think it would be a good idea to take some in ear protection with you when you carry. If you have time to put it in, do it. If not, you are no worse off than you were not carrying ear protection.

  7. I could not agree more about his brazen lack of gun safety….But what I want to know is…if he is really that good of a shooter? or is the gun that good shooting??? Either way the rifle impressed the heck out of me and I will be looking into one of these for my collection.

    Thanks for sharing the video!!

    • He’s spoken about it on a podcast, apparently he can somehow “close his ears”.

  9. I really don’t get why you complain about him not having proper hearing and eye protection. There are dozens if not thousands of more people that do the same but just don’t throw it on youtube. I have used hearing protection for years and guess what I am still losing my hearing. To complain about one person is to say the least worthless. Not to metion that he has used hearing and eye pro in other videos. Try looking at more then one video and you might see that. I agree it is something that should always be used but if it isn’t oh well. It is his life his hearing and eyesight. His choice to protect it or not.

      • Robert, I’ve had it with candy asses like you telling people what’s best for them. If someone doesn’t want to wear eye or ear protection it’s none of your damn business! America is about having choices, but it’s apparent you don’t like our citizens having a choice. How much $ did you donate to Obamas campaign?

        • Let me be clear: if someone wants to shoot a gun without eye and ear protection, chocks away! In a free country you’re free to evoke the immutable laws outlined by Charles Darwin (and celebrated in yearly awards under his name) in any way you wish. I’d prefer it if individual idiocy didn’t hurt other let’s call them innocent people, but sometimes it does and that’s how the cookie crumbles in The Land of the Free.

          By the same token, I’m free to call an idiot an idiot. I do so because I don’t want impressionable youths acting like idiots. If FPSRussia wants to lose his hearing—I SAID IF FPSRUSSIA WANTS TO LOSE HIS HEARING—that’s his business. But his business is show business and I’m a critic. Just as faking a Russian accent and blowing shit up is his shtick, calling him out on his lax safety habits is mine. Fair’s fair.

          I’m a little confused how you got from me urging people to shoot safely by criticizing those who shoot unsafely for the amusement of people who may or may not know better to the suspicion that I’m an Obama supporter. A quick glance at, say, anything political I’ve written on this site would disabuse that notion. I SAID . . . Oh never mind.

          • “I’m a little confused how you got from me urging people to shoot safely by criticizing those who shoot unsafely for the amusement of people who may or may not know better to the suspicion that I’m an Obama supporter”
            Obama and his ilk like to tell people “what’s best for their safety” Nuff said.
            I love your blog but lay off the PC “gun safety” bullshit already!

            • Thanks for the kind words about the site, but you may have noticed the post category: Irresponsible Gun Owner of the Day. As in daily. So I’m afraid I’m fully and publicly committed to the PC gun safety bullshit. I get your antipathy towards safety Nazis, but you can be pro-safety and NOT a Nazi.

              • It would be a much better series if you could find somebody other than FPSRussia to whine about. I wouldn’t mind if you had used him in one of them, but at this point you might as well rename the series “Whining about FPSRussia” and call the site “The Lies About FPSRussia.”

        • Jamie,
          Robert is right; kids watch this stuff and get ideas. Remember all the videos of kids doing “Jackass” like stunts on Youtube? I think some “self policing” among the gun community is healthy. To paraphrase Dr. John: If we don’t do it, somebody else will.
          Also, it’s a natural law of society that when you broadcast yourself you invite criticism. I think tough guy Ex-P.F.C. Russian or whatever his name is can take it.

  10. I say preach on Brother Robert. You can’t stress safety enough. How many FPSRussia types are out there on the web for every Hickok45? The trend gives me cause for concern.

    • Yes, and it’s enough with the juvenile insults/using verbage like a teenager, if someone is naive enough to disagree about safety. If you don’t think hearing protection is necessary, here’s one for you-you will still have some damage over time using protection if you shoot often enough. Now imagine how much more damage happens w/o protection. As for eye protection, shoot long enough and see if you don’t end up with some lead chunk or other material hit you in the eye from your weapon or another shooter. I nearly lost an eye once. Most of the bloggers here are veteran shooters, vets, former L/E, etc. You just might learn something. The only thing you’ve learned before your twenties are over is that you didn’t know shit like you thought you did.

