Short Range Suppressed Rifle for Deer Woods

[Linkovich]

I had my 6.5CM Tikka chopped and threaded to run suppressed and absolutely love(d) it. Only problem is my kids wanted to start shooting a little more so I ended up chopping a factory stock down to 11 3/4" LOP and adding a Sg6 muzzle break for recoil. That stuff along with some hand loads, it has now become their rifle.

I'm actually on the hunt for another short 6.5 for myself now, I've looked at Christensen, Kimber, etc but keep coming back to just getting another tikka and doing the same thing with it.

I had mine cut 18" of exposed barrel from the receiver, so I think technically the barrel is 19.5" ish OAL? I did 1/2"x28 on the threading and just ran my SiCo omega as a direct thread. Factory 147gr ELD-X where chronoing around 2550 from that set up. I haven't a chance to mess with any full power hand loads for it yet, just some reduced loads for the kids. Gun shoots well under MOA with every ammo I've run through it. Took several whitetail with and it was absolute pleasure to shoot.

This is it, as it sits now compared to my 270 Super Lite. I’m trying to find a pic of in the full size stock with the can but can’t seem to find one right now. Anyway, you get the idea...I highly recommend chopping the tikka!

 

[Sled]

Linkovich, your tikka in youth mode is very similar to a kimber. Shoulder it before you buy it. Mine is cut to 17 and feels like a suppressed toy. My tikka is cut to 20" and balances quite well with the suppressor.

 

[rootacres]

Have you looked at the Ruger scout rifles? Maybe chamber it in 308? If you're going to run it suppressed you can push some big, heavy 30 cal bullets. I needed a rifle for basically the same application as you but was handcuffed by the Zone 3 hunting restrictions in MI so I got the scout rifle chambered in 450 bushmaster. Its a lightweight package, threaded. You could run a scout scope or red dot even. I didn't put a high end scope on mine, thinking about throwing my eotech on it.

 

[Go West Old Man]

Couple years ago I bought a fairly inexpensive (private sale, $400ish) Ruger Predator in .308 as an impromptu test rifle & “try it before jumping in neck deep & big bucks” for using my Sandman. 18” barrel. Set it up with a Nikon Monarch scope on the included rail from Ruger. Plug & play simple.

Turned out that it was a lot of fun to shoot and crazy quiet ear safe when suppressed. Actually not bad for a plastic stock & accuracy was good. Cool little rifle. It’s the setup in my avatar. For southeastern states average yardage deer hunting like you suggest, it would’ve been just fine. Somebody offered me what I paid for it so I sold it, but all along it was intended as a test to let me see how liked a 308 suppressed before committing to a nicer, more expensive, & probably semi custom rifle which I am searching for now.

 

[Shraggs]

Non conventional thought...

350 legend, stock ruger ranch rifle already threaded under 6.7 lbs in 18.5” barrel.

This new cartridge is designed for Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois where only straight wall rifle cartridges are allowed. It is more capable at the ranges noted. Very low recoil too.

 

[Kimber7man]

Non conventional thought...

350 legend, stock ruger ranch rifle already threaded under 6.7 lbs in 18.5” barrel.

This new cartridge is designed for Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois where only straight wall rifle cartridges are allowed. It is more capable at the ranges noted. Very low recoil too.

Indiana allows standard bottleneck cartridges from 243 to 308 caliber on private land.

 

[Desk Jockey]

A buddy put his 30 cal can on a marlin 30-30 dark. It looks like some steam punk assault rifle and makes me want to buy one. Heavy. Slightly impractical. Obsolete design. Terrible ballistic coefficient. Pure badass.

 

[Sled]

Indiana allows standard bottleneck cartridges from 243 to 308 caliber on private land.

Ok, now I'm confused. Why are eastern/mid west states limiting cartridges?

 

[wildwilderness]

Ok, now I'm confused. Why are eastern/mid west states limiting cartridges?

Probably a couple reason- more than anything is population density and safety concerns. coupled with flat land bullets travel far. Eastern states also tend to have people living throughout with mostly private land. No wide open spaces

Some states used not not even allow rifles, muzzy/shotgun/archery only. I lived in a county that required any discharge of a firearm (shotgun or muzzy) for deer hunting, to be only from an elevated stand.

straight walled cartridges tend to have limited range so some states have expanded the legal cartridges allowed. Thus the 350 legend was created to fill a niche

 

[Sled]

Probably a couple reason- more than anything is population density and safety concerns. coupled with flat land bullets travel far. Eastern states also tend to have people living throughout with mostly private land. No wide open spaces

Some states used not not even allow rifles, muzzy/shotgun/archery only. I lived in a county that required any discharge of a firearm (shotgun or muzzy) for deer hunting, to be only from an elevated stand.

straight walled cartridges tend to have limited range so some states have expanded the legal cartridges allowed. Thus the 350 legend was created to fill a niche

That makes sense. I was thinking to limit shot distance but forgot about all the people stacked on top of each other. It's been almost 20 years since I've been in white tail country.

