A Quieter Deer Rifle?

[Bigfoot]

Good to see a forum for the Whisper crowd. Gives me a group of people to learn from. :)

I'm on a cartridge search. This is a general purpose, lightweight deer carbine for woods work and the possible 300 yd clearcut shot, it will have a compact scope with 100-200-300 yd reticles. What I want is a good compromise between trajectory, power and muzzle blast. It doesn't have to be silent, just ultra effecient and mild to the ear. I was intrigued by the article "A Quieter Coyote Rifle" and I want something similar only for larger critters and enough power for longer range. I have internal and external ballistic software and I've modeled the 30BR with the 150 gr Scirocco which expands well at low velocity, and it had plenty of performance with a bore/case ratio of 12:1 IIRC. It should work fine but I'd like to hear about real world experience from shooters with the same ideas. I need to learn about fast burning powders and high BC, fast opening bullets, etc. .338 or .358 maybe? Cast bullets?

[Murmur]

Hey Bigfoot,
I shoot a 300 whisper myself ....in my case with subsonic rounds mostly but just started playing around with supersonic loads. With the suppressor the supersonic loads sound like a highpower 22lr round and best of all no ear ringing. The hole concept of short, efficient & normally a whole lot quieter rifles really seem to be taking off. I think people are coming back to the root of hunting and realise that they don't need a megamagnum with a lazer trajectory to kill game. A quiet toting, easy on the shoulder rifle will do the same job with less noise and disturb a whole lot less area meaning more hunting opportunities. Your bench rest cartridge idea sounds great....the lower velocity won't disadvantage you at longer ranges providing the bullets will expand. I have a scope on my whisper that premier reticles installed dots calibrated for 50y increments for my subsonic load. Just whip out the rangefinder put the appropiate dot on target & let her rip.
Good luck with the project....I'll think your find quite a lot of interest.

[Murmur]

Check out http://www.eabco.com/Reports/report03.html on their neat, super efficient bench rest cartridges. Sounds just like what your trying to achieve.

[Bigfoot]

Thanks Murmur,

The late football game Sunday night was lame so I tried a few things in my Load From a Disc software instead. I found that the light for caliber bullets gave me the best bore/case ratios, which surprised me. The best light for caliber bullets are in .30 cal so I modeled a 30PPC case (necked up small hole Lapua 6PPC brass) with the 125 gr Ballistic Tip. In a 20" barrel 26gr of H110, A2400, AR2205 or Lil Gun (all pretty fast rifle powders) gives me 2500fps and a bore/case ratio of 13.5/1. At impact velocities of 2500-1800fps apparantly this is a good deer bullet and it's just over 8" low at 300yd.

Now my software picks the best powders for me and doesn't allow me to play around with pistol powder like the author did in the 'Coyote Rifle' article. So I'd like to know what powders you guys use and if I'd be better served with different case sizes and even faster burning powders.

[Murmur]

Most whisper users are getting 2300-2400fps from 125gr BT from their 20" barrels. Your 30PPC sounds like it should work well as the reports given from hunters using this bullets at whisper speeds has been very good. Time permitting I'd like to experiment some more with these bullets.

[Murmur]

Well bigfoot since no one has any information to help looks like you might just have to go right ahead and make one. Failing that you could take the proven quiet route and try a 300 whisper. You still should push your 125gr BT at 2,400 fps from that tiny little case.

[Bigfoot]

I'm not surprised that this post might sit here awhile, not many people have experience using pistol powders in a rifle cartridge like the "Quieter Coyote Rifle" article did. I read the reloading threads in the Whisper section and everybody seems to be using the fast rifle powders even for subsonic.

[ghostsix]

Supressers are a good thing.
Not only do they save your ears but, in prone, they keep the dust out of your face. They are also flash suppressors in low light.