A lot of the old ctgs that we still shoot are usually loaded to drive their bullets at 12-1400 fps.    Don't know whether this is from utility, tradition, or inertia.   5-6 years ago, I did well at RATON in military class with a TD Springfield purposely loaded subsonic, and with only a 400 gr bullet.   This performed adequately out to 600 yd, and was very comfortable to shoot.

There is an advantage of lesser wind drift at the lower velocities, but it requires a load which gives very small velocity SD's.   The motive was lower recoil, however

CHRIS

Thanks for the responses. I was thinking it would have the trajectory of a Red Ryder BB gun at 100 yards.

Schuetzendave wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2021 at 6:47pm:

  Same here.

I have been reading (The Golden Age of the American Schuetzenfest) by Randolph Schreiter Wright and thinking how it would have been to be the same age as the 1890 crowd and living it. I grew up in the 40s so missed it by a little. I like the modern conveniences and carried enough corn cobs & wood when I was young to know I wouldn't want to go back. The schuetzen rifles were nice though compared to the modern black ones. Enough rambling.

I just happened to chronograph my Ballard 30-30 Wesson load that I shot this group with on Monday and it came out about 1450fps.
That speed is typical of most of my accurate loads in various rifles.  

Jack

lion wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2021 at 4:04pm:


Rimfire shooters are weird. They are about the only people that knowingly shoot at the worst possible speeds, and take pride in it.

From about 950-1350 is the transition from sub to super. That transonic window has more turbulence than both above and below. That’s why long distance shooters try to stay above it, and air gun shooters try to stay below it.

Cast bullets with lube grooves, have problems in the trans-sonic range partly because of the grooves. They actually accelerate the air and create their own shock wave,  Cannelures do the same same thing on jacketed bullets.

Staying above those speeds all the way to the Target is very helpful. 

“Sub sonic” shooting is just another variable to deal with, and probably the biggest challenge shooting into it at 1100 fps, is staying above 1000 fps. I have found  it easier to keep muzzle velocity's under 1000 fps. Accuracy improves as long as the twist rate is fast enough. 

As an aside; Dean Miller and I fiddled around with a breech seated 22rf back in the mid-90's.  I had a friend at an ammunition company in Minnesota that sent me a couple hundred primed 22 magnum cases.  We got Jerry Barnett (IIRC) to cut a 90 +/-gr semi spitzer mold.  The results were just short of sinfully small groups, but the traditionalists got wind of the program, and voted to ban BS 22rf.
Sigh...

In retrospect it was probably a bit on the edge.

Rich