I believe that what Moorepower said was true, that the earlier Ruger 77/22 hornets had issues with accuracy.

Ruger has since got its act together, so I would only ask when this rifle was made.

I'm am surprised that no one mentioned the 204. It is quieter than my .223, but it is a touch louder than the hornet, but not much.

I have no experience with a Hornet, but I shoot quite a bit of downloaded 223's (bluedot) with 55 grainers around 2000 fps. It's a polite load. FWIW, Dutch.

I own 17 Ack hornet, 17 Mach4, 17 Rem, Tac 20, 22 Hornet and plenty of larger varmint cartridges. out of all of them the 17 Ack Hornet is the quietest followed by 22 Hornet and then the 17 Mach4. From there on up they get alot louder. The performance advantage puts the Mach4 way ahead of either of the Hornets.
The 25g at 3900fps kills coyotes great and the 20VMax at 4250fps is like a laser beam on squirrels out to 350+ yards.

You want a quite centerfire 22? Find/make a 22-3-30 Rook with about a 24" barrel. BTW, It's the 2nd from the left, between the 22 Short RF and the 22 LR RF



Of course factory ammo will be a little tough to find

Long barreled 22 Hornet or 223. Like 28"+.

The quietest centerfire caliber that's that has the range and accuracy to be worth owning would be the venerable 222. Hands down. May not group nearly as well as my PPC, but one heck of lot quieter.

F. Prefect

I load Blue Dot in a CZ 17 Rem or a 223 bolt action at middlin' velocities to avoid irritating neighbors. The suppressor helps quite a bit too.

Mark

I have a 221 Fireball built on a Sako action that has a suppressor attached to it.
Could not think of anything better for your intended purpose.

17 Ackley hornet.

We tend to have suppressors fitted over this side of the pond but this was even quieter than my suppressed .22 WMR.

quote:

Reading on the internet a lot of people have had no luck getting tight groups with this rifle and other brand rifles in this caliber so I know I'm taking a big chance with the caliber and the rifle.

I have had three different .22 Hornets over the years, including one of the Ruger's and never had, for me any problems with accuracy/grouping, but one thing I have noticed over the years concerning "Accuracy/Grouping" conversations in print and on the internet revolves around the expectations of the individual shooter.

Some folks are quite comfortable with a 100 yard, 3 shot group that can be covered with a quarter or nickel while others want it under a dime or just slightly larger than bore diameter.

It all depends on the individual shooter and their personal definition of accuracy.

I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned the 25-20.

I do not want to derail this discussion, but does anyone offer a rifle chambered for 25-20?

I have never owned one but always thought they would be a great gun to hunt javelin and wild turkeys with.

A 7 year resurrection.
The best answer so far!!!! Down load a .223.

Use trail boss, 4759 or Blue Dot with intelligence !!!
roger

What kind of Witchcraft did you use to resurrect a 7 year old thread!?

I had Russia's help in altering the outcome of this thread.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
I do not want to derail this discussion, but does anyone offer a rifle chambered for 25-20?

I have never owned one but always thought they would be a great gun to hunt javelin and wild turkeys with.

You can buy a TC Contender barrel in one. Or you could. Nothing a call to one of the custom TC barrel dudes couldn't solve.

Your famous Texas gunwriter used one, called it his fun gun. That and another in 256 Win.

I recently got an 18-inch .220 Swift barrel for my TCR-87's for use with a silencer. At a distance of 1/2 mile it sounds like someone firing a shotgun from a mile away. My .17 Ackley Hornet also at 1/2 mile is much louder and has a sharp rifle crack to its report. After this testing I would say that any un-silenced centerfire rifle is pretty loud unless a really long ways away. My next project is a short .17 Ackley Hornet barrel set up for a silencer. Also, one can't silence the crack from a supersonic bullet, but the crack of a .17 caliber bullet is less than from a .22 bullet.

That's a no brainer, the smallest case will be the quietest of course..But for what your wanting it might not be the best..I pretty sure the .221 fireball or Hornet is the answer..

