Thread: Quiet effective sub caliber for hunting, is there such a thing?

I quite like 44mag and 300blk
44mag uses 44special bullets to get subs

Bot the 45bm and 45-70 were a lot louder imo rendering them a waste of time staying under the sound barrier

Pick your shots and know your trajectory, and the limitations of the amount of energy you are using
My favourite is still 300blk and subx


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Thanks for the replies people, a few things I hadn't considered but I think I will park the subsonic idea based on what has been mentioned here unless I start reloading or find someone to do it for me.

I just read the whole thread , and pretty much most of the advices have been pretty good if I relate to my experiences ( I shot probably more than 50 animals with 308 subs, cast and jacketed projectiles, 300 black, 44 special/ mag, 450 bushmaster,458 socom …and in the middle of testing maker bullet in 300 black and soon 8.6 black with peregrine projectiles ( I am waiting for quality brass to turn up )).

I am not sure what environment you are shooting in, but also be aware of ricochets. Those subsonic projectiles have a tendency to go through an animal and still bounce out of hard surfaces behind and carry on with a loud wizzzing noise to god knows where.
It is just that when I hear people saying they are buying a 300 black to be able to shoot stuff of their lifestyle block and not been heard of their neighbours, I always ask them how far is the nearest neighbours and if they had considered the ricochets issues and their consequences?

For what you intend to do,( shooting at 50 m ish, no reloading ….et c), 300 black sub x is the bottom limit , and 44mg ( bergara single shot or marlin lever action?) probably the upper cal you want to go with. And like bowhunting, you would have to pick your shot , on an animal which is not in alert , that has seen or heard you. That is, if you want it to die quick without running away too far. As soon as that animal has detected you and has Adrenaline flowing before you shoot it, you can expect a doubling or tripling of the running distance unless you shoot in the spine or in the central nervous system.

Any bigger than 44 special starts to to be very loud, at least in the factory offering, and anything smaller than 300 is not as effective at killing unless you are spot on with your shots.
The best thing would be for you to find a reloading buddy who can help you make ammunition that will perform better than the factory offerings.

Originally Posted by Bradp

Thanks for the replies people, a few things I hadn't considered but I think I will park the subsonic idea based on what has been mentioned here unless I start reloading or find someone to do it for me.

If you just want to load say 50 subsonics every few years, you don't need to go into the rabbit hole if you just buy some powder primers and projectiles then load on someone elses bench. To load up 50 will take the better part of an afternoon on an average reloading bench.

Or you could just buy a Lee hand press and some dies, the beauty of loading subsonics is that the brass doesn't need much prep like with full power loads. This is going into the rabbit hole a bit, but not so far you loose sight of the exit.

Subsonic 8.6 BLK does look pretty cool. Rotational energy and terminal performance. If it becomes mainstream in NZ, I may give subsonic another go. Couldn't be wrong twice could I?!

Subs have always interested me, as a mostly small game hunter there is just something about being quiet enough to not spook the next animal. I've had a .308 sub which was pretty quiet and effective on goats. Tried a 357/38 special which was considerably louder but I had a pretty average suppressor on that one. Next project is a .375 Ruger which I am going to try to find a load between 280gr to 350gr sub, it has a Gunworks Maximus suppressor and I have a spare DPT magnum to test as well. If that works out it should be between 700-1000fpe which should be plenty for deer out to 100m at least.

All well covered above
The bigger the caliber the louder it will be.
The shorter the barrel the louder it will be.
The heavier the projectile the louder it will be.

The best option would be to get someone to load some leighigh or maker monolithic subsonic expanding projectiles.
But then still remember you are effectively bowhunting terminal performance wise.

Quote: The bigger the caliber the louder it will be.
The shorter the barrel the louder it will be.
The heavier the projectile the louder it will be.

Then go with the dependable.308…. That’s of course if you think u can handle this beast!!!

Think I shot subs exclusively for about a year. We often talk cross-purposes about subs. They will kill animals, but shot placement has to be spot on. For most subs, this means good head and neck shots. I've always been interested in projectiles that expand at subsonic speeds allowing ethical heart/lung/shoulder shots. In New Zealand, this means reloading. Factory offerings don't do what they say on the tin. 8.6 BLK is interesting because of the rotational energy factor.

Originally Posted by Mintie

Subs have always interested me, as a mostly small game hunter there is just something about being quiet enough to not spook the next animal. I've had a .308 sub which was pretty quiet and effective on goats. Tried a 357/38 special which was considerably louder but I had a pretty average suppressor on that one. Next project is a .375 Ruger which I am going to try to find a load between 280gr to 350gr sub, it has a Gunworks Maximus suppressor and I have a spare DPT magnum to test as well. If that works out it should be between 700-1000fpe which should be plenty for deer out to 100m at least.

375-08 would do it if you could get the 400gn projectiles here and an appropriate twist barrel

Shot this one this morning: 30 cal maker in 300BO
i am happy with the performance.

Ruining good steak..may as well have used the 270 lol

back in the mid 2000,s I was running goat control based out of Stratford we went thru a phase of trying sub rounds some got their 223 sakos rebarrelled into I think it was 300 blackout and Wanganui went one further and tried 44mag suppressed Ruger semi autos - did not last long - yes quiet over dogs handy in bush yes but the big complaint - total lack of effective range - goats deer 200 away across a gully safe - pissed of hunters - did not last even six months as an idea - back to supressed 223 and 222

Barry,I'm genuinely surprised the fellas didn't simply slip in a supersonic normal load and carry on as usual. Best of both worlds and personally believe it's better to be zeroed for subs and know where supers will be than the other way around.

no they did not get into that - one mate used to carry sub .222 for over his dogs pig hunting -but the boys liked the supplied ammo - and Wanganui was supplying the 44 mag ( for a while) I cant remember now what the guts was with the 300 blackout - I supplied .222 and .223 and was not prepared to do different - ( $8 for packet of federal .222 then lol ) all the boys knew the story with ammo .222 or .223 if they wanted different then swap somewhere - it was the same when I was culling one or two wanted .243 well they got .270 or .308 and swapped - FS it was .222 .308 and .270 now apart from .223 why would you want anything else