![]() ![]() Zipping along at supersonic speeds, the small and lighter loads rely on speed and projectile shape to accomplish their goal. As time went on of course, the trend was towards small and fast projectiles, such as 9x19mm Luger (and NATO) for handguns, and 5.56mm for rifles. You can only cram so much powder safely into the cartridge, and the bullet itself had to be of a certain weight to be effective, so big and “slow” was the norm. In the days of old, the trend was towards heavy projectiles, such as one of my favorites (of course), the. Just by default, subsonic ammunition isn’t anything new. What’s The Big Deal About Subsonic Ammo These Days? Much like a high-performance jet aircraft, a bullet going faster than the speed of sound will create a sonic boom. Other than speed, the defining characteristic of a subsonic round is that it will not create a sonic boom along it’s flight path. So, if your ammunition doesn’t exceed 1116.4 FPS in velocity at sea level, it is a subsonic round. I’m guessing since compared to the world as a whole, ammunition really doesn’t go that far, so it’s more scientifically convenient to rate it in FPS - at least here in the US. For reasons I have yet to discover, ammo makers love to rate their creations in feet per second. At sea level and a pressure of 1 atmosphere (14.6 psi), the sound barrier is at 761.2 MPH, which is 1116.4 feet per second. Subsonic ammunition, by definition, is any cartridge that propels its bullet at a speed that is below the sound barrier. Simply put, anything “subsonic” is something that travels below the speed of sound. There’s no clear answer, but knowing what subsonic ammo (in various calibers) can and cannot do is a good place to start… What Is Subsonic Ammunition? You may ask - “What is subsonic ammo and is it appropriate for my use case?” In your travels, you may run across loads in various calibers marked as “subsonic”. There’s nothing wrong with new concepts in ammo, of course, but buyer should beware. Desperation will make people run full-metal jacket rounds in a defensive role, or they’ll pick up some oddball load and cross their fingers. People are grabbing up whatever they can find, regardless of whether it’s truly appropriate or not. As I alluded to last week, the ammo situation out there is pretty sparse, and unprecedented. ![]()
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