The Best SilencerCo Hunting Suppressors for 2024
David Higginbotham
I’ve yet to meet anyone who has fired a suppressed rifle who enjoyed the experience without a suppressor than with one. Hunting suppressors offer benefits that are easy to hear and feel. That combination of noise reduction and felt recoil reduction is why many hunters prefer hunting suppressed.
A Short Aside
The first time I ever hunted hogs with a rifle, I was tucked into a stand of palmettos north of Lake Okeechobee, Florida. I’d been quietly waiting for dusk, sitting beside a feeder on a farm where the pigs had become a problem. The landowner had given me permission to kill as many of the vermin as I wanted.
As the evening set in, I got bored and was not paying attention when a passel of hogs came in, almost silently. There were more than 50 — maybe closer to 70 —and there, in the middle of them all, was a mammoth boar. I lined up and pulled the trigger.
I had planned to run my 30-round AK mag dry and take out at least 30 pigs. But the sound of the report echoed in the swamp, and pigs shot out like the rays of a firework. My shot on the boar didn’t kill it, as I’d hoped, and he ran straight at me.
As I’m here, writing this, you can guess the outcome. I came out better than the hog, but it was touch and go for a fast 10 seconds, and I hit him with 18 of the 30 rounds I had on tap.
The moral of the story is that if I had used a silencer, the hunt would have ended much differently.
Choosing the Best Hunting Suppressor
Choosing the best hunting suppressor requires a solid understanding of what you intend to do with it. For me, the performance of sound suppression is key, and the recoil reduction is a bonus. But I’m also highly conscious of the added weight and length. The final consideration I’d include is multi-caliber versatility.
Sound Suppression
Understanding how silencers work with different types, calibers, and velocities of ammunition is a good place to start. Most centerfire rifle cartridges will produce hypersonic velocities. Suppressors are Hollywood-quiet with subsonic loads, but most are still hearing safe even with faster rounds.
This means many who hunt suppressed can take ethical shots without worrying about hearing protection. And those that do can use much less obtrusive hearing protection as they won’t have nearly as much noise to buffer.
Recoil Reduction
While this isn’t a concern for rimfire cartridges, some of the magnum calibers kick hard. Shooters may flinch in advance of a trigger pull on something like a .300 WinMag, and this is hell on accuracy. The result is a miss — or worse: a wounded animal.
Suppressors, though, reduce felt recoil. The redirection of gas inside a silencer can redirect those forces and make shooting less taxing on the shooter.
The Weight of Accessories
As you equip a hunting rifle, weight adds up. Most bolt-action rifles average around nine pounds. Adding a sling, ammunition, a bipod, a scope, and a suppressor can make the whole system more cumbersome. Lightweight materials, especially those that don’t sacrifice strength, are crucial.
Length
The last consideration, length, is more determined by the terrain. In the wide-open spaces of the American West, hunters may not wander too far from their vehicles. Taking long-range shots for prairie dogs or antelope, for example, is easier with longer barrels. And the increase in sound suppression from a longer suppressor is beneficial, too, to hide your location.
Those who hunt in brush, though, or fight their way through palmetto thickets to stop a charging hog may appreciate shorter-barreled guns with short suppressors. Both have their place.
Best Hunting Suppressors
5. SilencerCo Hybrid 46
Kicking off this list is the SilencerCo Hybrid 46. Crafted with versatility in mind, this suppressor lives up to its name by supporting a wide range of calibers — projectiles up to .45”. It is built from stainless steel, Inconel, and titanium to ensure durability while keeping the weight manageable.
The Hybrid 46 weighs less than a pound and comes in just over 8 inches. If you are looking for one can that covers a lot of ground for both rifles and handguns, this is a solid choice.
4. SilencerCo Omega 36M
Next on the list is the SilencerCo Omega 36M. The M stands for modular. The Omega 36M can be configured in a long form or a short form.
While the Omega 36M is popular with tactical shooters (owing to its exceptionally durable mix of Inconel, stainless, titanium, and cobalt), this would be my go-to for hog hunts. This is an ideal option for suppressing an AK or AR platform hunting rifle.
3. SilencerCo Hybrid 46M
The Hybrid 46M takes the third spot in our list of best hunting suppressors. The 46M is larger than the Omega 36M. With its focus on modularity, this suppressor also allows users to adjust its length. This is an ideal can for a large lever-gun, or for a .450 Bushmaster, but it works equally well for smaller calibers, too.
The Hybrid 46M excels at magnum calibers, too. If you hunt with .338 LM or .460 Weatherby Magnum, this provides the sound suppression and recoil mitigation that makes both more manageable.
2. SilencerCo Omega 300
The Omega 300 is a unique design that allows the use of an integrated Anchor Brake that helps cut down on recoil even further. The size allows the Omega 300 to handle rounds as large and hot as 300 WM. This is my go-to for long-range .30 caliber rounds, and I find it ideal for 6.5 Creedmoor.
As for weight and size, the Omega 300 compares well. It comes in at 7 inches and weighs just over three quarters of a pound. While it isn’t as compact as the short version of suppressors like the Omega 36M, I like it on my longer barreled bolt-actions.
1. SilencerCo Scythe-Ti
In the top spot on my list is the SilencerCo Scythe-Ti. At just over half a pound, and well under the seven-inch mark, the Scythe-Ti is a solid option for those who hunt on foot.
What makes it so light? The Scythe-Ti is built entirely from titanium. While most of the suppressors on this list stack baffles inside a protective tube, the Scythe-Ti’s baffle stack is welded together, cutting out that last bit of weight.
This is a .30 caliber suppressor that is exceptionally capable. Long-range accuracy, weight reduction, manageable size, and dynamic noise reduction… The Scythe-Ti makes a solid case for titanium suppressors.
What else will you need?
Odds are you already know what you want to hunt, and where. You likely have a rifle in mind, know its caliber, and are probably leaning one way or the other on questions of multi-caliber functionality or configurable modularity. There are just a few more things to consider.
Mounting Options
SilencerCo makes a variety of mounting options. The most traditional are the Direct Thread Mounts. These allow the suppressor to screw directly to the threaded end of the gun’s muzzle.
ASR mounts come in a variety of shapes. Some are meant to hide flash, while others add a brake that cuts recoil (even when a suppressor is not attached). The suppressor then screws on over the top of the ASR mount, which is screwed onto the barrel.
Which suppressor mounting is best for hunting?
I think the jury’s out on this one. Aligning a direct-thread mount is hardly complicated, but you’ll need to keep the threads clean. If you’re going to be hunting long hours with lots of rounds fired, you can’t beat the added security provided by the Three Lug Mounts. But I still like the ASR brakes for heavy caliber rounds, as the recoil management enhances my availability to connect at long range.
Conclusion
In the end, the answers you come up with may differ from mine. When I first started shooting suppressed, I wanted a heavy multicaliber suppressor. My thought was that weight equaled strength, and that I needed the versatility of one suppressor that could do everything.
Now, though, I’m leaning toward perfect realizations of utility, lightweight construction, accuracy, and adaptability. Lightweight suppressors have come a long way. Hog hunts aside, I tend to shoot only once or twice on any given hunt — but I carry my rifle tremendous distances. So weight has become more important in my decision making, as has having a precision suppressor.
SilencerCo, though, has just about every combination of these features. From the durability of cobalt and Inconel for rapid fire, to the incomparable strength-to-weight ratio of titanium, there’s no shortage of functionality.
David Higginbotham
