Desert Eagle .50 AE. The percussion blew the over heads lights out at the indoor range I was at.

Mine would be my Model 29-2 , 44 mag, It shook up the guy in the next shooting station.
One powerful Revolver !!

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Be Safe & Shoot Straight

I know I ain't gonna get one of them Ruger Blackhawks in .30 carbine. I had heard that was a loud cartridge but never heard one.

Somebody must have been shooting a 10mm when I was at the range last. Louder than everything else in there.

I guess the worst I've done is my 686 full blast.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

My model 53 can certainly make some concussion. I refer to it as the worlds loudest 22

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Detective Cobras Agents Oh My!

There's a difference for me between loud and sharp. I don't seem to mind my 460 or 629 ( they're both loud ), but not very sharp. I have a little Walther P22 that has such a sharp report that it is painful to anyone nearby without ear protection.

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1st smiles,lies.Last,gunfire.

Loudest I've fired is my 5" .460 V, the shorter barrel is louder than my buddy's 8 3/8" XVR.

We shoot the same 300gr. handloads in both revolvers, (as my buddy do reload and I don't, yet...).
Both have the compensator holes blocked off with a ss sleeve.

I also enjoy the shockwave when firing it, it's a rush. :-)

Gotta be the 357mag. Fired it once without hearing protection. It felt like someone cracked a whip by my ear.OUCH!

I agree with the OP! The Automag in .30 Carbine is almost as loud, as is a NAA in .22 Mag.

.30 Carbine and .22 Mag are rifle rounds, plain and simple.

Speaking of rifle rounds, depending on your definition of a "handgun", an unsuppressed short-barrel AK/AR in 5.56 or 7.62 mm would be very loud.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

The loudest handgun I ever fired was a Taurus Raging Bull in .454 Casull. There was a tremendous muzzle blast and the shock wave disturbed people 8 shooting lanes away.

My Pasadena Automag in .44 is pretty loud, but the .357AMP barrel takes the cake.

ruger srh 454 for me.

Of all of the "Eargersplitten Loudengaboomers" that I have in my collection, my S&W Mod. 57 .41 Mag. with hot reloads. The reaction from the range officer, inside the second floor brick offices at the Columbus Police Pistol Range, in OH, years ago, was as follows, when the second floor window flew open, he shouted "What in the Hexx are you shooting on this range?" The .41 Mag, makes my .44Mag seem soft spoken by comparison. The next would be a T/C contender with a .357 Max. rifle bbl. I also have an unused, T/C super 14" pistol barreled Contender in .45/70, that needs to be tried, but hasn't been yet. The jury is still out.
Chubbo

Never shot a Blackhawk .30...Can't say...

Several here are right about some very loud ones I am familiar with.

I once fired my S&W .500 Mag. by mistake without ear protection. That was defiantly an experience I don't want to repeat again. That mistake took several days to get my hearing back.

Yeah....22 mags are noisy...M48's and Ruger convertible sixes.

M19 2.5" with .357 mag is very loud but my M29's... 2.5" and 3" ported have a crack/boom above normal range, compared to my other 44's. Everyone does testify to those ported short barrel .44's being abusive. Glad to have protection on when they're fired.

I've got a Desert Eagle .44 waiting to be tried out.

Model 53 Smith and Wesson in 22 Jet

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

Glock model 19 / 9MM while shooting out the passenger side window of your scout car with no hearing protection on.

Nobody's mentioned .41 Mag?!?

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But then, what do I know?

My old 4" 22 Jet. Sorry I traded it but it was by far the loudest, or I should say painfully noisy gun I have ever fired or witnessed.

I had a TC in .45-70 with 10 inch barrel. The loudest and the most recoil I've ever dealt with.

