Whisper calibers, they are amazing.....
While reading the "Cartridges of the World" book, third edition I ran across the whisper series of subsonic rounds by SSK industries. Do these rounds have hunting potential for pistols? I would think the reduced blast and noise would be a great advantage. The .338 Whisper was very interesting for its good hunting potential.
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Amazing? Well, mildly interesting is the best I can come up with. The need for this eludes me. Many high power cartridges can be handloaded "down" to reduce noise & recoil; I just don't understand why we need something special for this.
I observed a shooter at the range firing a .300 Whisper bolt action with a suppressor. It was hardly quiet. I think most .30 cal rifles would have been close in noise level if equipped with the same suppressor. Unsuppressed, the .300 Whisper would probably have been pretty loud.
When hunting large game with a firearm, you're going to make noise. I just don't think that whether your gun is "really loud", or just plain "loud", will make much difference.
Neal0 -
Neal,
The shooter may not have been firing sub sonic rounds. The 300 Whisper is very quiet when loaded to sub sonic levels. I have a T/C with a 14" barrel and a AWC suppressor mounted. When fired I can hear the firing pin hit the primer and hear the bullet go down range. No need for ear protection. I am shooting a Sierra 200 gr. Matchking at about 900 fps. If I go with a 125 gr at 2200 fps I have a regular sounding 30 cal.
Steve0 -
The Whisper series of rounds are great fun, and yes, they can be adapted to hunting. They were originally intended to be fired at sub-sonic velocities through supressed weapons. Usually they are loaded with very heavy bullets for the caliber (220 grain) and use fast burning powders at high pressure. With the small charge of fast burning powder they are easy to suppress.
I have a .300 Whisper in a T/C Contender and an AR-15. Both are very mild recoiling when loaded with 125 grain bullets. It is hard to tell from a normal .223 when they are not supressed though, so dont expect any difference there. The .300 is very close to the 7.62x39 in power when 125 grain bullets are fired in it, so the same type of game and range limitations apply. It would be ok for medium size deer at 150 yards or less, but might not be the ticket for bull elk at 600 yards. When rounds like this are fired in a pistol, the range limitations are even shorter and the trajectory is the real limiting factor. Also in shorter barrels bullet expansion becomes a problem and there is the reason for some of the specialty single shot bullets on the market. They are designed to expand reliably on game at the reduced velocities that some of these rounds produce. In a T/C Contender they can be a lot of fun, but if you are considering an Encore or XP100, I think hotter cartriges like the 300 Savage or 7x30 Waters are better for hunting. They are good factory rounds that you can buy off the shelf and are not subject to the range limitations that the whispers are.
SKYDIVER386
SKYDIVER3860 -
The Whisper rounds are fun to play with and very practical. I have a fully suppressed 300 and one built around a short 45-70 case, it too suppressed. The 300 was originally designed to feed through M-16 mags so that's one reason it's in such a short case. Also they are meant to be suppressed so there is no need to have a larger case than necessary. The big bullet at low velocity has excellent terminal ballistics and being quiet allows the to be used for game control in areas where cropping animals is needed without disturbing the people near by. 0 -
A friend mine has a registered Maxim. When we tried it on his bolt action rifle, with hi speed, standard speed and sub-sonic 22s we noticed very little difference. I always believed that the crack of breaking the sound barrier made a big difference, but we didn't notice any. They all seemed very quiet. 0
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