Thread: Do I need a suppressor?

getting one fitted and looking after your hearing may save you big $$$$ in the long term,my late Grand father and Grand mother created 11 kids...we blamed it on Grandads bad hearing...nan would say are we going to sleep or what??? bad hearing always causes a what...... the rest is history.

This is what sold me on a suppressor.

I shot at a hind in thick crown fern, I hit it and then instead of hearing it crash off and stumble, then trash around a bit, as the previous ones have done, all I could hear was a ringing in my ears from the shot. As i had lost sight of it, without the extra sense of hearing I struggled to pin the direction it headed. Found some sign, but lost the deer. I'm not saying without the ringing in my ears I'd have definitely found it, but you need every advantage you can get. Some shots just affect you differently.

Since then all my hunting rifles are suppressed and I love it. Nothing more satisfying than hearing the thud of a solid hit when shooting at a distant deer. Also can be quite a wake up call shooting my rifle without a suppressor at range. A real WTF moment when you forget to put it back down after letting barrel cool off.

You could spend 2 years hanging off a 262 Huski scub cutting with no ear protection and buying a 270 when you are 18. Looka after your ears and your eyes.

Yep, suppressors are pretty awesome bits of kit.
I try to use ear pro when I can even with a suppressed rifle. Can't hurt to

Take it from a deaf bloke
Buy one or walk around with electronic muffs , will make u hear bush noises better

My social life suffers from not being able to listen to conversations with back ground noise, thank the army and commercial diving. Hearing lost is a major contributor to various mental issues eg alzheimers etc.
Rem 700 bloody great actions but for the stupid top feeding mag
Mdt chassis with removable mag is next upgrade after suppressor

Oh and do it now, student days u will have more expendable cash than ever, once u have a family .... no more toys
What's a night out worth nowadays when a beer is over 15$ in most pubs

Do it you want it , the fact ubasking means u want it
Hang out with last or 2nd last year medical students. Make them your partner,
End of financial woes

I’m a ‘lefty’ and my right ear has paid the price of suppressor-free use of my 308.

Get a suppressor fitted!

It's a 270 Winchester. Thanks for the thoughts everyone - looks like I'll be keeping an eye out for one

A 308 is around 165dB at the muzzle, good ear pro will reduce it about 25dB (look at the SLC80 rating). That's still ~140dB, and a suppressor is significantly cheaper than hearing aids.

need? no

want? Absolutely!!!

Im half deaf from shooting and work and not wearing hearing protection in my early days. Trust me it sucks hunting when you cant hear fuk all...

Something that hasn't been discussed is that in NZ we are blessed being able to buy suppressors off the shelf. There are many reasons to take advantage of this. In the US you have to jump through hoops and pay a fee to get one. In Aus I think they are banned completely? In the UK there is paper work and they are registered with your firearm.

There are good reasons for them to be legal in NZ - they must save ACC a lot of money for reduced hearing loss. Hearing loss causes depression and social disharmony.

We are now well conditioned to wearing hearing protection at work, and at home with chainsaws and lawn mowers. So why not a suppressor?

Having a suppressor to me is a no-brainer.

Personally, I find a suppressor helps me shoot better. With a plain muzzle there's more recoil and with a muzzle brake there's some concussion. Neither of those things do anything to improve my trigger control.

I like my hearing and hate my money more than I dislike carrying a slightly longer, heavier, more expensive rifle. Every rifle of mine therefore has a suppressor.

and leave barrel full length......its not that much of a pain in the arse in tight bush..this moring I carted rifle with 28" barrel around in some thick stuff no trouble,and its heavier than most...other than my .22lr its the only unsuppressed rifle I own.
the other part of longer barrel that folks dont take into consideration is this.....a 20" barrel either suppressed or not is 4"/100mm further away from your ears than a 16" one.....that 28" is a whopping 12"/300mm further away and I can tell you for a fact it makes a hell of a lot of difference,anyone who owns a short shotgun will tell you this,and the few loyal souls who will still shoot with them will definately tell you they are very antisocial things.

You can buy supressors 2nd hand for about 200. Wait around for a deal. Then get threaded to suit. Buy a 30cal on and it can go on any. Future rifle. 1/2 x 20 and m14 are the most common threads. Just make sure its not super large thread that wont leave any shoulder on the barrel like 5/8 probably too large for hunting weight barrels