 

[Gorp2007]

That makes sense. I was thinking to limit shot distance but forgot about all the people stacked on top of each other. It's been almost 20 years since I've been in white tail country.

Most of those states used to be shotgun only. They didn’t want to go straight to 300 Win Mag, so they introduced the straight wall limitation as an interim step to show that the dangers to the general population are greatly exaggerated. A few of those steps have taken the next step and are now phasing in bottlenecked cartridges.

 

[Sundodger]

Anyone using an over barrel suppressor? They of course don't suppress quite as well, but only adding 4-6in seems worth it for hunting in dense woods where length is a pain.

I hunt Rosie elk in the coastal rainforest where a 100 yard shot is an almost unfathomable distance. Been thinking about building a rifle with a 14-16" barrel with a 4" over barrel suppressor so I have a 18-20" total barrel length including suppressor.

 

[Sled]

Anyone using an over barrel suppressor? They of course don't suppress quite as well, but only adding 4-6in seems worth it for hunting in dense woods where length is a pain.

I hunt Rosie elk in the coastal rainforest where a 100 yard shot is an almost unfathomable distance. Been thinking about building a rifle with a 14-16" barrel with a 4" over barrel suppressor so I have a 18-20" total barrel length including suppressor.

Are you going to pin the suppressor adaptor or go for a double stamp?

 

[Sundodger]

Are you going to pin the suppressor adaptor or go for a double stamp?

If I ever build this gun I think I would prefer the double stamp.

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

I’m about to start working on something similar. Weatherby Vanguard in 6.5 CM chopped to 16.5” with a Dead Air Sandman-S (or Nomad Ti when I buy one), and a Leupold 1-4x scope.

Have some Hornady Interlock 160 gr RN bullets I need to work up a load with. From what I’ve seen, they thump large hogs very well.

 

[wind gypsy]

I often fantasize about building a shorty 6br for eastern whitetails and shooting 95 TMKs. Would be handy and pleasant to shoot, would probably stack bullets into the same hole, and 95 TMKs would be plenty bad medicine for whitetails.

Just hard to spend the money when there are enough “overkill” rifles already in the safe. Tempted to go the cheap route and put a 6br barrel on the encore muzzleloader frame but I’ve heard that encores can be finicky and there is zero reason to go 6br and deal with finicky.

 

[204guy]

I often fantasize about building a shorty 6br for eastern whitetails and shooting 95 TMKs. Would be handy and pleasant to shoot, would probably stack bullets into the same hole, and 95 TMKs would be plenty bad medicine for whitetails.

Just hard to spend the money when there are enough “overkill” rifles already in the safe. Tempted to go the cheap route and put a 6br barrel on the encore muzzleloader frame but I’ve heard that encores can be finicky and there is zero reason to go 6br and deal with finicky.

I figured you'd have a 16-20" hunting weight, suppressed 223. If not you really need one. 77tmks for killing and then whatever < 10 cent bullet for Form's practical rifle shooting drill.

 

[wind gypsy]

I figured you'd have a 16-20" hunting weight, suppressed 223. If not you really need one. 77tmks for killing and then whatever < 10 cent bullet for Form's practical rifle shooting drill.

Too many wants, not enough time and $. Don't own a bolt 223 but been tempted on a 223 CTR since they introduced em, just sucks they seem to have short throats.

I have a heavy barreled 20" paper/steel shooting upper that has been getting fed 77 TMKs since they introduced them but it's a hog. Also have a 14.5" 7 twist upper that is about to get a TBAC adapter flash hider tacked on and would probably do well for whitetails but that's still not the same as a bolt rifle..

 

[Phil j]

I often fantasize about building a shorty 6br for eastern whitetails and shooting 95 TMKs. Would be handy and pleasant to shoot, would probably stack bullets into the same hole, and 95 TMKs would be plenty bad medicine for whitetails.

Just hard to spend the money when there are enough “overkill” rifles already in the safe. Tempted to go the cheap route and put a 6br barrel on the encore muzzleloader frame but I’ve heard that encores can be finicky and there is zero reason to go 6br and deal with finicky.

I have a 6br encore pistol and it is a blast very accurate and mild.

 

[Lawnboi]

Iv got a 5” can in jail for my 223. Plan is to chop the tikka to 18 or 20” and continue to shoot deer with 77 tmk.