A while back I had a TC Contender in 7-30 Waters, 10 inch with a brake. That was a loud son of a gun. 2nd place would have to be a 4" 686 slinging 180 grain XTPs with 12.5 of 2400. I didn't think it was that loud, but it drew a crowd at an indoor range.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Taking it one step further. In the late '80's, back when the power factor was still 175, I ran the chronograph stage at an Area 5 match during the short time period the 9x25 Dillon was at the height of it popularity. Designed by Randy Shelley of Dillon and popularized by Rob Leatham, it was simply the 10mm case necked down to 9mm, and held twice the amount of powder the .38 Super did.

The tremendous amount of gas developed, when pushed through the mulitple chamber compensators in use, would result in no muzzle lift what-so-ever. Some of the unlimited guns so chambered actually dipped slightly when fired. The draw back was incredible noise and blast. It was so much louder, you could easily differentiate the sound signature of the Dillon round even when it was being fired two or three stages away.

My task at that match was to weigh bullets from every competitor and record velocities from the dual chronographs for every shot fired. To see the readout screens on the two chronos, I sat elevated behind the shooter looking over his head. That put me in a perfect position to experience the full effect of those compensated pistols. The .38 Supers were loud even with plugs and muffs, but those 9x25 Dillons would nearly knock me backwards.

After a full weekend and nearly 200 shooters, I went home a bit shell shocked and had a headache for two days. Thankfully, the 9x25 fell from favor rather quickly, disappearing entirely once the power factor was reduced.

Roe

Gentlemen I own and shoot a Ruger Blackhawk in 30 carbine. It is very loud. But my pistol that is the loudest is my Rock River 223 AR pistol with a 7 1/2 in barrel. Muzzle blast is terrible. A close second to the AR pistol is my AK 47 pistol in 7.62 X 39. I wear plugs and muffs with all 3 handguns.

A 4 inch 357 Magnum, specifically my model 620. Actually managed to make a 500 Magnum shooter in the next lane ask me that the heck I was shooting.

As for how I did that, it was my Holy Muzzle Blast Batman load. That is a 125 grain Hornady XTP loaded with 21.7 grains of H110. Per reports from others in the indoor range the muzzle flash was about half the length of the range (50 foot indoor range). From my perspective all I could see was the blast ring from the B/C gap and it totally obscured whatever was going on downrange. Only fired 5 rounds because I was concerned about the flame cutting that might be going on. Note, I have now relegated that particular load and any load featuring H110 for use in one of my 357 Magnum rifles. Because chronograph testing about a month later with a 158 grain/H110 load revealed that all the drama only yielded 50 fps. more than a much less dramatic load featuring Accurate #9 with the same bullet.

I shot an AR-15 with a 10" barrel. That was enough for me to know I did not want one of them.

Muzzle blast from firing full-powered ammo in a Mauser rifle with a 16" barrel was brutal.

I had a 300 Weatherby rifle that I sold after one season of hunting because of the horrible muzzle blast, and went back to the 30-06.

Does anyone have any empirical data to show if there is much of a difference between the 357, 41, and 44 Magnum revolvers fired in similar barrel lengths? I think they are about the same (since they operate at similar pressures), but that is probably very subjective.

I do not understand the appeal of the 460 or 500 magnums.

I was going to vote for my 460 XVR, but mine is an 8 in. bbl. A 4 in. is too brutal to contemplate. The combination of high operating pressure and muzzle brake generate a shock wave impact on the shooter's chest. It would perform CPR. A 4 in. is inconceivable.

