Suppressors on hunting rifles??

[Wind River]

I’m 70 and pretty old school. Not gadget oriented, etc. A long time buddy has gotten into suppressing his hunting and varmint guns. He swears by them. The lack of a loud report is nice, but his guns look like bazookas and he has a large investment in “cans” as he calls them.
Not trying to start an argument but looking for a consensus on these.

 

[Rob01]

You should try one. It’s much nicer shooting with a can on than with a brake or even bare muzzle. You can get light titanium models and they don’t add much weight. Length is rarely an issue.

 

[Knotwild]

I think you should do what you enjoy most. It’s good you have a friend to let you experience them. Centerfire silencers do make a gun long and and add weight - plus they are expensive and you need threaded barrels.

I enjoy rimfire silencers a lot and they don’t have the negatives of a centerfire one. They are a barrel of fun.

 

[effendude]

I have hunted nearly exclusively with suppressors on my rifles for about 10 years now, where allowed by law, in the USA, and South Africa, with more trips planned in the next couple years to New Zealand, Spain and South Africa. I still love the look of a clean rifle, and none of my older rifles will be threaded for suppressors. That being said, most of my modern rifles, factory and custom, have been threaded for brakes or suppressors. I assure you once you use a suppressor, especially for hunting, you'll use one whenever you can. Not having to worry about your companions or yourself being blasted by a muzzle break is an added bonus. Hearing the whop of the bullet impact is a cool bonus.

Suppressors made it easy to train my wife, with no rifle experience to be a great shooter. No muzzle blast, softened recoil are the main reasons she learned without any bad habits. She shot a 45" Cape Buffalo in South Africa last year with the PH's suppressed .375 H&H and 300gr. Swift A-Frames after shooting the rifle from the bench several shots the day before. No flinch at all, easy to shoot. As my grandkids get older, I will start them on suppressed .22LR rifles.

Buy yourself a good .30 caliber can, use it and enjoy!
Scott

 

[Hosted]

I'm a farmer and a lot of my shooting now is varmint hunting. I plan to use a suppressor for most of my hunting from now on after last year. It seems most of the people moving to the country feel like they should have a say on what people do in their own property. While hunting last year I was approached by two people and asked to not shoot on my farms and had the cops called on me by another. I was probably 300-400 yards away from their property shooting in the opposite direction but they didn't like me there. Everyone now has an opinion and thinks that they need to share it. I go out hunting to get away from people and relax so that's the last thing I want to deal with. Some of the newer suppressors are only 5-6" long and weight less than 10oz. If it helps me stay under everyone's radar and enjoy my time it's well worth it to me.

 

[X-Caveman]

Borrow one of your buddy’s rifles for a hunt or two. My $ is on you buying more than one shortly thereafter.

 

[Shotafterdark]

We live in a much different atmosphere today than in the 80's or 90's when I was in the fields of Mi shooting woodchucks for farmers..

Today people are AZZHOLES there is no other way to put it .
It's harder each day to procure permission to hunt the fields and you have to dance on needles to not
upset the delicate lil urban queens that have infiltrated our lands .

The sound of a gunshot just scares them ...poor things
That goes triple at night when coyote hunting.
A suppressor and a (good one) today is mandated to maintain the peace

I personally own 19 of them and cannot imagine shooting without one , even on my rimfire 22.
Once you turn that page , there simply is no going back

Be forewarned it's like a woman and their shoes, purses etc....4 is never enough

 

[Shotafterdark]

I have hunted nearly exclusively with suppressors on my rifles for about 10 years now, where allowed by law, in the USA, and South Africa, with more trips planned in the next couple years to New Zealand, Spain and South Africa. I still love the look of a clean rifle, and none of my older rifles will be threaded for suppressors. That being said, most of my modern rifles, factory and custom, have been threaded for brakes or suppressors. I assure you once you use a suppressor, especially for hunting, you'll use one whenever you can. Not having to worry about your companions or yourself being blasted by a muzzle break is an added bonus. Hearing the whop of the bullet impact is a cool bonus.

Suppressors made it easy to train my wife, with no rifle experience to be a great shooter. No muzzle blast, softened recoil are the main reasons she learned without any bad habits. She shot a 45" Cape Buffalo in South Africa last year with the PH's suppressed .375 H&H and 300gr. Swift A-Frames after shooting the rifle from the bench several shots the day before. No flinch at all, easy to shoot. As my grandkids get older, I will start them on suppressed .22LR rifles.

Buy yourself a good .30 caliber can, use it and enjoy!
Scott

Great advice, a 30 is the universal can....works damn good on everything

 

[Ilikepie7]

They are worth every penny. I don’t even like to go prairie dog hunting with someone not using a suppressor.

