This is my 457 Varmint woods hunting setup. Grouse and squirrel. I just recently switched to a 16” from a 20” barrel and when shooting standard velocity, some rounds from the same box have a loud “crack” to them, and some are very quiet. I feel like this wasn’t happening with the longer barrel.
I need suggestions for a non-hollow point round that’s also quiet when shooting.
Best guess, the barrel is just at the exact length for some of them to get super sonic (the loud ones) and others to stay subsonic It looks cold there, maybe it's related to the powder burn being effected by temperature?
Shorter barrels are louder and you are hearing the round to round variation in blast between shots. Some rounds may be goung supersonic as suggested. What ammo are you using?
It should help. In cold air which it looks like you have 🥶 the speed of sound is even lower and 1100 fps ammo will probably exceed it. Something closer to 1,000 fps will be quieter for sure.
Any of the lower priced RWS or Eley target ammo should be close to the accuracy of the Norma with similar greasy bullet lubes. CCI might work out okay, but I wouldn't expect too much from it. I use CCI Subsonic hollowpoints and have gotten better accuracy than the Standard Velocity, but that's out of my Kimber Hunter and might not apply to V's CZ. CCI also has Suppressor which is around 945 fps. RWS Subsonic is very good ammo, I use it too. It is difficult to locate now.
The speed of sound is significantly affected by temperature and altitude, decreasing with colder air and higher altitude. So that snow in the photo means colder and you are no doubt hearing the ballistic crack. I often shoot with a suppressor, so the effect is very noticeable on ammo that is at the "border line" or going supersonic.
Also affected by humidity (which is typically low at lower temperatures). The nominal velocity of Tac-22 listed by Norma is 1080 fps. Speed of sound in "dry air" at 30 deg. F is 1085 fps. So indeed you may be right on the verge of that ammo having a MV above the speed of sound -- especially if you think of variations in it. Also, short barrels do make for more sound -- or certainly at least for a perception of louder sound.
If this is the one that just had the barrel cut down, put it back on. Sorry short barrels are loud😒
The colder the weather the lower the speed of sound is. For that reason I hate short barrels and was shooting my 18-1/2” barreled rifle today with a tuner and carbon fiber bloop tube and noticed right away how loud it was. Even with the extension it was twice as loud as the Remington 514 with 25” plus barrel I was also shooting.
Yep that’s the one. Personally, the louder rounds are a very small price to pay for the reduced weight and increase in mobility. But if i can have best of both i’ll try!
Plus 1 on the RWS subsonic hp’s if you can find them. The batch I had shot well but velocity was drastically slow out of that lot at around 840fps. A drastic difference in bullet drop at fifty yards over other sv’s.
Cci sv goes supersonic for me in the cold even with a 21" barrel. Maybe because I reshaped my striker for better ignition? I'm not sure. It's a pain when it does because game responds differently to the sharp crack than a gentle pop.
Sound level changes by the square of the length of the barrel as memory serves so your rifle will be louder. What you are hearing is that some rounds are supersonic and some are sub sonic as they leave the muzzle. ( Speed of sound is approx 1126 fps) Do yourself a favor and get some match/target grade ammo rated at 1070 fps or less. Not only will your rifle be notably quieter with all shots, it will produce tighter groups due to better consistency and lack of some going transonic. p.s. Nice looking rifle
( Speed of sound is approx 1126 fps) Do yourself a favor and get some match/target grade ammo rated at 1070 fps or less. Not only will your rifle be notably quieter with all shots, it will produce tighter groups due to better consistency and lack of some going transonic. p.s. Nice looking rifle
It has less to do with speed of the ammo than the length of the barrel. The shorter the barrel, the louder the sound of a round when fired.
Although the MV .22LR pistols is always less than that of rifles, short barrels make pistols louder than rifles. If shots are too loud, use a longer barreled rifle.
It has less to do with speed of the ammo than the length of the barrel. The shorter the barrel, the louder the sound of a round when fired.
