Hunting Rifle: Anyone Else Have No Desire for a Silencer?

[Veteran]

In the services, you either wear earplugs or just "take it". Taxpayers can pay illegals $450,000 but cant afford to silence no artillery, tanks, or explosives.

Nope, waste of tax payers money.
Buy yore own earplugs, that's why we pay you every 2 weeks!

I taught explosives and ran tank ranges, and was around everything that goes boom for 4 years. So I dont mind a little rifle noise unless Im next to a .50 at the range.

 

[dbevins49]

I see a lot of folks are putting silencers on their hunting rifles, even sacrificing ballistic performance by shortening barrels.

Anyone else prefer their hunting rifle to not have a silencer? Maybe I'm old school but I don't have muzzle brakes or silencers on my hunting rifles.

Same here. Old school 70 years old I hear fine.
Have a 500 yard limit for hunting now. Used to shoot targets long range. Even got rid of all the high tech stuff.
Favorite scope is trijicon
2.5 x 10 x 56 have your M.P.B.Z set your fine at 500 or 600 yards. If you can't get closer let it walk.

But

 

[Tom Wright]

I've read that article and it substantiates my point. I could shoot a 16-18" 300 win mag suppressed with all the benefits thereof or I could shoot a 26-28" 30-06. Hands down, I'd choose to buy an extra barrel when I burn out the 300 win.

Nobody is talking about shooting 1000 yard benchrest with a suppressor. This is a long range hunting website. The objectives and volumes of fire are totally different. That's why people run 30" straight 1.25" diameter barrels on .308 so that they can get excellent barrel life and take advantage of the weight. For most people who hunt, a 30" 1.25" barrel is impractical and unwieldy. It's not relevant to the conversation.

If you'd rather shoot a 30-06 with a 26-28" barrel in the wild over an 18-20" suppressed 300 win mag for the sake of barrel life go for it. Even if they were ballistically equivalent one is going to be way more enjoyable to shoot. There's a ton of people on here who have shared their preference based on experience. Take it for what it's worth and do whatever floats your boat to achieve whatever you want your rifle to do and whatever shooting experience you want to have.

Almost all the threads that deal with "opinions" end up the same—like asking which shade of blue is prettier. It's all personal preference. I am thankful we still have folks who can talk/argue about guns and shooting. But the "right" answer is always the one that works for you or meets your needs. Please knock off the personal attacks or those regarding legal weapons!

 

[Dentite]

Just don't need the silencer. I dont agree with them and the ar style rifles. If your hunting animals on 4 legs use a hunting rifle

And what would your reaction be to someone who says that they don't agree with the type of "hunting rifle" that you use, and feel that you should be using the type of rifle that they prefer?

Maybe they "don't agree" with your bolt action repeater and they feel that if you're hunting, you should be using a real "hunting rifle" like their single shot break open rifle. What would your reaction be to that?

 

[Mike Matteson]

When you suffer from a 50+% loss in your ability to hear, you will change your mind.

I had a ringing in my ears from 1969 on. At the range I use hearing protection. In the field I don't use anything. Two of my rifles have a muzzle brake on them, and a 3rd one will have the option of either a suppressor, muzzle brake, or nothing at all. The 3rd rifle is being built for varmints, deer or antelope I never had a suppressor and waiting for one now. in the field I hardly shoot more than on shot at big game. Not all the time, almost the time. I feel if you are setting up to make 1000yd shot, you would have time to put on hearing protection. I find it hard to believe that somebody is getting 2700fps with a 200gr in a 22' barrel from a 30-06. Now I am a fan of longer barrels. Nothing under 26". I have purchase new rifles on the shelve and turn them over to the smith to re-barrel the action., before putting it to the bench and finally the field. Now I have a Rem 721 in a 25-06 with a 22" barrel that put 5 shot groups under 3" at 500yds. Took most of my deer with that rifle over the years. I wouldn't use it for a 1000yds. Varmints I feel is a different story.

 

[Chase723]

I think you are missing the point some are making. How quiet is a 16-18" 300 WM we wm when suppressed? To get it tolerable how big of a can are you going to run. To me the smart thing to do would be to run a 20-22" 300 WM, which still gets the vast majority of the performance, and run a smaller can. Think TBAC 5 on a 22 vs TBAC 9 on a 18. Neither will be quiet but one will be 200 ft/sec faster. If you don't want/need the 300 WM performance run a 308 or something on an 18" barrel.

You can make it much quieter. It'll be ~137-142 dB. Compared to 170-173 unsupressed. That's 100x quieter since decibels are logarithmic. Regardless, it's quieter than any unsuppressed 30-06. I also don't even shoot 300 win mag anymore. R Cram is the one who brought it up so I was using his example. I shoot different cartridges which are more efficient and therefore I can get similar performance with a shorter barrel, using less powder at baseline and are therefore a much better choice to begin with.

 

[rustyshackleford]

You can make it much quieter. It'll be ~137-142 dB. Compared to 170-173 unsupressed. That's 100x quieter since decibels are logarithmic. Regardless, it's quieter than any unsuppressed 30-06. I also don't even shoot 300 win mag anymore. R Cram is the one who brought it up so I was using his example. I shoot different cartridges which are more efficient and therefore I can get similar performance with a shorter barrel, using less powder at baseline and are therefore a much better choice to begin with.

