.22LR Subsonic

[standingbear]

maybe get a soft air bb pistol....my neighbor uses his to discourage squirrels from destroying his bird feeder,its quite comical to watch,hes getting to be a good shot.the bbs are plastic and wont kill it...they average about 250-300 feet per second...but then it leaves those bright blue bbs everywhere.


there are motion activated owls and such that novelty stores sell or get a motion sensor and wire it to a buzzer or something with an on/off switch.its very easy to do.

 

[Mike Hull]

CB caps are powerful enough to kill a small animal and are waaaay quieter than subsonic rounds, they sound like an airgun going off.

Exactly! CCI long, or short CB's are the best, and quietest for this sort of thing, IMO.

The longs can be used in semi auto's and manually fed, where the shorts might not feed well. In fact the long CB's work well in a lot of rifles where shorts cause feeding problems.

But I see that you found a more humane solution, so good on ya!!

 

[PowderBurn]

Actually, all of the subsonic ammunition I've fired out of my 10/22 or Mossberg bolt action has been amazingly quiet. I don't know where you got your conclusions but subsonic ammo with rifles = VERY quiet and subsonic ammo with pistols = loud.

Perhaps it would be helpful to make a distinction here: CB ammo is noticeably quieter than other .22 ammo, even when fired out of a handgun. CB is also subsonic. But not all subsonic ammo is CB. So some non-CB subsonic ammo is still reasonably potent, and loud.

IMHO, of course.

 

[El Rojo]

I don't know where you got your conclusions but subsonic ammo with rifles = VERY quiet and subsonic ammo with pistols = loud.

I made my conclusion from shooting the Remington subsonic out of my Ruger 10/22 and it sounding almost the same as a normal .22LR. Now Powderburn brings up a good point, not all subsonic is the same. You are probably not talking about Remington Subsonic or Federal 711B. I am and I know it sounds just as loud as my regular .22LR ammo.

I have shot Super Colobri and it sounds a little quieter than a pellet gun and it doesn't even cycle the 10/22. Really the only way to find out is go buy some and shoot it in a safe place and decide for yourself. Remember, if this needs to be a covert action, make it so. Don't take a risk before you carefully make a plan. Robert Blake has expensive attorneys, but you are shooting herons (that is ten times worse than your estranged wife) and you probably don't have the money for attorneys, so you might concievably be spending the next 33 years in prison if you are caught. :banghead:

 

[Khornet]

Herons

There is a small ond in my backyard, maybe 30' long by 20' wide. Ther were Koi in there, two of which were easily 5 lb fish and were nearly 20 yrs old as far as I can tell. There were hundreds of smaller Koi from inches to almost a foot.

For the last few years a heron has been working on them. He of course couldn't carry away a 5 lb fish--I think-- but her certainly could seriously injure one and let the raccoons get it. He cleaned out that pond in the end. I tried to catch him with a .22 CB long many times but he is very alert and wary.

These are protected birds. Humans and their property are however not protected. My pond is fish-free, and heron-free, now.

 

[308win]

I bought the CCI Subsonic 40gr HP's so I know they will be way louder than CBs (or at least the CBs I remember from my now long ago youth). I doubt that a CB would terminate a wrascally heron unless one was (a) CLOSE and (b) hit him in the head. If I have to escalate this regime change my intent is to nail him in the butt with the CB's which should get he message across. Frankly since the rush of indignation has subsided, I am leary of using the CCI Subsonics as I am afraid they could go through him and hit something I might not intend to hit (such as the pond liner or a neighbor's house). As of right now the fruit tree netting seems to have discouraged him - since the last time he was here, standing on the netting with his beak stuck through it and my wife home alone - so that was his lucky day.

 

[El Rojo]

I have killed a chipmunk with a paintball once. I know paintballs will discourage bears from coming back around as well. Paint can easily be washed away and probably won't break a window.

 

[308win]

I think my son-in-law has one of the automatic type paintball guns. If he does and it does come back and I can hit it it is going to look like bozo the clown by the time it is out of range. Maybe it will be too embarrased to come aroung anymore. On the other hand, I still haven't seen any sign of it for two days now.

Now, if someone made paintballs filled with OC - just imagine how the heron would feel by the time he could see again.

 

[308win]

Now, if someone made paintballs filled with OC

Not trying to hijack the thread but that is a hell of concept for crowd control or a situation where one needed a non-leathal way to incapacitate someone/thing long enough to get it under control.

 

[Tacoma]

The CCI subsonics should work fine. I'm told, The trick is to fire only once so it doesn't draw attention. Two or three shots ID the noise as gun shots. Forget the collibi/super colibri. It's more anemic than most pellet guns and more prone to ricoshette.

 

[Bigfoot]

Can you shoot heron just one time, doesn't it become a habit?

 

[308win]

Don't know, never done it. Might be like hitting a skunk with your car - one time is all of that enjoyment you can stand.

 

[30 cal slob]

Use a bow.

 

[wasrjoe]

Can you shoot heron just one time, doesn't it become a habit?

Hahaha, hahahaha.

 

[gaven]

12 Ga. 3 Inch Mag. #4 Shot

 

[Domino]

I made my conclusion from shooting the Remington subsonic out of my Ruger 10/22 and it sounding almost the same as a normal .22LR. Now Powderburn brings up a good point, not all subsonic is the same. You are probably not talking about Remington Subsonic or Federal 711B. I am and I know it sounds just as loud as my regular .22LR ammo.

