223 how quiet

[Whitester]

I've got a slot for a 223 and  have some land near houses so would like to keep the noise to a minimum if possible.

 

does anyone know what the quietist bullet/ silencer combination would be?

[spandit]

Unless you can find a subsonic load (and get it to stabilise) then you'll get a sonic boom which is impossible to moderate. They're not terribly loud but it depends on how many shots you'll be doing at one outing

[Walker570]

You will get a crack as the bullet breaks the sound barrier but I have found this less troubling to people than the CAHBOOOM!! of an unsilenced round.  Just according how close and what time. In the winter most people will be watching telly and never hear it. In the summer they might be out in the garden and hear a sound like a sheet of tin being hit which in most cases they will ignore. Only once in many years have I had someone mention my silenced rifle going off within 200yrds of their home and that lady was a country girl who se father stalked and she knew what a rifle sounded like. She bred some real nice ponies and the SMACK of that rifle going off made them a bit jumpy. We moved oir zeroing spot a bit father away(300yrds) and everything was good to go.

I regularly shoot my 22 BR within 15yrds of a cattle shed with young heifers in and they don't pick their heads up from the silage.

Shot a munty in the same spot last week and the farmer didn't know I had shot and he was in an adjacent shed about 100rds away.

on edit... just a thought, but if you down loaded a 223 to be subsonic then would that bullet only have the same energy as a sub sonic 22RF ?? Got to be travelling at about the same speed.

 

Edited December 3, 2017 by Walker570

[Hendrix's rifle]

As walker said, my howa with a pred8 mod is quiet, you get a little hiss then the boom off the round. Not much you can do about that in afraid unless going to sub sonic rounds. It's the crack that people will hear when firing it, if they do hear it that is 

[miki]

As has been said the supersonic 'crack' of the round can't be suppressed but you can dampen the sound created by the sudden expansion of gasses by using a moderator, in this case the bigger the better. I like the DPT, over barrel (reflex) versions. It's light and can be easily upgraded by adding more baffles which will reduce the 'boom'. It boils down to what you like the look, the weight and the price of as all of the moderators available will do the job.

1150 fps is the speed of sound, above that you'll create a noise, the bigger the projectile the louder the noise, the further away you are the lower the frequency you'll hear. I made the mistake of zeroing in a bowl shaped field with the main house less than 500yds away and (i was told later) upset the dogs, going to the other side of a copse away the main house and they didn't hear anything despite being a lot closer...

[walshie]

Unless someone knows what a moderated rifle sounds like, I'm sure they would hear it but not associate the noise with a gunshot. My 223 has a Predator 8 mod on it and I reckon it sounds more like a whip cracking. 

[Dougy]

You have permission to shoot on the land, and I'm assuming it's ok with the terms on your ticket. So shoot with consideration to the occupants i.e. not using the field to zero, just shoot the Fox's with the safe firing arc and move on. 

I bet they wouldn't even notice if you shot the odd fox. 

 

[Whitester]

Thanks for your reply chaps. I had seen Richard uttings u tube clip on the wildcat p12 saying that it moderated the 223 pretty well so might try that.

 

i have a p8 on my 243 and have to wear ears when shooting from the truck and as you say some places are quieter than others depending the lay of the land. I have permission and there is a game shoot there in the season so presuming the surrounding houses are accustomed to it.

 

would a lighter bullet have less boom than a bigger factory load though?

[bornfree]

I use the same mod a P8 on my 223 and 243 the 223 is much quieter

[Whitester]

Wondering if I should get the p12 and use it on the 243 then swap the p8 on the 223 then

 

[Hendrix's rifle]

6 hours ago, walshie said:

Unless someone knows what a moderated rifle sounds like, I'm sure they would hear it but not associate the noise with a gunshot. My 223 has a Predator 8 mod on it and I reckon it sounds more like a whip cracking. 

What this man said 

[Dunkield]

3 hours ago, Whitester said:

Wondering if I should get the p12 and use it on the 243 then swap the p8 on the 223 then

 

I had an oversized PES on my .223 originally and it was no where near as quiet as it is now with an ASE Utra which is about a 1/3rd of the size.

My advice would be whatever you get, go for calibre specific

[Dekers]

On ‎03‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 16:47, Whitester said:

Wondering if I should get the p12 and use it on the 243 then swap the p8 on the 223 then

 

 

The .223 is still noisy with a moderator.

If you swap a moderator from a 243 to a .223 you will benefit from getting a new calibre specific baffle stack, Wildcat offer lots!!

I started with a P8 and then bought the bits to make it a COMPACT, the difference in moderation is negligible on my .223 but the balance/weight is better than a full P8.

[hawkeye]

used to have a wildcat compact on my 223 in now have the dpt also have it on my 6.5X55 and my 308 its a nice light mod and does the job..

The chap that imports them ( Bill ) is a member of our rifle club and also a good friend i used to have a muzzle brake on my 308 till Bill brought a DPT to the range at catterick garrison one day when we were shooting on the club day out..

I Put it on my 308 and then i stood talking to a few of the lads and scaffy (scaffman73) jumped into the pit to have a go with my 308 we just had our backs to him talking he went through best part of a box of 308 rounds and we could not believe how quiet it was..

 

[stevieknuckles]

Go out on a windy night that works a treat, this time of year most people have their windows closed anyway. If you are only shooting foxes one or two rounds, people don’t tend to react.