Sub sonic ammo

[WaterH]

My experience with a silenced rifle is 4 rounds. I met a guy several years ago at a range that was shooting a silenced .308 with standard rounds. I would say it sounded like a .22 long. I commented on how it was nice to shoot without ear protection and he let me shoot it twice. Then he pulled out two rounds of sub sonic and said “try these”. The first shot was not “Hollywood quiet”. It was zero noise. (Except for the trigger) It was also zero kick. In fact, for a moment, I thought it misfired. Then I heard the bullet hit the target. I have never heard a bullet hit a target before. (The sound is always hidden by the shot) The second shot was just as amazing.

Ever since that day I have wondered about subsonic ammo. I assume that the reason it didn’t kick is because there’s less gunpowder in them. He said it was expensive. I’m not sure why less powder is more expensive. Is it different powder? Is the bullet different? Also, the fact that I heard the click of the trigger and the whack of the target a moment later has me wondering just how slow it’s going.

We were shooting a 100 yards.I definitely hit the target, but I have no idea where. (There were lots of holes in it) Do those rounds have any accuratcy? The “whack was loud, but I wonder if there was much punch to it? What do the Irate experts say?

 

[Aisin]

Subsonic .308 is usually a 200-220 grain bullet. The difference in cost is due to them not being as common as your standard 150 grain bullet. 200 grain S&B is $1.18 a round online. The velocity is 1030 fps. The price is double of regular 150 grain pills. It’s essentially a subsonic .300 BO.

 

[aron82]

If you want to shoot subsonics, 300BO is a much better road to go down than 308.
Of the shelf ammo is way more available for the BO.
If you want to reload and already have a 308 then you could go that route, but the 300 BO was designed to be suppressed.

300BO subsonics are a lot of fun, very quiet almost no recoil. 22 subsonics are really fun as well especially for varmint disposal.

 

[WaterH]

So is that ammo accurate? Do you have to aim real high as Compared to standard ammo?

 

[Duc]

Accuracy can also be affect by the suppressor. Most are tested to avoid affecting point of impact (POI) to much.


Shame the AAC 300 BLK H&R Handi-Rifle is no longer made. Funnest rifle I own for shooting subsonic ammo. No action movement besides the hammer falling.


Its a addiction once you start buying them. Rude to shoot without them.

 

[Ranch Hand]

So is that ammo accurate? Do you have to aim real high as Compared to standard ammo?

In the case of the 300 BO cartridge, it's probably more accurate since it never goes trans sonic and the heavier bullet has higher ballistic coefficient because of the higher sectional density.

The muzzle energy will be greatly reduced however, like 500 ft-lbs for the subsonics compared to 1200+ ft-lbs for the supersonics, so yeah the ballistic profile will be completely different as well as the effective range.

I don't know about the accuracy of .308 subsonics. I'd think there'd be a lot of empty space in that large volume case, so depending on how that's dealt with, accuracy could suffer.

 

[FrankenToy]

The slower the bullet is travelling, the more drop there will be. I handload my own 5.56 subsonics and much past 100 yds they drop like a rock. I can only reduce the powder charge so much, anything past a certain amount and the guns won't cycle.
Note: A Mini14/AC556 will cycle with a much lower charge than an AR15. All are stupid quiet with my Phantom can.

 

[300sniper]

Going off memory, my 220 grain round nose sub sonic load for my 308 is 12.5 MOA low at 100 yards vs. my standard 175 SMK load.

308 Is great for suppressed subs, provided you built it for such with a 9 twist or faster barrel. A factory 12 twist is going to be limited to lighter bullets, which completely defeats the purpose.

In a semi-auto, AR platform, yeah, 300BK is what I'd run. But in a bolt action, 308 all day. I'll see if I can dig up a video shooting suppressed 308 subs. I have a 6CM barrel on that rifle now, and it is NOT quiet. Hearing safe, maybe, but not quiet.

 

[300sniper]

220 grain round nose Hornady at 1050 fps in a 1:9 308 with a Silencer Co Omega 300.

 

[Aisin]

This is 165 grain 9mm out of my sbr.