[Clark]

Pete,
1) In the middle of the night when they attacked, I was shooting raccoons with the 12 ga when they came out of the chicken coop. The next day the wife and neighbors complained.

2) To make less noise, I was shooting 22 and CB shorts. This required a brain shot, and I could only do that if they held still.

3) To stay quiet but get more power, I put a 26" 22 cal barrel liner on the end of the 22 rifle barrel [ making a very long gun] and shot sub sonic quick shock bullets. I still needed multiple body shots to stop one.

4) To stay quiet and have even more power, I have been getting body shots with a 45/70 and a steel case filler. With a 20" barrel I can only use 1 gr of powder and sound like a BB gun [will not wake up the wife in the middle of the night]. The threshold of super sonic gas escapement from the barrel is one atmosphere above ambient. I need a tiny charge and long barrel to get the muzzle pressure that low. That gives 400 fps on a 150 gr bullet. That is ok for side shots through the ribs and lungs, but I cannot get through the shoulder when shooting head on with the big ones.

5) To stay quiet and have even more power, I came up with the 50 cal. It has about the same ballistics as a 45/70 20" with a CB50 with a 26" barrel, marginal improvement. But with a 48" tube barrel extender with 1/2" inside diameter, I can use 2.8 gr of powder and get 800 fps and sound like a BB gun [making a very long gun again]. 800 fps is quiet on soft targets, but very noisy if it hits plywood. I have not shot any game with the extender on yet. The pic I showed above with ball still round makes all kinds of noise, as the gas can leak around a ball, reach supersonic speeds, and send a sound wave down the barrel like a wave guide.
I have to seat the bullet without deforming it so bad that it will not chamber.
I made a bullet swager / bullet seater die that takes two presses at the same time and a ram between them. This forms a meplat on the bullet, the cartridge fits in the chamber, and the bullet has .5" cylindrical sides so gas cannot get around it if jammed into the lands. The die is shaped much like the 50CB chamber, so that the squished Lead ball will fit in the chamber, but also seal gas.