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

Casscade said:

Or sure about the feel like an idiot part but for me it depends. I seldom run one as a permanent attachment, I may have one on me or in a pack but none are dedicated to a specific rifle, other than maybe an sbr for inside work.

I'm also not giving up performance for a can, to me the idiot part comes in when running a 300 prc in a 18/20 inch bbl, or a 6.5 prc/rpm in a 16/18 inch. So I'm giving up a few hundred fps yet I'm still packing a 26 inch overall length with a shorty can, let alone a 9inch or so that actually really works well, by that standard my gun isn't handy whatsoever, so I choose performance and use a can as an add on generally.

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In my case I have a 600 yard requirement, I have nowhere I hunt that I can shoot farther than that. An 18" 6.5 PRC shooting the 143gr ELD-X at 2,800 fps gives me roughly 2000 fps at 600 yards which meets my needs. End result is a rifle that's still shorter than the 24" rifles I used to carry, doesn't reduce my effectiveness at all and I don't have to worry about my hearing.

If I truly need to shoot farther then I'll bring out my 26" .300 Win Mag shooting the 225gr ELD-M.

southpa said:

Well guns are loud...so there is that.


A "quiet day at the range" is quite possibly the most rediculous codification of absurd measures that's been said on this forum...

There's always golf....

I'm glad some love supressors...I'm also glad others don't. That's the beauty of America. We can all choose what we prefer.

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Except it isn't absurd at all, last year we sighted in our rifles for hunting season shooting a number of 18" to 20" rifles in 6.5 PRC, 30-06, 300 Win Mag, 7 PRC and didn't need hearing protection for them since our suppressors reduce the sound more than muffs or ear plugs alone.

Anytime any of us would pull out an unsuppressed rifle we would joke that they were disturbing the peace.

I get that guns are loud, my ears remind me all the time, but nobody likes the muzzle blast, recoil or concussion that comes along with a gunshot, we just put up with it because we enjoy shooting. However unlike our parents and grandparents we now have much more accessible options for suppressors to help save our hearing and I choose to take advantage of it.

Not to mention I suck at golf, much better at offshore fishing but I'm pretty sure the turbo whine coming from 3,100 hp of diesel engines will kill my hearing quicker than the gunfire if I'm not careful.

Rifleman97 said:

If you still need hearing protection what's the point? Spend $600-1200 on threading and a suppressor, have to deal with registration and paperwork, and you still have to put in hearing protection to not damage your ears. You can claim all you want that one shot with no ear protection won't damage your ears, the data says differently. Just because you don't notice the damage doesn't mean it's not there, and part of my living is made with how good my ears are. So I'm not going to shoot suppressed with no ear pro.

The generally agreed upon minimum volume for instantaneous hearing damage is around 130db, with some experts saying less noticeable but still permanent damage is as low as 120db.

The data I could find online showed that suppressed rifles average 120-140db, so even at the quietest suppressed supersonic guns can risk instant damage to your ears, and louder ones like magnums (what I shoot almost exclusively) with minimal suppressors (like the ones for hunting) can be as loud as 140db, well above the instantaneous damage threshold.

So if I have to put in earplugs to avoid damage anyways, why carry around the extra weight and length, or shorten barrel and give up velocity, when I still have to put in hearing protection, and deal with all the registration crap?

I don't use subsonic, which seem to be actually quiet enough to not need hearing protection, so that use case is its own niche I don't have an opinion on.

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Based on the data most hearing protection is only good for 20 to 30 decibels which is taking your gunshot from 160 db down to 130db at most. Not only that but even if your hearing protection perfectly sealed your ears the bones in your face can only dampen the sound wave by around 40 db. That means someone shooting a braked magnum with the best hearing protection in the world is still seeing 130+ db.

On the flip side for someone concerned about their hearing running hearing protection and a suppressor is giving you the full 60+ db reduction. To your ears dry firing your gun (116db) in the house would do more hearing damage than shooting (100 db).

I my self do not see any reason for a silencer there to much paperwork for the thing
I run all my rifle 3,000 fps the bullet all ready hit the Deer Elk Pron Horn that I was
shooting at should be on the ground I'm sure it didn't here the bang

CMP70306 said:

Except it isn't absurd at all, last year we sighted in our rifles for hunting season shooting a number of 18" to 20" rifles in 6.5 PRC, 30-06, 300 Win Mag, 7 PRC and didn't need hearing protection for them since our suppressors reduce the sound more than muffs or ear plugs alone.

Anytime any of us would pull out an unsuppressed rifle we would joke that they were disturbing the peace.

I get that guns are loud, my ears remind me all the time, but nobody likes the muzzle blast, recoil or concussion that comes along with a gunshot, we just put up with it because we enjoy shooting. However unlike our parents and grandparents we now have much more accessible options for suppressors to help save our hearing and I choose to take advantage of it.

Not to mention I suck at golf, much better at offshore fishing but I'm pretty sure the turbo whine coming from 3,100 hp of diesel engines will kill my hearing quicker than the gunfire if I'm not careful.

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Huge correction...YOU don't like muzzle blast and loud guns and think they are a joke. It is a non factor for others. That in itself is simply not a debate. There's no need to punch at clouds to try and force it upon others.

