338 Win Mag - How short of a barrel? Suppressed or unsuppressed?

[Kal-Elk]

Looking for experiences of guys who've gone 20" or 18" (or if you gone even further) on a 338 win mag, suppressed or unsuppressed.

Found a good deal on a takeoff 338 barrel for my rifle. Currently the barrel is 24". Throw on a can and it could easily go over 30". I don't imagine that energy will be a concern under 300 yards, so I'm ready to start chopping. I understand other calibers like 338-06 or 35 whelan might be more appropriate for this application, but I like having factory ammo as readily available option.

Additionally, a lot of cans I see rated for 338 win mag are pretty substantial. I wanted to see if anyone could give their personal experiences with 338 cans in the sub 8" length range.

Appreciate it.

 

[z987k]

A 338wm will be faster than a 338-06 out of every barrel length.

The only limit is what your suppressor is rated for. I was limited to 20" on my 338 for that reason with my griffin bushwacker.

I no longer have that rifle as I found 338wm to be wild overkill on everything and you need them to be rather heavy for recoil purposes.

 

[Packmansion]

This is the big challenge with a supressor. I have no issue using my supressor on my coyote gun in the plains. It's awesome. Anyone who hunts predators it's an obvious yes. I am slowly working up a custom rifle with a shorter barrel for this purpose. I believe the omega 36m in the short configuration might be up there but not sure how good it is for sound and it's a pricey one. There are some good websites that rate supressor decibel ratings. What are you hunting with a 338 WM?https://pewscience.com/rankings

 

[Kal-Elk]

Browns/Grizzlies. Also as a baitstand gun.

The Omega has crossed by radar, that and the Rugged Alaskan 360 have been the two I've been considering the most. Just not all that much real-life experience I see posted around with bigger bore suppressors.

 

[Luke S]

I don't use a .338 but a relative of mine does and they have struggled to get factory ammo for their .338 Winchester. Just something to think about before you go too far with this project. I might consider a 300 Win Mag or something similar.

 

[Kal-Elk]

I've kept my eye out for 338 whenever I go to the stores around Anchorage and have noticed the same. Seems ammo for anything larger than 300 win mag is gonna be hit or miss. I've just started reloading to hopefully have more options.

TBF, I actually am quite happy shooting my 30 cals and smaller, this would just be tool for a specific duty.

 

[Packmansion]

Browns/Grizzlies. Also as a baitstand gun.

The Omega has crossed by radar, that and the Rugged Alaskan 360 have been the two I've been considering the most. Just not all that much real-life experience I see posted around with bigger bore suppressors.

Do you dislike earpro? I'm thinking in a bait stand you could use the earpro with microphones. Those headphones are cheaper and lighter. After buying and using a supressor I was kind of disappointed. I had much higher hopes. Love it for my predator gun but not so much my 300 win. I'm considering building a 20" 300wsm to run suppressed but the weight and balance are a huge second guess for me. I'm just spit balling.

 

[Kal-Elk]

I always use earpro. Just one time hunting muleys, quick shot opportunity popped up, couldn't find my plugs, decided to pull the trigger anyways, spent the next two days swearing I would never do that again when the ringing in my ears would let me think.

I'm also not gonna make a fuss about tracking a muley with plugs in, but I'd like to have true hearing if possible while tracking a bear.

Which suppressor do you have experience with on 300wm?

 

[Packmansion]

I have a banish 30 and a hybrid 46m. I have used my banish 30 on a 308, 223, and 6.5 creedmore. I've used the 46m on 9mm and 450 bushmaster. They work well but I still wear earpro. I tried the 450 bushmaster without earpro and it definitely hurt my ears bad. It was still very very loud. I hear and see plenty of people swearing they will kill their grandmothers before they ever hunt unsuppressed ever again. I recommend supressors for 9mm, 45 acp etc. and 223, 300 blk etc. 308 in my book is max caliber mainly due to diminishing returns. I am considering doing a 20" 300wsm but im hesitant because I think it might be an expensive failure well see if I do it. My 9mm suppressed is great for home defense. I could defend myself without deafening and blinding myself very huge improvement and it's an SBR and 9mm is meant for short barrels so I'm for the most part sacrificing nothing. The 223 is great and already has very little recoil the supressor just takes it down enough but breaks are 2-3 times more effective and weigh much less.

 

[Andouille]

I'm considering building a 20" 300wsm to run suppressed but the weight and balance are a huge second guess for me.

Here's my 20" WSM Tikka with Banish Backcountry that I just assembled. The portability is awesome and the weight is reasonable at 8.75 lbs (minus sling and bullets). It's a little barrel-heavy with the can, but it's not overwhelming, and not noticeable when shooting off sandbags. I've only shot 1 round suppressed (5 mores with brake) and the recoil and sound reduction was impressive with the can, but I did have double ear protection in (as I do when at the range). The recoil with brake is less than the 21.5" braked winmag barrel I had on previously. More testing to come.

