Silencer/Moderator Use

This is really just a general opinion question as I don’t have a silencer/moderator and it’s a long wait in the States to get one, but for those that have them why do you use one and what would be the advantage for me if I bought one, outside of it’s just quieter when you shoot. My new 308 is setup for one so am curious as I’ve never considered one until getting this rifle, it’s a real keeper/shooter. Thanks

Never used a suppressor and have no intention of doing so on one of my rifles. My son on the other hand has three I believe. He uses them sometimes to play with at the range. I have never seen him hunt with one.

They have become very common here is S.A. I have one on each of my 3 rifles and wouldn’t do without them now. The only exception would be on a classic big bore D G rifle.

I have used one to hunt and shoot for the past three years--shooting full powdered ammo, I have found that--
1). rifles seem to shoot slightly tighter groups with suppression--perhaps better form due to less felt recoil, perhaps longer barrel ...
2). less felt recoil and less muzzle jump
3). my daughters have no fear of the noise or the recoil on 7 mm rem mag or 25-06 (daughters are 11,13,and 15)
4). deer hunting and plains game-the animals around the target seem to not run off around the shot, while enabling the shooter to "hear" the shot impact the target.
I have thoroughly enjoyed mine!

slam8031 said:

I have used one to hunt and shoot for the past three years--shooting full powdered ammo, I have found that--
1). rifles seem to shoot slightly tighter groups with suppression--perhaps better form due to less felt recoil, perhaps longer barrel ...
2). less felt recoil and less muzzle jump
3). my daughters have no fear of the noise or the recoil on 7 mm rem mag or 25-06 (daughters are 11,13,and 15)
4). deer hunting and plains game-the animals around the target seem to not run off around the shot, while enabling the shooter to "hear" the shot impact the target.
I have thoroughly enjoyed mine!

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I finally bit the bullet and ordered my first can earlier this year. It's sitting at my dealer, waiting on the ATF to approve my permit. Why did I get one? Reasons 1, 2, and 4 above (I don't have daughters or 3 might apply as well). I've shot a rifle with one at the range and used one on my outfitters rifle earlier this year when I hunted in the UK. Actually hunting with a suppressor in the UK convinced me to go through the hassle to get one. It wasn't as awkward stalking with it as I thought it would be and it definitely changes the way animals react to the rifle's report.

Fastrig said:

This is really just a general opinion question as I don’t have a silencer/moderator and it’s a long wait in the States to get one, but for those that have them why do you use one and what would be the advantage for me if I bought one, outside of it’s just quieter when you shoot. My new 308 is setup for one so am curious as I’ve never considered one until getting this rifle, it’s a real keeper/shooter. Thanks

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I use them to protect my hearing on quick shots when i do not have time to put on my earmuffs. Mainly for hogs and to reduce noise/ pressure when culling does near an on food plots.

They are outlawed in Spain but I do use them in SA whenever I have a chance. For the same reasons as @slam8031 stated. In 3 replace with, to protect my hearing which is already quite bad.

Moderators are the norm here in the UK. Easy to get and kinda useful considering the population density in areas where most hunt and also for range use.

I personally don't bother with one mostly out of aesthetic and balance considerations on my rifle, but I've shot plenty with them.

Advantages are:

Noise suppression. Most knock 30 odd decibels off the report, which relegates a centrefire discharge from painful to merely uncomfortable. Ear protection is still very much a good idea, but plenty don't bother for hunting, and for 1 or 2 shots, I can understand why.

The mod also seems to 'flatten' and disperse the sound better, which is an advantage for shooting groups of game. I hunt hinds in scotland with an unmoderated .270 with my friend who has a moderated gun of the same calibre. A quick follow up shot on a second beast in a group is a regular feature with hinds, but whilst they often stop and look back either way, with a moderated gun they often seem to have no idea where the shot came from in the first place and can even run towards the shooter sometimes.

The other advantage is in recoil reduction. I have no idea what the reduction is in real terms, but I'd say it makes a .270 kick like a .243. Certainly an advantage if trying to shoot multiple groups off a bench.

Muzzle flash is also much reduced, especially with shorter barrels or big powder charges, which can be helpful at dawn or dusk. Expect even more so if shooting vermin under NV.

Finally, a mod is a pretty good muzzle guard. You're unlikely to bugger your crown if you drop the rifle or scrape it, and the mod also reduces the risk of you accidentally plugging your barrel with snow or mud on a final crawl (as me how I know), which can be frustrating.

Velocities are unchanged and so is accuracy in most cases, just makes it easier to utilise the rifles performance if it isn't beating you up as much.

Disadvantages are weight, balance, length and aesthetic.

I hate shooting a moderated rifle off hand, nose heavy in most cases, and you do have to account for maybe 200-500g additional mass to lug around generally. Most also add around 2-6" to the over all rifle length, with my 22" barrel gun ending up 3" shorter than my friends 20" variant. This either necessitates a velocity loss, or a less wieldy rifle.

The final point is just personal preference, but I find them rather ugly, especially on a nice blue and walnut rifle.

Oh, and I forgot, they can mess with bedding, zero and harmonics of the barrel, especially with lighter sporter profiles. I had a friend at the range who had to relieve the barrel channel on his stock as the weight of the mod meant it was no longer floating, and it's unlikely that the rifle will shoot to the same POI with and without the mod.

