Suppressor on mountain rifle

like all things rifle, it depends upon your objective. I personally use a .308 because it is less sensitive to shortening the barrel than most calibers and use IMR8208XBR powder because it performs really well with short barrels and I use 168 grain bullets, either Hornady ELD-M or Sierra TMK or Berger Classic Hunter. With these I can achieve 2650 fps, .5 MOA and have killed many kinds of deer without incident out to 800 yards. This is from a 16.25" barrel with a TBA Ultra 7". So my total barrel is similar to a 22" sporter, actually lighter because the titanium can weighs less per inch than the barrel steel.
I still use full length barrels when warranted, like my 26" 30-378 with an additional 2" brake, both to gain velocity but also because you can't shorten a barrel firing 117 grains of powder short enough to be handy without blowing the suppressor.
I wind up using the short 308 for most situations and reserve the big gun for when I suspect the shots will be across canyons and to taxing on wind calls for the longer flight time of the 308.
 
I saw an integrally suppressed 308 at a shop last week. Would be interesting to see something similar to the Mist 10/22 barrel for a centerfire. Obviously couldn't be integral to the barrel on a high powered cartridge, but a longer/thinner suppressor that matches a Palma barrel contour out to say 22-24". Large blast chamber then the baffles.
 
I saw an integrally suppressed 308 at a shop last week. Would be interesting to see something similar to the Mist 10/22 barrel for a centerfire. Obviously couldn't be integral to the barrel on a high powered cartridge, but a longer/thinner suppressor that matches a Palma barrel contour out to say 22-24". Large blast chamber then the baffles.
Look up supressed weapon systems in Houston.
 
If you haven't seen this, it's an interesting test on barrel length and performance.



 
MDT tested a 6 FOOT long barrel. After ~47" gains started becoming minimal, but there was not ever a meaningful decrease in velocity. A couple of abnormalities for sure, but that's to be expected from small sample sizes. There is no practical (or available) barrel length were a cartridge slows down in the bore. Match subsonic 22LR runs in 26" barrels, I can't think of anything smaller/slower.


Snip from video:
Screenshot 2023-07-24 180835.jpg
 
MDT tested a 6 FOOT long barrel. After ~47" gains started becoming minimal, but there was not ever a meaningful decrease in velocity. A couple of abnormalities for sure, but that's to be expected from small sample sizes. There is no practical (or available) barrel length were a cartridge slows down in the bore. Match subsonic 22LR runs in 26" barrels, I can't think of anything smaller/slower.


Snip from video:
View attachment 480677
That's pretty crazy...thanks for sharing that.

I saw a test where velocity seemed to drop off after longer than 18" for whatever .22lr ammo they were testing. Drag took over after 18" of barrel and continued to get slower the longer the barrel was.

Kinda makes you wonder why so many made/make a .22lr barrel longer than 18" because generally shorter is better than longer for accuracy as there is less barrel whip/harmonics/stiffer as you go shorter.
 
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