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  • Ole Cowboy

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    He's regularly shooting a .22 in his neighborhood?
    Seems like a high powered pellet gun would be more appropriate.
    I could very well be wrong.

    Just my .02
    Guess I should have said: All the homes sit on 1.5 acres and its very heavy treed, he lives in Virginia so he can barely see his neighbors.
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    JustaPhule

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    I've been shooting subsonic .338 Spectre* for the last 5 years or so through a suppressed MSR. They are 300 gr. projectiles traveling @ ~1040fps deadly on hogs quiet and reliable. Range not to exceed 200yds. The heavy bullet drops like a rock, it is heavy and slow.

    *what the 300blk wants to be when it grows up.

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    HKShooter65

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    Thank you. I probably should have specified shooting subsonic ammunition through a silencer. I'd like to know:
    1. If folks view it more as a novelty or as ammunition that can be used for home defense/hunting
    2. What their experience has been when it comes to using subsonic for hunting
    3. What their experience has been with commercially manufactured subsonic ammo.

    Lotta good info you are being given.
    1.
    Not a novelty at all.
    Pretty much all 45ACP ammo is subsonic so there is a difinitive "good for defense" answer.
    I've loaded 500grain subsonic 45-70 that'll sure knock down any creature native to this state.

    2.
    300BLK is being used to kill a lot of hogs and coyotes.
    Certainly it's never approach the punch of a 30-06 or 300WM on game but its just a blast to shoot suppressed.
    For plinking varmints, hares, squirrels, pigeons and the like subsonic .22lr is great.

    3.
    commercially mfg? Fine of course. Lotta handloaders mess with low velocity.

    Subsonic suppressed is where the profound advantage lies.

    For targets and plinking subsonic, to my ears and shoulder are just plain more pleasurable.

    BTW most super accurate 22lr ammo is subsonic, as apparently some instability occurs when an in-flight decelerating bullet is right "at" the speed of sound. More than a little magic and mystery occurs there.
     

    RobertTheTexan

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    Feb 7, 2017
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    I shoot quite a bit of 300BLK. My 300BLK is a 8.3” barrel shot with an AAC 762SDN-6 can.

    My experience is performance varies across brands even with same grain. There’s subs I shoot for plinking, and subs I shoot for training and for more serious business. I train a lot with my 300BLK. Mostly CQ type drills, multiple targets, off hand and unusual shooting postures. It’s not cheap, but it’s training.

    One thing about he 300BLK subsonic ammo is that there is very little expansion or mushrooming with the round. If it is a standard open tip type round. Depending on what you are shooting through, I’ve dug some rounds out of my berm that were pretty intact and some hat had a nice bend to them which could have caused some good damage.

    Of almost equal importance is that subsonic ammo discharges st different decibels. Some ammo is more quiet than others. I’m sure powder/velocity/bullet characteristics all have some kind of impact on that, but from a tactical perspective I want the. EDT performing quietest subsonic ammo I can buy.

    And the BIGGEST point I’d like to make about subsonic ammo?

    IT’S WAY OVERPRICED!!!

    I mean you don’t pay more for a Toyota Prius than you do a Corvette. Why should I pay more for a slower moving round that doesn’t even travel as far?

    It’s just like buying baby clothes all over again.


    ETA: I do I fact realize the higher cost of ammo is related to the increase in bullet weight. In my case almost 100gr, while some of my HD ammo is 208gr.

    I do have an HD setup, but I still struggled with round expansion. I’ve seen some ammo that has some ridiculous expansion - like 4 wings that open up so that the round, when fully expanded looks like a plane prop. I kid you not. Company out of Florida makes it. I’ve had some comms with them and can dig it up if necessary. Last time I saw “boutique” subsonic ammo it was about 2-3x the price of factory subs. Which until I can see a noticeable or driving reason so switch I probably wouldn’t. Expansion characteristics would be one of those reasons.

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    benenglish

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    Some ammo is more quiet than others. I’m sure powder/velocity/bullet characteristics all have some kind of impact on that...
    I once talked at length to a suppressor manufacturer about that, wanting to know if he had experimented with different powders. For example, SR4759 is useful for reduced loads in some cases but it tends to be loud. I read once, a long time ago so I don't remember the details, that there was some typically applied coating for stick powders that tended to make them quieter but that it was omitted from SR4759.

