Anyone tried to make a quiet neighbor friendly load? I'm not looking for 22lr out of a supressor quiet. I have about 25 yard shot in the back yard but there are some neighbors nearby a couple of hundred yards away. They are used to nearing me plink with 22LR. I'm looking to developed a "quite" load that hopefully won't be too much worse than a 22LR. 32.2" barrel with 1:66 twist. Where should I start at gr wise to get subsonic? I'm more afraid of not getting enough charge and getting the ball stuck in the barrel. Anyone have a ~700-800 fps 50 cal load with 777, pyrodex, or regular ole black powder? FFG or FFFG better for low noise? Not hunting just shooting at some cans bottles or some AR500 steel targets.
Neighbor friendly loads. Where to start?
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As little as 5gr would still shoot it out. We often dribble a few grains under the nipple when forgetting the powder and that's enough to shoot it out. I would start with 10gr though and work up in 5gr increments until you get where you want.
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Invite them over to play, then they cant be bothered at the noise
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Black powder burns slow, most of your noise is muzzle blast. Don't go below roughly 35 grains. That is roughly the volume of the patent chamber if my memory serves me right. Otherwise, you'll have an air gap in the barrel.
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"Anyone tried to make a quiet neighbor friendly load?"
Not me. My nearest is 200 yards away and let their dog run constantly into my yard causing problems. Constantly. Sooooo...... My state says I have to be at least 100 yards from him to shoot and shoot we do. Full loads, any day of the week.
Enjoy. :grin:
Not me. My nearest is 200 yards away and let their dog run constantly into my yard causing problems. Constantly. Sooooo...... My state says I have to be at least 100 yards from him to shoot and shoot we do. Full loads, any day of the week.
Enjoy. :grin:
zimmerstutzen
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we start newbies, adult or child, with 50 caliber CVA bobcats and 30 grain loads. no crack,barely a PFFFFFT. The recess of a TC patent breech, holds at most 15 grains so small loads are not a problem, so long as you make sure the ball is seated on the powder. Now 25 grains in a 32 caliber starts to sound like the shot noises in the old lone ranger show and is probably well into sonic. A couple years ago, I saw a gent shooting one of those fancy 50 caliber air rifles. He put a pellet through 1 inch particle board at 100 yds and it sounded just louder than a 22 rf. A neighbor was working on his garage this afternoon. Banging on the wall studs of that metal skin garage 200 yds away to put up shelves was about as loud as a 38 Special.
Keep in mind that sound carries differently over different terrain. I can shoot down at my range with a muzzle loader and the neighbors can't hear it in their houses in winter. Most can't hear it even in summer with windows open. But that changes with humidity. Sound will carry about twice as far at 0 degrees as at 70 degrees. Drier air carries sound further than humid air. I can shoot a cap and ball revolver all afternoon and no one notices. Yet on a summer evening, when my neighbor and his wife are sitting on their patio up on the hill, everything they say carries down to our house as if they are sitting right there with us. At night I can hear the trains 7 miles away across the Susquehanna river. But not during the day. When my daughter has the stereo on in the pole barn, it acts like a direction megaphone and a neighbor a half mile away complains about the music, even though I can't hear it 100 yds to the side.
Keep in mind that sound carries differently over different terrain. I can shoot down at my range with a muzzle loader and the neighbors can't hear it in their houses in winter. Most can't hear it even in summer with windows open. But that changes with humidity. Sound will carry about twice as far at 0 degrees as at 70 degrees. Drier air carries sound further than humid air. I can shoot a cap and ball revolver all afternoon and no one notices. Yet on a summer evening, when my neighbor and his wife are sitting on their patio up on the hill, everything they say carries down to our house as if they are sitting right there with us. At night I can hear the trains 7 miles away across the Susquehanna river. But not during the day. When my daughter has the stereo on in the pole barn, it acts like a direction megaphone and a neighbor a half mile away complains about the music, even though I can't hear it 100 yds to the side.
A day with low cloud cover will reflect and amplify the sound also.
I can't say with a .50, but I've shot 30 gr loads in my .40 and the crack is not too different than a .22 LR...but then again, I'm about half-deaf!
I live in a valley and when I shoot the big guns with full loads I feel sorry for the neighbors a mile away! :grin: When I shoot the same loads at my hunting lease on top of a hill, it doesn't seem that bad at all. So terrain certainly does make a big difference.
