Lever action, subsonic, hog capable. Is there a rifle that can answer the call?

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Seems a little silly to go hunting hogs with an under powered gun. In the immortal words of the original "Uncle Ted", "Use Enough Gun". You wouldn't go hunting elephants with a fly swatter so why do it with hogs. If you want to hunt hogs, hit them hard with a round packing plenty of KE.

Don't ham-string , :) yourself by not having enough umph to take them out of the fight with the first shot.
 
451 Detonics said:
Buffalo Bore Ammo, 45 Colt, 255gr lead @1000 fps for 566 foot pounds of energy
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Almost certainly going to be supersonic from a rifle barrel. From their website:

Item 3E - 255 gr.
S&W Mt. Gun (4 inch) 949 fps
Colt SAA 2nd generation (4 3/4 inch) 983 fps
Colt NF SAA 2nd generation (5.5 inch) 984 fps
Custom Ruger Bisley (5.5 inch Pac-Nor bbl) 1047 fps
Colt NF SAA 3rd generation ( 7.5 inch) 1053 fps

I think a cowboy load and a big bullet (heavy .45LC or .44spl) is going to be the best bet. People kill hogs with .45ACP handguns all the time; the performance should be similar.
 
Ain't gonna do it without handloading, period. Even the wimpy cowboy loads gain velocity in rifle length barrels but their bullets leave a lot to be desired for hunting. What you need is a good 250-300gr cast SWC or LBT style bullet at around 1000fps. In this case, the heavier, the better. Focus on the .44Mag and .45Colt, forget the big rifle cartridges like the .45-70. IMHO, if you can handle the tax stamp and suppressor, you can handle a cheap reloading kit and dies.


Seems a little silly to go hunting hogs with an under powered gun.
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Make no mistake and put the ballistics tables down, a .44 to .45 calber 250-300gr cast bullet at 1000fps will kill any hog in north america graveyard dead and probably exit from any angle.
 
If you are going to make an NFA lever gun setup, you could very easily make it a short barrelled rifle. That would get a lot of .45 Colt or .45-70 loads subsonic for you. John Linebaugh uses a .45 Colt 255-gr hardcast at ~900fps as his utility load. He states it will penetrate lengthwise through a mule deer. As long as you place your shot well, that would do fine. Maybe you should see if you can borrow a .45 Colt levergun and try it out. I'm willing to bet that at standard .45 Colt pressure in a long barrel with subsonic ballistics, it'll already be pretty quiet.

I understand the urge though, I've often imagined owning a suppressed .45-70 SBR T/C Contender or Marlin to lob 500gr bombs on unsuspecting nuissance animals like hogs.
 
Yes

A Spencer carbine in .56-50 from Taylors. Lever action. Seven rounds. Ammo available. Don't ask about price. ;)

Oly
 
Remember this thing has to kill the toughest per pound game animal in north ametica [sic]
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Personally I think a heavy cast lead cowboy load coming out of a carbine just short of supersonic velocity (about 1k fps) would do fine for porky the pig.

:)
 
If you shorten the barrel you won't loose much velocity at all for any reasonable amount of shortening. But there's two noises you're dealing with. The crack from the charge becomeing exposed from the barrel and the sonic sizzle. Frankly the sonic sizzle is a small part compared to the boom from the barrel. Most of the noise is the boom from the charge. And the longer you can keep the bullet IN the barrel the less pressure difference there'll be and the less loud the BOOM will be when it does meet the atmosphere.

So I would not worry so much about sonic or subsonic. What you need to do is go for a heavy honkin' bullet pushed to a decent speed by a powder recipe that burns up quickly and pushes the bullet up to speed early and then allows the pressure to ease off during the last few inches of the barrel before the bullet leaving opens up the internal pressure to the outside world. That says "handgun loads" to me thanks to their typically fast powders. And a heavy .45 bullet sounds like the way to go.

As already mentioned if you're looking to do this right you WILL need to get into reloading. If you restrict yourself to factory loads you'll get quiet and weak penetration or you'll get noisey and adequite. By loading your own you can play with powders and other factors to obtain a good speed with a heavy bullet with a minimal noise footprint. But you'll never get the very best of all this unless you "roll your own".

One last note for you to consider. Black powder and black powder substitutes tend to give more of a THUMP! than a BACK! or CRACK!. The dull sort of thump of a black powder charge going off seems to carry less distance and be less harsh on the ears as well. Now BP and the substitutes requires a different sort of bullet lube and some immediate cleaning attention when you get home after shooting it. But it might be one option if you finally admit that you need to get into reloading at least in a minimal and casual way for this one style of shooting.
 
I was shooting subsonic .45 Colt handloads this week from a Rossi M92. It's a 300 grain bullet load. I was using Lee wide flat nose bullets in front of a charge of Blue Dot. Accurate and suprisingly powerful. Most of the loads in this weight that can be shot from any .45 Colt firearm will be subsonic.

Personally, I'd rather load it a bit hotter with a wild hogs. That's a four-legged tank with a bad disposition, speed and a tough body structure.

I think if you're determined to go subsonic, a heavy bullet from a .45-70 levergun is the ticket.

Regards,
Dirty Bob
 
A very heavy, low velocity 44mag, 45LC, or 45-70 load would do what you want. Specialty manufacturers no doubt make the loads you want -- double tapp, buffalo bore, reeds ammo, etc.
 
451 Detonics said:
Yep, all AAC did was to take JD Jones' R&R on the 300 Whisper and copy it. They say it is a different cartridge because it uses the .223 as the parent case ignoring the fact the Whisper can use the .223 case as well but there is less brass trimming needed if you start with the .221 Fireball case. That AAC rounds can be made using the Fireball case as well...oddly both the .221 and the.223 have the same parent case.
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They say that it is a different cartridge because they were "creative" with the dimensional tolerances submitted to SAAMI.
 
Personally, I'd rather load it a bit hotter with a wild hogs. That's a four-legged tank with a bad disposition, speed and a tough body structure.
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A 300gr .45 at 1000fps is plenty enough for nearly any hog that walks the earth and it will probably exit from most any angle on most any hog. All "hotter" will do is flatten trajectory, not kill them any deader.
 
A 300gr .45 at 1000fps is plenty enough for nearly any hog that walks the earth and it will probably exit from most any angle on most any hog. All "hotter" will do is flatten trajectory, not kill them any deader.
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Glad to hear it. I'm guessing my velocity is around 1000 fps with this load. I've never hunted hog, but I've seen the destruction that a hog (or hogs) is capable of. They've been hunting them from helicopters here in Texas, and they can't kill enough to eradicate these pests. I hope the OP is successful and kills at least a few wild hogs.

Regards,
Dirty Bob
 
My friend Randy runs a night hog hunting operation loves his 45-70 suppressed. If the shooter can do their business the gun def. does its business!!!
 
I'm not sure a subsonic load is really that much quieter than a supersonic load...for what your looking for anyway (unsuppressed). Think about being at the range with the guy next to you shooting a 45acp. You still need ear protection and it will still be loud even though the round might be a 230 grain at 850 feet per second.

Neighbors will still hear the shot. I like the blackpowder idea though. I'll have to look into and consider that for when I see a nice deer in the backyard.
 
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