Suppressed bolt gun as a general purpose rifle

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The Ruger American Ranch Rifle is pretty close to what I'm thinking. I've read reports about crappy magazines, but they may have solved that problem with a modified design. Plus I wouldn't expect the action to be as smooth and dependable as other proven designs. But I could be off base in those assumptions.

Or is a suppressed general purpose bolt gun a dumb idea to begin with? Is the AR just a better option all around?

I have a sample of one Ruger American in 5.56, 16.5" threaded barrel. Action is nice and smooth and the trigger is decent. Magazine and stock are really low grade, and the accuracy has not been all that great. It could be me because the gun is so light but my 16" middy chrome lined BCM is twice as accurate.

I think we had a discussion a while back about the best all around and the consensus was the AR is the best. As someone who owns AR's and bolt guns, I would have to agree.

[45dotACP]

I know it's just dreaming, because I live in IL, but I'd love an internally suppressed bolt action in .300 BLK ala the Delisle Carbine...

[Malamute]

I hate that my hearing problems weigh into (nearly) every decision about firearms, but that's just a fact of life for me at this point.
I have long been a fan of lever guns, and I still have a couple of nice Marlins. I like the way they handle and shoot, pretty much everything about them. But shooting without hearing protection and/or a suppressor, even in field conditions, is something I can't afford to do (except in a life or death situation). I've considered the feasibility of modifying one of my Marlins for a suppressor but I don't think I want to go down that road...

Hearing factors into most of my gun decisions also. Suppressors aren't in my budget, I don't know if I would adapt to the added length as a walk around gun in any event. I really like the short 16" Winchester 94 in 30-30, but its not pleasant to shoot, even with foam plugs in. The 20" carbines are not bad with just foam plugs. I deal with the hearing problem by not shooting anything for any reason unless its a life or death issue without ear plugs in. If I cant get my ear plugs in, I don't shoot. I decided nothing is important enough to shoot unless its life or death type situation. Always have foam plugs in my pocket, and tons of spares in my vehicle.

44 200 gr loads at about 1300 fps in a 20" carbine aren't very loud either.

I do think one of the integrally suppressed bolt guns would be interesting. The 300 BL may be enough, or one of the 44 bolt action Rugers may be worthwhile if you want a bit more thump. In a bolt gun, you have a lot of options for chambering and power, especially if you load your own.

I don't know if you are going to travel with it, but that's also always part of my thought process, to keep it as simple to travel as possible.

[Crews]

I have a 18" bolt action 6.5 Creedmoor. I also have a 9" 300blk SBR. My suppressor is 7 1/2" long, weighs 13oz, and is used on both guns.

When used on the bolt action rifle, I do not find it to be too awfully cumbersome, but you can definitely tell its there. In my mind, it's a small price to pay for being hearing safe and recoil reduction. With that being said, I do have a 5" long 9oz Thunderbeast on the way. Might be a can you consider for your own needs...

My primary focus is hunting and precision shooting. I could probably live without my SBR if I had to, but I wouldn't ever give up the suppressed bolt action, no matter how much handling suffers with the addition of a suppressor.

[Robinson]

I think we had a discussion a while back about the best all around and the consensus was the AR is the best. As someone who owns AR's and bolt guns, I would have to agree.

I really don't doubt that the AR wins in a lot of categories. Certainly firepower if that is an important factor.

How much do the ejection port and cycling of the action add to the noise level compared to a bolt gun?

[Robinson]

When used on the bolt action rifle, I do not find it to be too awfully cumbersome, but you can definitely tell its there. In my mind, it's a small price to pay for being hearing safe and recoil reduction. With that being said, I do have a 5" long 9oz Thunderbeast on the way. Might be a can you consider for your own needs...

My primary focus is hunting and precision shooting. I could probably live without my SBR if I had to, but I wouldn't ever give up the suppressed bolt action, no matter how much handling suffers with the addition of a suppressor.

Thanks for that perspective. Do you feel that your 18" bolt gun equipped with the suppressor works well as a general purpose rifle or is it more the type of gun you only shoot from a well-supported position, say a bipod or a rest? An 18" barrel with the suppressor seems a bit long to me, but that input is valuable.

[Robinson]

Hearing factors into most of my gun decisions also. Suppressors aren't in my budget, I don't know if I would adapt to the added length as a walk around gun in any event. I really like the short 16" Winchester 94 in 30-30, but its not pleasant to shoot, even with foam plugs in. The 20" carbines are not bad with just foam plugs. I deal with the hearing problem by not shooting anything for any reason unless its a life or death issue without ear plugs in. If I cant get my ear plugs in, I don't shoot. I decided nothing is important enough to shoot unless its life or death type situation.

I hear ya. I really like my lever guns because of the way they handle. As I mentioned earlier, I considered having one of them shortened and set up for use with a suppressor, but it's hard to commit to that direction because there are so few examples out there of suppressed lever guns in a rifle caliber and I just don't know how well it would work. Would the action get fouled quickly? How effectively can the .30-30 be suppressed vs. .300 BLK? How short can you go without losing too much velocity? Lots of questions without a large base of knowledge out there to answer them.

[Crews]

I do feel like it gets the job done as a regular all around rifle.... I use it in many different settings. I do some spot&stalk style hunting, sitting in box stands after a long walk-in, and a lot of riding around in the truck spotlighting for hogs at night. It's also comfortable enough to slap my Atlas bipod on and get down in prone for some precision shooting.

I will agree that it is still a bit long with an 18" barrel and a 7" suppressor, however there's plenty of people out there toting around rifles with 24" barrels. I can say that the weight is not an issue for me. If there was a little more focus on portability and not so much on long range precision, I would probably would have picked a 16" barrel instead. And like I said, I expect things to improve even more when that 5" TBAC Ultra gets out of jail. It's half the weight, and 2 1/2" shorter.

Either way, I find my bolt gun with suppressor way more versatile and enjoyable for the stuff I do.

[Little Creek]

True with the metal mags. The polymer Mags are much more sleek. My only complaint of mine is that the recoil is more than I care for. Maybe see if Brockman could do a barrel conversion to 300AAC on a 223 CZ 527 carbine?

There are "managed recoil" and reduced recoil factory loads available. Of course one could handload reduced recoil loads.

[Robinson]

Can anyone having experience with both 5.56 and .300 BLK give an opinion on which produces a louder report assuming same/similar barrel length, suppressor, and supersonic ammunition? I've been assuming 5.56 will be a little louder but I guess I'd better validate that assumption.

Based on what I've been reading on suppressor manufacturers' websites I don't think there are any suppressors that will reduce the noise level of supersonic 5.56 to a truly "hearing safe" level. And many of the numbers posted for .300 BLK are referring to subsonic ammo.