Subsonic Hornet

[Jim,In]

Has anybody worked with the hornet in a subsonic load. I'm using a T/C with a
10" barrel, have a Lyman mold 225438 and Unique powder. Jim

[x101airborne]

i have messed around with some sub-sonics. i have gone to solo 1250 for powder using 63gr sierra smp in the 223. i have never tried cast. Check the twist of your barrel. my bolt 22 k-hornet has a dog-gone slow twist (if i remember correct, 1-16) wich limits me to 40 - 45gr bullets. Remember as your velocity goes down, IT SEEMS TO ME you need a faster twist barrel. in sub sonics, always use the heaviest boolits you can for your twist, have a dedicated weapon for them, and unless you are threaded up, there is really no point IMO. BTW, I never shoot my subsonics in any AR. I have several dedicated bolt guns for that.

[Jim,In]

My barrel is 1-12 thats why I would like to try it, something to do this winter. This T/C is my g'hog gun, have some ground that needs to be on QT ( sub-divisions ) Jim

[HORNET]

IIRC, Lyman listed a load of 2.0 grains of Green Dot at about .22 LR velocity. The same amount of Unique ought to give you a starting point. Play around until you get the noise level and accuracy at usable levels. You might want to make sure nothing gets stuck in the tube...I don't know how well this will stop a woodchuck, they're tough critters.

[Larry Gibson]

Hard to get consistent results with Unique. Try Bullseye. I use 1.7 gr under the 2254438 out of my suppressed 10" Contender. 1.8 gr "cracks".

Larry Gibson

[Bullshop]

+1 on the Bullseye better yet Norma R-1 if you can find it.
faster powder = less noise

[Jim,In]

I only do head shot. Don't have Bullseye, just Unique. Jim

[Larry Gibson]

I only do head shot. Don't have Bullseye, just Unique. Jim

Give it a try and start at 2 gr and work up in .1 gr increments until you hit 1050 fps. The problem is that with Unique the ES is large so the close you push the speed of sound the more likely some shots will go sonic, especiall if you are shooting up at an angle having developed the load shooting level. Suggest you use a chronograph also. The "crack comes from the air comression moving around the bullet at the speed of sound not the bullets velocity. I live at sea level and 1050 fps AV for the RN bullet is about as fast as it can go and remain subsonic. The ES with Unique is 50 -60 fps (10 shots) and I never found a consistent load.

But I really do suggest saving yourself the frustration and get a lb of Bullseye. AT 1.7 gr you'll get over 4,000 shots for the pound. That's pretty economical. The ES of the AV is 30 -35 fps with Bullseye and is very consistent.

Larry Gibson

[leftiye]

Ah hates tuh say this, but a standard velocity .22lr is what you end up with.

But thas okay, whutevah trips yer trigger.

[JIMinPHX]

If you want something reeeaaaly sub sonic, try a .22 caliber pellet in the case neck with just a primer under it & no powder.

[Jim,In]

That is what I'm looking for a reload subsonic 22lr with a 60+gr bullet. I know you can buy a 60+ sub in 22lr, but that takes all the fun out of it. That's why we shoot cast bullet. Jim

[Larry Gibson]

My 225462 weighs 58 gr wen cast really soft and fully dressed. It actually is the more accurate bulet in both my Contender barrels, 10 and 21", at subsonic and full loads to 1900 fps. It works a little better with Unique also but I still use Bullseye for the subsonic loads.

Larry Gibson

[Old Caster]

I shot in pistol benchrest matches in the late 80's with a Contender 14 inch at first and later because of a rule change a 10 inch barrel. I guarantee some people will have fits that I did this with reduced loads of H110 but I was by far the most successful shooter in the bunch. I shot 7.4 grains of H110 Which gave me 1400 fps with one of the barrels.(I no longer remember which one). If you go down to 7 grains you will have a failure to fire because the powder will not explode but burn and leave your bullet in the barrel. When you pull the whole thing apart the powder will look like a honey comb in the empty brass and it is necessary to dig it out with a screwdriver to reload it. My best group which was the best group ever shot in the years that we did this was .337 for 5 shots at 100 yards. I still have the target and it says on it OAL 1.910 with a Sierra 50 grain match bullet. I know some will be itching to say how someones gun exploded from a reduced load of this powder but I will let them talk while I shoot. I worked down to this load because I shot a 32 power rifle scope on it and when shooting the light load it wouldn't kick me in the face. I don't know what the best group with my 10 inch was but I'm going to say about 1 inch. It never shot nearly as well as the 14. The important thing to wring accuracy out of these guns is to glass bed the barrel in the front from behind the rear screw all the way to in front of the front screw. I tried bedding the rear action part but was never sucessful in making any difference. The reason people probably blew their guns up doing this is because they fired a cartridge that didn't burn properly and then without removing the bullet stuck in the barrel fired another on top of it. Of course, when this happens, it is never admitted and is always equipment or component failure. In answer to your question, I don't know if going any amount below the sound barrier with a different faster powder is a good idea with a jacketed bullet because 5 of them might come out the front and the next might stick without you knowing it like a half jacket coming off a pistol bullet going too slow. I would constantly check for a clear barrel until you are very sure it is reliable. Checking extreme spreads might give you an idea if this is about to happen. Good luck and as always be careful.