Hunting Rifle Questions

[okie john]

First post.

I’m a long-time hunter, shooter, and reloader but my experience with suppressors is limited to a couple of mags in a suppressed Swedish K when I was in the Army. I want to build a bolt gun for hunting deer, elk, bear, and hogs.

Things that might make a difference:

• I walk all day while I hunt and most of my shots are offhand within 100 yards, but I occasionally find myself glassing a mountainside for shots that could go to about 400 yards. I tend to use lightweight fixed-power scopes but have a couple of light variables. I’d love to keep rifle weight under 9 pounds, and the closer to 8 pounds the better.

• I don’t own any gas guns, so rate of fire will be pretty slow.

• I have two possible hosts: a Winchester M-70 Classic in 30-06 and a Remington M-700 ADL in 308, both stainless with 24” barrels.

• I don’t see magnums in my future. If anything, I could see a 7-08, 6.5 Creedmoor, or 243.

• At least some of my hunting will be in California, so I may leave one of these rifles as is.

What’s the best route forward?

Do I have someone cut and thread one of these rifles? Who do you recommend?

Or do I buy something threaded from the factory? Right now I’m looking at
https://www.bergara.online/us/rifles/b14/ridge-rifle/
https://www.kimberamerica.com/montana
https://www.remington.com/rifles/bolt-a ... ded-barrel

What’s a good suppessor for these two cartridges? Initial research has led to https://www.gaprecision.net/jager-suppressor.html and https://hansohnbrothers.com/shop/energe ... ber/vox-s/

Should I go with direct-mount or a muzzle device?

What am I overlooking?

Thanks,


Okie John

[johndoe3]

It looks like others haven't answered your questions, so I'll offer a few opinions.

1. A good .30 caliber silencer will work very well on all the hunting calibers you mentioned(30.06, 308, 7-08, 6.5 Creedmoor, and .243)--1 silencer for many rifles.

2. The threshold for sound safety is below 140 db, and the unsuppressed sound of all those rifles you mentioned is 168-172db depending somewhat on barrel length. This fact influences the silencer selection if you want good sound suppression. Meanwhile, the Jager model silencer is a "shorty" which is meant to take the edge off the rifle report, but being a shorty only has 23-25 db suppression. That means your result with the Jager would be in 145-148db range, which is not below the 140 db safe sound area. There are many good full length suppressors that will give you much better sound suppression down in the 132-136 db area. ...and, there are a number of those made with titanium which are light in weight too. The downside is that a good titanium lightweight .30 caliber suppressor is more costly (buy once cry once).

3. For example, a top tier .30 caliber suppressor that is lightweight titanium and one of the very best is the Thunderbeast Ultra 9. Third party testing against many other suppressors shows 135.4 db on 30.06 and .308; and it only weighs 13.7 oz., MSRP is $1145 for direct thread.
https://thunderbeastarms.com/products/ultra-9

Thunderbeast also makes the Ultra 7, which is 2 inches shorter. In testing on 30.06 and .308 it resulted in 140.1 db and it only weighs 11.7 oz. MSRP $1045 for direct thread. They also make a "shorty" Ultra 5, which gives results like the Jager.

The Banish 30 (formerly Varminter 30) is titanium like the Thunderbeast, but is a few hundred dollars less expensive than the Thunderbeast. In third party testing, the Banish 30 resulted in 135.2 db for 30.06/.308, and it only weighs 13 oz, MSRP is $979. The Banish 30 is interesting because you can run it in the 9 inch length, or run it in the shorter 7" configuration which weighs 9 oz. Direct thread only.
https://www.silencercentral.com/products/banish-30/

If you want an excellent performing suppressor but that is not titanium (and therefore heavier), there is the Yankee Hill Resonator 2 (no direct thread model, only with brakes or flash hiders). It is a tubeless suppressor to reduce weight, 19 oz with brake or flash hider. Third party testing resulted in 135.0 db for 30.06/.308. MSRP $630 but you would have to buy additional brakes or flash hiders for each rifle.
https://yhm.net/yhm-resonator-r2.html

https://www.silencershop.com/silencers/ ... rifle.html

Note: you might get any of the above much cheaper than MSRP by buying through silencershop.com or one of their many associated dealers.

2nd Note: There are many other excellent .30 caliber suppressors out there than I've mentioned.

4. Direct thread or mount on brake/flash hider: your choice, I have both and both methods work great. In your situation (hunting rifles) I might go with direct thread.

5. Threading your barrels: There are many posts on this website covering that topic.