Am looking at putting my suppressor on a 243 bolt gun and loading subsonic for up to 150 yard shots from deer stand. Just thinking about that but what is anyones thoughts on best cartridge for loading subsonic loads. Bullet weight would be 100grn if I go with 243. 16 inch barrel most likely.

I'm no expert, but my guess is that a 100gr .243 bullet would not be very effective subsonic.

cos, what is your barrel twist rate? You will want to make sure the bullet you choose will be stable, and adequate for subsonic flight. I would recommend reading up on subs and bullet stability. You can also check out my website for some subsonic info.

Thanks Chad, was hoping you would respond. Looked at your web site and it was very informative. Not sold on 243. Will do some more research but trying to figure out the bullet weight advantage at subsonic speeds and may go to a larger caliber. This will be a deer stand gun to shoot hogs, coyotes etc and not mess up my deer hunting.

Get a .300 Blackout. Most efficient for subsonic use. Use 220 grain Outlaw State Bullets or Lehigh Defense. Do not expect dramatic results.

If you think of power factor with a 243 as a subsonic, you're pushing a 75 or 85 grain bullet about 1000-1050 fps. It's less powerful than a 9mm with a lighter bullet, smaller diameter, and with a bullet that doesn't expand. It's a little bigger than a 22LR. So, there's not much there.

I have experimented with a 280 grain .308" expanding subsonic bullet. I will be adding it to my website once I get these bullets in hand. It's the heaviest 30 cal bullet I've seen. It would be very effective as a subsonic bullet for a 308.

What is the largest caliber you can use the suppressor on?

If I was building a dedicated gun to hunt with suppressed it would be 45+ caliber

The suppressor I just got after almost 11 month wait will work on anything up to 300 win mag. After taking Chads advice I have done a lot of research and am now leaning towards a 308. I am looking at buying another rifle instead of threading one I already have. Suppressor ready rifles with 16 inch barrels are getting popular and very reasonable priced I have found. Red Chevy I was looking at the 44mag rifle but am trying to avoid building another rifle. Just pick up one of the cheaper suppressor ready rifles and screw it on and start shooting.

I have shot one deer with subsonic ammo from a rifle. 44 spcl at about 40 yards from a 44 mag carbine. It worked and the deer was down within 60 yard from a double lung shot. A large flat meplat on a big slow bullet does enough damage without expansion

Side note, have killed several deer at bow ranges with handguns that are subsonic as well.

Who makes a 280gr 30cal bullet that expands at subsonic speeds?

It is from a well known company that I work with on subsonic bullets. It's a sample right now, and he will produce these for me once he has time to make them. It should be this fall before I can get them. I've already tested them in a 308 and 300 blk out.

Personal Opinion: It's free and worth twice the price!

If you're looking for a .30 caliber subsonic rifle, and willing to have one particularly for that purpose, the 300 Blackout makes sense.
However, if you're looking to shoot something at 150 yards, be aware that with a 100 yard zero your projectile will be over a foot below your aiming point by the time it gets to 150 yards.

Holy arcing rainbow shot, Batman!

With a 220 grain bullet you'll have less that 500 ft-lb of energy at that point.
With a 280 grain bullet you'll do better, with around 950 ft-lb of energy.

I have a 300 Blackout. With a suppressor and a subsonic bullet it's approximately the same noise level as a .22 rifle. Definitely quieter than supersonic unsuppressed, but not exactly super quiet either.

How did you figure the energy? What velocity are you using?

I plugged some values into an online ballistics calculator at http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj_simp-5.1.cgi

I used 220 and 280 grain bullets at 1000 ft/sec velocity. I just used a ballistic coefficient of 0.5, so that could probably use some refinement.
Otherwise I just plugged in numbers for temperature and humidity and set the zero sight distance for 100 yards.

With different assumptions/values the numbers will change, hence my use of some weasel-words such as "less than" and "around" …

Just curious I used Hornady's online calculator and got significantly different numbers. The 280's muzzling at 1000 fps have a muzzle energy of around 625 ft lb.