 

[HandgunHTR]

I am not shooting a .338 WM, but I have a .338 Sherman Mega on a 21.5" barrel. I use a Rugged Alaskan on it. It is definitely louder than using my Nomad 30 on my 21" 300 WM, but out in the field, the noise isn't that bad at all.
Just got back from South TX where I was Nilgai hunting with it. I have Axil electronic plugs which I was wearing when I shot my bull because one of the guys in my group was shooting unsuppressed. I also shot a cow, 3 pigs and a coyote on the trip. All of those times, the entire group I was with was suppressed, so none of us had ear pro in. Not a problem at all for anyone when I touched off a shot.
The Alaskan is small, and in the suppressor game, volume is king. I am probably going to get an Omega 36 to use with this gun and then relegate the Alaskan to my 35 Rem lever gun and my 9mm AR. I may end up with the Raptor 10 instead though, if I can find one in stock.

 

[Kal-Elk]

Thanks for the real life experiences. I'm not adverse to weight (in fact it probably is better on a 338), but length and volume are most important to me.

The AB Raptor 10 appeared on my radar as well, however, when I saw it had a 24" minimum barrel length restriction for magnum calibers, it promptly fell off my list.

 

[Rjk300]

You could look at the Banish 46. It can be run in 2 configurations one around 10” the other around 8”. I’m not sure how short the barrel recommendation is but shot the 338 Terminator with it a few times. SC did say i could run it on the rifle.


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[Packmansion]

Here's my 20" WSM Tikka with Banish Backcountry that I just assembled. The portability is awesome and the weight is reasonable at 8.75 lbs (minus sling and bullets). It's a little barrel-heavy with the can, but it's not overwhelming, and not noticeable when shooting off sandbags. I've only shot 1 round suppressed (5 mores with brake) and the recoil and sound reduction was impressive with the can, but I did have double ear protection in (as I do when at the range). The recoil with brake is less than the 21.5" braked winmag barrel I had on previously. More testing to come.

I was thinking of getting a mcgowen or a .750 tapper less from pbb with a 1:9. Worst case I've got a super handy magnum for thick timber.

 

[z987k]

Thanks for the real life experiences. I'm not adverse to weight (in fact it probably is better on a 338), but length and volume are most important to me.

The AB Raptor 10 appeared on my radar as well, however, when I saw it had a 24" minimum barrel length restriction for magnum calibers, it promptly fell off my list.

I have a Griffen Bushwacker 46 for my anything over 30 cal can. I mostly use it on my lever 44mag, but I previously used it on my 338 Sherman Max before I sold that gun. Works fine. Heavier than all my other cans, but I don't think any of the universals are meant to be all that light.

I have another 338 build I'm waiting on the barrel for and I'll use it as the can even though it's a lighter build.

As far as the raptor and magnums, you might want to call an ask them. I run a raptor 6 in 30 cal on my ultralight 18" 270wsm and when I talked to them about that build before I bought the can, they had no issue with it.
I was actually really really close to pulling the trigger on another raptor in 338 when they were running the bogo deal before christmas because I like the raptor 6 so much.

 

[Red Letters]

Southern precision rifles claims to have cut a bunch real short …16 I think is what they said

 

[AkMtnRunner]

I use a 10 stack AB raptor suppressor on a 20” 338 wm. I like it. It cut recoil down a ton.

 

[Kal-Elk]

As far as the raptor and magnums, you might want to call an ask them. I run a raptor 6 in 30 cal on my ultralight 18" 270wsm and when I talked to them about that build before I bought the can, they had no issue with it.
I was actually really really close to pulling the trigger on another raptor in 338 when they were running the bogo deal before christmas because I like the raptor 6 so much.

I use a 10 stack AB raptor suppressor on a 20” 338 wm. I like it. It cut recoil down a ton.

Interesting. I had dismissed it out of hand because the info I saw on their website.

 

[z987k]

Interesting. I had dismissed it out of hand because the info I saw on their website.
View attachment 679662

That's... interesting. The problem with terms like that is a magnum cartridge doesn't actually have a definition. And just because something has magnum in it's name or not doesn't mean a lot either.

They want a 16" barrel for 30 cal but 24 for 338. Well a 24wssm is a "magnum" right? But it only has slightly more case capacity than a 243win. 300wm and 338wm are also almost identical in case capacity, since they're based on the same case.

Again, I'd call or e-mail to clarify what they actually mean.

 

[Kal-Elk]

I interpreted the

7.62 | 16" / 22" for Magnum Catridges​

as

7.62 | 16" (for 308, 30-'06, and sub-calibers) / 22" for (7mm Rem Mag, 300wm, etc.) Magnum Catridges​