I need to kill hogs weighing up to about 200 lbs without a lot of noise. Range is between 25 and 50 yards. I'm thinking of a 22" NEF Handi Rifle in 44 Magnum firing a 250-300 gr. hardcast LBT bullet at about 900 fps. The load would be a small charge of Unique, Bullseye or 231. My questions are a) would this load do the trick on a shoulder shot? and B) How loud will the report be? Less than a 12-gauge?

Thanks in advance, Okie John.

Have a Mauser 98 in .45acp.
230 gr. very quiet

Not sure how quiet your 44 would be, it would probably kill the hog. But if you do not spine or brain shoot him he will raise hell and make a ton of noise when hit.

If the animal you shoot drops instantly and dies, it has been my experience that other animals will ussually either stay there or come back and check on it - no matter how loud the gun shot was. I have seen this with deer (bucks and does) and hogs.


David

Any good 300 whisper loaded with 220 gr bullets would be good. I also have a Ruger 77/44 that shoots 44 mag. I load them to 44 special specs and they are very quiet, but are only accurate to about 120yds or so, where the 300whisper is still very accurate past 200yds. CorBon's 300 whisper ammo, the subsonic stuff, will shoot very reliably (.5" groups) at 100 yds, and is lethat on yotes and pigs out to around 220 or so.

My quiet gun is a .223/rem 722 18" barrel. I use a 50gr v-max over 10grns of blue dot. I would switch to a 52grn barnes triple shock and shoot below the ear for hogs. Mine will shoot 1/2" at 100yds with that load and it's quiet enough that I can shoot into the yard from the attached garage and w/o the wife hearing it if she's got the television on.

I think it would definitely work at 50yds.

stevo

This is what I love about the net: one question gets me info on reduced loads, custom rifles, tactics and how to keep the wife from catching on. Stevo, I like the reduced load in the 223 and I'll use it another time, but a 223 is illegal where I'll be shooting.

hhmag, how loud are the 44 Special loads from your carbine?

Paso Pig, I may have read about your Mauser in the net. Is it on a Turk action? How long is the barrel? Does it feed or is it a single-shot? Any tips for making my own?

Any other ideas?

Thanks is advance, Okie John.

okie, there is a guy that sells .45acp conversion kit's for Mausers, they use 1911 magazines.

VZ24 receiver, scope, 26 inch Douglas barrel left blank, single shot.
Heavy barrel theory, absorb heat of expanding gas.
230 gr lead with bullseye.

There is a 45 acp conversion available
http://www.rhinelandarms.com/

This may be less cost but may be less effective noise reduction. Good luck!

The 77/44 of mine has a cut and recrowned barrel, now 16.5" and with the 44 special loads (44mag loaded to 44spec with 240gr fp lead bullets loaded backward and filled with corncob media to fill the case void) is very quiet. I like using fast shotgun powders. You will hear the boom, but no crack. The boom is loud enough to get your attention, but my friends say it's just a low rumble from 100 yds away. The main reason I mentioned this rifle/load combo is it's availability with little or no custom/gunsmith work.

Filling the case with filler isn't needed. Just use bullseye, or reddot.