Thread: quiet .224

In the past its often been asked how to create a subsonic load for the .223
while poopoohing the idea due to piss poor terminal effect myself,fellas pointed out its basically just a subsonic .22lr just slightly heavier pill..treated as such..no problems...... so thought about it a fair ol bit and have to agree if used with caution for the peski small game etc..why the heck not.
published data has been VERY scarce if could find any at all.
doing the start high and work down till no crack with trailboss was always an option but not a lot of fun to do.
finaly found hard data online from maker of trailboss...giving a single load...4.5grns trail boss under a 55grn FMJ
as I had some 55grn fmj on hand tried them..yip awesome quiet load and pill hit puddle in distance I poked the load at...havent tried on paper but see no reason it wont be ok...
tried a 60grn in .222rem case with 3.5grns and it worked OK Too
however the single 45grn projectile fired from .223 with same 4.5grns wasnt so nice,louder and got blowback past case..figgured it too light of load not sealing properly..pulled remaining loads and put further 1grns TB in there making it a 5.5grn load now
and loaded 5x 45grn projectiles with 5grns in the 222 case to try out....

not too fussed about getting really accurate load..just safe to fire that will hit rabbit at 50 yards would be ideal....good for cheeky wallaby sitting on way up into main huntingareaor finishing off animal up close.
will post again when get around to trying them
how have other folks got on doing similar??? I do know a few fellas have done it.

Hi Mr M. Duck
Awhile back i bought some some Belmont subsonic .223 .. pulled it apart = 55grain projectile x 4.10 gram of Trail Boss [these are not true subsonic in my rig..
I do have Trail boss powder but of limited supply so have been reloading with other fast powders like AS50n /Lil gun /, WSF and the like
Have a short barrel Howa Mini so i stay with the faster powders to get the projectiles underway .
I am using a filler to hold the powder against the primer as dont want a flashover burn
shooting 45grain lead using the above powders above 5.00 grain get above sub. speeds but a lot softer than the regular .223 rounds
but go with the heavier projectiles of 80 grain ----to 50 grain filled with Trail Boss is easy to set up for a quiet banger ..
Cheers

Would save carrying a 22LR with you I guess.

Will be inter es ted to hear how you get on with ecpansion at 1000 fps when bullets are designed for 3000.

Originally Posted by Bagheera

Would save carrying a 22LR with you I guess.

Will be inter es ted to hear how you get on with ecpansion at 1000 fps when bullets are designed for 3000.

Especially good on DoC land where you aren't allowed a 22 RF

Loading subsonic 223, the best I tried was the 70gr Speer semi points. This required a bit more trail boss and therefore gave a better case fill and more consistent speeds than the 55gr and 62gr FMJ's I had tried before. Beware no soft point or FMJ is going to expand whatsoever - they'll punch through a surprising amount (that 70gr Speer would still happily zip through a 10" thick knotty lump of firewood). And they can ricochet like crazy if the target doesn't catch them so beware shallow impact angles, rocks, riverbeds etc...

I've hit a wallaby with a 30cal 220gr sub, thinking maybe making a bigger hole would compensate... It didn't... Clean heart shot. Wallaby tried to run uphill, pretty relaxed, almost as if it wasn't hit. Then it started running out of steam and slowed until it was just hopping on the spot before falling over backwards. It probably took about 20 seconds total. It didn't seem like it suffered excessively in that time - but I still wish I'd have hit it with something that would have expanded. A brain shot would have given a quick kill obviously but that would have also increased my chances of me taking its nose or jaw off or otherwise maiming it.

Based on that, I wouldn't use FMJ's for those cheeky shots you describe. Finishers, maybe - but I can't be arsed loading separate ammo just on that off chance - anything that needs a finisher can have another SubX.

Ill have a look, i used to load the bulk pack 55gr hornadys subsonic in one of my old 223s for wobblies. Just gave the last rounds i had to a mate. But yeah any centre fire can be loaded subsonic if you do it right.

As pommy says, go for headshots. I still use subsonics for goats and deer up close, but from my 308. 9 moa up on the scope from my 100yd full power gives me a 50 yd zero with subsonics, and they make a 1 hole group, so great for close in headshots.

Also, crimp your subs. It makes them more consistent

I think that's just big subs in general

I shot 8 wild sheep yesterday ( culling job ) with 90 grain XTP subs in my Contender 30-30.
Most showed no effects and just walked away, slowed down, sat down and then fell over.
Some I put 2 shots into because I had the opportunity.
One went down only 20m from being shot.

I wasn't really impressed with the terminal performance.
But it was fun and the sheep had no idea what was going on.

The week before I shot 10 in one session with my Contender 6.8 spc and results were spectacular.

So just be careful what you use your sub sonic 224s for

Why not load them to about 2000fps
Im using 7.6gr AS50N. Sounds like a 22mag.

This is why I posted it. Because you can. I KNOW about the piss poor performance and bouncing bullets.went down the rabbit hole 7-8 years ago and saw the good the bad and the outright ugly side of using them. Eyes wide open and knowing full well the limits is where I'm at.

"Eyes wide open " but fell down the same rabbit hole again ( just like me )

I played with sub sonic 44mag 240 XTPs 15 years ago and gave up

Ran the 90 grain XTPs in my 308 to shoot hares to feed my dog quietly when game hunting

Now playing with them in the 30-30 and they are useful but have limited application.
I will always carry a few for if I can get close enough to use.
Also good to shoot the pesky camp possum

I have found when playing with sub loads crimping the case makes a huge difference. More consistent velocity and very little blow back/soot around the neck and shoulder of the fired case.

62 or 63gn ? "ballistic point" in standard twist .223 ahead of an "unsafe" reduced load of 2208. I have also heard of people doing the same with red dot, clays and bm2. Obviously all off the books, so proceed at your own risk.
Basically since your velocity is capped you need to get as much mass out there as you can stabilise. some rifles will stabilise 70+ gn projectiles at low rpm.

Trajectory is about the same as .22LR but they arrive with 100% more influence.
Biggest animal shot would be about 80lb sow.

Most .224 projectiles are not designed for terminal expansion at low speed. Hornady 45-55gn jacketed HPs can be bored a bit bigger to dump their energy into target.