Archer kinda gets this more-right than most things, LOL. "MAWP! MAWP!"
Part of that is because the sound volume is just so drastically different compared to normally talking; microphones have trouble with it, audio amplifiers end up clipping [0], and most speakers would blow out if the amp didn't clip (especially for the larger guns). And, assuming none of that happened then, just as you would have on a gun deck, your listeners' ears would be damaged. So the sound of gunfire in media is quieted.
Most people simply aren't around guns in the first place, let alone firing guns (eg, going to a gun range with friends/family/etc even if you don't own a gun), to understand just how much media misrepresents it.
Instead of a silly overacted action sequence where the hero darts around killing everyone with miraculous hip-fired headshots, instead you hear a sudden jarring crack-FWOOMP followed by an intensely loud tinnitus ringing. It takes half the scene for the ringing to slowly clear while the hero somewhat realistically tries to escape without harming anyone or blowing his cover, while also staying out of the line of fire.
It was so against the norm for action sequences that it nearly broke the immersion for me until it settled in how well put together that scene was.
Even firing a large calibre rifle with hearing protection is something you need to get use to. Not only the noise, but the pressure wave and recoil feels like someone just punched you.
I'm pretty sure the effect comes from the sound and not something like toxic gasses because I never get the feeling shooting smaller calibers, nor do I get it when shooting with a silencer. It's too bad silencers are so restricted in the US. I think a lot of shooters would be in better health if they were more common.
We're instructed to exhale before firing because the concussion of the round leaving the front while its propellent leaves the back of the tube creates a brief vacuum. If you don't exhale, the air is forced out of your lungs so violently you feel like you got punched in the chest.
The noise is undoubtedly part of it, but the atmospheric effect is not insignificant, I think.
Yeah that's exactly why indoor ranges kind of suck for any serious rifle caliber.
But even a .270 /30-06 puts out a lot more noise than you think it will. You jump right out of your skin the first shot.
Is it typical to use a shotgun in an indoor range? I thought shotguns were for killing clay pigeons.
It's not explicitly rude but depending on the exact circumstances it's kind of pushing it to shoot 12ga and full power rifle rounds at indoor recreational ranges. Like don't do it on Saturday morning when it's busy and everyone is their with their wife or kids or whatever. Anything with enough concussion to be obnoxious to other shooters is sus.