What Bolt-action Rifle(will be suppressed) for Deer?

Give me some ideas for a new rifle for suppressed deer hunting. Not needed for long-range competition, just hunting.

Leaning toward a 16.5" bbl 700 SPS Rem in .308, + 8" can for total length 24.5". Rifle weighs about 8lbs, scope 17oz and can 11oz. Total close to 10lbs.

Alternative 6.5CM Tikka T3X CTR 20" bbl 7.5lbs, slightly less weight, 4" longer, no problem.

Want light as possible for stalking.

Other rifles?

I've thinking about doing the same thing in a Tikka lite 308. I'm thinking of cutting the barrel down to 16" and getting it threaded but I'm not sure if there's enough meat on the barrel to do it. I need to do some research!

Great choice! .308 subsonic with a can is very quiet!

Don't overlook the Ruger American Predator in 308 with the 18" barrel that is already threaded. Extremely good rifle for the money.

Thanks, I have Tikka T3 lite in 6.5x55 - you're right, not enough meat, would have to cut to 6" - not an option.

Savage make the 10 in a .308 with prethreaded barrel. Ive got one, and it's pretty nice. Over sized bolt handle,pre mounted picattiny rail, accutrigger, and a more solid stock than the regular flimsy Tupperware stock.

http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/savage-10pt-sr-308-winchester-bolt-action-rifle

Thanks - will look that one up. Recoil ok on this one?

The recoil is no more than any other gun in that weight range.

But the BARK is obnoxious. Great candidate for a suppressor, imo.

Any of the above mentioned rifles will work fine. Go as short as you can on barrel length because you'll add 7-10" with the can. I've cut all of my hunting rifles to 16.25".

308 sps tac or 5 r and cut down

Have you Chronographed any loads with the 16.25" barrel?

I'm curious to know the velocity loss between a 16" and 18" barrel.

Completely incorrect.

I cut down a RH Tikka T-3 Lite (factory barrel) to 18", and threaded it 5/8"X24. That barrel has been replaced, since.

Next project will be another T-3 Lefty, 7mm-08, 16" barrel threaded 5/8"X24, and I'm thinking 154 gr bullets. The goal is to make a light walking around gun.

O.P. 6.5 Creedmoor, .260 Rem, 7mm-08, .308 will all make a fine rifle for whitetail and smaller. Barrel length loss, means velocity loss. Then you can tweak a load and bullet weights to achieve good energy delivery out of the short barrel. So if I were building a 25" long 7mm-08, I'd load it with 162 gr bullets, but since I'm going to chop it down, I'll drop bullet weight to regain some velocity, and probably up the energy delivery.

30-50 fps MV going from 18" to 16" using the same powder. Then a change in powder burn rate could regain that velocity.

Just the 6.5 creedmoor. It gets 2715 without my suppressor with 120 grain A-max. Need to chrono it with the can.

Thanks Fireman, I just bought a Tikka T3 Stainless in 7mm-08. I'm debating between a 18" or 16". I will always shoot it with a can so I'm not concerned about the bang. Regular shots on my deer lease are 200 yards and a 350 yard shot could happen. I just want enough velocity to take deer and coyotes. I'll probably shoot the 150 gr ELD-X.

Wow that's a lot better than I though. The 120 Amax is a great deer round. I wonder if the suppressor would add velocity?

Excellent bullet choice, it's probably what I will use as well. 350 and in, and it'll kill whatever you want. And I know you can place the shot where it's supposed to go.

Machinist said not enuf diameter for 5/8x24. Recommend someone that can do it?

Sure can, send me a PM.

@16" from the bolt face, the O.D. is .670"

5/8" is .625"

I've seen a lot of supressors lately on hunting rifles, is there an advantage to it besides just noise and blast reduction?

Recoil, noise, and blast reduction are the top benefits. To the OP, I bought a savage hog hunter for the asme purpose, 18 inch factory threaded barrel. Know several folk who got a ruger american and cut to 16 inches and are happy. Both pretty cheap options.

That's the only reason I use them. Shoot a coyote, stay put, shoot another. Same deer. I go on a doe hunt every January. This year I killed a doe, and 60 seconds later another popped into the field, and killed her.

Twice, with hog sounders, I suspect the sound bounces off the treeline behind them, and they have come closer to me.

Once I hunted suppressed I said I'd never hunt any other way again. (Barring carrying the 7 Rem Mag for mulies or elk)

I've never shot with one, but saw some videos of the impacts from the POV downrange and it was a pretty big difference.

I'll have to put in for one eventually.

I'm waiting on Trump to drop the red tape.

And then I will have more.

I'll be deported by then.

I am building a 17" 7mm08 to run with a short can for deer.
I have done a 16" 308 before and it worked out well.

Hog hunter looks promising - will dig into that one too. Thanks

Animals do not know what a shot sounds like or that it is dangerous. Most animals that hear a shot are dead. They do not fear a shot as much as the fear any unusual sound. If you watch dear when shots go off often they look up and around and as long as they do not see movement they go back to doing what they were doing before the shot. Many times unsuppressed I have killed does and/or hogs after a shot. The key is killing the other animal dead with the first shot. If you shoot a pig or deer and they make noise fail around and made a ruckus then the other animals will be freighted off. The gun being suppressed is for the safety of the hunters ears. It is also good for the neighbors. It may help with deer that are not near by or hogs that are not near by but it is my opinion after killing many many deer and hogs suppressed or not that the key to killing multiple animals on a single sit is saying put and killing the animal dead with the shot.

