Hunting Suppressed

[jjness11]

Curious how many of you hunt suppressed, and what cartridge and barrel length you run with your can. I have one can now, and a second on the way. My kids are starting to hunt more and more, so thought I would start moving more this direction. One of my biggest concerns with the rifles I have now is 24"-26" barrels. Put a 6" or 7" can on the end of that, you're getting pretty long. Working on a 20" 7 SAUM, but curious what you guys have used, or are using.

[CP]

16" bull barrel (or shorter).  I've found that the can changes the point of impact too much with long, skinny barrels.  Ok on the range but not for hunting.

[b23]

I once ran everything a minimum of 26 with many 26+ and if it had a brake those that were 26+ are now 26++ but I've been gravitating toward shorter barreled setups and prefer 22 or less.  The downside of running a can is the added length and a 26 with a 7-9in can makes for a long azz setup.  Probably depends on the type of hunting you're doing.  If you are hiking in to areas setting up and glassing from a fixed position/s length won't be that much of an issue because you can leave it in your pack till you get there then screw it on but if it's slung over your shoulder and you're creeping in under and around things all the extra length would be a PITA.

[MooseZ25]

6.5 PRC and 338 Rum 21" and 20" both suppressed.  Don't be afraid of the short barrels.  I order my barrels in the short lengths on purpose suppressed or not. 

[jjness11]

I was leaning towards a 20" CF wrapped barrel, to help keep it rigid. Anything shorter than 16" is going to require a second stamp, and I really don't wanna go down that rabbit hole. As far as type of hunting, its everything from dense Western WA, to open country Mulies in Eastern MT.

@MooseZ25 what kind of velocity are you getting out of your 6.5? Curious what the FPS loss with a 20"?

[10mmg]

I run a trash panda on my kimber mountain assent with a 26” barrel. POI change is a consistent 2” drop. I run the same can on my 22” 6.5cm and notice about the same consistent drop. IMO it is worth the length and weight. I killed both a bull elk and an antelope this year with that setup. Both times the herds spooked significantly less than unsuppressed.

[MooseZ25]

I was leaning towards a 20" CF wrapped barrel, to help keep it rigid. Anything shorter than 16" is going to require a second stamp, and I really don't wanna go down that rabbit hole. As far as type of hunting, its everything from dense Western WA, to open country Mulies in Eastern MT.

@MooseZ25 what kind of velocity are you getting out of your 6.5? Curious what the FPS loss with a 20"?

I am shooting 140 VLD Hunters with Retumbo Powder at 2975 fps. 

[Sundance]

Ruger 350 Legend @16" barrel with handloads and a Form 1 with an 8" can is pretty sweet. Light recoil and very little noise, great for kids to use at 150 yards and less on deer or smaller. Working on a 6" can of SS/Ti for my 7MM08 in hopes of getting it set up for my kids. I will drop the velocity down on the handloads from my regular hunting loads which are shot with a muzzle brake.

[fly-by]

Curious how many of you hunt suppressed, and what cartridge and barrel length you run with your can. I have one can now, and a second on the way. My kids are starting to hunt more and more, so thought I would start moving more this direction. One of my biggest concerns with the rifles I have now is 24"-26" barrels. Put a 6" or 7" can on the end of that, you're getting pretty long. Working on a 20" 7 SAUM, but curious what you guys have used, or are using.

Almost exclusively hunt supressed.  Go to rifle is a 16.5" Remington Model Seven in .308. It has a tapered barrel that flares to accomodate 5/8-24 threads.  With a Silenceco Harvester it balances nicely on the floor plate.  I use cup and core bullets that expand at modest velocities to compensate for the short barrel.  Topped with a Luepold VX-R 2-7x33.   Quiet, carries great, very effective on game.

Also have a 21" Browning X-Bolt in .243 threaded 1/2-28 for the Harvester, but find the larger rifle plus longer barrel is enough to make it awkward for hiking around. 

[Farmer72]

I haven't rifle hunted big game in Washington for a while (Muzzleload mainly) but I used my 26" barreled Winchester Stealth II in 25 WSSM with a suppressor in Wyoming for antelope hunting and it wasn't an issue. Of course it was wide open country and the rifle is a varmint weight barrel and weighs 10 lbs. bare so weight wasn't much of a concern to me at that point.

[jrebel]

Have a can on my sons 7mm-08 and have hunted with it out of a blind and off the back deck  .   It is a 22” barrel and the can makes it long and heavy.  Bought two cans with hopes of hunting with them.  Have ultimately made them safe queens and find them burdensome for hunting purposes. 

[dreadi]

AMTAC makes over the barrel suppressors for rifles. At almost 10" in length, they add almost 6" to your muzzle end. 

https://amtacsuppressors.com/product/mantis-p-30cal-suppressor/

You can also consider getting cans that are primarily made of Titanium, for hunting in addition to cutting down your barrel.  I had SPR Industries take a few inches off my Rem 700 300WM, and thread it. After adding the OSS 7.62 it felt front heavy but, after putting the scope back on, it balanced back out.

I will be putting a Dead Air Nomad-Ti on my 6.8 SPC rifle for next year's seasons to keep my ear protected. It can also pull duty on my 300WM, and 300 BO.

Anyone that wants to keep the weight down and keep the barrel as long as possible, there are options to accommodate your wants.

[fowl smacker]

I've got an Omega 300, both my girls (ages 14 and 10) hunted with it on their Ruger American compact 7mm-08.  Both carried it hiking through timber, I carried it a little, no issues.  I hunted with it on my Tikka t3x car 6.5 creedmoor and my Tikka t3 lite 300 wsm.  Packed and carried both those with no issues.

[jjness11]

Good stuff. I currently have an Omega 300. Waiting on my Gunwerks Six. Should be here in time to hunt with it next year.

[Sr15]

16 inch 6.5 grendel.  AAC SDN6
More fun than you should be allowed to have:)