22-250 louder than 30-06

[Michael R.]

hello,
i have a question about which caliber is louder, the 22-250 or the 30-06. when me and my dad went prarie dog hunting, we forgot our ear protection. when i first shot the 22-250, my ears rang pretty good throughout the whole day. i have never shot a 30-06 without hearing protection, so i may need some decibel levels here. also, would velocity affect how loud it is, with the 22-250 going 3600 feet per second and the 06 going 3000 feet per second?
thanks

 

[Ranger30-06]

The 22-250 is a small bullet moving fast, whereas the 30-06 is a bigger bullet moving not quite as fast. The 22-250 will give you a sharper "crack" than a 30-06 because it is moving faster. These graphs have the decibel levels of several common calibers in their common barrel lengths. According to the graph many rifles have between 155-160 decibels so there isn't to much of a difference of the level of sound, just the pitch of the sound.

Barrel length is a key factor in noise, the shorter the louder. Muzzle attachments you might have on the gun and the ammunition you use all directly play into how much noise is created by the gun when you pull the trigger.

Something I have learned over time is that a rifle is ALWAYS 2-3x louder standing near it (within 7-8' off to the side) than if you are actually the one shooting it. My Saiga has a lot going for it: 16" barrel, .308 caliber, Russian ammo, and no muzzle attachments! Needless to say it turns heads every time.

Hope this helps! And don't forget the hearing protection next time!

 

[HOOfan_1]

Depends on the length of the barrel as well. I don't bother with ear protectin while groundhog hunting, I shot my .22-250 twice and yeah my ears were ringing. Have no problem with that when shooting a .223 though.

All of them are supersonic, so difference in velocity shouldn't matter.

Here is a link to some measurements of different calibers and diffrent barrel lengths

http://www.freehearingtest.com/hia_gunfirenoise.shtml

Doesn't show .22-250, but my guess is it would be close to that of a .243.
My .30-06 has a 22" barrel. My .22-250 has a 26" barrel, so the .30-06 should be considerably louder.

edit: typed this out...got called away then came back 30 minutes latter to hit submit and see someone already said exaclty what I had already typed

 

[sansone]

I have noticed my thumpers seem to be almost tolerable without ear protection (use protection) .. but my small-bore screamers are intolerable on naked ears. Not sure why, maybe the frequency of the report is more disturbing.

 

[spclpatrolgroup]

Lol bet there's not much of a Pdog left after you hit em with a 30-06

 

[wingman]

Guys please use ear protection hunting or otherwise,foam plugs, cotton,etc.
Ask me how I know it's important, what can't hear you.....
In my youth I fired a bunch of rounds without plugs and now I pay....

 

[rcmodel]

Lol bet there's not much of a Pdog left after you hit em with a 30-06

More left then when you hit them with the 22-250 I betcha.

rc

 

[Kachok]

Many highly overbore calibers make a much sharper sound especaly in shorter barrels because of unburnt powder creating a severe muzzle blast, this is especaly true of 22-250s, 25-06s and many magnum calibers. Even with a 24" barrel my 270WSM will ring your bell. On the flip side my 6.5x55 with a 22" tube is hardly lounder then a 22LR with it's mild factory loads. It is a well documanted fact that longer barrels give the round time to burn off more of it's power and hence reduce the blast at the muzzle and hence the level of noise. If you are ever standing next to a competition F-class rifle being fired you would swear there was no way it was a 308. All else being equal the larger bore rifles will be louder then smaller bore.

 

[BrocLuno]

Kackok is right. The 22-250 will blast you. Hot rods always get you - on the street and on the range

 

[dubbleA]

My way of thinking is that the more powder being burned the louder the report is going to be. The same thing can be said with the shorter the barrel the louder, it only stands to reason your ears are closer to the sound exit. The bore size affects the pitch somewhat.


All fired from the same length barrel.
22 lr loud
22 Hornet louder
220 Swift loudest
....and so on

On the flip side my 6.5x55 with a 22" tube is hardly lounder then a 22LR with it's mild factory loads.

Yeah right, unless you are running it suppressed that's about the silliest thing I have heard today.