I once thought my 2.5" M-19 or 6.5" M29 with full power loads were loud, until I got into long range pistol, or as some call it, metal silhouette competition. Only iron sights were allowed; you shot steel animal silhouettes at 50, 100, 150 and 200 yds and had to knock them down to score.
Standing off to the side of the active line, you could hear the report of the various guns and calibers. It was obvious the 357's were louder than the 45's, the 44 mags were louder than the 357's, then the Ruger 30 carbines, then the Thompson Contenders in 30-30, but the king of the hill were the Remington XP-100's in full length .308. Every now and then, shooting prone, I'd find myself next to a shooter with one of those hand cannons. There was plenty of time to shoot each round, 25 seconds IIRC, and I quickly learned to wait until the shooter with the cannon fired, then I'd settle down, aim and fire. The noise and blast were overwhelming; it was so powerful out of that short barrel that the front foot or two of the guy's (sometimes gal's) shooting mat would lift up, coil back in an S shape about a foot off the ground like a cobra, then slap down, raising a cloud of dust that rolled over my position.
Funny thing was, actually shooting the thing was more pleasant than shooting my M-29. After the matches, we'd have a fun shoot, and I tried one a few times. You shot them from a Creedmore position, so the muzzle was a long way out from your ears. The grip was under the front of the bolt, not behind the gun. The result was the gun rolled up from your elbow in recoil, finishing with the barrel pointing up at about 45-50 degrees from the horizontal, whereas my M-29 drove the gun mostly straight through my wrist and elbow to my shoulder. My hand and wrist always ached after about 80 rounds of match and fun runs with the M-29. The other neat thing about the 30-30's and 308's was the sighting; I adjusted my M-29 aim with range and tried to hit high on the animal silhouette to knock them down, actually raising the rear sight to max for the 200 yd rams. With the 308, I was looking through a peep sight, and the aperture was so small, I saw only black when on target. I could not tell where I was on the target. The guys who owned the guns told me not to worry; if you see black, pull the trigger, it will go down no matter where you hit it. That was fun, an I began to understand how some of them would knock down 40 out of 40 targets in a match. I usually shot in the 20's, with a best of 28 out of 40. I was good at bulls eye, but silhouette was a humbling experience. My hand and wrist began to hurt more and more and I gave it up and sold the M-29 to a friend who just had to have a Dirty Harry gun.

.22 jet is mine,,,and I had muffs on

If you've ever shot a S&W 460 Magnum with a 200gr bullet under a substantial amount of H110, you'll never complain about a 30 Carbine Blackhawk again.

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Pat Henson

I was just getting ready to type the .460 with those 200gr Hornady rounds...holy guacamole... if you're mouth isn't closed, it forces air out your cheeks.

I have shot or heard most handguns.

The loudest I've ever heard was my 629 6.5" Classic with the factory compensator on top of the bbl. It looked like a slot in a toaster.

When shooting it in an enclosed booth it rattled the ceiling and both walls.

It was the only time a range master tapped on my shoulder. He yelled, no 50 cal allowed and pointed to a sign on the wall. I told him it was a 44 Mag, he said no. I showed him the box of ammo. He said shhotit today but never bring it back. I had shot it at the Busch range many times and brought it back later.

It also had the full underlug bbl.

I found a 4" 629 that is much quieter and is lighter to pack.
I traded the big boomer off. I was not asked about the noise nor offered any advice past always wear ear pugs.

I had a safe full of Weatherbys once upon a time. One was the light 300 mag. 26" bbl with a factory recoil compensator. It did not weigh 7.5 lbs scoped.
It recoiled like a 270. A friend bought it new.
He hated the compensator and tried to hunt elk without it. He said he did not flinch but in front of several folks he missed a huge bull at 25' more than once before it trotted off.

I had it for several years. Killed some deer. Light, accurate and fast.

When hunting I never noticed the recoil.

I put a VX 3 2.5x8 Leupold on it. Took it to the range to zero it in. It too shook the walls, mine and for several booths down. Folks came up to watch me shoot it, when we went to change targets they asked what kind of cannon it was, 460 mag???? It was noisy. I had the compensator screwed on for less recoil when sighting in.


I would hate to be between 2 guys firing these at a running deer.

...I have a 6"...that is bad enough...

The .30 Carbine Ruger and 4" 500...all boom pretty good.

....I wear plugs and the best muffs for db reduction, at the indoor range and something still startled me. Not only the noise, it lit the place up like a camera flash. .50 Desert Eagle.

