I have to get a new rifle for a specific purpose. Pigs coyotes and the old faithful wild dog. I have just come to relize that they are overrunning my famillys farm and something must be done. I have narrowed the search down to the ruger ranch rifle in 223 (and please I have heard every little bad comment about these guns but all of the 13 different ones I have shot, one which is availible for purchase, shoot good enough to land a bullet in a pests head at 100 yards) and the cz carbine in 7.62x39. I know that cz makes the same gun in a 223 but I either want a bigger bullet or a faster rate of fire. And again I know ruger makes a ranch in 762 but if I do choose that caliber i want a good strong bolt gun to digest stiffer factory ammo from corbon and maybe even some handloads one day when i get into it. So, my question is, I know the 223 will be louder but how much louder? and I ave never shot anything in 762 so what is the niose like from that caliber? This gun needs to be quiet because shooting will be done mostly at night when my parents and the nieghbors are tryin to sleep. If anyone hase experience with the factory loads by remingotn winchester and federal in the russain chambering, does it penetrate good enough to get a pig or whitetails brain or neck bone? If not what should i shoot?

P.S. I am also interested in the 22 hornet but whatever gun I get, I would also like to be able to practice with it alot and plink around with it. I have seen remington and win. amoo prices and they are outragous. 25 or 27 dollars a box. Is there anywhere else i can get good semi cheap ammo for this neat little cartridge?
Thanks for all your help and sorry for the long post.

I've had good experiences with american factory 7.62x39 ammo, all of them of course were 123grain softpoints. Of the deer I've seen shot with them, most didn't go far, but all the shots were done right and at short range, and only one took an extra .300 win to the head to finish him off (gee, a little overboard don't you think?)

I know that the .223 works on deer also, I know three guy's who all hunt with Mini-14's, but the deer are all around 100lbs, they have theirs scoped as well.

I'm sure a .22 hornet would kill a deer under ideal situations, and it's legal to use here in CA, but i'm sure I would not try it on a pig, unless you can get them to roll over before you pop-em one. One of the reasons for the extra cost of the hornets is also because they come in packs of 50 instead of 20, like most .223's.

For the money, a nice .223 would be my choice for dogs and deer, the CZ would be best if your going for more pigs, Get some of the 150 grain softpoints from Wolf if you can find them, that should do nicely for larger 'pests'.

On another note, if you want a gun thats softer on the ears, and cheap to shoot, you might think about a Winchester 94 Trapper, perhaps in .357 Magnum or .45 Colt. Super cheap, and plenty of punch out to 100 yards (I'm guessing you can't shoot farther than that at night)

Shiloh, after trying a few minutes to wrap my mind around your desires I have to admit I'm coming up blank. Of course, if the folks are really sound sleepers any of your gun/cartridge choices will work, none of them quietly though. The only cartridge out there that qualifies as quiet to me is the .22 rimfire "CB" loads, both short and long. I understand Aquila makes a subsonic 60 gr load for the .22 rf but they may not stabilize in the average barrel due to length, not sure.

The Hornet WILL handle deer and hogs but the preferred shot placement is behind the ear with a quartering aspect, not a pose you can always count on. The .223 will kill an elephant too, but is perhaps not the best choice for big game. Only my emotional reaction but the 7.62x39 is a piece of crap, but if you want to use it treat it about like you would a 30-30. Speaking of firepower and such, have you considered a 30-30 levergun?

So, to wrap this ramble up, if you need "quiet" for the pests, I'm thinking .22 LR, .17HMR, .22 WMR, or Hornet. Probably the HMR will give you the most favorable killing power for the least amount of noise, the Hornet the most of everything. The fellow that posted before me whose handle I cannot pronounce made a valid point regarding your night time shooting distances. If the ranges are short, you only need good shot placement, not horsepower. That does not address your desires for a deer/hog gun though. If you can afford two guns it becomes easier to deal with, and at night you seldom get multiple aimed shots. Maybe a couple of NEF's? BTW, you might want to consider using a red dot sight for your nocturnal capers if you would like to avoid total dependence on flashlights etc. Millett makes one called the SP-1 that is a dandy.