 

[Kachok]

No it's true, when you shoot it without ear plugs you don't even get the ringing in your ears. Now with my full peassure handloads you could mistake it for a 7mm-08, but with the low pressure factory loads designed for 100 year old Mausers it is little more then a pop. Zilch for recoil too, any 6 year old could shoot it. The factory ammo runs right around 2550fps with a 140gr bullet, around 2000 ft/lbs KE VERY mild on the shoulder and the ears. My handloads are about 200 fps faster runing a nearly full case of RL-22 (46.5gr) they behave exactly like a 260 rem, they are ballistic twins.

 

[JohnB]

In all my years of shooting, I think a .264 Win. Mag. was the loudest that I have experienced. Of course, there are still many calibers I have not experienced.

 

[dubbleA]

No it's true, when you shoot it without ear plugs you don't even get the ringing in your ears. Now with my full peassure handloads you could mistake it for a 7mm-08, but with the low pressure factory loads designed for 100 year old Mausers it is little more then a pop. Zilch for recoil too, any 6 year old could shoot it. The factory ammo runs right around 2550fps with a 140gr bullet, around 2000 ft/lbs KE VERY mild on the shoulder and the ears. My handloads are about 200 fps faster runing a nearly full case of RL-22 (46.5gr) they behave exactly like a 260 rem, they are ballistic twins.

Sorry, I am not buying it. There is no way any load other than a subsonic will be slightly louder than a .22. Reading your posts I understand that you think the swede is the end all cartridge but as magical as you think it is, it's considerably louder than a rimfire 22.

It's just my opinion, based on my experience with the 6.5x55 shooting it indoors and out, suppressed and unsuppressed, using subsonic/supersonic/ factory and handloads.

 

[Kachok]

The sonic boom of a bullet is not as loud as the muzzle blast, + alot of 22LR out of rifle length barrel are not sub sonic. I was not messureing the Db levels but I can tell you that it is the only centerfire rifle that I own that does not ring my ears in the feild. Now my 7mm rem mag makes a hella noise when you touch one of them off. The more overbore the cartrage is, the shoreter the barrel is, the faster the bullet is, and the larger the caliber makes more noise, the 6.5 Sweed is neither overbore, or large caliber, or ultra fast, and does not come in snub nose barrels, so I don't think my ears are playing tricks on me.

 

[BADUNAME37]

I have been shooting varmints the past few days with my 22-250 50g Speer TNT going 4,000 FPS and I definately want my hearing protection in place!

 

[AK_Maine_iac]

In the 50's and 60's nobody used any ear protection and thought nothing about it.The first set of ear plugs i ever owned was in 1969 when i got drafted. Between that and over 25 years of driving emergency vehicles. Leo/Fire/Ambulance with most of the sirens mounted right over your head.
Now i can't hear crap and have ringing in my ears all the time.

 

[Cryogaijin]

I do have to say that I recently bought my first set of electronic muffs. Being able to hear the leaves rustling but having my s.308 16" lowered to a dull *thwump* was quite the expirience.

 

[bgr2014]

Muzzle Blast and ear protection

I've done a lot of Pdog shooting over the past 15yrs. all my rifles have muzzlebreaks and believe me you don't want to be doing that without ear protection. Even with ear plugs a 25/06 can be too much, and a full day shooting a 22/250 is pretty tough. My hearing has been gone for many years, but the report from a muzzlebreaked rifle will still ring my bell.

 

[gamestalker]

I've shot more high powered rifle rounds without hearing protection, than I care to remember. But I don't think anything is more damaging to our hearing or as painful to our ears than a handgun, especially big magnum wheel gun cartridges, .357 mag., 44 mag., .454 and all them other big bore son of a guns.

 

[Caliper_Mi]

The pressure in the barrel at the moment the bullet leaves will have more effect on the sound level than the bullet velocity itself. All that high pressure gas is what generates the pressure wave in the air that we perceive as sound. More gas or more pressure = more dB. Directing the pressure back at yourself with a muzzle brake makes it worse for the shooter.

Of course, pressure translates to velocity, so higher velocity rounds will be louder, but not because of the sound of the bullet traveling through the air.