[beerslurpy]

I want something to pop the local raccoons without the neighbors hearing the distinctive sound of the AK47 I might otherwise use. I am leaning towards a 6" bull barrel Ruger MK2. Probably around 2-3 bills pricing it seems.

How effective is 22 subsonic in getting rid of noise? I remember that my parents couldnt hear my old ruger 10/22 on the other side of a pane of glass, so I would imagine 22 subsonic must be pretty quiet. Am I correct?

Will the lower velocity 22LR rounds have trouble cylcing a mark2 or similar?

Need advice on my choice of gun and on the pricing thereof.

thanks in advance

-jim

[grimjaw]

.22 subsonics out of a non-suppressed pistol barrel (6" or less) won't get you much. I've fired them out of a 5" barrel and didn't notice a difference between subsonics and regular ammunition.

jmm

[beerslurpy]

That sucks. Supressors are a pain to get. It isnt so much the money as it is the 6 month wait.

How about the 400fps quiet rounds? I forget who makes them.

[mattw]

anything out of a semi-auto handgun is going to be loud, even a .22

maybe not as loud as say a .45, but your neighbors will hear it. if you are in the woods however i doubt they would be able to tell the difference between a .22 handgun and if you were using a mallet to hammer away at something in your garage.

[beerslurpy]

No, its a tight neighborhood, houses separated by maybe 30 yards. I'm gonna do my suppressor paperwork soon, but I want to know if there is any easier way.

Part of me wishes I had just gotten the farm on 5 acres.

[CAnnoneer]

If you don't want to kill the racoons but just scare them away, why not use airsoft guns? The pellets are dirt-cheap and the sound is more of a pop than a blast.

Just watch out for the tree-huggers in your area - they may try to get you for "cruelty against animals". Whence the milk, butter, eggs, and meats come that they eat is not something that occupies their valuable attention. :rolleyes:

[hboy35]

get a cheap used bolt action 22 rifle. Go to Wallyworld or a better sporting goods store and get a box of CCI CB .22 shells (mine was $5.37 a month ago for 100rds). They will not cycle a semiauto. About as loud as a good pellet gun. Subsonic, but faster than Aguilas that sometimes can get lodged in a long barrel. Very lightweight lead projectile, compared to a standard 22 slug, but very effective for squirrels and such. My dad uses them exclusively in his neigborhood, and I do too.

[Henry Bowman]

+1 on hboy35's solution.

[rick_reno]

Pick up a wrist rocket, it's quiet and will kill a those bandits.

[atblis]

You can't hear them through glass.

The Aguilla SSSs work great on larger critters.

[dogngun]

My understanding is "subsonic" in .22lr is advertising BS for standard velocity. It's not less noisy.
I used to use a BB gun loaded with .177 caliber pellets on groundhogs in our yard. It won't kill them, but it makes them and run, and eventually then don't come back as often. My dog killed a few, now they leave us alone.

Mark

[hboy35]

subsonic isn't just marketing "BS". From my limited understanding of physics (slept thru much of that class), the noise a rifle makes when fired is a combination of the sonic boom as the projectile breaks the speed of sound and the explosion of the primer/gunpowder.

So, all that said, if you are using a reduced powder charge (less noise) which does not result in the projectile breaking the speed of sound (less noise), you have a round that can be fired with less noise overall.

So, the CBs are the quietest ones I choose to use. I had some problems with the Aguillas.

[RyanM]

IIRC, the sonic crack only adds about 10 dB to a gun's report. For instance, according to here (http://silencertests.com/reviews/list.pl?sortby=suppressed), regular .308 has a report of about 169 dB, while subsonic .308 is 157-ish. 10 dB represents a halving of the perceived volume, but half of incredibly freakin' loud is still pretty loud.

[waterhouse]

+2 on hboys thoughts on getting a bolt rifle. I use cb longs out of a cz 452 when the racoons get to be a problem. They are quieter than the fireworks the neighbor's kids are always waking me up with.

Also, the subsonic concept isn't marketing bs. Although you may not notice the difference when not suppressed, I've had a chance to shoot suppressed .22s and .308s, both with subsonic and full velocity loads, and there is a difference.

[Double Maduro]

Beerslurpy,

You live in a congested neighborhood with the houses about 30 yds apart and you are going to start shooting at racoons, at night? What, you want to lose everything you own?

Don't do this.

Call the local animal control folks and they will give you some traps. When Rocky Racoon gets caught, they will come and pick him up and dispose of him and all of his family.

Also, I don't know if I would want to run the risk of upsetting Rocky or his buddies with an underpowered round. Racoons can be tough.

Some things to think about.
DM

[boo17]

raccons arent too tough, i killed a big fat one with 2 rounds of remington golden bullet out of my 10/22. It ran about into the woodsand i thought i missed. The next morning i walked about 50 feet into the woods and it was there, but i didnt know if i hit it once or twice.

