So I just finished up my light .338 NM build, came in perfect just at or under 9 lbs as I planned. Only issue is....my wife wants to take it now ha ha. She loves the way the EH-1 handles, she likes the weight, and she likes the overall feel, just doesn't like the arctic camo pattern and wants a more standard camo. No problem, that can be done. But now the issue is building everything else for her, so she can have the perfect rifle.
But here is the hard part. She is pretty new to shooting, but she is good at it, we just haven't had much time due to nursing school to practice. But if I dope the rifle properly, she makes the hit. She isn't very fond of the muzzle blast from my brake though. The solution of course is to get a supressor, but here is the other side of that. We shoot a lot of elk, and most of our elk are shot at long ranges. 703, 710, 713, 810, 840, 865, and 910 just in the last 3 years for our elk.....so I would really prefer to build her something around a 30 cal 215 Berger around 2950+, but that introduces significant recoil for a relatively new shooter that I don't want developing bad habits, and while a supressor reduces recoil, I am doubtful if it would make it "new shooter" friendly in a 8-9 lb rifle, so a rifle like this would need an efficient brake.
The other option is go with a supressor, but limit it at a 6.5 using the 156 around 3000 fps or so. Which I am confident this kills elk, I used a 156 at 2940 to take two elk this year, one at 840 and another at 865. I would just feel better with something a little bigger for her, especially since we hunt in grizzly near country at times too.
So a question I have, the supressors that mount onto qd brakes, does the brake help reduce recoil at all or since it is contained and can't vent the gasses, does it not really make a difference from a direct thread? Direct thread is the only supressors I have toyed with, that and one that mounted onto a flash hider. Is there any way to supress a 8.5-9 lb rifle sending a 215 bullet around 3000 and have recoil be light, as in about like a .243 or 7mm-08? Or is it gonna have some recoil?