Sound difference --> .22 air rifle vs .22LR

[petemacsydney]

ok so i did a search on this site to see what people have said in the past and came up with conflicting results.

Some people say an air rifle in .22 calibre is basically the same sound level as a .22LR and others refute that.

Now it obviously depends on what the individual firearms are and the ammo shot... but... just want to put it out there and hear what you folks have to say about it...
what for you ask? well soon i will have access to a mate's farm way down south and there's a bunch of bunnies running around on it. It's a big farm and well and truly inside criteria for responsible shooting and feral control, but my mate is keen to keep the noise down.

Personally i don't necessarily want to get an air rifle, but if it makes a lot less noise then I would consider it. (budget would be $500 for the rifle)
thx for your input!
p

bunny.jpg (165.57 KiB) Viewed 7052 times

[Apollo]

If there are that many bunnies then he needs a Machine Gun....

Or at least get himself a Semi Auto....

Seriously though, I haven't shot an Air Rifle since I was a kid, not even a teenager and that wasn't a .22 Calibre but it still made some noise. I'd like to compare that to using a .22LR with Standard or Sub-Velocity Ammo. I had fun here with my semi-auto for awhile but now there's barely a bunnie to be found.

My mates would go crazy if they found that many bunnies and the freezer would be stacked full in no time.

[petemacsydney]

unfortunately that pic is something i downloaded from google, not the real site

there's less bunnies at his farm, but he tells me its still a target rich environment...

[Warrigul]

ok so i did a search on this site to see what people have said in the past and came up with conflicting results.
Some people say an air rifle in .22 calibre is basically the same sound level as a .22LR and others refute that.
Now it obviously depends on what the individual firearms are and the ammo shot... but... just want to put it out there and hear what you folks have to say about it...
what for you ask? well soon i will have access to a mate's farm way down south and there's a bunch of bunnies running around on it. It's a big farm and well and truly inside criteria for responsible shooting and feral control, but my mate is keen to keep the noise down.
Personally i don't necessarily want to get an air rifle, but if it makes a lot less noise then I would consider it. (budget would be $500 for the rifle)
thx for your input!
p

bunny.jpg

If you are looking at spending $500 on an air rifle to hunt rabbits you are wasting your time, in that price range they are noisy, underpowered and usually springers which often have atrocious triggers. I still have a BSA from my youth which gets a workout on birds occaisonally. I disposed of a weihrauch a couple of years ago as it wasn't getting used.

In my humble opinion you would be far better off with winchester subsonics or at closer range with even quieter bullets such as ZZ's or CCI quiets- lately I have been using CCI quiets on possum in the killing traps as they are safer than subsonics and they are similar to the sound level you would get out of a silenced .22.

CCI quiets give better results than an air rifle, both are realistically restricted to 25-30 meters.

You can get truly silent compressed air rifles but they need a moderator to reduce exhaust noise and some states frown on it. They are way over the $500 mark.

[Apollo]

unfortunately that pic is something i downloaded from google, not the real site

there's less bunnies at his farm, but he tells me its still a target rich environment...

Maybe I should bring my Model 2 Brno with me to the Mudgee Weekend and you can go crazy practising with Sub's or Quiet's out to 200 metres and see how you go for accuracy. I will have my Wind Flags so you can help set them up, it certainly teaches you to read conditions hitting small targets at that distance.

[Patrol66]

A bloke next to me at the range the other week loaded a quiet round of .22 and I was amazed at the difference in sound volume . I actually thought it was a missfire / short charge sort of deal. He said he needs to reset zero for those rounds as they shoot quiet lower.

[Apollo]

At 710fps I have no doubt they would require resetting a scope, might run out of adjustment for 200 metres if they will make it that far...

[petemacsydney]

thanks folks, my mind is now made up,

i'll just stick with my trusty CZ452 in 22LR and get some sub sonics to have a play with.

cheers p

[tom604]

try the cci quiets, you will need to adjust your scope a bit, about 8" at 50 mtrs from memory, i just use winny subs as they are not all that loud and if you are not banging away like world war two you should have no noise problem

[Warrigul]

A bloke next to me at the range the other week loaded a quiet round of .22 and I was amazed at the difference in sound volume . I actually thought it was a missfire / short charge sort of deal. He said he needs to reset zero for those rounds as they shoot quiet lower.