[Double Maduro]

boo17,

It ran about into the woodsand i thought i missed. The next morning i walked about 50 feet into the woods and it was there,

I don't know what you call tough.

What if instead of running into the woodshed and then lighting out for the woods it had decided to do some damage to you? Or had decided that your house was a good place to hide?

Racoons can reach better than 40 pounds and have been known to do serious damage to much larger dogs. The ones that scavenge in your garbage in town have lost much of their fear of man and can be quite agressive.

Glad it turned out ok.

DM

[stevelyn]

I have had good luck with CCI .22 Short HPs on everything from tundra rats to foxes. They're quiet (neighbors haven't complained yet) and they kill cleanly out to about 40yrds. They won't cycle through semi-autos designed for .22lr rifles due to feed issues. They will feed in .22lr pistols, but you have to manually cycle or clear the action for each shot since the shorts don't have enough oomph to cycle the action reliably.

[albanian]

Nothing out of a pistol is going to be very quite. Almost anything short of regular .22lr out of a rifle is going to be very quite. .22 short, .22 longs, .22 CBs, and others loads are going to be almost silent out of a rifle and quite loud out of a pistol. Sorry, that is just the way it is.

If you get a used bolt action, try to get a single shot so it will be easier to load. Try to get as long of a bbl as you can find. I have seen 24" bbls on inexpensive old bolt actions and that would be perfect. I have seen used bolts go for $30-50 all over the place so you shouldn't problems finding one. A high powered pellet gun is going to be louder than a .22 rifle loaded with quite loads.

[mattw]

This is in the auto loader forum but might i suggest a single action revolver?

Get a single action .22 revolver like a ruger bearcat or something and buy a couple boxes of .22 shotshells. They work great on snakes and stuff that I find in the garage, they might work on racoons. They are just about as loud as a BB gun too

[Pietro Beretta]

Get yourself an airsoft AEG

Get a Toky Marui/ Classic Army/ ICS Brand.

Get it Properly upgraded to 400 -450 FPS

If you want a more consitant shot get a new inner barrel.

Get 2 9.6v 3300mah Batteries for it

Buy 2 bags 3000 Excel Bio BB's

3 Hi Cap 300 Rnd Magazines.

This setup right here would cost $600+. Remember these guns are going full auto and will tear up that animal. I would say get it upgraded to 500+FPS but you need a new gearbox and that costs too much for an airsoft gun. Crap 600 is too much.



By the way the .22lr is loud.

[mattw]

.22 single action revolver + box of shotshells = $200

i recently shot a friend's Hi-Standard sentinel DA revolver. awesome gun, they can be found on gunbroker for $150

[Pietro Beretta]

The price of killing racoons in silence :cuss:

[boo17]

I don't know what you call tough.

What if instead of running into the woodshed and then lighting out for the woods it had decided to do some damage to you? Or had decided that your house was a good place to hide?

Racoons can reach better than 40 pounds and have been known to do serious damage to much larger dogs. The ones that scavenge in your garbage in town have lost much of their fear of man and can be quite agressive.

Glad it turned out ok.

DM


Sorry, should have put more time into typing. I meant to say that it just ran into the woods after I shot at it twice. I still dont know if both shots hit it, and if both did and at least one was a killing shot, then that would explain why it wrent down so fast. It went about 50 ft, but I didn't think I hit it at all. I wouldnt think of it as a damgerous animal anyways, it was incredibly slow and I could probaly walk and escape from it.

[Double Maduro]

boo17,

I get the feeling you never hunted racoons. They are pretty smart and tough. I spent many nights as a teenager, out with the old guys and their dogs. Nice nights, full of stories, hounds, peace, quiet, my first taste of whiskey. Nights listening to the dogs strike a trail, the excitement when they started to bay "treed", the mad rush to get there before the racoon decided he'd had enough and jumped out of the tree and tore up some of the dogs. The long walk home after midnight, sometimes much after. The breakfast that wives and mothers would put together, not happy about being awakened in the middle of the night, but understanding. The women and children, you tried not to wake the kids but never succeeded, listening to the tales of the hunt, who did what, who fell in the creek, how far we had to chase the dogs, who got to the tree first, who brought down the quarry.

I think what I remember most from those adventures was the music of the dogs and the feeling that I was being accepted, not as an equal but as someone with potential.

I'm glad everything turned out good with your racoon. Hitting a moving animal at night when you are excited is not easy.

Darn, now I want to go running around in the woods at night again. lol

DM

[beerslurpy]

I picked up a S&W 22 for 190 bucks new. It is basically a copy of the beretta neos. Unlike the ruger and buckmark it can be taken down and reassembled in about 10 seconds.

I was disappointed that it has a magazine safety, which I think is a stupid concession to the trial lawyers.

http://ableammo.com/catalog/images/ssi/15669.jpg