I think maybe you meant fps and not foot pounds?

Anyone have experience with the MVP Patrol made by Moosberg in 308. Looking at their reviews they seem ok for the money. Also looking at the Ruger American Predator.

Why do you want to use a .308 for subsonic. You use the same projectile in a .300 Blackout. In the Blackout, you use a little Accurate 1680. In a .308 you either have to use a bunch of TrailBoss or some other powder and fillers. Fillers and suppressors do not always play nice together.

If building a dedicated sub gun .30 caliber max, I would go blackout. If you are going to want to occasionally use it for other purposes, .308 is probably better. Just remember to try and match your barrel twist with what you plan to stabilize.

If you are specifically wanting a rifle as a sub rifle, you want something with the fastest twist. For example, a common twist found in the 308 Win is 1:10" or 1:11.25". In a blk out, 1:8" or even 1:7" is common. They both shoot the same exact .308" bullet, but the faster twist of the 300 blk out will stabilize a bullet much better and allow you to shoot a much heavier bullet. When you have a speed limit and the velocity is a fixed, the only way to increase energy is to increase bullet weight. So, you want the heaviest bullet possible to stabilize in your given twist rate. If I were looking for a subsonic specific rifle, and limited to 30 caliber, I would 100% without question, go 300 blk out, due to the faster twist and smaller round.

Also, bullet stability is based on the bullet length, not the weight. So, find a bullet that is shaped like a coke can. A cylinder shape is the perfect sub bullet. Something that is heavy and short is perfect. A long, match grade BTHP, with a high BC is not the ideal sub bullet, due to stability issues. Also, ballistic coefficient is a factor of super sonic flight. So a high BC bullet does not matter at sub speeds. It's a game of bullet stability with the correct bullet at sub speeds.

You're right! I read the wrong column. The 280 grain bullet at 150 yards will be traveling at just under 950 ft/sec and have just over 550 ft-lbs of energy (according to the ballistics calculator I used).
At the muzzle this calculator indicated just over 620 ft-lb of energy.

At least now I know someone is actually reading my posts!

Im learning here. Looks like I might better look at the 300 blk out. Thanks for the advice.

Honestly, after hunting with suppressed rifles for over 5 years now, I can say there is absolutely no difference in how deer react between sub-sonic and supersonic shots.

I shot a doe with a .300 BO sub and all the deer in the area scattered. Some trickled back in after a few minutes. I shot an Axis buck when there were about 20 whitetails and axis deer in front of me. This was with a supersonic 6.5 Grendel. At the shot the buck took off and the deer nearest to him startled. He dropped and they all went back to feeding.

My suggestion is to just load up whatever round will reliably kill deer and go hunt. You may or may not mess up your hunt if you shoot a hog or a yote, but the noise the bullet makes isn't going to be the determining factor.

^^^ 100% this. This is why I shoot full power ammo when hunting. Subs are a niche round and would need to fill a certain purpose, like for a group of elite soldiers in enemy territory taking a head shot on an enemy over watch guard.

Subs are like the golf saying- you drive for show and put for dough. The Drive for show is the subs, but the putting for dough is the full power ammo getting the job done.

My brother made an observation a couple years ago. My dad and I shot most of our deer in the neck, so they would drop and kick right on the spot. Brother shot his behind the shoulder and they would run off. In almost all instances when my dad and I shot all the deer ran off and never came back. In my brothers they would either stay right where they were and look around for a sec before they started eating again or run a few steps and then come back. I started shooting more behind the shoulder and noticed the same occurrence the others didn't leave. This was all with typical loads in un suppressed 270-300 type cartridges.

Probably true about deer hunting for the most part not being affected but I can assure you the buck im trying to kill will take notice. Also I failed to mention that the small grandkids just starting to shoot will like the subsonic, low recoil guns. My job is Habitat and wildlife manager for a large landowner and I spend more time in the woods and in a deer stand than most as I live in the middle of 2200 acres ranch headquarters. I am only interested in certain Known mature bucks that are very hard to figure out as they are about
in my opinion the smartest animal on the planet. .