Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Lever or bolt for maximum quietude?

Quiet wise a break open type single shot should be the quietest...

My bolt is always quieter than the AR.

Teh bullet hitting the pigs is generally what spooks em. I strive to be the quietest rounds I can get... and I still have not had pigs run at the first round. Maybe I should possibly shoot them in the flanks instead of heart or head might not slap so loudly.

Heck even suppressed subsonic 22 makes em run

Yep, bullet impact can be pretty loud, and seems to be closely related to the amount of damage the bullet does. (meaning impact of a non-expanding RN is not as loud in meat as a good hollow point, etc)

The bolt gun is definitely quieter, but that may not really matter much for most hunting. Animals are still going to hear the first shot, they just may not know what it is.

To throw out another option, since you mentioned accuracy - look into a 35 caliber rifle of some sort. 35 Remington or 358 Win are your best bet unless you go with a wildcat; smaller case capacity than either of those is better. This gives you lots of options for rifles, and plenty of bullet options too. I'm using a 255gr cast hollow point in most of my 35's, but also use 38/357 hollow points sometimes for lighter quiet loads.

The 35 bore gives you more suppressor options as well, if you don't already have one. Most any 9mm suppressor can handle subsonic loads from 35 cal rifle cartridges.

I have a suppressed Contender .44 that I shoot 335gr hard cast at 1000 - 1100 fps out of for hogs. Have friends who guide night hog hunts that use integrally suppressed .44 Ruger 77's, shooting 300gr XTP's at sub sonic velocities. The noise of the bullet hitting is loud enough to spook a hog, but if one out of a sounder fell dead of a heart attack the rest would run. They are very intelligent animals, and all the stories of killing multiple hogs with suppressed rifles while they stand around waiting to be shot are pretty much just stories. I don't consider the single shot Contender that much of a handicap, and have a couple of times dropped 2 hogs with a single shot. The advantage to the suppressor, as in any hunting in which they are used, is not having to use hearing protection, and not spooking every animal and human in the area.

Pretty sure a sub sonic load will not cycle the action on a Ruger .44 semi-auto carbine (I have one, haven't tried this yet), and some AR sub sonic loads don't cycle well, either.