SilencerCo – Best Hunting Suppressors for 2023
SilencerCo – Best Hunting Suppressors for 2023
David Higginbotham
Why hunt suppressed?
Guns are loud. Hunting with a suppressor eliminates the really lound bang of a gunshot. That may seem like an obvious statement—after all, cutting out noise is what suppressors do best! But there’s so much more to this, and SilencerCo has adaptable options for every hunting scenario.
How can you keep your hunt quiet?
Adding a suppressor to your firearm goes a long way toward eliminating the noise from shots fired. And the suppressor offers other amazing benefits, too.
Let’s begin with how a suppressor helps the hunter. Some suppressor and rifle pairings are completely hearing safe. That means you can hunt suppressed without worrying about protecting your hearing with something like ear muffs or plugs that may limit how much you can hear before and after the shot.
Far too many hunters assume that one shot with a .308 isn’t going to do too much damage to their hearing, but the damage can be cumulative. A suppressor can ensure the damaging sound of the gunshot is eliminated. A silencer like the Harvester EVO can take a .308 shot down to just over 133 decibels—hearing safe.
There’s more to hunting with a suppressor than the obvious protection provided to your auditory senses, however. Many hunters anticipate the loud report that they know will come when they pull the trigger, which can affect accuracy in shot placement. Hunting suppressed takes that edge off both the report and the hunter, allowing for more confident shots. With less anticipating and less tension in the moment before a trigger pull, hunters often see more accurate shot placement, and that results in more ethical kill shots on game.
You need to be able to hear other things, right?
The moments coming before a shot and after are far easier to interpret when hunting suppressed. Hearing protection, in the form of ear muffs or plugs, is often an encumbrance when hunting as it can prevent the 360-degree situational awareness provided by unencumbered hearing. Sometimes it is easier to hear game than it is to see it, and this can be an issue after a shot, too, when tracking wounded game.
A solid suppressor allows for noise reduction and ensures that you are free to interact with your environment in a way that’s far more natural.
Are there other advantages of hunting suppressed?
Hunting suppressed protects the hunter, but it may also help preserve hunting for others as well. This may seem more abstract, but it is important. Hunting, as a sport and way of putting food on the table, has its detractors.
A suppressed shot will make noise, but that muffled report won’t echo for miles through the still, cold air of an autumn morning. If there are neighbors on adjoining properties, they may never hear your hunt. And if you hunt in an area where there are many hunters heading out on opening day, the sound of your success may not spook the quarry of other nearby hunters.
This list of advantages could keep going forever, but there’s one last addition I feel compelled to make. If you hunt with dogs, you should be equally concerned about their hearing. Dogs have very sensitive ears—they hear things we don’t—and that’s what makes them so valuable in the field. Hunting suppressed is a great way to keep them at their best.
What's the best SilencerCo suppressor for hunting suppressed?
Like many of these “what’s the best” kind of questions, the Harvester EVO is many people’s first choice. The Harvester EVO weighs in at just 10.8 ounces. The unique way this silencer is welded together makes it one of the lightest available.
Why is weight important? For anyone who hunts on foot, every ounce matters. With carbon fiber wrapped barrels and ultralight stocks, some hunting rifles are exceptionally light. Why add unnecessary weight to it? For any of the common .30 caliber hunting cartridges up to .300 Winchester Magnum, the Harvester EVO would be my first recommendation.
What's the best suppressor for hunting with larger calibers?
For bigger rounds, the Hybrid 46M rises to the top. With a .46 caliber silencer, you can handle almost every hunting round available. From the hard hitting .45-70 down to the modest rimfires, the Hybrid 46M can do it all.
While few hunt with centerfire pistol cartridges, the Hybrid 46M will handle the 10MM—which is an exceptional round for hogs. When suppressing the 10MM, the rest of the passel won’t be as fast to flee, often allowing faster, more accurate follow-up shots. This is an especially good set-up for a pistol caliber carbine. Or, set it up with a piston for suppressing a handgun.
What's the best suppressor for hunting dangerous game?
For larger game, too, a silencer can help keep you hidden. Even at longer distances, auditory camouflage can prove to be an asset. The Hybrid 46M is rated for .460 Weatherby Magnum—a round capable of felling an elephant.
