[Pantagruel]

I'm a guy. I like power tools. I like high power rifles. But then there's the matter of reason. Guns go bang. Not just that, let's face it, they actually go BOOM!!! Whether in some mountain holler, over flatland, or down city streets, sounds travel further than you ever wanted them to go. SHTF => hunger => squirrel => BOOM! Wrong. In dark times, a "pop" will be loud! What to do? There are already strings concerning air rifles -- some of these little fellows ain't so little. But in the realm of firearms, not a whole lot gets said about low power firearm ammunition. I would like to hear other folk's experiences with CB caps, sub sonic ammunition, target .22 ammo, 1050 fps .22 ammo like CCI Green Tag, how 'bout Remington?, how 'bout Winchester?, ..... . Who has used which/what-kind-of ammo? Did using .22 shorts "ring" your LR chamber? What rifle/ammo combo produced squirrel-eye shooting accuracy? How deep did each penetrate whatever material you used to stop it? Please share what you have learned about low-power ammunition.

 

[aeropilot4fun]

Subsonic .22 is excellent in a 10/22 or any other 16"+ rifle barrel - sounds more like a pellet gun. In a .22 pistol, it will sound like a normal .22 round. Hits solid out to 75+ yards just as a normal .22 long and the varmits around the house aren't any less dead as a result. The neighbors have all been impressed at how quiet it is and most all of us use subsonic .22's now for plinking varmits. You might get the occasional lack of gas pressure to cycle your semi-auto rifle, but for the the most part, it cycles just fine in our 10/22 and AR with a .22 kit.

 

[EdD270]

I use .22 Shorts and Short CBs for nearly everything around the place here, from killing squirrels and rabbits, in season, to racoons, skunks, foxes and coyotes.
since you like high-power rifles, try doing what my nephew did. He developed a reduced load for his .30-06 that he uses when we go squirrel hunting. It's a 110 gr. hard cast lead bullet, with some pistol powder and a little fluff to hold the powder against the primer. Lots of info about such loads online at the various hunting and gun forums. His load is no louder than a .22 Long Rifle, and does a great job on squirrel and rabbit without messing up the meat any worse than a .22 would.
We also have great fun when we meet other hunters. You should see their faces when they learn we are rabbit or squirrel hunting, me with a .22 Short and he with a .30-06.

 

[Meat Guy]

There are chamber inserts to use .32 acp in a 30-06 in Sportsman Guide. $14.97 I'm sure there are other inserts also.
Here is another source. http://www.gunadapters.com/
Archery including a crossbow would be another option.

 

[Armordude]

Get a Outback IID and you are all set :thumb:

I am just waiting for the stamp :

 

[HB of CJ]

Have You Tried Aquila SSS 60 gr. Sub Sonic .22RF?

Very quiet and cycles fine our modified 10-22 with an 18" bbl. Accurate out to 50 yrds. No keyholing with my barrel. 1X15 twist. Yours? Dunno. MV around 900 fps.

In our 10" SBR 10-22 with an Eliet Iron Echo 6" suppressor, very very quiet. Just a "POP". All NFA rules apply. Very accurate. 1X9 twist. You can hear the bolt cycling.

Very effective on ferel cats, skunks, squirrls, rats, possums, racoons, chuckers, peasants, even valley quail. Yumm Yumm. (nearly all) HB of CJ (old coot)

 

[The Heretic]

I have some Eley .22 rimfire ammo that is primer only. It is about 600 fps IIRC. Pretty quiet from a rifle - about like a powerful pellet gun.

 

[Incoming]

With my Walther P22, a few Remmington sub-sonic .22 rounds and the Tac 65 http://www.tacticalinc.com/tac65-22lr-suppressor-p-38.html suppressor about the only thing you hear is the bolt cycling if you're standing close. You usually get what you're willing to pay for.

 

[FarmerJohn]

I hve a cz 452 ultra lux with a 28 in barrel

i can shoot 22lr and there wisper quiet because the barrel length is long enough to burn all the powder wicked accurate too

 

[augoldminer]

I use Aquila SSS 60 gr. Sub Sonic .22RF in my AR15 with a Ciener Rimfire Conversion unit. And in my old military Mossberg M44US training rifle
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productnumber=414445

After the SHTF i can build a "can" from PVC pipe and cardboard that will leave the only thing you hear will be the bolt cycling

 

[MasterLocked]

I have two pistols and one rifle that all have their legally owned suppressors. I highly suggest investing in one.

 

[Legon]

I use the cb shorts an the 60gr. Aguila to in my savage mark II gl take a lot of small game with them when I'm deer hunting I take the 22 their quite wont spook the big stuff . I shoot a reduced load in my 3030 using a cast bullet an Trail Boss powder about 900fps good for small game maybe something bigger up close very little recoil abt. like shooting a 357 rifle CB are worth the extra weight in your pack at least 3 to 500 of them .

 

[Jstwaiting]

I use an old bolt action 22 rifle with 22 shorts. My pellet rifle makes more noise. I'll give the sub sonics a try. I am over run with chipmunks.

 

[airdrop]

I have Remington subsonic for those need to be quiet times and they kill quit well. The 40 gr bullets imparts enough energy to do the job. On porcipines and shunks I don't mess around an blow 4 or 5 rds to make sure they drop in thier tracks. Shot two coyotes the other days with good results. Like others have said the report is low in the 10/22 with no sonic crack, the blast from a pistol is to be expected but no sonic crack ,velocity will be about 950 fps from pistol an 1050 from rifle . Subsonic gives me great accurracy as they have to keep the powder charge concistant to maintain the right speed.

 

[sotto]

To the best of my recollection, .22 CB Longs are substantially quieter in my guns than the Aquila subsonics.

 

[nitechampiom]

when I'm out coonhunting if the dogs tree near a camp or house my friends and I use cci cb longs and you can hear the firing pin snap they are so quiet. they are a little louder in my marlin model 15y than my friends rossi single shot tho do to barrel difference.

 

[bighanded]

rat shoot

years back we lived in a neighborhood...2 doors up a rental property had gone unmowed for months and someone had let domestic rats get loose and they had made a home in the neighbor's shed and tall grass..big rats..bigger than squirrels...brown n white, etc...pretty things..anyway..someone finally cut the grass up there and tore down the shed and suddenly we all have rats coming through our yard, getting into our shed, kids standing on the swing sets screaming, etc...so the neighbors got together and we had friday night rat shoots for several weeks running.

used a flounder light from the boat stash, connected to a car battery and sat behind it to blind them...they would come through the chain link fence and we had a short window of about 2 feet between the fence and the back of the shed where the rats were in the open and we could shoot them.
since the CCI won't cycle a ruger 10/22 very well, we used old bolt 22s...the nearest neighbors all participated and the ones any further than that away never heard a thing..nice quiet spit sound and as long as we hit good, the rats would fall to a single shot...smart things...after a while they figured out our method and one night it was particularly slow then all of a sudden a leaf fell down from the branches above and we looked up to see them coming across in the trees !
anyway....squirrels are amazingly tough and I've not tried to shoot them out of a tree at distance with rat shot...likely slow em down long enough to get a second shot into them..but if I were worried about being heard/located, I'd hate to have to shoot more than once.

 

[Cylus]

Like Farmer john.
I to own a cz ultra lux,,,,,,, with subsonics they make almost no noise,,,,, and like he said, cz's are wicked accurate. there are times I have shot a squirrel and all I heard was the firing pin drop and the squirrel hit the ground.

 

[dgr]

bighanded,
Good story! Which CCIs were you using?