      • Sorry if my verbiage offended you. Everyone I know is fully aware of the benefits of hearing and eye protection, just like they’re aware of the safety benefits of wearing seatbelts. But they also don’t want people constantly telling them they “NEED” to use those devices.

          • No offense taken, just supporting Robert in a good cause. I’ve had a Gunny kick me in the ass more than once to straighten me out, believe me.

          • He’s spoken about it on a podcast, apparently he can somehow “close his ears”.

            • Sure. I believe that. Like Patrick Duffy in Manimal. In fact, what’s happening is this: he’s going deaf.

              • His claims that he can close his ears might actually be credible. I can do something similar, albeit not to the degree that he describes. However, whether or not this is really saving his ears is up for debate.

        • I can close my ears too. I don’t like to for long periods of time since I get a splitting headache from it but it is possible and apparently genetic, most of my family can do it but never heard of others doing it till now.

  11. Hey, this is his life and “acolytes” have their own life too. It is not your buisness. If his eyes/ears will get f—- up, its their fault. So stop making stupid anti-fpsrussia comments because it seems that youre a communist trying to controll everything.. ITS NOT YOUR BUISNESS and if kids watch this and try to do this at home and get f— up- then i think its another good proof for evolution by natural selection, and its a good thing. Go to north korea and help them improove controlling of ppl.

    • I sure hope you’re being sarcastic. Controlling and critiquing are two very different things. Anybody who posts videos of themselves all over the web is fair game to be picked apart. If you’re going to be posting videos of yourself on the internet handling/shooting firearms, you better be doing the right thing every time. If not, prepare to be preached at, called names, and made an example of. People are free to do whatever they want, but why encourage doing it the wrong way?

  12. So did you only watch this one video and assume he was an irresponsible prat or did you actually take your time to watch more of his videos before making judgments?
    He does take apart weapons in several weapons and explains technical specifications of weapons to people who comment (if they ask).
    He makes a lot of money from Youtube (Partnership) for what he does, and you’re saying he has “too many toys”? well duh, whats he going to do? Video the same gun every week?
    He doesn’t wear ear protection because hes outside. He will wear ear protection otherwise. Hes wearing ear protection in the second half anyway! Some of his videos he will use eye protection, probably because hes done these things many times and knows if they pose a risk or not. You guys are sounding like a bunch of grannies.
    Its his eyes and ears anyway.

    • I’ve watched plenty of FPSRussia’s videos. In fact, this is his fifth appearance in the IGOTD slot. If you think you don’t need ear protection outside, you are EXACTLY the kind of person who needs someone you admire/trust to tell you that you are very, very wrong.

  14. I have an idea. If he’s so gung ho and knowledgeable, why doesn’t he do a hitch with the service. More specifically, why doesn’t he go Green Beret, 18 Bravo-Weapons Specialist. It’s a good field.

  15. While what you all are saying is very very true…well ummm… he is still awesome!

  16. I wonder how many of you will remember to wear your hearing and eye protection when someone breaks in…

    Speaking of ‘role models’, maybe we should also ask Hollywood to make sure action heroes wear hearing and eye protection too.

    [/sarcasm]

  17. I’m a minor but the idea that teenagers will follow what he does isnt true. When me and my friends go out with our guns we dont use ear protection. Its not because we see fps russia videos we did it way before then. Its because we think it is cool and we cant see our ears being damaged or dont think we will get hit in the eye. When I was a kid my dad always made me wear protection. Im sure that i will make my kids do it as well but i doubt they will when they leave my supervision. As a teenager there are much worse things you can be doing than not wearing protection. I also wonder if all of you ALWAYS wore i protection and NEVER drank as a teenager etc.
    Look up bullet proof vest test gone bad if you want to see poor decision making

  18. What people seem to not be realizing, is that FPSrussia is a characte. He is some is a stereotype created by Kyle trying to make money. Who wants to watch a character to explain gun saftey. I don’t ever see that kind of thing at the movies.

  19. Well, he says: When you are outside, you do not need ear protection. And I think you only need eye protection for some weapons. And most of the time, he wears sunglasses.
    So stop bitching.

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