Subsonic .22 in pistol or rifle?

[bluto]

I'd like to buy a .22 for plinking and varmint control on my property, and I don't want to disturb the neighbors any more than I have to.

This is going to be more for sport than anything serious, and at the moment I don't really have a preference between a rifle or pistol (but it would have to be semi-auto, not bolt). I have both rifles and pistols in heavier calibers, but I haven't had a .22 in many years so, although I'll probably wind up with both eventually, I'll start with one. If it's a pistol it will be the Ruger 22/45. I haven't decided on a rifle yet.

My question is… using subsonic ammo, which would be quieter… the rifle or the pistol? I realize that neither will be really quiet without a suppressor, but it will still be a lot quieter than a supersonic round if what I read is correct. I looked online and found different opinions. Some say the rifle would be quieter, others say the pistol. Ammo would probably be Aguila Sniper Sub-Sonic 60gr.

I'm not a chemist or a physicist, so I don't care what the arguments are. I'd just like to know if anyone has any practical experience with unsuppressed subsonic .22 and what they think about it.

Thanks for any advice!

[rwb1500]

I'd like to buy a .22 for plinking and varmint control on my property, and I don't want to disturb the neighbors any more than I have to.

This is going to be more for sport than anything serious, and at the moment I don't really have a preference between a rifle or pistol (but it would have to be semi-auto, not bolt). I have both rifles and pistols in heavier calibers, but I haven't had a .22 in many years so, although I'll probably wind up with both eventually, I'll start with one. If it's a pistol it will be the Ruger 22/45. I haven't decided on a rifle yet.

My question is… using subsonic ammo, which would be quieter… the rifle or the pistol? I realize that neither will be really quiet without a suppressor, but it will still be a lot quieter than a supersonic round if what I read is correct. I looked online and found different opinions. Some say the rifle would be quieter, others say the pistol. Ammo would probably be Aguila Sniper Sub-Sonic 60gr.

I'm not a chemist or a physicist, so I don't care what the arguments are. I'd just like to know if anyone has any practical experience with unsuppressed subsonic .22 and what they think about it.

Thanks for any advice!

A pistol will be subsonic with pretty much all ammo, even super high velocity stuff. (Short barrel = a lot less velocity then what they tell you on the box.)

A semi auto rifle (or pistol) will be louder than a bolt/lever/pump gun (or a revolver). That's because of the action cycling as part of the gun firing. It's loud.

If you want to get really quiet a bolt action rifle shooting CBs or subsonic rounds is nice, a revolver is good too. Semis are too loud for me, even shooting subsonic ammo or CB rounds.

[MartinBrody]

The pistol will be louder. It may be subsonic, but having shot a Walther P22 pistol without hearing protection, I can tell you it is loud, loud enough to hurt my ears. Can't say the last time I shot a semi 22 rifle without hearing protection, but can say I have done it with a bolt action 22 rifle and with standard velocity rounds it didn't bother my ears at all, now a semi will be louder but I couldn't say by how much, can't imagine it would be worse than the pistol though. The barrel length of the rifle contains more of the blast which makes it quieter, just like a short barreled AR will be quieter than a 20". The sonic crack isn't crazy loud anyway, and it isn't that tough to find subsonic 22.

[sid]

A rifle will be quieter reguardless of if it is a semi or not. The action moving doesn't make that much noise and by the time it opens the bullet is already out of the barrel.
The rifle having a longer barrel will allow the powder to burn pretty much completely befor the bullet leaves the barrel making it quieter.
The handgun having a shorter barrel wil allow the bullet to leave the barrel before alll of the powder is burned and therefore it will be louder.

I have a marlin .22 rifle and a s&w 22a1 which has a 5.5 inch barrel. The rifle is quieter than the pistol. I had a walther p22 which had a 3" barrle I believe and it was a lot louder than my rifle. The action really doesn't matter much as far as sound goes.

Sid

ETA
I have shot my rifle w/o hearing protection and it's not a problem at all.

[shortthrow50]

the subsonic ammo is loud in my rifle and louder in my pistol. For back yard plinking i use aguila super colibri. i use it in my bolt action rifle and sometimes the pistol but since it only uses the primer as a means of propellant, it wont cycle automatically in semi autos

[gnbrotz]

It's not lawful to take game with a semi-auto firearm in PA. There are a few exceptions, but I don't believe any of them apply to animals typically classified as 'varmints'.

[Rodolfo Fierro]

If you want a fast repeating rifle that will feed shorts as well as long rifle, look at a lever action rifle. With some pratice it will give you quick follow-up shots. It might be easier to find a Winchester 9422 or a Henry than a Marlin 39A, but they would all do the job.

[bluto]

I'm not looking for speed, I just don't want to take my eyes away from the scope between shots. Maybe an AR-15 or AK style, maybe a Ruger 10/22, I dunno yet.

What I'm really looking for is whatever will annoy my neighbors the least, still be powerful enough to kill anything that comes out of the woods at my dogs as quietly as possible without a suppressor, and is fun to shoot.

If it's a rifle rather than a pistol, at least I'll know what to start with.

Thanks for all the replies!

[knight0334]

I'm not looking for speed, I just don't want to take my eyes away from the scope between shots. Maybe an AR-15 or AK style, maybe a Ruger 10/22, I dunno yet.

What I'm really looking for is whatever will annoy my neighbors the least, still be powerful enough to kill anything that comes out of the woods at my dogs as quietly as possible without a suppressor, and is fun to shoot.

If it's a rifle rather than a pistol, at least I'll know what to start with.

Thanks for all the replies!

If you're in PA you cannot use a semi-auto to dispatch any wildlife with. ...well, unless you cut off a hand and limit the magazine to 4rds.

[red dog]

keep in mind not all semi guns pistol or rifle work well with sub sonic ammo it is a trial and error method to find something that works reliably. i have had good luck with aguila sss ammo it has got a heavy bullet that seems to help semi function.