PS I've heard tell that .30 carbines are very loud in a pistol, but I've never tried one. Anybody know why? Are they as loud as other rifle cartridges in a pistol?

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Question. Why is a Ruger BH in 30 Carbine so loud?

My Ruger GP100 in .357 magnum is pretty devastating on the ears.

Another vote for the 4 inch Model 53 in .22 Jet. Hard to describe the noise, it's an extremely high-pitched screeching BOOM. The 4 inch is actually notably louder than the 6 inch with the same Remington factory loads. I've got a 10 inch T/C Contender barrel in .22 Jet and the extra barrel length helps some, but it's still a plugs-AND-muffs situation. It is strange that the gun is so loud yet has so little recoil. I just don't shoot them any more.

Second choice for me is a 10 inch Contender barrel in .30-30 Winchester with factory loads.

Third is a 4 inch M-500 with the ported brake insert in place.

Lone Eagle .30-06 pistol

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_It was love at first shot_

I once shot a snake with my S&W 650 22 Magnum loaded with shotshells. I was not wearing ear protection. I will never do that again!

Another vote for the Ruger Black Hawk in .30 carbine. WOWSER !!!

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John

We all have things much louder today BUT like tedog, I remember standing just to the side of a Deputy who set off a 4 inch 19 with 125 Remingtons . That was 40+ years ago and I still remember it distinctly!

Tossup between a Ruger .30 Blackhawk, and a Kel-Tec PLR-16 .223 with a 9.5" barrel. Both are painfully loud. If there is any difference you probably won't know because shooting either w/o hearing protection will leave your ears numb.

I know this is an older post. My loudest depends on the definition of a handgun here. I have a custom Savage striker in 300 WSM with a Muscle break (yes it is muscle) , a bolt action handgun that ranks as my loudest. Little recoil but lots of noise.

It has enough powder and pressure to launch the bullet at 2000 fps out of an 18" barrel; with a relatively short barrel revolver and a cylinder gap, all that excess pressure and propellant burning turns into quite the racket.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Compensators will make any gun much louder to those around you. Never stand to the side of anyone shooting a .50 BMG Barrett with a compensator. It will absolutely knock you flat from the shot wave. Hint - stand directly behind the shooter.

I have a post-'64 Winchester Model 70 that I have set up as a long range precision rifle, complete with a pistol grip composite stock. It has a modest compensator on it to control recoil, and with muffs it doesn't bother me all that much. However, others on the firing line came up to me after I shot it a few times, asking "What the hell IS that thing you're shooting? It sounds like a cannon!" When I tell them "It's just a .30-06" they couldn't believe it from the noise it generated. I then removed the compensator and replaced it with a screw-on-cap, and the difference was amazing. MUCH quieter.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

It didn't take me long to switch from using GI-level loads to .32-20 level reloads in my .30 Carbine Blackhawk. Nothing remotely enjoyable for me in shooting GI loads, far too much noise and muzzle blast. My favorite Blackhawk load is .30 Speer Plinker bullets (100 grains) and 3.7 grains of Bullseye. I am sure that some of the T/Cs in rifle calibers are just as loud if not louder.

There must be some actual comparative instrumental sound level measurements of different handguns in different calibers, but I haven't seen any.

Well, in that case, I guess you'd better make sure your belt is good and tight.

Can the break be repaired?

Have to agree with you. There was someone shooting a 40 in Open, should have been banned.........

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State of Jefferson
Jim

CZ 52 in 7.62 x 25 while not in the big boy class, it will certainly turn a head or two along with ringing your ears.

I don't know what the actual loudest round from a decibel standpoint is, but the loudest I've shot without ear protection was CCI, 140 grain, .357mag rounds out of a S&W 6inch M-686 about 30 years ago.

I took a couple of quick shots at two large wild-dogs that came into our deer camp and were trying to make off with a deer that was hanging on our meat pole. I've had tinnitus in my left ear ever since.


Don

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Laus Deo! <><