quiet plinking 30 carbine loads

[smkummer]

I just bought some CCI quiet 22 LR ammo ($3.27 per 50 at Wal-Mart-lucky find of only 4 boxes) and am delighted how quiet it is out of my Marlin 39A in my 1 acre back yard with a tree line and a bank I can shoot into. Most likely all the powder is well burned up when it leaves the 24" barrel. In a 9 1/2" Colt scout buntline, it makes a bang, not loud enough to need ear plugs but loud enough that the neighbors could hear it if they were outside. I was thinking how nice it would be to have a lever gun in 32 S&W long to load as cheap and plink in the back yard. Then, I remembered I have a US M1 carbine that I should be able to do the same thing with manually operating the bolt. So, I have the Lee 93 grain, Lyman 77 and 85 grain, plus the Lyman 311008-115 grain. I did see about 5 grains of bullseye would give me 900-1000 FPS and I will try in just a moment, but I want 6-700 FPS and quiet. I have bullseye, red dot, 231, green dot, 700X and others. Just wondering if anyone here has made some quiet 30 carbine ammo. I will report back on the 5 grains bullseye and the Lyman 115 bullet in a minute. And 5 minutes later, 4.7 grains bullseye and the 115 bullet is way too loud.

[mazo kid]

No experience with 30 Carbine, but I made some cat sneeze loads for my 223. I sized buckshot to .224, LLA, and 1 gr. ( or less) of single base powder, tuft of toilet paper or Dacron fiber to hold powder in place. With 1 grain of powder, the report was much quieter than a 22; at about .7 grain the only sound was the firing pin hitting the primer and the splat of the Boolit hitting the target. Check to make sure your barrel is clear between shots when first starting out. Use a fire formed brass for these loads.

[smkummer]

Update. So I backed down to 2.7 grains bullseye and the Lyman 77 grain bullet for the 32 auto. These bullets are at .311 size. Still too loud. I looked in the older lyman manuals and about 1.0 grains bullseye with that bullet or the 85 grain bullet is a starting load the 32 S&W. So that is what I did. Partial success. It is now definitely a squirrel rifle. It hit a small fireplace log of about the size of a V8 can at 15 yards everytime without adjusting the M1 carbine sights. Its just a smidgen louder than what I like but absolutely no ear protection needed. A 22 short empty case throws out about 1.2 grains of bullseye. One particular shot blew some gas back at my face (yes, I was wearing eye protection) and the case was really sooty so it would be my recommendation that cases are only sized enough to fit back into the gun. The charge it appears will not fully expand a full sized case. I feel it was success in the fact that I simulated a cartridge like the old 32 short Colt fired out of a rifle such as a Marlin without buying an old Marlin. While my cost is maybe .04 per shot, its not as quiet as the 22 CCI quiet and of course casting, sizing and reloading is some work over just buying 22 ammo. Of course that is when the ammo is available.

[Ithaca Gunner]

I've done this with .30-06 in a bolt gun for much the same reason with much the same results as you have gotten. I found that if I shoot the rifle in the prone position low to the grass, quite a bit of the noise is absorbed by the grass and ground. My wife doesn't notice from the house.