Have been thinking about a big bore sub rifle for hog controll, something in 50 cal. NOT bmg. Saw something awhile back in 50 cal. But for life of me can't find it. Was not the whisper from what can remember. May be better to do 45-70 heavy subs. Boils down to drt a hog and no blood trail 1 shot quietly, less than 150 yard shot. 300 blk just not enough sub wise. What are your thoughts?
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Big bore sub
- Thread starter paulrem308
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Alot of pigs killed with sub sonic 308 for a hot min now... Did they stop working lately? Cheap and easy to load for nothing fancy.
Got 308 and 300 blk. Both about same balistically loaded to subsonic. Thinking something over 500 grains going subsonic should have enough punch to drop in their tracks. Drt means dead right there. Don't wont to do blood trailing. Small property and neighbors are dicks.
50 AE with heavies.
450 Bushmaster with extra heavy bullets.
338 Grendel with a 300gr Sierra. Ask LRI about this one.
45 Colt with 400gr bullet.
A 480 Ruger with extra heavy (400+ grains) LFN bullet.
So many options.
450 Bushmaster with extra heavy bullets.
338 Grendel with a 300gr Sierra. Ask LRI about this one.
45 Colt with 400gr bullet.
A 480 Ruger with extra heavy (400+ grains) LFN bullet.
So many options.
Shot my last pig with a 6.5 Grendel in the inside corner of the right eye. The bullet popped out the inside edge of the left ear.
She didn't even twitch.
Placement over horsepower.
She didn't even twitch.
Placement over horsepower.
450 Bushmaster with 425gr Maker Rex or 458 socom with 500gr Rex to Black Butterfly Ammo's 600gr Colossus, should do what you're asking 
I’m disappointed by the lack of .589 rim diameter short action cartridges that I’ve been able to find out there (namely, zero) and I think a 50-338 Lapua Compact Magnum could be veeeeeeery interesting. Given how long the bullet is, I bet case volume would put you subsonic with a 750 Amax. I imagine it would also be a pretty fast twist rate.
FWIW, I'm leaning towards a T/C Encore with a fast twist barrel in 45-70 for this purpose. Certainly not the quickest follow up shot, but the ultimate in light weight (for this sort of thing) and reliability.
I have a boner for the Haus of Arms "NRA Edition Firehammer", and intend to put together something similar:
That, used in conjunction with a SiCo Hybrid ought to make for a pretty entertaining subsonic thumper.
I have a boner for the Haus of Arms "NRA Edition Firehammer", and intend to put together something similar:
That, used in conjunction with a SiCo Hybrid ought to make for a pretty entertaining subsonic thumper.
Burnout is reading my mind. Looks like 550 gr is heaviest in 45 cal. Would definately have to go custom on barrel due to needing fast twist rate. Looking like 4570 may be way to go. Looked up ssk and from what I can see 338 lapua case cut, sized and trimmed similar to blackout. Has anyone done anything like this? 750- 800 gr cast lead at sub velocity should make one heck of a knockout punch lesthan 200 yards.
I had somehow entirely missed 510 Whisper when I typed up my post above. Apparently it loses ~100fps out to 500 yards and hits harder than 308. I might need to make one of my own.
I like the idea of the 500s&w in a integral bolt gun. I have an srt77/44 with the fast twist barrel. I went with something that shoots pistol bullets over rifle bullets because they are designed to expand at the velocities you'll be using.
@gnochi the 510 whisper does a good job of it. IIRC it's made from chopped and trimmed WSM brass
My dad runs a 500 S&W with a 510 dia barrel on it. For a while he used to cast lead from a 950gr spire point mould, gas checked and then cut the noses off in the lathe and turn them down to 0.504, then shove them through a lead sizing die for 50 pistol bullets.
Lotta work, he has a 510 groove barrel on it now and just casts the big bastards and shoots them single shot. Even trimmed back to 780-something grains they were incredible on game. We never recovered one in a deer, they always went totally through and broke every bone anywhere near their pathway.
It's a pretty easy case to load for compared to the 510 whisper where brass is concerned.
Buy a bag of starline
Open bag
Load ammo
@jbuck88 I quite agree with you.
My dad runs a 500 S&W with a 510 dia barrel on it. For a while he used to cast lead from a 950gr spire point mould, gas checked and then cut the noses off in the lathe and turn them down to 0.504, then shove them through a lead sizing die for 50 pistol bullets.
Lotta work, he has a 510 groove barrel on it now and just casts the big bastards and shoots them single shot. Even trimmed back to 780-something grains they were incredible on game. We never recovered one in a deer, they always went totally through and broke every bone anywhere near their pathway.
It's a pretty easy case to load for compared to the 510 whisper where brass is concerned.
Buy a bag of starline
Open bag
Load ammo
@jbuck88 I quite agree with you.
came across a 50 wsm. Looks like a wsm case cut at neck, resized. Looks similar to making 300 blk brass. Have a savage in 300 wsm. Sounds like would be a custom barrel swap would be easiest route. Has anyone here done something like this?
Years ago I looked into doing it, I had a D-Tech WSSM upper that I wanted to rebarrel. According to them, Olympic Arms was going to introduce the cartridge but to never happened. I also asked around some and a number of other people had played around with it. The closest thing out there that I’m aware of is the 500 Auto Max from Big Horn Armory, basically a rimless 500S&W. Star line sells he brass and it uses 500S&W dies.
