Suppressed vs Non-Suppressed Hunting

[Robobiss]

I never bought into the hunting suppressor marketing. I've shot a couple and felt like it was 75% gimmick, except on a 22, thats fun.

Here's what i do. I wear those ear pro on my neck with the hard plastic connecting them. Then I'm never without ear pro.

Plusses: weight, barrel length, still better sound protection than just with just a can.

Negatives: Dont get to take pictures that make me look Instagram cool. Am I missing something else?

You’re missing the aspect of recoil mitigation and the obvious increase in shootability of just about any rifle you spin them on the end of. That goes a long ways. I am very noticeably more comfortable shooting all of my centerfire rifles suppressed vs bare muzzle, no comparison.

As good as a brake? Definitely not, but brakes (poverty cannons, lol) have their own set of drawbacks as well, most importantly going half deaf if you get excited and touch off your rifle without ear pro. As well as your shooting buddies hating you.

With the can you get recoil mitigation, hearing protection (mine *allegedly* gets 308 down below 140db which is “hearing safe”), and the benefit of the better reaction of game when you shoot at them where in some cases they even run towards you. All at the expense of 6-8” on the end of your rifle and maybe 10oz more weight.

I’ve lugged a heavy old wood stocked 12 gauge with a barrel 50 miles long through enough of the thick stuff chasing after a rabbit dog or trying to shoot partridge to be unbothered with my rifle that now has a ~26” or so barrel with the can on the end of it.

Food for thought and speaking very generally here, if the terrain and foliage are thick enough to make the extra barrel length a PITA, do you need the extra velocity from all of that extra barrel? Or would you be better served with something chopped to 16”, 18”, or 20”, anyways?

 

[jreyna]

You’re missing the aspect of recoil mitigation and the obvious increase in shootability of just about any rifle you spin them on the end of. That goes a long ways. I am very noticeably more comfortable shooting all of my centerfire rifles suppressed vs bare muzzle, no comparison.

As good as a brake? Definitely not, but brakes (poverty cannons, lol) have their own set of drawbacks as well, most importantly going half deaf if you get excited and touch off your rifle without ear pro. As well as your shooting buddies hating you.

With the can you get recoil mitigation, hearing protection (mine *allegedly* gets 308 down below 140db which is “hearing safe”), and the benefit of the better reaction of game when you shoot at them where in some cases they even run towards you. All at the expense of 6-8” on the end of your rifle and maybe 10oz more weight.

I’ve lugged a heavy old wood stocked 12 gauge with a barrel 50 miles long through enough of the thick stuff chasing after a rabbit dog or trying to shoot partridge to be unbothered with my rifle that now has a ~26” or so barrel with the can on the end of it.

Food for thought and speaking very generally here, if the terrain and foliage are thick enough to make the extra barrel length a PITA, do you need the extra velocity from all of that extra barrel? Or would you be better served with something chopped to 16”, 18”, or 20”, anyways?

The last "food for thought" section makes a very good point, one I hadn't considered. I'll be running my suppressor this year after reading all the feedback. Don't fix what's not broken!