    OTOH, there are powders that are quieter with reduced (not necessarily subsonic) loads, like 60% loads of H4895.

    Then there are powders that produce a report that's shattering, gobsmackingly so, out of short barrels. H335 is notable in that regard.

    The suppressor guy said he understood that some powders were louder than others but he simply hadn't had the time to test. He was more worried about designing his hardware.

    Note to OP - Have you experimented with various powders to see if they make a difference in the sound produced?
     

    RobertTheTexan

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    One area o have not stepped into yet but am planning on is subsonic .308/7.62x51.

    I recently sold my precision AR in .308 and put together a 308 battle rifle with a 16” LMT MWS upper. I do plan running it suppressed but the AAC’s I have are the 762 SND-6’s and they create too much barrel weight. So the plan is to move to a mini or even a micro can. Researching the Rugged Micro30 which can trim down to 5” at 11.8oz or maybe the Crux Neo 30, 6”@ 10oz...Damn that gets me all kinds of excited. Knowing I’m giving up some dB, over a traditional .30 cal can, but the same time gaining more maneuverability and moving to a subsonic round.
    I figured125-135 is my effective range and with proper dope I can probably push out to 200. If I can’t consistently (within similar external variables) get there with factory ammo, I’d consider hand loading to that spec. Or buying something non-factory.


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    benenglish

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    One thing about he 300BLK subsonic ammo is that there is very little mushrooming with the round. If it is a standard open tip type round.
    I've always wondered why nobody seems to be experimenting with subsonic 300BO loads using lighter bullets designed for hunting with pistols. A quick check of the bullet maker web sites shows that they no longer seem to target that market but they once did, making bullets specifically for .30-30-from-a-10"-bbl-velocity bullets for use on medium game like whitetail deer.

    A 300BO max load of Trail Boss behind a 130 Speer HP varmint bullet would be subsonic. Surely someone has tested that combo on deer and pigs. Might that be a suitable hunting/self-defense combo? I'm not a hunter so I don't know but I'd love to read about it if anybody had done some testing.
     

    ZX9RCAM

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    The range of the .22 sub is much shorter than supers. If he has even 50 yards between him and a house he’s solid.

    Meaning avg range of a sub .22 is about 50 yds.


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    That is certainly news to me, thanks.

    Is the below a true statement?
    Subsonic .22lr velocity = 1050fps
    .22 short velocity = 1045fps
     

    RobertTheTexan

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    Emphasis added.

    Glad you said "average". That means that the guys who are using them to punch paper at 3 yards are counterbalanced by the guys using them to bang steel at 200 yards and further.

    I really didn’t word that as I intended. I was thinking more of an effective range, in the context of the guy shooting suppressed subs at squirrels in his neighborhood. So I didn’t think to take into account a 50 some-odd inch offset and squirrel huntin.
    And I wasn’t even thinking long guns, I was sitting there thinking about my own experience shooting subs with a suppressed pistol at the range and observing the effective range of that weapon/round. I’ll be sure to clarify in the future. But thanks for correcting.


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    RobertTheTexan

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    My standard velocity (sub sonic) .22lr box says "Range 1½ miles. Be careful".

    I need to use my Ballistic AE a lot more than seems. I never fully stretched the legs on the pistol I was shooting but the offset needed seemed to be so high, I really didn’t think of it in terms of that kind of range. Thanks


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    RobertTheTexan

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    That is certainly news to me, thanks.

    Is the below a true statement?
    Subsonic .22lr velocity = 1050fps
    .22 short velocity = 1045fps

    I was not right in that statement. As I posted I was thinking more of what the effective range of the round instead of max range which is what I should have been considering and the danger of shooting suppressed subs in the guys neighborhood and not the ability to get a solid hit on a squirrel without 50” of offset.
    I’m going to go punish myself and make myself drink a 12 pack of Old Milwaukee’s Best while binge watching Anderson Cooper as my penance.


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