My first concern would be what would happen if some animal was wounded and made it off the property. Also keep in mind that firing more than one shot really gets people concerned. I find that when hunting in populated areas that if I fire one shot and then there is silence for a while they forget about it.



I have to ask what guns you have now and if you handload?



Check on the state laws now if shooting at night is legal and if silencers are legal? In farm communities much of what they really need to do is ok if it's a real farm community. If there is a heavy layer of overhead around then they don't want you cutting in on their pot of gold.



What I am saying is that if there is a local dog warden then they will not want you shooting dogs.



So tell us what you have and your budget and find out about the silencers. I would go the full boat route as they are legal in my state and I would get a night vision scope also.



Good luck.

first off let me say thanks for the replys. This gun is not really going to be a "hunting" gun but more of a plinker and occational game taker. But it will ride in the truck with me while im out on the farm and that is when I run into dogs and pigs. Shooting deer at night is illegal but I would like this gun to be able to take smaaler does for the freezer so I dont use up all my ammo for my big guns on small deer. Shots on game with this gun will be in the head or high neck and I have made hundred of head shots on all manner of game animals. Im not trying to brag im simply saying I was brought up shooting things in the head because i dont like to track and I like to get the most meat possible. I already have a 3030 a 3006 a 243 and a 444 but the all make far to much niose. I know all guns are loud but I was asking which of the 2 are the least loud but I kind of answered my own question.

to clear things up here is the bottom line
I want a gun that is fun and somewhat cheap to shoot and capable of taking down a pig wild dog coyote etc at night and a deer during the day.sorry for misleading all of you, I can do that at times. I have sort of narrowed it down to the cz or maybe an NEF in 22 hornet, I will in all probability end up getting a ranch rifle in 762 because it meets all my needs and its tons of fun to shoot and i can get it with syn. stocks and stailess steal for those rainy days and riding behind the seat of my truck. I sure would hate to mess up that purdy peice of walnut that comes on a cz.

I suggest you also consider a rifle in something like 44 magnum or 357. Much more authoritative on the pigs (at short distances), and much quieter than either the 223 or the 7.62x39 (less powder - lower muzzle pressure). Dirt cheap ammo. JMO, Dutch.

Do you handload? Lots of quiet loads for your .243 that won't draw attention. I'm shooting 13 gr of 2400 witha 60 gr Seirra. The poster that said one shot won't draw attention is correct in my experiance. For what you want I would get CZ in .223 and load it down to hornet levels.Don't worry about the "pretty" walnut mine has terrible grain to the wood. Try 10 gr. of 2400 powder with any of the 45 gr hornet bullets and you'll love this load's accuracy and its "quiet". Then if you want to make some noise just load it up to full power with Nosler Partitions for deer and I guess it would work on hogs, no hogs here in kentucky. I load with a lee loader I got for ten bucks. Its slow but if you don't shoot hundreds rounds a year its plenty fast enough. FNMauser

Dutch,

I think you have the right idea, but the wrong gun. NEF quit making the .357 Mag, even as an accessory barrel, but Rossi/Braztech still has them. I haven't ever shot one, but my NEF isn't setting the accuracy world on fire right now. I did take some factory .38 Special Win 125 gr range/target rounds and hit a spray can 3 out of 4 times at 100 yards. They were pretty quiet and would probably work on hogs and deer at less than 100 yards.

BTW, the Rossi is about $150 from Wallie World with open sights.

Paul, I actually had one of the levers in mind when I wrote that post. Having never shot one, I didn't think I should make a suggestion as to which gun. Seems like, though, that there are quite a few inexpensive rifles out there that have "truck gun" written all over them? FWIW, Dutch.

I have come back to my sences. When i get paid this friday I am going to my friends shop and buying back my marlin 1894C which i traded for my 444P. I did alot of ammo research and i have all the perfoct loads lined up. 38spl and +p for pigs etc at night, 125 and 158 gr 357 for dogs, yotes and other varmints during day, and either corbons 180gr bonded or buffalo bores 180 LFN GC for deer all the time. If anyone has experience with latter two loads Id like some opinion before i buy them. I plan on putting a 2x7 or so scope and I think it will be the upmost perfect truck gun I can have.