Lightest barrel for use with suppressor

grouse

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2010
Messages
7,229
Location
Great State of Michigan
Building a lightweight rifle and wonder how light i can go and still safely hang a suppressor off the end? Id like to go with a #3 at 26" long but not sure it wont flex with the suppressor. thoughts?
 
Last edited:
You want as light as possible with 26 inches and hanging a suppressor off of it... Sounds like a carbon wrapped barrel to me.
 
I'm curious about this as well. I'm waiting on my TBAC Ultra 7. Planning on running it on my Kimber Mountain Ascent 280 AI.
 
I've pretty much switched to Proof Research barrels on my hunting rifles for this very reason. Had a 300 RUM with a 25" #4 contour fluted barrel, and that was just too thin and long to carry with a suppressor on it. I did carry the suppressor in my pack and it shot great, but with a 4 MOA POI shift.

Also had a 6.5-284 with a #3 barrel at 25" and had the same experience with that one. About a 4.5 MOA shift on that one. And again, just too long to carry around.
 
So the suppressor caused the shift or the weight of the suppressor pulling on the barrel?
The weight of the suppressor flexing the barrel causes the shift from what I've seen. In my experience (5 suppressors on about 20 different rifles) as long as it's a good quality suppressor, and the barrel is threaded correctly you should not get much left/right POI (I've seen no more than 1/2 MOA on any of my rifles), but you will get a lower POI based on the flex of the barrel. On a short/fat barrel I've seen as little as 1/2 moa shift downward. On the long thin barrels as much as 4-5 MOA. This is mostly with a Thunderbeast Ultra 9 and Ultra 7, so these are among the lightest weight suppressors out there. I would expect significantly more POI shift with heavier suppressors, but I haven't personally tried anything other than the Thunderbeasts.
 
another consideration you wont be able to appreciate till you do it is how well you can stay in the scope while breaking your shot. The gun is gonna recoil quite a bit different and may make it difficult to call your shots. A pretty extreme example is one rig I own has a 30" Remington heavy varmint contour with a ultra 338...pretty extreme but you get the picture. I'd consider shorter bbl or a carbon
 
Two examples. Have a Hart #2 cut at 18". With the UL7 it is 24" and balances fantastic. Pretty much same with the Rem standard sporter 30-06 cut at 18".
 
I guess I'm more worried about the weight rather than muzzle diameter. 30 cal

Like said above, you need to make sure that the end diameter of the barrel is larger enough for the silencer.
An example is Thunderbeast. They have specs that say the minimum diameter for a given thread for your CB or direct thread can. It's not just being able to thread it, it needs something to butt up against. There are some smiths out there that will make a sleeve of some sort that will increase the diameter of the barrel at the end.

An example of what I have just done is similar to what you are thinking.
I have a 25" #3 barrel on my 6.5-06. The diameter was too small for a 5/8-24 CB brake according to Thunderbeast, so I had to purchase a 9/16-24 CB.
As far as POI shift or other issues, I dont know yet. I just got it back from the gunsmith and haven't shot it.
Go to the Tikka forums if you want more research on it. Those guys are using cans on their T3's but are cutting them back.
Also as stated before, a carbon barrel may be the better choice. That is what I am planning on y next build for my can. Just haven't decided on what cal yet.
If you are worried about the weight of the barrel, then you really need to look at the weight of the can. There is a big weight different between them.
Hope this helps
 
For strength and weight you should look at titanium.
I guess I sold on TBAC. Quality, and costumer service are the best in the business.
Once you start hunting with one, you'll love it.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 6 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Recent Posts

Top