Although the MV .22LR pistols is always less than that of rifles, short barrels make pistols louder than rifles. If shots are too loud, use a longer barreled rifle.
It's your ammo that is causing that. If you take a chronograph and see how fast each round is and how loud they are you will know why there is a difference. I had a box of Federal 550 round of 22lr and I bought a new rifle and I thought I had a lemon. I almost gave it away because I could not get it to stay accurate. until I gave it one last try before it was gone and found out the ammo had some weak rounds in that box. Shorter barrels are louder. Just a suggestion.
I am pretty sure I got a few supersonic cracks from CCI Subsonic HPs the other day when I was shooting my former 457 Varmint (20.5" barrel) the other day.
I've used the 710 fps version quite a bit. It's pretty good at imitating a suppressor when used in a rifle without having to go down to the shorter brass of .22 shorts. I have yet to try out the 835 fps version.
I've tried both in my Savage FV ( with short barrel). Both are very quiet. That said, I struggled to get any kind of accuracy out of that (normally excellent) rifle with either load past 30 yds or so. Beyond that, groups opened rapidly. I couldn't hold 1.5" at 50 yds. IME, It's ok for critter control up close near the house/chicken coup but not really a suitable hunting round. Not sure what others experience is though.
Good point! Punn intended.
I made a personal decision to not hunt with round nose ammo anymore. I've wounded squirrels with lrn ammo, tac-22 to be exact.
My go to is Eley sshp old box, and flat nose ammo. I have RWS sshp as backup. I've got over a brick Eley sshp old green box.
That ammo is for hunting, and sighting my dedicated squirrel rifle/getting the bore dirty so I dont have clean barrel first shots on living targets.
Longer barrels are a bit quieter as far as the powder gas leaving the barrel. From what I've read the Ultralux with its long barrel is fairly quiet.
Cold weather lowers the speed of sound. Last year I was shocked when I tried out my brand new suppressor with some CCI-SV and I heard the crack. I think it was near 18°F that day.
A few years ago, when I first started shooting some PRS-style 22RF matches, the guys with 16" CZ455s (the ones with Manners tactical stocks) were always louder than any of the other rifles there that had longer barrels. There was so much difference in muzzle blast that I wondered if they were shooting hi vel ammo, but after asking, found that they were shooting std vel stuff. The increase in the sound level of the report is mainly due to the shorter bbl, even though some of those guys were expecting higher velocity due to all they'd read about 16" being the optimum bbl length for 22LR cartridges. I typically finish a custom 22RF bbl at 22" or 23", and believe that's a very good compromise; much prefer that length or longer for the relatively quiet report.
This is my 457 Varmint woods hunting setup. Grouse and squirrel. I just recently switched to a 16” from a 20” barrel and when shooting standard velocity, some rounds from the same box have a loud “crack” to them, and some are very quiet. I feel like this wasn’t happening with the longer barrel.
I need suggestions for a non-hollow point round that’s also quiet when shooting.
Norma tac-22 is subsonic. A 16” barrel is more loud than a 20” and a 20” is mor loud than a 26”.
at 16” you will hear the difference in pressure from round to round more so than from a longer barrels. The biggest cause of pressure variation is primer in rimfire ammo.
Very true.
You can load a 22lr subsonic round in a handgun, and it will blast your ears.
Put it in a ultra lux and its comparable to a Springer airgun.
The barrel is an expansion chamber and buffer in ways as the pressure/burn maxes out in the barrel space behind the bullet. Then the bullet leaves the barrel, and most of the action has already taken place, especially in that ultra lux barrel.
I thought about buying a CZ Scout for squirrel hunting, but I probably wont until I get a suppressor. My 453 American is a happy medium. It slings target ammo at below the trans-sonic line. No secondary cra-crack, and the barrel is long enough to keep those ss rounds away from the obnoxious level for the critters.
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