You're missing the point. I didn't say hunting unsuppressed was wise. I said running a shorter can with a non neutered barrel is smarter than a neutered barrel with a huge can.

 

[charliewhisky]

Just don't need the silencer. I dont agree with them and the ar style rifles. If your hunting animals on 4 legs use a hunting rifle

I read the comments on this page and only want to address the question of the need for a suppressor when hunting. I have shot four deer in the past three years, from within 100 yds, that were not bothered by the first round that I fired. These included an eight point buck that I needed to take a second shot at because of a deflection, a buck that stayed within 10 feet of me after I shot a first buck 10 feet away from me, a buck following a doe that continued toward me after I shot the doe, and a doe that ran briefly and then stopped to look back after a missed moving shot. All shots were from the ground while still hunting.
A number of years ago I shot a large doe with a muzzle loader from 20 feet and the three does following her froze in place when she collapsed to the ground. The noise was secondary to the need they felt to halt and freeze when she fell.
I can also comment on the noise impact on myself when shooting. My light Marlin 30-06 requires earplugs at the range. I often forget to wear hearing protection when I am shooting my Remington 700LR in 30-06 with a longer barrel.

 

[Chase723]

You're missing the point. I didn't say hunting unsuppressed was wise. I said running a shorter can with a non neutered barrel is smarter than a neutered barrel with a huge can.

I'm not missing the point. I completely concur with you and alluded to that. I wouldn't even use a 300WM. Read through the thread. It was his example.

 

[Rich Coyle]

When you suffer from a 50+% loss in your ability to hear, you will change your mind.

Ever hear of electronic hearing protection? I own a Titanium Thunderbeast 9 but use a brake on my 8mmCoyle. The can is sort of a gift to my son-in-law just like one of my Bushnell 6500 4 1/2-30X50. That happens in some families.

 

[rustyshackleford]

I'm not missing the point. I completely concur with you and alluded to that. I wouldn't even use a 300WM. Read through the thread. It was his example.

Well when you started giving me unsuppressed vs suppressed and trying to tell me about the logarithmic scale it looked like you were assuming I was on team unsuppressed.

 

[Chase723]

This forum is called Long Range Hunting, The people who write threads in here write about maximizing their weapon to make very difficult shots . They go to great pains to purchase the absolute best bullets the best barrels , the best reloading components, the best optics, and the services of the best gunsmiths all in the effort of getting the best possible results at long range. Shortening the barrel is very detrimental to all that effort, perhaps some of these can supporters don't realise how detrimental shortening the barrel is to preformance, therefore your ability to make a shot. I don't think Chase realised how much velocity loss their was in an 18 inch 300 wm when he claimed in post 375 that a 18 inch 300 still has 200 fps more velocity than a 30-06 with a 24 inch barrel when that is not true I showed him a very good study in rifleshooter.com that showes the two become very close to the same velocity. As that study shows the loss of 200fps between 24 and 18 inches which changes the wind drift from78 inches to 88 inches at 1000 yds. That is a very real loss and is lessening the chances of a hit at 1000yds. If you consider a 12 inch vital area that only gives you 6 inches from the center of that area to the outside so if your windage call is off by 7 inches you are outside of the vital area , adding 10 more inches to your drift only makes it more difficult to hit your target which is the opposit of every thing written in this forum and surely the opposit of what you want to do if you are serious about hitting targets at long range. shortening your barrel is detrimental to velocity and seriously lessens your ability to make good shots

I do realize that and obviously land on the side of the fact that I would 10/10x cut a 300 win mag down and suppress it, instead of running a longer barreled 30-06. Furthermore, in the 300 win mag the velocity neutrality you mention and referenced doesn't hold true when you load even heavier .308 caliber projectiles like the 230gr. Regardless, it's not magic. You can use a ballistic calculator and figure everything out before you do anything like that and determine for yourself if it's worth the trade off. The wind drift you mention is a prime example, though the figures the article referenced were 57" and 69" for a full value 10pm wind. 12" of drift is significant however we don't hold or dial for wind in inches. We either use mils or MOA. So in this example you're either going to hold 1.5 or 1.7mils. Also not magic. Your ability to determine wind speed and direction is going to be the determining factor since the difference between those values is 1mph, which is incredibly difficult to do.

 

[Chase723]

Well when you started giving me unsuppressed vs suppressed and trying to tell me about the logarithmic scale it looked like you were assuming I was on team unsuppressed.

Sorry. In your post, which presumably you were being rhetorical, you asked how much quieter is a short barreled 300WM suppressed…so I provided values to illustrate that for other people who might read this is all.

 

[Elk868]

hy
i go hunting with my 12 lbs sako trgs with an 28 " barrel and got me an Hausken Megaxtrem 656 for . a huge can with 2lbs weight . but i honestly have to say i only use if i go for chamois up into the mountains . Ok there is no hike for two days more for 2 hours so weight isn t an real problem . but i m already lowered 20-30 % of my hearing , to carry 2 lbs more or loose more of my hearing ? i not think there is something to say about. and up there i shoot longer distances up to 560 M and i still have found the time to mount the can . for hunting wood i have an other rifle . and a 338 Lapua without surpressor can cause demage hearing easy if it barks close to your ear .
and the Hausken megaxtrem cuts down very much ( i think down to an 308 or lower ) . finally everybody have to decide this on his own and
on likes. but i m very satisfied with this combo and for my use it works well