I've never shot the Federal 711B, but I have shot plenty of the Remington 22 Subsonic ammo and in my rifles it is certainly "quieter" than standard ammunition, although it does not feed well in my autoloaders so I abandoned it. If you are interested i would advise the CCI as it works great and is quiet and accurate.

 

[El Rojo]

They do make paintballs with OC in them. I don't know if us mere mortals can get a hold of them, but they most certainly exist.

 

[Mike Hull]

I bought the CCI Subsonic 40gr HP's so I know they will be way louder than CBs (or at least the CBs I remember from my now long ago youth). I doubt that a CB would terminate a wrascally heron unless one was (a) CLOSE and (b) hit him in the head.

I've killed coyote with CB's in my back yard, shooting through a screen to do it, among other things.
A doctor I know uses CB's shot from a Ruger 77/22 to kill large racoons quite often, many with chest shots(when that's all that was offered). They are very lethal within range.

I was sighting in a new scope on one of my .22's, using CB caps, shooting from the garage, into my shop, about a distance of 40' or so. I missed the backstop of old phone books, and it put a serious ding in the heavy gauge sheet steel of my bandsaw, which they were sitting on.
I have a great respect for their power.

 

[Harry Tuttle]

there was a raccoon on my 2nd floor deck last night

this morning, a section of the screen over the koi pond was chewed open

 

[Dread Pirate 257 Roberts]

There are two sounds to a gun shot. One is the muzzle blast - several thousand PSI of pressure being suddenly unplugged when the bullet exits the muzzle.

The other is the crack of the bullet breaking the sound barrier.

A subsonic round eliminates the second sound, but not the first.

In a given cartridge, you can make it subsonic in one of two ways: (1) reduce the powder charge. (2) make the bullet heavier.

Most subsonic .22 rounds use number (1) with the standard 40 grain bullet. Since there's less powder, and less pressure, the muzzle blast should be reduced below that of a standard velocity round.

Subsonic bullets eliminate the crack. Suppressors reduce the muzzle blast. What you need is a suppressor!

BTW, the Aguila SSS rounds use a heavier, longer bullet to reduce the speed, but retain most of the energy of a standard velocity round with a 40 grain bullet. The problem, as mentioned, is that their length requires a faster twist than a standard .22LR rifle has. There are barrels available for 10/22's with a faster twist for the SSS. I've often thought that the SSS's might work well in an AR with a Ciener conversion.

 

[Rockstar]

I'm SOOO relieved that the offending feathered fisher isn't a Bald Eagle.

 

[308win]

I'm SOOO relieved that the offending feathered fisher isn't a Bald Eagle.

Most of my experience with bald eagles has been around goose hunting areas. The bald eagles I have observed would much rather eat carrion than work at catching something alive. I remember about 25 years ago we were hunting at a state hunting area in souther Illinois when one of the 'sports' took a shot at a bald eagle foraging for dead geese. By the time the refuge staff got to his pit there was a line of hunters several deep volunteering to whitness to what he did.

 

[jerepowers]

Aguila SSS Solid

This is essentially a 22 short case with an extra large lead bullet that makes it the same size as a 22lr. It has more mass and less powder. It feeds in my Walther pistol. The SSS stands for Sub Sonic Snyper. It makes about half the noise of a regular subsonic 22.

But don't shoot the heron. They're beautiful birds and it's illegal. My father-in-law shot five Canada geese (with one 410 shot) and was fined more than $500. The neighbors called the DNR immediately. He didn't even have the shotgun put away when they arrived. And, if the heron doesn't get the koi, the osprey will. This just nature against human vanity of trying to change our surroundings and the vanity loses everytime. And we're all guilty of it -- growing grass in the desert, planting palm trees in Oregon, etc.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

Wolf .22LR seems very quiet in a long gun. It's pretty low-power, won't cycle my Ruger 22/45, so I only use it in bolt guns. Accurate, too.

Good luck with the netting. hopefully the heron will just move to some other pond.

 

[mainmech48]

Killing or even wounding the heron might just buy you a whole world of trouble, and not just with the State boys. If by some weird chance it happens to be deemed a "migratory waterfowl" (and it does migrate) the Feds could jump in with both feet and land right on your butt. Your "fish money" for the next few decades would end up paying the fine.

Believe me, I do sympathize. I'm a great fancier of both koi and goldfish (with a special fondness for Shubunkin Comets) and have been known to drive all the way to St. Louis to spend the weekend at the Botanical Gardens (aka Shaw's Gardens) feeding and admiring the koi in their Japanese formal garden - one of the finest west of Japan.

IMO, something like the paintballs or the motion sensor-activated scare device would be your most judicious option. FWIW, folks around here have a lot more trouble with raccoons preying on their fish, frogs and other watergarden fauna than they do herons. But then again, most of them live in town and most heron species, especially Great Blues, tend to be wary of people which is why they make "confidence" decoys of them to sell to duck, goose and crane hunters.

PS: Aquilla now has a warning about using Colibris and Super Colibris in rifles. Seems that there have been instances where the projectiles have failed to exit the longer barrel and caused some damage when a full-strength round was fired behind it. Their ads in the catalogs now recommend them only for handguns. Sounds as if the lawyers have been busy somewhere and we haven't heard about it before now.