Really quiet subs..

[Hamster]

Interesting thing this noise issue regarding bolt action and semi auto's, having owned both I can attest there is a marked difference between the two with the former being extremely "suppressible" with a suitable mod but whatever you do the shuffle of the semi's action alone will produce a metallic clang and no doubt let out a tiny bit of the bullets explosion sound as well. 

However, whether that actually matters in practice is open to debate. By far the greatest factor in the quarry being alarmed (via sound) is the bullet itself landing either onto or impacting close to the target. Once the range gets beyond say around 70 yards it is extremely unlikely that they or a human for that matter could detect the source or direction of fire. The other day while crow sniping I shot at a magpie sat in low bushes some 125+ yards away and because I use holdover managed to underestimate by a fair bit meaning the bullet landed somewhat under the bird which quizzically dropped down closer to see what had made the (presumably whizzing) sound, in total I fired about 5 shots in quick succession before he'd had enough and scarpered into the dense cover, i.e, it could clearly not hear anything other than the bullet disturbance around him (which was way less than the whack it'd have made had it been hitting solid earth or trees).

Quiet is always desirable from our own point of view but does it matter, possibly not a jot. 

[Dekers]

4 minutes ago, Hamster said:

Interesting thing this noise issue regarding bolt action and semi auto's, having owned both I can attest there is a marked difference between the two with the former being extremely "suppressible" with a suitable mod but whatever you do the shuffle of the semi's action alone will produce a metallic clang and no doubt let out a tiny bit of the bullets explosion sound as well. 

However, whether that actually matters in practice is open to debate. By far the greatest factor in the quarry being alarmed (via sound) is the bullet itself landing either onto or impacting close to the target. Once the range gets beyond say around 70 yards it is extremely unlikely that they or a human for that matter could detect the source or direction of fire. The other day while crow sniping I shot at a magpie sat in low bushes some 125+ yards away and because I use holdover managed to underestimate by a fair bit meaning the bullet landed somewhat under the bird which quizzically dropped down closer to see what had made the (presumably whizzing) sound, in total I fired about 5 shots in quick succession before he'd had enough and scarpered into the dense cover, i.e, it could clearly not hear anything other than the bullet disturbance around him (which was way less than the whack it'd have made had it been hitting solid earth or trees).

Quiet is always desirable from our own point of view but does it matter, possibly not a jot. 

In this case I get the impression he wants the noise quiet because of disturbing horses and people....neither of which I guess are his indented quarry!

[Hamster]

9 minutes ago, Dekers said:

In this case I get the impression he wants the noise quiet because of disturbing horses and people....neither of which I guess are his indented quarry!

I accept that but bear in mind he'd probably be firing no more than a handful of shots in a session and rarely in quick succession, will people even hear them ? The risk of ricochets and the horrendous sound it can make would be my personal worry ! My first reaction when reading the thread was that FAC air would be more suitable than rimfire anyway.