Jacob brought his roller-delayed Springfield Armory Kuna 9mm PCC equipped with a Dead Air Mojave 9 suppressor and Holosun EPS optic. His sidearm was a Shadow Systems MR920P with a Holosun red dot.

I brought my Panzer Arms ARP9 with a SIG ROMEO3 red dot. My sidearm was a Canik MC9 Prime equipped with a CVLIFE Wildcat green-dot optic.

The main question we wanted to answer was whether our preferred home-defense setups are quiet enough to fire inside a house without completely destroying our hearing. We compared my lower-cost budget setup against Jacob’s higher-end setup to see how much difference there really is in sound.

We also tested our handguns to see just how loud they are. Sound above approximately 130 dB can cause immediate hearing damage, and indoor gunfire can be even more dangerous because the sound reflects off walls.

This was an outdoor, informal sound-meter test—not a scientific test or a claim that any firearm is hearing-safe. Always use proper hearing protection.

Which setup would you choose for home defense? Let me know in the comments.