Id start with what big bore suppressor you are comfortable with. That will drive the caliber. After that, Id find a bullet in that caliber that will work. Can you find an 50 cal or .45 cal bullet that will expand down to 850fps or so? That would be best. With no expansion most of the energy of the big bore will go into the dirt on the far side of the hog. If you cant find an expanding bullet then some kind of 50 cal “wadcutter” or large meplat bullet would be second best.
My gut instinct is that an expanding 200ish grain 30 cal bullet would kill quicker than a non expanding 500 grain.45 or 50. Lehigh makes an outstanding 194grain all copper .30 cal expanding sub that they sell as loaded ammo that is by far the most consistent factory ammo I have ever seen. If it has the penetration needed your search is over. You already have a 300BO so if you havent tried it its worth a try. Its expensive but not nearly as expensive as a new rifle suppressor combo.
Do not take this post as discouragement in building a suppressed subsonic 50cal rifle. The answer as always is get both and post pictures!
My gut instinct is that an expanding 200ish grain 30 cal bullet would kill quicker than a non expanding 500 grain.45 or 50. Lehigh makes an outstanding 194grain all copper .30 cal expanding sub that they sell as loaded ammo that is by far the most consistent factory ammo I have ever seen. If it has the penetration needed your search is over. You already have a 300BO so if you havent tried it its worth a try. Its expensive but not nearly as expensive as a new rifle suppressor combo.
Do not take this post as discouragement in building a suppressed subsonic 50cal rifle. The answer as always is get both and post pictures!
Did a quick search. Looks like Bowers is only supresor for this type set up, but which maker is a whole other thread. As on the topic of which bullet, thinking cast lead(soft) maybe holowpointed should do the trick for expansion.
You could also do something like a 458 winmag with downloaded ammunition pushing heavies.
.50AE would work, but it sounds like you want something quiet for the job.
.50AE would work, but it sounds like you want something quiet for the job.
The 12.7 X 48 and 510 whisper are both based off the 338 Lapua brass rather than any of the WSM stuff. I know guys who have tried the WSM and RUM brass and it works ok but quality of the cases is less than steller with only rem and win making brass. Its really nice to have quality cases to start with. Once the cases are made they last forever so even though the initial investment in brass seems a bit high the real cost is much lower. I've run cases for 30 + firings and they're still running great. Accuracy is outstanding if you use quality bullets like the Hornady AMAX or any of the solids. If you decide you want something a bit harder hitting you can load supersonic with lighter bullets like the Barnes 450 or 300 gr flat points which can be loaded up to about 2000fps for the 450 and 2200 for the 300. I had a customer hit a deer at about 250yds with one of the 300s and it didn't take another step. This round has a lot wider range of use than some of the others though I don't know of any semi autos that would run it. Most are using the bolt actions but there are some TC encores and contenders out there too. I've made quite a lot of barrels for the Desert Tactical rifles as it takes only a barrel swap with the 338 Lapua bolt installed.
Another really good subsonic round is the 338BR which was a round based on the 30BR designed by Frank Barnes way back. They were trying to find a way to hit the silhouettes harder back then and at some point someone started loading subsonics. Like a number of other rounds designed by others JD Jones claimed it as his own idea and called it the 338 Whisper. Either way, its a great round with a wide selection of bullets from 150gr up to 300gr. It can also be loaded either sub or super sonic and when loaded subsonic with the 300gr Matchkings or Bergers it is really accurate and the most hollywood quiet rifle I've ever seen. It hits a lot harder than the blackout and other 30 cal selections and is more adaptable to the regular sized actions out there. I've built a lot of Desert Tactical barrels in this cal too but have also done AR10, Rem 700s and a couple Savages. Anything that will handle a 308 will work for this one. Its a great hog killer.
Frank
Another really good subsonic round is the 338BR which was a round based on the 30BR designed by Frank Barnes way back. They were trying to find a way to hit the silhouettes harder back then and at some point someone started loading subsonics. Like a number of other rounds designed by others JD Jones claimed it as his own idea and called it the 338 Whisper. Either way, its a great round with a wide selection of bullets from 150gr up to 300gr. It can also be loaded either sub or super sonic and when loaded subsonic with the 300gr Matchkings or Bergers it is really accurate and the most hollywood quiet rifle I've ever seen. It hits a lot harder than the blackout and other 30 cal selections and is more adaptable to the regular sized actions out there. I've built a lot of Desert Tactical barrels in this cal too but have also done AR10, Rem 700s and a couple Savages. Anything that will handle a 308 will work for this one. Its a great hog killer.
Frank
there are people killing pigs with air rifles like the air force Texan I'll leave the how inhuman it could be to someone who cares cause dead is dead to me when pulled pork is a callin , if the neighbors are already dicks then find a louder gun , invite others with louder guns wind them up till there heads pop . If your trying to be nice though , suppressors work or the air gun if its legal around you that could be your answer . Can you trap ? That could work if its legal around you .
I have a .510 WSM on a short action.
I had a mould made for subs: 700gr that will hold MOA to at least 120 yards.
( I haven't taken it farther yet. Too many toys, not enough time).
Single-feeding M8 APIs will net about 1700fps at max pressure.
The .50 Razorback is one flavor of RUM-based 50cal wildcat for use at full power in a long action.
Norma makes RUM brass. I just picked up a few hundred cases for $1.25 each last month.
I had a mould made for subs: 700gr that will hold MOA to at least 120 yards.
( I haven't taken it farther yet. Too many toys, not enough time).
Single-feeding M8 APIs will net about 1700fps at max pressure.
The .50 Razorback is one flavor of RUM-based 50cal wildcat for use at full power in a long action.
Norma makes RUM brass. I just picked up a few hundred cases for $1.25 each last month.