Often the case that a load worked up for a modded gun won't group as well with it off, or vice versa, and you'll have to fiddle about with seating depth or, if using factory, redo your load work to get it to co-operate again. THat said, it's usually only a case of 1/2" bigger groups or so, which for a hunting rifle? No worries.

Thanks guys for all the feedback!! The rifle is a Daniel Defense Delta 5 in 308 win. Has a 20" barrel so the extra length of a silencer wouldn't make it overly long. After reading through your feedback, I'm seriously considering going through the hassle of getting one. Question, should I look at the suppressor options from DD, don't seem overly priced, or do you have suggestions on other makes/models to consider? Excuse my ignorance on silencers, this is my first step down this path. DD's site shows silencers all over it, though installed on the longer barreled 6.5 creedmor version. Thanks again for the help and input!!

https://danieldefense.com/delta5#view0

I'd also check out silencershop.com, but appears DD has a good choice for that rifle also

They are easiy had here in NZ and I have one on my 20 VarTarg for rabbit shooting and get a much better tally of animals with it than without mainly because they are not as disturbed with it on the rifle.
On the other hand I had one for my 6.5 GM and then took it off and there was no reduction in the number of animals I bagged. I see no need for one in the general hunting situation for any rifle under the 7mm mags as needing recoil reduction on these smaller cartridges in not necessary. They are mild enough to shoot even from prone.
The main benefit is the sound reduction for the shooters hearing and the animal disturbance

Von Gruff said:

They are easiy had here in NZ and I have one on my 20 VarTarg for rabbit shooting and get a much better tally of animals with it than without mainly because they are not as disturbed with it on the rifle.
On the other hand I had one for my 6.5 GM and then took it off and there was no reduction in the number of animals I bagged. I see no need for one in the general hunting situation for any rifle under the 7mm mags as needing recoil reduction on these smaller cartridges in not necessary. They are mild enough to shoot even from prone.
The main benefit is the sound reduction for the shooters hearing and the animal disturbance

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I'm not very recoil sensitive and a 308 doesn't kick all that much anyway. While a lighter recoil is always appreciated for quicker follow up shots or days at the range, I'd put that towards the bottom of my list for reasons to use a suppressor. I can see the advantage of suppressing the blast noise while hunting though, and of course for your own hearing and that of your hunting mates. Not having all the other animals jump or scatter would be an advantage if you are after more than one animal. Do go after more than one target sometimes and can see where the suppressor would come in handy for that.

My local laws make it almost impossible to obtain suppressors for ordinary hunters. Personally I think the authorities should be prosecuted for wilful endangerment due to the fact that hearing loss due to noise damage is well documented.

AH member Stefan recently posted a video of the new Blaser factory variant the R8 Silence which incorporates an integral suppressor. https://www.africahunting.com/threads/r8-silence-300-win-mag.51209/
It shows how main stream such device are when high end manufacturers do it as a production model.

I have used silencercshop in Austin twice. Very knowledgeable and good to work with. Check them out online.

Some places won’t allow you to hunt without suppression.
They are very useful for pest work, where you are trying to knock down as many as possible.

My neighbors don’t appreciate a .308 going off at 2 am when the coyotes are out.

My hunting is done in remote areas so I guess the noise for neighbours never entered into the equation for me. I carry my rifle slung with barrel down when hunting in the high country and the extra length of the suppressor was allowing it to catch on undergrowth etc so it is way more convenient not to have one installed.

I have moderators on all my rifles pretty much. They do spoil the balance a little but the positives outweigh that by quite a margin. Noise reduction is brilliant. I can comfortably fire multiple shots without hearing protection and the quarry can't figure out where the shot came from. With subsonic ammunition a .22lr is quieter than a spring air rifle. Quite literally the whack of the bullet impact is louder than the rifle firing. The recoil reduction is also good for larger calibres. I'm just in the process of having my .416 Rigby front sight shifted back an inch so the gun can be threaded and then I'll buy a mod for that too.

njc110381 said:

I have moderators on all my rifles pretty much. They do spoil the balance a little but the positives outweigh that by quite a margin. Noise reduction is brilliant. I can comfortably fire multiple shots without hearing protection and the quarry can't figure out where the shot came from. With subsonic ammunition a .22lr is quieter than a spring air rifle. Quite literally the whack of the bullet impact is louder than the rifle firing. The recoil reduction is also good for larger calibres. I'm just in the process of having my .416 Rigby front sight shifted back an inch so the gun can be threaded and then I'll buy a mod for that too.

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Didn’t realize you could get suppressors for that large a caliber. Was talking to our local gun shop/gunsmith last evening about building a custom 404 Jeffery rifle next year. Concept is “old world meets new world” for the build. Think i’ll ask him about a suppressor in the project. Being a custom build I’m sure we could get the balancing pretty close to perfect if the suppressor was part of the initial design and component selection.

Fastrig said:

Didn’t realize you could get suppressors for that large a caliber. Was talking to our local gun shop/gunsmith last evening about building a custom 404 Jeffery rifle next year. Concept is “old world meets new world” for the build. Think i’ll ask him about a suppressor in the project. Being a custom build I’m sure we could get the balancing pretty close to perfect if the suppressor was part of the initial design and component selection.

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You can get them on a .50 cal. It's only a tube with some baffles and expansion chambers so if you go custom made you can have one for whatever size you want. Here in the UK they are an off the shelf item for anything up to .45 in either muzzle forward or over barrel design.