mickb wrote:Gents I was having a discussion with mates on relative noise levels . The discussion was around the quietest option for ear shooting pests over bait at night in rainforest areas not far from suburbs. While nothing is quiet enough not to use earplugs its interesting different peoples perception of noise. My own order of the following from quietest to loudest is
1. Siubsonic 22LR
2. Supersonic 22LR
3. 38 sp cowboy loads from 24" rossi(aka 3 grains of trailboss, As-30N etc). Some of my mates felt it was actually quiter than the supersonic 22LR due to lack of the supersonic crack but my thoughts were the lever still has a louder general 'bang' from the extra powder.
4. 22LR Stinger and velocitor.
5. 38+P factory loads in the 24" rossi which stayed subsonic, probably 4-5 grains of powder. But again some of the guys ranked it quieter.
6. 22WMR
7. 17HMR, most of us agreed this was louder than 22WMR.
Feel free to rank them how you see it.
For interests sake one of the fellas said he pulled some of the rimfires apart to get some powder loads
subsonic-standard 22LR ran about 1-2 grains of powder, Stinger 2.5 grains, 22WMR was 5.5 grains powder.Did not pull a 17HMR apart.
I've found that there seems to be a relationship between bullet weight and velocity with regard to report.
A 240gn .44 at 1080fps is significantly "louder" than a 40gn .22 at 1080fps, which makes sense as a lot more pressure is required to move the six-times-heavier bullet.
But really, anything that stays below the sound barrier is pretty easy on the ears. Without hearing protection, I can shoot .204 2400fps loads with less discomfort than 6.5mm 160gn 2200fps loads. And the same load in two rifles with different barrel lengths can be significantly different on the ears. Throw a muzzle brake on just about anything and it can be obnoxious.
Shooting at night though I wouldn't worry about noise if you're only taking one or two shots. Most people won't even notice it when they're asleep, inside a building, hundreds of meters away.
I think it can be quite individual, but from my own experience I would rate some as:
710fps Subsonic .22LR
Subsonic .22LR
Subsonic Springer Air Rifle
Subsonic .204, .223Rem, .243.
Supersonic Springer Air Rifle
Subsonic 6.5-8mm
Subsonic .38 Special
Subsonic .44 Magnum
Supersonic .22LR
Supersonic .38 Special
.22WMR
.22 Hornet
.204 2400fps
.223Rem 1800fps
.243 2040fps
.45 Blackpowder
Then any of the milsurps with reduced Trailboss loads around 1600-2200fps
.44 Magnum
12 gauge Shotgun
Then most of the 6.5-8mm in the 2200-2800fps range.
.223Rem
Then the hot ones - .204 and .243
Then the 6.5mm+ Magnums.
I'll have to remember to run a sound level meter on my phone when I'm shooting some of this stuff.