Fourteen young guinea pigs were individually exposed to 500 rounds of paper “caps” tired in a toy gun at a distance of 30 cm. The gun was fired at intervals of 1 5 sec. After seven weeks survival, the cochleas were removed and each complete organ of Corti examined, using Engström's surface‐preparation technique. Cochleograms (tabular forms showing position and condition of each cell) were prepared for each row of hair cells. Curves were plotted showing number of damaged cells as a function of distance from the base. In approximately 80% of the cases, total destruction of hair cells occurred in a narrow band midway along the organ of Corti. The severity and distribution of damage for the group are compared with similar data for another group, which was exposed to high‐intensity pure tones.