I live in a valley and when I shoot the big guns with full loads I feel sorry for the neighbors a mile away! :grin: When I shoot the same loads at my hunting lease on top of a hill, it doesn't seem that bad at all. So terrain certainly does make a big difference.
Based on the data in the Lyman, "Black Powder Handbook & Loading Manual", if you keep your powder load at 35 grains or less, the roundball should be subsonic in a .50 cal rifle.
For loads under 25 grains, I wouldn't worry about a small air gap between the powder and the ball if the ball is seated as far down the bore as it will go.
The barrels on a muzzleloader is really stout.
Just be careful about using a good backstop and remember, roundballs can ricochet in any direction off of a steel target.
For loads under 25 grains, I wouldn't worry about a small air gap between the powder and the ball if the ball is seated as far down the bore as it will go.
The barrels on a muzzleloader is really stout.
Just be careful about using a good backstop and remember, roundballs can ricochet in any direction off of a steel target.
I don't mind my Neighbor dumping a few 30 round clips through his AK. So he don't mind my muzzleloaders.
However he has coming running over a couple of times thinking I had blown myself up. :rotf:
However he has coming running over a couple of times thinking I had blown myself up. :rotf:
Mean Gene
40 Cal.
The technical term for that is Acoustic Shadows
The suggestions of say 20-30 grains are good, as those are the loads one would launch for targets in a single shot .50 pistol, and that longer barrel will give the gas following the ball time to reduce pressure a bit.
Here's a trick that might help you. I take it the neighbors are off to the side of you when you shoot. So... get a piece of cardboard, a cardboard box will do, or a thin piece of plywood, something like that. Place it on the side of the muzzle between the muzzle and the neighbors as sort of a short "wall". About a foot or so from the side of the rifle, and make the barrier about 2' high, and about 3' long. When you fire, the sound will be reflected away from the neighbor's house. NOT completely, but a lot. IF you are shooting subsonic there's no crack to compound your problem, either.
IF they are behind where you shoot, make a groove in the barrier that goes about half way down so that your muzzle when you take up a position to aim, is in the center of the barrier, and a few inches beyond. Like you're shooting through a thin loophole in a solid wall. The sound will be shielded quite a bit from radiating backwards from where you shoot.
This doesn't eliminate noise, just redirects it some. Note that close stuff like a line of trees or a building wall on the side opposite from the barrier will reflect noise, and negate the advantage of the cardboard.
LD
Here's a trick that might help you. I take it the neighbors are off to the side of you when you shoot. So... get a piece of cardboard, a cardboard box will do, or a thin piece of plywood, something like that. Place it on the side of the muzzle between the muzzle and the neighbors as sort of a short "wall". About a foot or so from the side of the rifle, and make the barrier about 2' high, and about 3' long. When you fire, the sound will be reflected away from the neighbor's house. NOT completely, but a lot. IF you are shooting subsonic there's no crack to compound your problem, either.
IF they are behind where you shoot, make a groove in the barrier that goes about half way down so that your muzzle when you take up a position to aim, is in the center of the barrier, and a few inches beyond. Like you're shooting through a thin loophole in a solid wall. The sound will be shielded quite a bit from radiating backwards from where you shoot.
This doesn't eliminate noise, just redirects it some. Note that close stuff like a line of trees or a building wall on the side opposite from the barrier will reflect noise, and negate the advantage of the cardboard.
LD
Actually, along the same lines, many guys around here use shooting tubes to reduce sound. They are basically made by putting a dozen old tires in a row, held together with dirt or sand and shooting through the opening. One tube at bench height one at off hand height. It really reduces the amount of noise anyone around you will hear.
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One of our usual shooting spots is about a half mile from home on the back side of a couple of hills. Especially leading up to snowshoe hare hunting time most of us are shooting 30-35 grains of 3f out of our usual 50, 54 and 58 caliber big game rifles. Dandy load for the job.
The point is though, I can usually hear when one or more of my buds are down there shooting. Not as loud as full-throat loads, but still audible. Can't hear them with the little loads if the wind is up from me to them, though. Every time I hear them though, it sure gets my blood up to finish chores and join them! :thumbsup:
I'd say fuggedabout hiding your popping. But with those loads they aren't as loud as 22 mag from a rifle, far as I can tell, but flatter and longer than a 22LR, if those are the right words. May not register louder on a sound machine, but it's easy to tell the difference between the light blackpowder loads and any rimfire shooting at the time.