 

[drop_point]

I largely hunt with an 18" .308 Winchester with 130 gr TTSX @ 3050 fps. The suppressor is about 6" long so brings the gun to a normal barrel length. My suppressor weighs about 11 oz. It isn't terrible but it isn't noticeable. I enjoy not worrying about hearing protection for me (or with the kids when they are with me).

 

[Rob01]

Great advice, a 30 is the universal can....works damn good on everything

There are some nice .36 caliber cans out there now too incase they hunt with a 338 etc. The HuxWrx Flow Range 36 or the B&T Vers36 both are light.

 

[mic2377]

Once you go suppressed, it will be hard to go back. They reduce recoil (not as much as a muzzle brake though), don't affect accuracy, and cut WAY down on blast. I also have moved to using them universally when hunting.

There are really only a few downsides. First, if you are shooting a semi auto, they tend to run a bit dirtier suppressed. Two, they do add some length and weight to the rifle setup.

That being said newer suppressors are much lighter and shorter. On a shorter barrel rifle (16-20") the length and weight issue is almost unnoticeable.

Get a HUB mount lightweight unit in 30 or 36 caliber that is full welded and has a direct thread adapter to 5/8x24. You will be able to run this on almost any center fire rifle from 22-36 caliber. A Griffin Sportsman Ultralight is an excellent and fairly inexpensive unit like this.

 

[RabbitSlayer]

All my prairie dog hunting buddies have them. The thing to me is that they are still loud enough I wear hearing protection around them. On a target gun or prairie dog gun I would still be wearing ears, so whats the point?

For lower volume shooting like predators, big game, jack rabbits, a truck gun, now that would be nice. Being able to jump out the truck and take a coyote of opportunity without worrying about ears would be sweet.

Then there is the velocity loss or a really long gun.

 

[Clancy]

I put it off for a long time and now I’ve got 7.

I shot a 22-250 for a friend the other day, which wasn’t threaded, and it was absolutely awful.

 

[effendude]

All my prairie dog hunting buddies have them. The thing to me is that they are still loud enough I wear hearing protection around them. On a target gun or prairie dog gun I would still be wearing ears, so whats the point?

For lower volume shooting like predators, big game, jack rabbits, a truck gun, now that would be nice. Being able to jump out the truck and take a coyote of opportunity without worrying about ears would be sweet.

Then there is the velocity loss or a really long gun.

Shooting prairie dogs, suppressors keep the dogs up and visible much longer than shooting without. There is such a dramatic difference, our group won't allow anyone to shoot without suppressors. Mirage off the can is the only negative, but there are solutions for that too.
Scott

 

[AWS]

Personally, it would have to do a lot with they type of hunting you enjoy and the weapons you like to hunt with. For still hunting and tracking deer I like short and light, 16" Savage 99, Rem 600, anything hanging on the end would be detrimental and not worth it, you usually only get one shot.

Sitting on a runway or in a blind yes if you think it will give you an advantage. For me this is another one shot scenario.

Varmints, bench bench shooting, by all means, makes for a nice comfortable day, electronic earmuffs save me about a thousand dollars.

Coyote hunting, I hunt with people that have suppressors on their rifles. It works but for me their rifles just look cumbersome and don't seem to be much quieter than my little 222 Rem. I have shot in a match where my 22-250 was really loud compared to suppressed 20Ps and 223s.

Guns, i really like hunting with combo guns, drillings and mannlicher stocked rifle, not conducive to suppressors.

I hunt public lands, Uncle Sam wrecked my hearing 60 years ago so see no suppressors in my future.

 

[Rob01]

That’s the point of suppressors, to keep the hearing you have.

And if adding 6” to the end of your rifle makes you not be able to move around with it then there is more going on. I run a 28” barrel and a can on it in matches and move a lot more than a lot of hunters without issue.

But in the end it’s up to the end user but if you haven’t tried a suppressor then you don’t know what you are missing.

 

[alf]

I avoided suppressors for years, didn't like the cost or the wait.

When I took up night time thermal hunting for coyotes, I learned that people were hearing my shots, thinking poachers were at work. One instance, I was up & over the hill over a half mile away, cold enough that all doors & windows were closed, yet two different households heard me.

Now I can shoot, not worry the neighbors, save my hearing, & has certainly helped when calling in multiples.

 

[RabbitSlayer]

Shooting prairie dogs, suppressors keep the dogs up and visible much longer than shooting without. There is such a dramatic difference, our group won't allow anyone to shoot without suppressors. Mirage off the can is the only negative, but there are solutions for that too.
Scott

I often just spot for my friends with suppressors and it doesn't seem to matter. Probably cuz on public land they get hammered so hard they vanish soon as you get out the truck and basically nothing comes up inside 300 again. They are old and never go more than 10 feet from the truck. I often walk alone away from roads and set up on a little chair and get many more close shots. I bet it would really help in that situation.

 

[Rick Richard]

I was resistant to the change too for a few years…..but, won’t shoot or hunt without the…Bazooka