Fun with subsonic loads !

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JasonYuke

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Well never thought much of reduced loads over the years always figured why bother. ?
But times change people move things grow on you. Had the opportunity to play around after lots of research and a few calls to Hodgdon powder company.

And just plain having fun :). Do not try these these unless you call Hodgdon or talk to a professional.

So at 50 y with my 308 sniper Mauser I am shooting a wild velocity of 500 fps and a small in plugged ear pop less than 22 lol and .5 Moa groups with mag primers and a heavy load of 5.3 gr of tite group.

For 223 using 3.5 gr of tite group and same hole at 50 yards.

222 at 3.2 gr.

My 303 t-sniper at 6.0 gr lol it's a hoot !!

Having so much fun with this approach it's quiet and velocity is no more than a pellet gun :) and shooting guns I don't want to normally wear out. !!

Anyone ever play around with this approach.
 
i use cast .311 pistol bullets in my .303 and x54r with a light charge of red dot it sounds like a .22 ive also used .32 acp/.32 S&W adapters in both and its sounds about the same

ive read silent without a silencer its a good read it talks mainly about long toms (a .22 with a 30"+ barrel) but its a good read non the less
 
No jacket bullets , when I talked to the lab guys at Hodgdon they said copper jacked. Was Surprized as well.
They now list subsonic loads with tite group. I am under the rec load for sound reasons.

But no squib loads yet at these load density yet !
 
Don't try to reinvent the wheel.
People have been reloading very light loads in rifles for a hundred years and long before Titegroup and Trailboss were made.
Your Hodgdon man told you to use Titegroup, but any fast burning pistol or shotgun powder will do. One of the oldest and most common powders to use is Unique, down to maybe 5 to 7 grains in a center fire rifle with cast bullets.
With any fast burning powder, use enough that you are sure the bullet will get out the barrel, then work down, always being careful not to double charge.
The big caution, that can't be told too often is, make sure the bullet got out the barrel, before shooting another.
 
antiqueguy said:
i use cast .311 pistol bullets in my .303 and x54r with a light charge of red dot it sounds like a .22 ive also used .32 acp/.32 S&W adapters in both and its sounds about the same

ive read silent without a silencer its a good read it talks mainly about long toms (a .22 with a 30"+ barrel) but its a good read non the less
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Any link? No luck finding it.
 
Subs are hilarious. I love them. I was shooting them out of my M14 and my buddys remy 700 at 2-300 M at a steel gong. I was also shooting them at one of Hungry's M14 clinics at 500 yds. You could see the projectile in your own scope every time. Its a blast. And that was with a 5x falcon scope on the M14.
I think the only part that pissed me off was that my subs grouped better at 100 out of my M14 than my normal pressure hand loads
 
CanuckR said:
Subs are hilarious. I love them. I was shooting them out of my M14 and my buddys remy 700 at 2-300 M at a steel gong. I was also shooting them at one of Hungry's M14 clinics at 500 yds. You could see the projectile in your own scope every time. Its a blast. And that was with a 5x falcon scope on the M14.
I think the only part that pissed me off was that my subs grouped better at 100 out of my M14 than my normal pressure hand loads
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Lol ha ha lol same here with my Mauser sniper clone lol no poop 1/4 at 50 yards lol
 
^^ What H4831 said. I have used 5 gr, of 700X and a 93 gr. Lee WW bullet in 30-30, and other variations of powder charge and bullet weight for a long time. I do make them hot enough to get out of the barrel, then just leave the load as it is. I make sure they are lubed good. Great fun. At 5gr. per round, I get 1200 loads per pound.
 
kjohn said:
^^ What H4831 said. I have used 5 gr, of 700X and a 93 gr. Lee WW bullet in 30-30, and other variations of powder charge and bullet weight for a long time. I do make them hot enough to get out of the barrel, then just leave the load as it is. I make sure they are lubed good. Great fun. At 5gr. per round, I get 1200 loads per pound.
Click to expand...