My choice is the old .222 Remington, and you could load it down a bunch and have the ideal caliber for what your after..

I don't see the 25-20 or 32-20 much of a varmint gun, most are not accurate enough, don't shoot flat enough..I had both for many years growing up, They weren't much of a Javalina or deer gun for sure, even up close unless you made a head shot, but that applies to a 22 L.R. Just my personal opine.

Has anyone mentioned the British 297/250 rook? roger

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:
Has anyone mentioned the British 297/250 rook? roger

The book on cartridge conversions says to machine them out of brass stock; if you're going to do that anyhow it would be worth a look at the whole picture.
How big a case is really needed to make a centerfire 22 LR lookalike?

223...Don't make me drag you off the plane

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
I do not want to derail this discussion, but does anyone offer a rifle chambered for 25-20?

I have never owned one but always thought they would be a great gun to hunt javelin and wild turkeys with.

I ran across a box of fired cases in 25-20 today, bought them for later. Sometime I'll get a 25-20, just not one of the expensive antique lever actions rifles that were also in the shop.

I had a Rem. mod. 25 pump in 25-20 and another in a 20 inch carbine in 32-20..Definately fun guns, and I did manage the kill a couple of whitetail cleanly with the 32-20 and neck shots from a stand. I had trouble getting a Mule deer down with the 25-20 so I sold the gun. Both were ideal turkey guns at best, rabbits were fun, coons at night, and even coyotes out to 75 yards, but they were too costly to shoot then as it is now unless one handloads....Been many years past, but I sure would like to have another carbine Rem pump in 32-20 or even a 25-20., looked like a Rem mod 12 22 on steroids, or a Rem mod 30 on the Adkins diet.

The are such a pretty and well made (machined not stamped) little compact rifle, just a real fun gun..

Interesting, Brownells has a 25-20 insert that would be a slam dunk for an NEF Handi-rifle in 223 Remington.
The extractor might be an issue, otherwise looks pretty easy for someone who does insert work for his porridge money.
Fitted with an aperture sight, might make an all-right walking-around rifle for a reloader.

I can't think of any inexpensive falling-block rifles except for the homemade Haas variety, unfortunately.

The smaller the powder charge and the longer the barrel, the lesser the sound. I go w/ the .221 Fireball in a 26" barrel. Pretty quiet.

Happy 4th of July!

Some day someone will answer your post. I predict Hornady will invent a .17 Hornet cartridge with a 20 gr. v-max bullet @3650 fps. I also predict that Savage, CZ and Ruger will produce rifles in this caliber. Your wish for the quietest small bore centerfire for ground hogs and coyotes may soon come true. Cheers!!

I would also choose 22 hornet. I have a CZ 527 in 223 and it is not quiet. I have to admit I have never heard a 221 Fireball.

Never heard a 221 Fireball? Kevin said they were quiet.

Just to update this old thread, I (the thread starter) did eventually purchase a Ruger K77/22 Hornet laminated stock 24" stainless steel. I'm glad I did it shoots very well.
Still playing with load development which is going slowly because I've been stalled at 13 grans of Lil'Gun with 45 grain bullet Rem 6 1/2 primer sometimes a small pistol primer.

quote:

Originally posted by greenjoy:
Just to update this old thread, I (the thread starter) did eventually purchase a Ruger K77/22 Hornet laminated stock 24" stainless steel. I'm glad I did it shoots very well.
Still playing with load development which is going slowly because I've been stalled at 13 grans of Lil'Gun with 45 grain bullet Rem 6 1/2 primer sometimes a small pistol primer.

I'm stuck at 13 gr. Lil'Gun and the 35 gr. Hornady. A great load. 13 grs. of Lil'Gun shoots very well with 35,40 or 45 gr. bullets
I have 22 Hornet, 221 Fireball and 223. The Hornet is by far the most quiet.

.218 Bee in a 26" barreled Ruger #1. And it can be loaded to nearly match most 16" AR's in .223 with a 55 gr bullet (@2750 fps to 2850 fps, by chronograph)

Another vote for the K-Hornet.

Steve..........