The .510 Whisper is a

subsonic Subsonic may refer to: Motion through a medium * Any speed lower than the speed of sound within a sound-propagating medium * Subsonic aircraft, a flying machine that flies at air speeds lower than the speed of sound * Subsonic ammunition, a type o ...

rifle cartridge developed by

SSK Industries SSK Industries, Inc. is an American designer and manufacturer of guns and accessories in Wintersville, Ohio. Founded in 1977, the company is known for its custom Contender and Encore barrels. Started by hunter and gun enthusiast J. D. Jones, SS ...

for use in suppressed rifles. It is capable of firing a .51-caliber bullet weighing at roughly .

Overview

The .510 Whisper (13×47 mm) is the second of two 1/2 inch caliber rounds developed by

J. D. Jones J. D. Jones (born November 21, 1936) is an American firearms and cartridge designer, firearms writer and president of SSK Industries. Jones began hunting at an early age, and became interested in bullet casting and handloading firearms cartri ...

with a specific focus on the Thumper concept and

use. Based on the

.416 Rigby The .416 Rigby is a rifle cartridge designed in 1911 by London based gunmaker John Rigby & Company, for hunting dangerous game. It is the first cartridge to use a bullet of .416 inch (10.57 mm) diameter. The rifles, as built by John Rigby & Co ...

case, it is a non-belted and bottlenecked cartridge. Earlier

had already developed the similar .500 Whisper round, which has a roughly 0.4 inch (10 mm) longer belted bottlenecked case based on the

.378 Weatherby Magnum The .378 Weatherby Magnum was designed by Roy Weatherby in 1953. It was an original belted magnum design with no parent case, inspired by the .416 Rigby and headspacing of the belted .375 H&H Magnum.Any Shot You Want, The A-Square Handloading ...

. Despite the large bullet, this round is very quiet when using a suppressor due to the subsonic nature of the cartridge. When used with a very high ballistic coefficient bullet, the round only loses about out to over 500 yards. This gives it more downrange energy at that distance than traditional .30 caliber rounds such as the

.308 Winchester The .308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge widely used for hunting, target shooting, police, military, and personal protection applications globally. It is similar but not identical to the 7.62×51mm NATO ...

and

.300 Winchester Magnum The .300 Winchester Magnum (also known as .300 Win Mag or .300 WM) (7.62×67mmB, 7.62x66BR) is a belted, bottlenecked magnum rifle cartridge that was introduced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1963. The .300 Winchester Magnum is a m ...

.Whisper cartridges
" by Lukas Kruesi, ''New Zealand Guns & Hunting'', September/October 2003 Sako TRG-S test rifles have achieved minute of angle, and better, accuracy with this cartridge at 600 yards. Powders such as H110, 4227, or surplus WC820 are well suited for subsonic loads and give a low

standard deviation In statistics, the standard deviation is a measure of the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of values. A low standard deviation indicates that the values tend to be close to the mean (also called the expected value) of the set, while ...

. Necessary components such as barrels, reloading dies, etc. are available from SSK. Sako TRG-S actions are most often converted to this caliber. The Thompson Center Encore is also suitable, but is rather lightweight for shooting this heavy recoiling cartridge, especially when using bullets.

Design

The case of the .510 Whisper is based on the

(same as the

.338 Lapua Magnum The .338 Lapua Magnum (8.6×70 mm or 8.58×70 mm) is a rimless, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It was developed during the 1980s as a high-powered, long-range cartridge for military snipers. It was used in the War in Afghanistan and ...

) as the parent case. Overall length of the loaded round is about .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:510 Whisper Pistol and rifle cartridges Whisper cartridges Subsonic rifle cartridges

Overview

Design

See also

References