Thread: Quietest firearm possible?

Yep I see there is a De Lisle reproduction on trademe at the moment, but they want $2000 for it.... I have a Baikal 7.62x39 and it shares the can on my .308, it is quiet with subsonic loads but not as quiet as some of the .22's i've handled, I think @Friwi must be right, my mate has a Marlin XT22 with a suppressor and it make less noise than an air rifle. Maybe i'll stick with the 7.62x39, I've been using 150 grain Sierra .311 Pro Hunters with 7 grains of Trail Boss, are cast bullets worth trying?

Originally Posted by tommygun

Yep I see there is a De Lisle reproduction on trademe at the moment, but they want $2000 for it.... I have a Baikal 7.62x39 and it shares the can on my .308, it is quiet with subsonic loads but not as quiet as some of the .22's i've handled, I think @Friwi must be right, my mate has a Marlin XT22 with a suppressor and it make less noise than an air rifle. Maybe i'll stick with the 7.62x39, I've been using 150 grain Sierra .311 Pro Hunters with 7 grains of Trail Boss, are cast bullets worth trying?

Yeah I reckon that guy is fuckin dreaming - mine cost 1200

It's also heavy enough that it is more of a range gimmick than a serious hunting rifle - if I was to go for the same effect these days I wouldn't hesitate to modernise the design from the original idea and make it lighter - mine's only good for about 80m or so too which is short enough to be in consideration when looking at what sort of end use you want it for

Originally Posted by tommygun

Yep I see there is a De Lisle reproduction on trademe at the moment, but they want $2000 for it.... I have a Baikal 7.62x39 and it shares the can on my .308, it is quiet with subsonic loads but not as quiet as some of the .22's i've handled, I think @Friwi must be right, my mate has a Marlin XT22 with a suppressor and it make less noise than an air rifle. Maybe i'll stick with the 7.62x39, I've been using 150 grain Sierra .311 Pro Hunters with 7 grains of Trail Boss, are cast bullets worth trying?

the 150grn hps off trademe that come out of Tokoroa are great stuff,I headshot my house muttons at up to 50 yards with them.

There is a JP silent captured buffer spring available for Ar's to quieten the air-rifle like twang of buffer, supposed to be good but a little pricey if purchased here like everything else.
Troy Defense make a pump-action in 300AAC based largely on an Ar configuration with a folding stock, but NZ Police have made importers pin the folding stock. They look quite nicely made.

My experience with fully suppressed rifles tells me the porting of the barrel does make a huge difference.
I own an over barrel suppressed jw 105, over barrel suppressed 10/22 and a mate had a savage Shorty. The Shorty is very similar to the jw, I'd say the jw is a very good copy of the savage. The savage is fully suppressed which included the barrel porting and it is notably quieter than the jw. The 10/22 had a barrel sound the same as the jw but is notably louder due to the action noise even with an after market polymer buffer.
When it comes to ammo, the higher the grains the louder the noise. I shoot Winchester in all, the 36gr are much quieter than the 40gr and 42 gr. I'm not sure of the exact science why but that is the results of comparing side by side.
The savage easily came out the quietest but it also had the slowest projectile.

Sent from my workbench

And I must add that the first shot I fired with the savage I thought it had miss fired

Sent from my workbench

Cz455 with a small suppressor on it from @perriscuba is incredibly quiet running cci subs, makes my 10/22 sound like a cannon

Single shot Bergara 300 BLK?

It could be an option. But beware, they have been produced and imported with a 1 in 8" and with a 1 in 14" twist. The 1 in 14" might still work with some cast bullets of 150 gr, other wise 110 gr with trail boss behind would do an excellent possum gun.

i like the .30 calibers for subsonics, nothing against .44s or anything else but i didn't see any real advantage for me with bigger bullets at sub speed over the .30s, not to say there isn't i just didn't see it with the limited time i tried them.
But for someone else buying bullets that are made for low velocity the pistol bullets would be a real advantage.

like Friwi i saw no real advantage going with the heavy weights, tests on penetration showed similar performance with 170, 180, 190, 212 grain bullets in wet newspaper and animals at all ranges.
But there is advantages with the soft cast heavy longer bullets if you want to modify them with BIG hollow points . . . and i just like em

in this case the hollow point extends down to the first driving band . .. they are a little more deadly on animals but not as much as i would have thought . . best is still a bullet with a wide flat point placed in the boiler room with care.

the biggest decision to me is what kind of optics/sights are you going to use . .. . with the right kind you can shoot with confidence to well past the usual ranges subs are used at . .. good luck

Get a bolt action 300blk like my Ruger, cut it short as $#%& and screw a Sonic suppressor on the end. Then buy another sonic, take the baffles off it and screw them all together. Then buy another sonic, take the baffles off it and screw them all together. Mission accomplished

Used to use a Rossi 357mag shooting 38spl subsonic loads. Was good for pigs and deer but decided to go for the Ruger 96/44 lever action. Slightly more noise but a heavier bullet. In most cases with subsonic ammo the bullet hitting the target makes more noise than the shot being fired. About as loud as a air rifle.

i did want to add one more point with .30 caliber versus .45 that i found . .. when the big .45 300grn bullets compared to 200grn .30 cal bullets at 1600fps were used on Goats and some Big Fallow Deer the .45s were absolutely devastating, both put them down but the .45s were instant lights out and blew big exit holes on broadside hits that you could look into . . the clockwork had been blown out the side.

you don't have to be just use subsonic loads in your rifle . . . they will have different zero ranges but thats not a biggy. My .30s use a 50yd for the subs which gives me a 100yd with the high velocity load.

i preferred the .30s because i could get more accuracy for shooting out further with the rifles i tried without any problems . .. other rifles in the bigger calibers may have enough accuracy for your needs.

Years ago I wanted a 510 whisper or a 338 whisper for subsonic deer hunting, but got myself a 300 blackout built and am more than happy with what it can do. Even at 250m I can head shoot deer with subs. Easy enough to reload for, the nephew and grandkids can shoot it without flinching and shooting steel out to 300m.

I have done a lot of mucking around with 30cal subs. In everything from 300WM to 300AAC. If you want to go 30cal primarily for suppressing go 300AAC/blackout. The 1:8/7 barrel is perfect but you will be limited in full power loads. Otherwise a .308 will give you a sub sonic option with high power but look for 1:10 twist or faster barrels. Clean kills with sub-sonics is all about shot placement, the brain or spine is definitely preferable.