Really quiet aren't they,

Nowadays I only use them when shooting in the killing traps as it is point blank range and you don't really want the bullet going straight through and either damaging the bottom of the cage or splintering about. I bought a brick last November and am due for another. The new type is a fragmenting type and it will be interesting to see how they go(dearer too but I don't pay for them).

I don't use them seriously at any distance as they can be a bit less than effective past 30m and subs are fine for me out to 75m, I generally don't go past 75m with the .22 as almost all of my hunting is freehand.

The quiets are nice and accurate, within their limitations, too. The ZZ's were originally a gallery round.

Still, nothing will ever approach a silencer for versatility.

[kritch]

Daaaamn that's a lot of rabbits!

[Fry]

If there are that many bunnies then he needs a Machine Gun....

He needs a claymore

[Westy]

He needs a claymore

How's it go again? Front toward enemy!!!I don't think 700 balls would kill all them there rabbits!!!!

[jastreb]

So would CCI Quiets be the quietest round you can get for a .22?

[Warrigul]

So would CCI Quiets be the quietest round you can get for a .22?

You can get caps that are a very short round that fires a small ball but they are rare and I haven't seen them for ten years.

[Fry]

How's it go again? Front toward enemy!!!I

"Front towards holy s**t that's a lot of rabbits!"

[nuthead]

22subs out of a 24"+ barrelled rifle are very quiet - about the same noise level as a suppressed rifle

[agentzero]

22subs out of a 24"+ barrelled rifle are very quiet - about the same noise level as a suppressed rifle

Quiet for shooter with the muzzle being far enough?

Any quieter for varmints out in front though? Or all the same?

[nuthead]

It sounded all the same to me compared to a 16" barreled suppressed rifle with CCI subs iirc - i have no doubt whatsoever that the 29" barreled CZ Lux would be as quiet as a rifle with the best commercially available suppressor.

[agentzero]

Cool.

Having a suppressor is just a pipe dream for me but it's interesting all the same

[petemacsydney]

finally got round to testing some .22LR sub sonic tonight
i tried RWS subsonic, SK subsonic 325m/s and sk ultra subsonic @ 260m/s
the sk ultra subs had so much drop off they looked like the arch of a good ol WW2 bomb drop! completely useless under 15m i reckon, but good for a laugh.
both the rws and sk subs performed reasonably well with slightly over MOA @ 25m.(on a good day i get half moa with SK Plus Standard Velocity wit my CZ @ 25m and 50m)
i was however very surprised that, at the bolt, the noise difference was not that much - at least not to my ears.
i fired a few rounds off of each and then some SK Plus standard velocity as well as some standard CCI's and there wasn't that much difference.
I am presuming though that the extent of the noise down range or around me would be a more marked difference?
After mashing through a bunch more subs, one dude did comment on how quiet it was, so maybe its just because i got my head stuck right near the bolt that i cant tell the difference!! (ps, i had no ear protection on)
Anyway, i'll probably stick with the SK subs (325m/s) for the quiet time bunnies and SK Standard Plus if noise is not an issue.
cheers
p

[Chickenhawk]

Daaaamn that's a lot of rabbits!

I was gunna say the same thing.

What's the address where this photo was taken?

[nuthead]

finally got round to testing some .22LR sub sonic tonight
i tried RWS subsonic, SK subsonic 325m/s and sk ultra subsonic @ 260m/s
the sk ultra subs had so much drop off they looked like the arch of a good ol WW2 bomb drop! completely useless under 15m i reckon, but good for a laugh.
both the rws and sk subs performed reasonably well with slightly over MOA @ 25m.(on a good day i get half moa with SK Plus Standard Velocity wit my CZ @ 25m and 50m)
i was however very surprised that, at the bolt, the noise difference was not that much - at least not to my ears.
i fired a few rounds off of each and then some SK Plus standard velocity as well as some standard CCI's and there wasn't that much difference.
I am presuming though that the extent of the noise down range or around me would be a more marked difference?
After mashing through a bunch more subs, one dude did comment on how quiet it was, so maybe its just because i got my head stuck right near the bolt that i cant tell the difference!! (ps, i had no ear protection on)
Anyway, i'll probably stick with the SK subs (325m/s) for the quiet time bunnies and SK Standard Plus if noise is not an issue.
cheers
p

standard velocity ammo is usually subsonic as well... so there wouldnt be much if any difference

HV's are significantly louder because of the sonic crack

[petemacsydney]

Daaaamn that's a lot of rabbits!

I was gunna say the same thing.

What's the address where this photo was taken?

the address is.... google

not a photo from any property i know..