The advantages of both have been beaten to death. Some choose performance and to put money towards things that actually add to performance rather than detract from it. I have been testing my hearing yearly my entire adult life with baselines and I use ear pro religiously.

The whole idea that ear pro doesn't protect my hearing and that I should go out and spend thousands of dollars on supressors to protect mine and your hearing is hogwash. Mine, along with many others has not declined from shooting braked magnums with ear pro. My supressors only hurt my wallet and my rifles performance to make it feasible to use without being overly long.

Ear pro has been readily available to use for decades BEFORE you went down the supressor route. Its always been your choice to use it or not.

There are ways to be courteous and thoughtful when others are around. But to go into a public place to engage in a knowingly LOUD activity and assume that the PUBLIC should conform to your personal beliefs of supressor use is most definitely absurd in its own right. We arent out here shooting guns to make you mad we are doing what we PREFER. Caution waters wet....

Supressor away but the rest of the world should not be held to your own personal standards. Unless of course you own the mountain and the range and then you can impose whatever you want I guess.

No for me at the range and definitely NO for me hunting on the mountain. Really no other way to put it. Sorry but not sorry if you think that's a joke

The best part about hunting with out a suppressor is that after a while you don't have to listen to folks tell you that you should use one. Or maybe hear folks? Even with hearing protection a day at the range is more pleasant when the people around you are shooting suppressed. One shot while hunting still can damage your hearing. The sad part is the damage is not repairable. Hearing aids help but there are some frequencies I will never regain.

snox801 said:

Yep should be mandatory. As long as we are telling people they need to keep cars and motorcycles quite why not rifles. Shouldn't have to but should be encouraged not made so hard to do.

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Should? Keep the government out. Allow folks who want one buy one. Let us who tried one and gave it away shoot bare or with a brake.

Sealesniper said:

Many moons ago I said I did not have a desire for a suppressor. Well I have some now, and wow, I do not want to hunt or shoot now WITHOUT one.

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ditto

pavementends said:

The best part about hunting with out a suppressor is that after a while you don't have to listen to folks tell you that you should use one. Or maybe hear folks? Even with hearing protection a day at the range is more pleasant when the people around you are shooting suppressed. One shot while hunting still can damage your hearing. The sad part is the damage is not repairable. Hearing aids help but there are some frequencies I will never regain.

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I had no idea when I was young how much I was damaging my ears. I know I'm not deaf because I hear a constant ringing.

I just about won't shoot anything without a suppressor nowadays, except for my Annie target rifle with 26" heavy barrel and subsonic 22. Hunted many years without cans, then bow hunted for many years with longbow...on the ground. Silent, and close. After that, using a subsonic 300 BO with can, or my 308 subsonic with can is almost like cheating.

MOA or bust said:

I felt exactly the same as you….until about 2020 or so when I started losing my hearing. Then I chose a little extra weight and length vs. giving up shooting/hunting/reloading.

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I hear you (pun intended). I spent fourteen years working around very LOUD machinery, inside and outside hyperbaric chambers, etc. I had my hearing checked about 4 years ago and it's still great at almost 74. My wife on the other hand, has lost a good chunk of her hearing.

I'm not opposed to suppressors at all. I just don't have any personal desire for one. I have to admit that I am baffled by the entrenched position of those who insist I should have one. To me, it's like the 9mm vs .45 ACP debate. Use whatever works best for you, but don't insist that I have to have one.

What....

Once I got a suppressor I never built or bought a gun that was not threaded. I also started trading velocity in terms of barrel length for a more compact suppressed rifle because the complaints about a 24/26" barrel with a 7 inch suppressor are real. That is no fun to carry through the woods. But I pretty much will only shoot suppressed now, I love them.

I don't hear very well, years of shooting shotguns and going to concerts when I was young are part of it. I had a major loss when a reactor at work blew up about 10' from me, the loss wasn't from the boom so much as the concussion. Believe it or not it reflected off a wall and actually moved me closer to the reactor. One second, I was on the second rung of an 8' step ladder reaching for a valve. The next I'm standing 6' from the ladder and piping is falling all around me.

I have several pairs earmuffs laying around in my shop and plenty of ear plugs. Be aware that not all earmuffs are rated for the same level of protection.

I think hearing loss is probably mostly due to genetics my wifes family all are hard of hearing and I doubt the whole bunch of them have shot 100 rounds all combined in their lifetimes nor have they worked in hugely noisy environments. I have worked hanging iron and running heavy equipment all my life but rairly without hearing protection and like my father and grandfather my hearing is getting worse. I never target shoot without hearing protection and if varmit shooting would use protection. Some people have spoken to the use of suppressors for young people or wives who may be interested in shooting but don't like the muzzle blast and I think that would be a very good use for a suppressor but for a couple of shots a year on big game I don't think loosing performance by cutting off the barrel and having a big thing on the end of it is worth the noise reduction

Wish I would've invested in suppressors 25 years ago. Could have bought 10-11 of them for what it cost for these hearing aids. I wore hearing protection every time I ran power equipment, shooting sessions and even mowing. It's the hunting that blasted out my left ear. Right ear damage was from the ex wife high pitch yelling!.