Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 223 subsonic?

I've loaded 77grain Nosler OTM's over a few grains of Trailboss. It will not cycle the actin, but that's a positive as it makes it basically a straight pull bolt action. The action will move about 1/4 of the stroke, so the case isn't stuck in the chamber.

Mine were running 1070fps, and suppressed, were as quiet as my suppressed .22 bolt action. Should be double the energy of a 40 grain and greater penetration due to bullet construction.

Not really worth the cost of the projectiles, but still fun to shoot.

I think I used around 7 grains, but don't quote me. I started around 11 grains and went down until I got subsonic results.

So, without a suppressor, subsonic loads are not powerful enough for deer sized animals, even say less than 100 yards?

I just wanted to know in a SHTF situation, what would be a good silent way to hunt with a gun.

Suppressors are expensive.

I do reload.

Silent way if SHTF.. 22 with subsonic ammo and a pop bottle on the end or such.... illegal but...

A suppressor has NOTHING to do with power of loads, but it can't quiet the sonic boom of supersonic rounds. IT can quiet mostly totally so to speak, subsonic without the boom. It works best subsonic but still quiets supersonic rounds.

Deer are killed eveyr last year and many of them by subsonic loads. None of my 45 acp loads are supersonic.... and a fair amount with other "anemicly" slow rounds... MZ are not fast... most handguns are not fast and so on...

Can't tell you the number of deer likely killed over the years with a round of 22 LR or even less in the lungs... its all I killed pigs with often in the last 20 years... take someone out, find some pigs and they blast with whatever deer rifle, I wait till one stops around 50 or so yards away, HP in the lungs. Go find theirs and drag it to road, get truck etc.... and then go find mine... dead.

If you are not familiar with Trail Boss, it is a high volume powder. 4 grains is something like 75-80% case capacity of a 5.56/.223.

My bolt rifle load is a 55 gr. Hornady SPSX bullet on top of 4 grains of TB. With no can, it is significantly quieter than a .22RF. While I have never used this load on deer, I have killed other, slightly smaller critters with it. Like everything else, placement is the key to success.

You can get 5 grains of trail Boss in a 38 spl case, per Hodgdon's website.

What kind of accuracy do you get with a Trail Boss load?? Just an idea.......pretty good? Or shotgun pattern??

The rifle went from an easy sub-moa at 100 yards up to a solid moa at 100 yards (same bullet, a little more than 2000fps difference). The big thing was time of flight/wind with those bullets. I never shot the Trail Boss past 100 yards. All my "hunting" shots were 50 yds or less. I looked at it as a way to make my .223 into a .22RF.

DD, I know this is in the Tactical Rifle sub forum. But have you thought about getting a Thompson Center Contender ( G2 ) with a .223 barrel on it. The whole package will cost around $450 used and is very light. Since what you are suggesting with the subsonic loads turns an AR into a single shot, why pay for all of that stuff you don't need. Plus the G2 will is much more likely to be sub MOA.

I'm just asking questions. After reading a lot about the 300 AAC Blackout. I was wondering why could not a 223 be subsonic and just as deadly? Why buy a $500-600 300 Blackout upper to be quiet. I have also read a 22" or longer barrel on a 22LR makes for a very quiet shooter in subsonic 22lr cartridges. No need for suppressor. In that catagory, I could either order a new 10-22 barrel or buy a bolt action Marlin or a Marlin 22 lever with the long barrel. The Ruger barrel is the cheapest route. However, since I already have an AR-15, I was just wondering what the options were for quiet hunting with it.

If you are not shooting far with a 22, and for around the house varmints and pests and such, trapped coons, squirrels at the bird feeder, snakes in the yard and so on...

Super Colibri 22. Its a bullet and primer. About 500 fps IIRC. We use it on hog hunts to shoot rabbits and the like.

And yes a longer barrel is often much quieter than a shorter one....

Good advice. I use the Super Colibri in my yard for Grackels and collared dove when I want to slap one or two on the grill.........the dove - NOT the Grackel!

I need to buy a few more bricks of it again...

I was out sick the last couple days and since I was bored at home, I went to wally world to buy a couple things. They had CCI "Quiet" .22 It's a 22LR with a 40gr bullet at 710fps. I killed four squirrels with them. My scope was off and I managed to sight it in on a squirrel. I got ten shot at him before he decided to go up a tree. finally I got it sighted in and killed two with head shots. I tried it in my P22 and made my first kill with that gun. A head shot from 15 feet. The squirrel kept going to the next tree and looking at me. I got close and he posed for the shot.

great rounds. they don't cycle in a semi, but are quiet suppressed or not.

Only downside is they're round points, not HP. I could hear the bullet hit the tree after it passed through the squirrel. I thought I missed on two of them based on the bullet smack, but then the squirrels fell and did their death dance.

On a subsonic .223, it can't have as much energy as a 300BO. The 300 is shooting as much as a 240gr SMK at the same subsonic velocity as a .223 shooting a 77SMK. Thats over 3 times the weight so three times the energy.

could you hunt with them? Sure, it's about shot placement. A bullet of most any size through the brain will put something down. If the rifle can group them, it'll kill.

you certainly don't need to put a subsonic 223 through the brain to kill a deer. Lungs suffice just fine.

No telling how many deer killed with a 22lr in the lungs over the years.

Best? probably not, but it will certainly do it.

my 32-20 with light bullets going well subsonic kills great too... through the lungs...

I just refer to a head shot for a couple reasons. It require precise aim to hit the brain bucket as opposed to the general head/face, and secondly, if one is shooting in this manner, meat destruction is a negative.

My first deer I shot with a 130gr .270 from less than 20 yards. It was a small doe and the hit was perfect, just behind the left shoulder, exiting the right shoulder. The bullet penetrated both lungs and the heart was blown in four piece and literally fell out when gutting. The bullet exited at the right shoulder and the right leg was only connected by tendons. She still despite that destruction ran over 100 yards through thick brush. I've never had one run when shot in the head.

Head shots, even if it doesn't penetrate, will probably knock a deer out with a severe concusion. Most poachers use a 22lr at night with head or neck shots under 50 yards.

I’m gonna try the 4 grain load of Trailboss with a 62 Bear Claw. I live in the city, fugging neighbors have called the law on me before. I have a .30 cal suppressor, maybe it be quiet enough to shoot crows at 40 yards or so.

I would guess that a Mini 14 would not cycle with 11 grains of Blue Dot. Simply grab the handle and pull it straight back to reload the rifle. I know in England they cannot have semi auto rifles and the Mini uses a gas bushing with no holes therefore no cycling. Pull the handle straight back and eject the old case and let it go closed to load a new one. They typically have a 1/9 twist barrel. I don't know if that is fast enough for the heavy bullets (I doubt it) but it might work for something under 69 grains. Some of the older models of the Mini have a 1/7 twist but they are hard to find.

kwg

Atomic Ammunitions website isn't up but they used to make a 112 grain RNSP1050 fps that will cycle a AR. It requires a 1/7 twist and I shot a few suppressed out of my AR with a Yankee Hill upper and it cycled fine and was quiet.

I didn't shoot for groups just off hand with a red dot and all the rounds looked stabilized with nice round holes at a hundred yards. Still have 40 rounds so I should play with it a bit.