Now with that said suppressed is a much much better way to hunt because the true benefit is to the health of the hunter and everyone around him. That in itself is the reason to suppress a rifle because it is just so much nicer to shoot.

I have a suppressed Browning XBolt in 308 that I am very happy with, a Ruger cut down to 18 inches that I am happy with and, an AI in 308 that is fantastic. I also have two Wilson Combats 6.8s suppressed. I would recommend a 308 only because it has a much border range of bullets and ammunition loaded. If you roll your own than any of the short action rounds are a good choice.

I stated my experiences, you stated yours.

But did not address a full sounder of hogs closing in on the shooter. Every time I've shot into a sounder, without a suppressor, the still living ones, went away from the shooter. With a suppressor they have not, thus far, figured out where the shot was coming from.

In any case, hunting suppressed is better than not.

yep, 6.8s are awesome
I have a Wilson Combat 6.8 and a 308 I love to hunt with.

You have good taste sir.
I have a 5.56 and juat ordered the 9mm pistol AR with 8" barrel that will be SBR'd

Hunting suppressed is the best way to hunt but it is for the safety of the hunter and his/her companions.

If you popped a firecracker while watching a sounder of hogs or a couple of does and stayed still and quiet after the explosion more than likely they would look up look for movement and if they saw nothing they would go back to feeding or what ever they were doing. Animals are not genetically coded to be afraid of a shot. You can train an animal to be frightened by not cleanly killing an animal in front of others and then jumping up and making a lot of movement.

Suppressors should not be thought of as a mechanism to kill multiple animals. Suppressors are for the safety of the hunter and the people near the hunter. Suppressors are a mechanism to muzzle shots such that neighbors have less reason to complain. Suppressors how ever will not help you kill a bunch of hogs. If you do not believe this just watch the videos of hogs getting shot at night with thermals. If the hog is dead with the shot and does not make a commotion other hogs can be engaged. If the hogs make a bunch of noise or start trashing around the other hogs move off. Animals have great hearing and can hear an unusual noise weather it be 190 db or 120 db or 80 db, it does not effect the animal as much as motion, or cries after the noise.

Best case look at bow hunting, if you shoot a deer or hog with others around and the hog or deer run off or make a bunch of noise, that action will scare off the others.

With a suppressor a sounder of pigs will scatter but not haul was to the next property. Makes multiple kills on one group much easier.

I do not dispute any of that. I've seen the exact same evidence myself.

But I maintain that the suppressor does aid in more general stealth for the hunter wielding it.

I've had two deer at 30 yards from me and pigs at 100 yards at the same time. I shot over the deer at a pig with a suppressed supersonic .308. The pig was DRT and the deer did not move. They looked at the pig kick a couple of times and then the deer went back to feeding. Another sounder came in 20 minutes later and I shot over the deer at another pig. Same thing happened. The deer looked at the 2nd dead pig and never looked at me.

Lots of the observations on deer running/not running has to do with hunting pressure.

Ive been on place where the deer would haul ace if you cut a loud fart and ive shot several deer behind the shoulders out of groups of 10 plus deer where the one deer hit would run off and die 20 yards in the brush and the rest would just look around and go back to eating. This is all about 100 yard shots in suppressed 243-300 wby noise. Ive also shot into several sounders of hogs and shot two hogs with two bullets with a bolt gun and neither were running shots.

Anything 6.5-30cal. Under 24" Barrel

.223

Thanks for the input everyone. Decided on the Ruger American Predator in 6.5CM. 22" bbl, thought I might chop it down, but after shooting may keep it original. It's quiet enough to shoot without ear plugs. Rifle/scope/can/cheek pad & sling under 9lbs.

Less than 1" group @ 100yds, repeated.

Great choice. Good looking rig!

Cool rig

You can cut to 1/2 x 28 and just run an adapter with your can. I do that on several of mine. Have bought several of these and they work great and they have the flat lands to make it easy to unscrew.

Thread Adapter

I have a 300 Blackout AR15 that I love. This is an 8" barrel that I always shoot with a can. Benefit of it is that it is short & lightweight (great for ground blind or stalking). I don't shoot past 300 yards & can shoot supersonics or subs. Has been murder on pigs & whitetail. There are some awesome bolt action rifles in 300 BLK also.

Here's what I'm going to start building. It's a Tikka T3 lite 308 with a 17" barrel. Threaded 1/2x28 so I'm going to have to get a thread adapter. It'll probably be after holidays before I get scope and everything for it but I look forward to shooting it.

Remington AAC 308. Gun is already threaded. Mine is a 20" barrel and is a bit long and heavy with my can. The shorter version would work great for you.

Closest shot under 75yds and longest out to 325. Used bog pod(tripod) this year for stalking and is now a permanent tool. Found Hornady Precision Hunter ammo does the job even at the longer range on a large, tough animal like this aoudad.