Subsonic .223 powder(s)

6GUNSONLY

6GUNSONLY

Member
A friend called me about helping him load some subsonic .223 ammo with 77 grain bullets. Anyone with any experience with this, what are suitable powders for such a load? Yes, I'll do some online and reloading manual searching, too, but thought someone here might have some relevant experience. This is for a bolt gun, so making a semiauto function is not a concern.
Thanks,
Ken

P.S. I have 700x, AA5, 7, Titegroup, and Red Dot offhand w/o looking at the shelf, if any of those are suitable. Also 4759 and 4198, plus most of the slower pistol powders - 2400, AA9, 4227.
 
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Titegroup would be best for this application.
I do not understand why someone would waste time energy and components on subsonic 223. A subsonic 223 is worthless. A 22LR is much better and suppressed is just a quiet. We laughed so hard when a subsonic round bounced off a tire, with no penetration. The sidewall FYI.
Don't use slow burning powders.
 
I went down that road last year with a Remington 700 9" twist 223.

I tried 40, 50, & 55 Ballistic Tips, & everything subsonic keyholed.

I had to get supersonic before things straightened out, which kinda defeated my goal.

I did settle on 7.5 grains of Bluedot, with the 50 grain BT's at 1875.
 
I just loaded some myself. As to why.....One of the farms I hunt coyotes at has a rat infestation inside a chicken coop. Last time out there I shot a couple rats with full power 223 from a suppressed bolt gun with thermal. It worked great but was still louder than I'd like in a tight enclosed space with chickens a few feet away from me. For high volume rat shooting I prefer a pcp air rifle, but when I'm out looking for coyotes, I'd rather just have a magazine of subs to swap in for when i walk past the chicken coop. Shots are at about 5 yds.

In the past i've run reduced power 223 loads to make my suppressed shots a little quieter. Standard small rifle primer, 11 grains blue dot powder, 50 grain vmax. Ran about 2500 fps from my CZ 527 american.

Recent subs: Loaded some 35 gr vmax and some 45 gr Sierra? varmint bullets. Rounded nose bullets.....22WMR/22 hornet style. I used CCI Small rifle magnum primers and trailboss powder. Full case of powder was about 9 grains powder. I started at 8 grains (supersonic, pressure signs on case and primer was less than standard factory rounds) and worked down. 3.0 grains was still supersonic. 2.5 grains was subsonic. Didn't shoot on paper. Shot into mud/pond about 50 yds away. Seemed to be hitting about 6" low and centered left/right. Hopefully I'll try them on rats soon. Loaded up 100 of them at 2.5 grains.

Years ago I tried some .223 subs with titegroup powder. Per published data on Hodgdon website, it was about 3.0 or 3.5 grains titegroup powder, standard small rifle primer, and 55gr fmj bullet. They were subsonic and quiet, but I could hear differences shot-to shot. I think I was getting different burn rate and velocity based on where the powder was sitting in the case when i fired. I wasn't impressed.
 
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