View Full Version : Ammunition and muzzle pressures
Does anyone know the differences in muzzle pressures between ammunition with a normal amount of pressure versus subsonic ammunition with reduced propellant?
It's not quite as straight forward as that. It's not just a matter of "less powder". A powder that performs well at supersonic velocities usually isn't the best choice for subsonic velocities and vice-versa. Different powders burn at different rates and that also has a direct relationship with muzzle velocity and chamber pressure. I could use the same charge weight of two different powders and get very different chamber pressures and muzzle velocities. So, one would expect that a subsonic load would have less chamber pressure then a supersonic load in the same cartridge & gun but there's no way to know how by how much unless formal testing is done. I think there are a few places that will perform this testing but it is quite expensive.
Keep in mind, actual chamber pressure is affected by a LOT of other things I haven't mentioned here. I kept the answer as simple and direct to your question as possible.
Are you referring to chamber pressures? Using 223 for example Supersonic generates pressures greater than 50k psi, while Subsonic tends toto be 13k-20k psi
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.