If your elk or moose is at a tremendous distance, the Hyrid 46M is an exceptional tool. .338 Lapua Magnum rounds are notorious for their terminal ballistics, but also their noise. This can be especially hard on a spotter or those who are not immediately behind the rifle with an unsuppressed .338 LM is fired. The blast can test even the best hearing protection.
The size and power of these rounds tends to make sighting in and practicing for long-range or dangerous game hunts cumbersome. Adding a suppressor to the mix—one that can stand up to the exceptional pressure generated by the .338 LM, makes the effort far less physically stressful and allows for much more effective practice.
What makes the Hybrid 46M versatile, apart from being multicaliber?
Caliber accommodation is one thing, but modularity takes the Hybrid 46M to a new level. The “M” in the 46M stands for Modular and denotes its ability to run in long or short configurations. The shorter configuration provides noise suppression in a highly maneuverable package. The additional length of the full configuration provides even more suppression and recoil mitigation for hunts at greater distance.
In the short setup (just 5.78”), the Hybrid 46M weighs 12.2 ounces. The long configuration (7.72”) weighs in at just 14.9 ounces. This comes from the combination of materials used in the Hybrid 46M’s construction. For exceptional strength, SilencerCo makes the baffles that take the most abuse out of Inconel. Titanium is almost as strong and exceptionally light, and its use helps to keep the Hybrid 46M light enough to carry all day on those long stalk hunts.
Other Options for .30 Caliber Hunting Rifles
While the Hybrid 46M is built to take on some of the biggest rounds, you can still use this suppressor with .30 caliber rifles. You may lose a minuscule amount of efficiency in the .46 caliber set-up (with the stock end-cap on the Hybrid 46M), but there are .30 caliber end caps available that will help keep in both noise and flash.
Otherwise, everything that makes the Hybrid 46M so adaptable makes it ideal for the smaller cartridges, too. SilencerCo has built a suppressor that can use multiple mounting platforms, take multiple styles of end-caps, and be run in different lengths for distinctly different applications.
While the Hybrid 46M provides versatility, the Harvester EVO may still be a better option for someone who knows that their go-to hunting rifle is a bolt-action in .308. A fixed length suppressor is ideal for a bolt action rifle. And the Harvester EVO provides about three decibels more sound suppression than the Hybrid 46M with the same rifle and same ammunition. The Harvester EVO will drop a Barnes Precision Match, 175 grain .308 round fired from a Remington 700 to 133.1 decibels. The Hybrid 46M registers at 134 decibels.
The SilencerCo Omega 300 is another excellent choice for suppressing .30 caliber hunting rifles. It is the shortest, lightest, and quietest .30 caliber rifle silencer on the market. With its durable construction and advanced design, the Omega 300 effectively reduces both noise and recoil, enhancing the shooter’s accuracy and overall shooting experience. Additionally, its compact size and lightweight nature make it easy to handle and maneuver in various hunting environments. Whether you’re pursuing game in the woods or engaging targets at long distances, the SilencerCo Omega 300 is a reliable and effective suppressor that will greatly enhance your hunting capabilities.
Should you want more versatility and modularity in a dedicated .30 caliber silencer, the Omega 36M is a great alternative to the Omega 300, though it is heavier. It can be run in short and long configurations and can be used on rifle barrels as short as 10”, making this an excellent option for SBRs, too.
How well do SilencerCo silencers suppress noise?
Sound suppression will always vary with the type of rifle or pistol, barrel length, and caliber, but the goal is always to bring the noise down to a level that isn’t damaging to hearing. Most hunting rounds are hypersonic, meaning they will never be Hollywood quiet, but that isn’t the point.
The Hybrid 46M, Omega 36M, and the Harvester EVO all perform within an incredibly close range when run on the same rifle with the same ammunition. The results and could even be in the margin of error for any given box of ammo.
Even those who are looking to suppress a shotgun have options. SilencerCo’s Salvo 12, another modular design that takes the edge off of a notoriously loud firearm, threads on with an extension to a choke tube. Before the introduction of the Salvo 12, many were convinced that suppressing a shotgun was a pipe dream. Now many are hunting waterfowl and upland game with a tool that preserves their own hearing and that of their dogs.
How to Choose the Best Hunting Suppressor
It all depends on your hunt. The Hybrid 46M can do it all. The Omega 36M is just as capable, but isn’t built for the larger caliber rounds. The Harvester EVO provides an exceptional option for performance and is an equally incredible value.