i mite have to get a .30-30 now :) i never though of that cartridge for squib loading (that what pistol bullets in rifle cartridges are called)
 
antiqueguy said:
i mite have to get a .30-30 now :) i never though of that cartridge for squib loading (that what pistol bullets in rifle cartridges are called)
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Any rifle not in the magnum catagory can be loaded light like that, using about the same charge of powder. I have never tried magnum size rifles, but would think more powder would be required for the same results.
I usually used cast bullets in a 30 calibre rifle, but I do remember also using 87 grain jacketed bullets designed for a 32 pistol.
I loaded a 30-06 so light that we shot it in the basement. At 30 feet it would make cloverleaf targets.
I once took the notion to photograph a bullet as it left the barrel. I wanted the bullet to go pretty slow, so I rigged up in the basement, using a Marlin rifle in 44 magnum. A strobe light would be the only thing fast enough to capture the bullet in flight, so here is what I did.
Mounted the rifle a foot a above and parallel to the floor. Rigged the 35 mm camera in the proper position. I then rigged up a trigger, which would fire the strobe light when the emerging bullet hit a wire at the muzzle.
I set a douglas fir block of wood 5 feet in front of the muzzle to stop the bullet. Fir is rated as a softwood, but is actually quite hard. Much harder than pine, for example. And this block of fir was fine grained, hard and had the bark removed.
Wondering how much unique would be required, I started with 4 grains, behind a 260 grain cast bullet.
First shot, with 4 grains completely burried the bullet in the block, with the base of the bullet 3/4 inch in from the surface!
Next was 3 1/2 grains and again, the bullet was out of sight, with the base in 3/8 inch below the surface.
3 grains of unique burried the 260 grain bullet, with the base about even with the surface of the block. (No, I did not use a filler to hold the powder against the primer.)
This was the load I settled on. When all was ready I turned out the lights in the basement and opened the shutter for a timed 5 seconds. With the dark room and the camera shutter open, I fired the rifle. When the bullet exited it did set off the strobe light, but the strobe wasn't fast enough to properly picture the bullet. The bullet appeared strung out.
 
"When all was ready I turned out the lights in the basement and opened the shutter for a timed 5 seconds. With the dark room and the camera shutter open, I fired the rifle. When the bullet exited it did set off the strobe light, but the strobe wasn't fast enough to properly picture the bullet. The bullet appeared strung out."

When I was at the CIL R&D lab we had to photograph muzzle shots quite often. Usually shotgun wad columns. Turned the lights off (indoor range), opened shutter of Poloroid camera on Bulb setting, fired gun which used chronograph to fire the flash. It was a very fast flash 1/20,000 as I recall.
 
I shoot sub-sonic loads in 7.62 x 39,54r,30-30 and 300 Sav.

Powder
Alliant Bullseye

Charge weight,average MV 875 to 1K fps. depending on powder charge used,these are not Max. loads but will provide best accuracy and want give any leading issues if the bullet is a good fit to your bore
7.62 x 39 load 2.7 to 3.0 grs.
7.62 x 54r,30-30,300 Sav. 308 Win. and 30-06 load 3.0 to 3.5 grs.

Primer
LR any brand works fine.

Bullet
Lee .314" 32 Cal. 90 gr. tumble lube SWC. cast for pure lead,TL once before and once after sizing.

7.62 x 39 and 54r bullet sized to .314" both rifles have .312 groove bores.
30-30,300 Sav. 308 Win. and 30-06 bullet sized to .311" both my 30-30 and 300 Sav. have .308 bores.

30-30 load at 30 yds. with the irons unadjusted for the lighter bullet. Average MV was 1084 fps. with 3.5 grs.
30-30.jpg
 
Trailboss is another powder that has really changed things when loading subsonics or close to subsonic. I've used TB in my 300WSM to chuck 165gr cast bullets about 1200fps, and I'm sure you could get similar results with many cartridges until the cases start getting really big. Doing cartridges like 30-06, 30-30, 303, etc are a snap.
 
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