Rifle for supressed hunting

[Thebear_78]

With my impending suppressor possession I have been thinking about buying/making a rifle to hunt with supressed. My tactical/target rifles already being to heavy at 12-17 pounds with 24-26" barrels that hunting with them seemed impractical.

I had thought about cutting my Montana back to 18-20" but there isn't enough barrel diameter to thread for the suppressor, and my other light rifles all have long barrels and in calibers that need long barrels.

I have a blueprinted magnum Remington action but once again Amy magnum bolt face rifle cartridge in 30 cal or smaller really needs the longer barrel.

The answer to my conundrum came early this morning while pursuing my local swap and sell classified. A guy was trading a Remington 700 tactical with a 16" threaded barrel in a magpul hunter stock, bipod and a couple mags. I contacted him and we made a trade for a luepold VXIII 4.5-14x40 CDS I had on hand.

I picked it up, dropped in a TIMNEY trigger and mounted a SWFA SS 6x in Nightforce rings on it. It's a very handy little package. With the 9 " suppressor it will still only be 25" of barrel. The magpul stock is very stiff and comfortable, the bipod is cheap but seems serviceable. While not light it's not that heavy either and should do well out to 400 yards or so. A 16" 308 starts to lose steam much farther than that.

I'm hoping to get 165gr ballistic tip up to 2550-2600. It should be doable with CFE223 powder. A buddy of mine runs 168 Bergers at just under 2600fps out of an encore with a 15" pistol barrel with that powder. It should stay above 1800 Fps out past 400 yards so that would be the general limit.

Any of you guys hunt suppressed or run a shorty 308? Any opinions or suggestions on bullets or loads?

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[salmonchaser]

When I was on the job I had a suppressed MP-5; AR-15; and an old Remington 700 in .308. The technology was relatively old as I've been retired five years and those weapons had been hanging around the armory for a while.
My hunting experience with them is limited, the result of taking advantage of the long way home from training. A few coyotes, rock chucks, sage rates and jack rabbits.
I did enjoy shooting suppressed weapon systems, would be really interested in something more compact, make a big magnum sound like a 257 Roberts.


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[JD338]

Sweet looking rig.

JD338

 

[Woodycreek]

I went with the Rem 700 30-06 and 20" barrel. Pushes 200 ABs just over 2700 with RL-26. Should have both the new cans around January.

 

[Guy Miner]

Wow! 2700 fps with 200's? From a 20" .30-06? That's good, real good...

Guy

 

[Thebear_78]

That's pretty impressive! I'd be happy to get 2600+ with 165s. I can get 2750 in my 22" Kimber montana


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[Woodycreek]

Very happy with RL-26 and the 200 ABs out of two different 30-06s. Didn't work so well with the 180 ABs. Couldn't get enough powder in the case to do much better. Thinking about trying some 220 and 240 SMKs just to see what happens.

 

[Songdog]

I get 2750 out of the 208 Amax in my 17" suppressed .300 WSM Montana.

Short barrels plus suppressors lead to excellent accuracy...

 

[Thebear_78]

Looks good


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[Wincheringen]

I can't get more than 2500 FPS with 165 ABs in my 16" LaRue AR 10.

 

[Thebear_78]

Gas guns generally run a bit behind bolt guns due to the gas used to run the action. Even piston guns run slower on average. Both of my ar10s ran considerably slower than my single shot and bolt 308s.


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[1100 Remington Man]

I never seen the reason for a can. Why 99% of the time it's one and done and what I'm shooting at never hears it till its to late. I also don't want to carry the extra weight and I would change extra barrel length for velocity any day over a can.
But you do have a nice rifle and the world would be a boring place if we all liked the same thing.
Good Shooting

 

[Thebear_78]

A lot of people feel that way until they use a suppressor for the first time, then strangely a lot of those same people end up with a can a year or so later




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[Wyo7200]

Think I've posted this on here before, but for the sake of this thread and similarities between our setups-

I had the barrel chopped to 22". After it all came together, I am having hard time deciding what rifle to take for elk this year. This rig is heavy. Much heavier than I'd want if I had to hike up and down snowy mountains, let alone pack an elk out. The alternative is the mod 70 7mm rem Mag. It's got a new paint job.

I'm shooting 150 ballistic tips with w748 at 2700 fps I think. Loading conservatively.

 

[Thebear_78]

Visited my suppressor in NFA jail. Looks very nice on that stubby 308

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[Wyo7200]

Very nice indeed!

 

[truck driver]

Visited my suppressor in NFA jail. Looks very nice on that stubby 308

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NFA jail? what does this mean?

 

[Thebear_78]

It's sitting in a safe at my dealers until the tax stamp clears, 6+ months! I can go look at it, visit it but can't take it home until paperwork clears


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[truck driver]

Thanks for the clarification, I have a hard time with abbreviations. Can you get the rifle but let the can there or is it permanently attached to the barrel?

 

[Thebear_78]

It just screws on the end of the barrel, so I can still use the rifle until it's ready. I shot the shorty today with my 165 Partition load I use in my Kimber montana. Not too shabby, 5 shots in .78" at 100 yards, should work well on Alaskan game. Now just have to make it quieter!

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