Silent and slippery: subsonic handloads...

[Sandgroper]

Don't know, never shot it that far, but had no problems at 200m. Easily able to keep them in a fig 11 with a 2.bowl LER scope. 300m should be achievable with the right set up.

[meles meles]

Don't know, never shot it that far, but had no problems at 200m. Easily able to keep them in a fig 11 with a 2.bowl LER scope. 300m should be achievable with the right set up.

*Ponders*

So, there may be scope for popping a heavy streamlined bullet, or boolit, in a 7.62x39 case with the right amount of the correct powder, and having a useful performance at sub sonic velocities from our AIA Lee Enfield carbine then?

[phaedra1106]

Same Hogdon subsonic load I started with but found the A-Max wouldn't stabilise with my Steyr, got some keyholing at 100m.

Last batch I used 10gn of TrailBoss with 150gr round nose lead cast from Dogyrog, no more keyholing and with the mod fitted barely audible.

[Sandgroper]

Don't know, never shot it that far, but had no problems at 200m. Easily able to keep them in a fig 11 with a 2.bowl LER scope. 300m should be achievable with the right set up.

*Ponders*

So, there may be scope for popping a heavy streamlined bullet, or boolit, in a 7.62x39 case with the right amount of the correct powder, and having a useful performance at sub sonic velocities from our AIA Lee Enfield carbine then?

Do you have a published 7.62x39 subsonic load to work with? By your own admission you are new to reloading - I would find a published load and work with that first. The other thing is, your rifles twist* might not cope with subsonics. As Phaedra said, his Steyr would not cope with the A-Max's, but my Ishapore did - cast boolits would be a good first step.

*Barrel length could also play a part, as well.

[meles meles]

Do you have a published 7.62x39 subsonic load to work with? By your own admission you are new to reloading - I would find a published load and work with that first. The other thing is, your rifles twist* might not cope with subsonics. As Phaedra said, his Steyr would not cope with the A-Max's, but my Ishapore did - cast boolits would be a good first step.

*Barrel length could also play a part, as well.

No, and we haven't handloaded before: we're exploring possibilities. The simple option is for us to buy a De Lisle replica and stick with off the shelf .45 ACP. However, that may preclude us from shooting at 300 yards. Given those constraints, we're considering what other options there are, and for 300 yard shooting it seems that something around .300 / 7.62 might be a viable option. It could be something hand loaded in one of our existing rifles, or maybe it requires something purpose built. We're open to suggestions...

[Sandgroper]

Thames Valley Guns, whom you're familiar with, did a moderated 7.62 P14 (p2, conversions section), something to look into.

[meles meles]

Thames Valley Guns, whom you're familiar with, did a moderated 7.62 P14 (p2, conversions section), something to look into.

Yes, that's what kick started our interest

We're thinking of two projects: a bolt action rifle in 7.62x54R to see just what can be squeezed out of this cartridge, and a silenced rifle too. If the projects go ahead they'll probably be documented on these fora. At the moment we're collecting ideas...

[meles meles]

..and this is an idea we've collected !

http://www.ebr-inc.net/762x39JackhammerSubsonic.html

Maybe we should pop a moderator on our AIA Lee Enfield carbine, chambered for 7.62x39. Hoepfully we'll obtain reasonable results at 300 yards with both super and sub sonic loads. The supersonic loads will be off the shelf military surplus from Chris at ammozone, but the sub sonics could be handloads based on suggestions made by you oomans...

[ovenpaa]

Two interesting projects and ones I would watch with interest, it would be good to see some rifle builds being documented on the forum including the rationale behind them and ideally some pictures to document the build.

[DOGGER2UK]

I use the lapua 200 grain subsonic bullet in 7.62x51NATO (ex GPMG) boxer primed cases with the flash hole enlarged, a magnum primer and 10 grains of Trail Boss. Very quiet. I’ve heard sparrows fart louder!!
The 7.62 cases have a smaller capacity because the brass is thicker than .308 win.
Last week I shot this load in my AIAW (1 in 10 twist) out to 360mtr but I had to use all the elevation (set at 1000mtr) and the bottom mil dot of my 10x42 hensoldt scope.
Trail Boss fills the case well and the magnum primer ensures uniform ignition.
Picture shows recovered bullets in relation to the 7.62case.
One word of caution when playing with subsonic ammo is to make sure your chosen load and rifle combination actually stabilize the bullet BEFORE you fire it through a suppressor.