In your boots I'd talk it over with the immediate neighbors, and especially invite them over to watch and even shoot. A little sugar can go a long ways past futile efforts to hide out.
Edit-
One more bit of lore from our 40 year history in that sparse neighborhood. Time was when we all shot right at home. No more houses built in those years, but we finally quit shooting nonetheless.
At first we would just check in with all the immediate neighbors (a handful) and see if they had any problems with us shooting at a particular hour- sleeping babies or spouses sleeping off night shifts. It was more of a courtesy call to let folks know we'd be shooting and not to worry, but couched as making sure no one would be disturbed. All responsible careful shooters with good gun discipline and safe shooting "ranges."
Then an idiot moved into the neighborhood. He was shooting BIG stuff at all hours of the day and night, and more than once I heard ricochets pass our house. In a unified motion we all quit shooting in order to set the stage for discouraging him. Sorta worked a little, or at least he quit shooting at night. Thankfully he moved, but it points out how fragile a neighborhood shooting arrangement can be.
The point is though, I can usually hear when one or more of my buds are down there shooting. Not as loud as full-throat loads, but still audible. Can't hear them with the little loads if the wind is up from me to them, though. Every time I hear them though, it sure gets my blood up to finish chores and join them! :thumbsup:
I'd say fuggedabout hiding your popping. But with those loads they aren't as loud as 22 mag from a rifle, far as I can tell, but flatter and longer than a 22LR, if those are the right words. May not register louder on a sound machine, but it's easy to tell the difference between the light blackpowder loads and any rimfire shooting at the time.
In your boots I'd talk it over with the immediate neighbors, and especially invite them over to watch and even shoot. A little sugar can go a long ways past futile efforts to hide out.
Edit-
One more bit of lore from our 40 year history in that sparse neighborhood. Time was when we all shot right at home. No more houses built in those years, but we finally quit shooting nonetheless.
At first we would just check in with all the immediate neighbors (a handful) and see if they had any problems with us shooting at a particular hour- sleeping babies or spouses sleeping off night shifts. It was more of a courtesy call to let folks know we'd be shooting and not to worry, but couched as making sure no one would be disturbed. All responsible careful shooters with good gun discipline and safe shooting "ranges."
Then an idiot moved into the neighborhood. He was shooting BIG stuff at all hours of the day and night, and more than once I heard ricochets pass our house. In a unified motion we all quit shooting in order to set the stage for discouraging him. Sorta worked a little, or at least he quit shooting at night. Thankfully he moved, but it points out how fragile a neighborhood shooting arrangement can be.
Thanks for all of the advice. Think I'm going to start off with 30gr of fffg and see how much unburned powder comes out of the muzzle. I'm hoping with fffg I can get all of the powder burned to really reduce the muzzle blast.
I've never had any complaints when shooting in the back yard but I try to be cognizant of my neighbors and keep the firearm report to a minimum. I'll shoot a full sized pistol or 12ga from time to time but for that it's more function checking and never more than a couple of magazine. No hour long rapid fire range sessions for me. If I do want to shoot high volume I have an annual pass to a nice range for that.
Most of the backyard shooting is just soda can plinking or an occasional squirrel or rabbit. I shoot a ton of Super Colibri out of 22lr revolvers and 22 shorts and quiets out of tube fed 22LR pump or semi auto.
I've never had any complaints when shooting in the back yard but I try to be cognizant of my neighbors and keep the firearm report to a minimum. I'll shoot a full sized pistol or 12ga from time to time but for that it's more function checking and never more than a couple of magazine. No hour long rapid fire range sessions for me. If I do want to shoot high volume I have an annual pass to a nice range for that.
Most of the backyard shooting is just soda can plinking or an occasional squirrel or rabbit. I shoot a ton of Super Colibri out of 22lr revolvers and 22 shorts and quiets out of tube fed 22LR pump or semi auto.
rodwha
58 Cal.
Your rifle will fully consume much more than just 30 grns of powder.
Col. Batguano
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I was gong to suggest something similar. If you want to suppress it further, get a couple of 4' x 8' sections of "egg carton" foam and line the tube with them. If you can make it sort of funnel shaped (with the small end down range) that will quiet it even more.
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