Silencerco Round 2. Ding Ding Ding

[Afalex1]

So Mike gave me a call a week ago and said he was coming back with the goal of more film and testing. I said when will you be here and he said this weekend.

Texaslawman and Mike got here Friday evening and the hunt was on. Right off the bat we were on the hogs. We pulled into the first orchard and 3 hogs were moving 50 yards from us. We hadn't even done our gear check yet. We got out of the truck and by the time we got everything situated the hogs had moved deeper into the orchard. TLM was trailing Mike and I while he was recording. Mike and I got to about 70 yards and I was setting up the tripod for TLM to put the thermal/camera up to record the shooting and then things went crazy.

The hogs started coming straight to Mike and I. I was trying to quietly set the tripod on the ground and get my rifle ready. By then the hogs were coming in fast and were at 40 yards. TLM lagged behind and was catching this all on film. Mike was ready and the hogs were at 30 yards or less and we hammered them. Two ran left, Mike took the lead hog and it did a nose dive into the dirt, I tagged the second and it dropped. I couldn't find the third until I heard TLM yelling "RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT". I shouldered my rifle again and could barely see the hog because the moon wasn't up yet and the sky was cloudy. I turned on my Luna Optics ELIR-3, but then my EOtech dot was too faint. I was scrambling because the hog was about to the fence and the shot would get harder from there. I got the light and dot right in seconds, fired my first shot and I didn't hear the impact so I pulled a little further ahead, squeezed, and listened for the impact. WHACK! The hog dropped right at the fence. The 7.62 Specwar is amazing on the 6.8. I could hear the 120 SST bullets smack the hogs like a baseball bat on a leather bag. I'm hooked! Mike was using his 300 BLK SBR with the unreleased 7.62 Silencerco can. It is really quiet and super light for a 7.62 suppressor. We both scored excellent hits on the hogs and the night was young.



We loaded up to go to the next orchard, but on the way we scanned the far north side of the one we were already in. There was a group of around 15 hogs so we went back to the south gate to get the wind right and make out approach. We setup the thermal to record around 100 yards out and a pvs 14 and iphone to record about 60 yards out. We stalked up and did our count down. The hogs were clueless about what was coming. The first rounds were fired and we all connected. We picked up the runners as they went. We ended up with 7 from the group and a crap load of smiles. Unfortunately the iphone on the pvs14 died right as we finished our stalk and just before the shooting. TLM got better pictures of the after math and he will post the later. We ended up with 10 for the night.

We loaded up and checked a couple of other field, but called it quits early because we had plans for a morning coyote hunt.

 

[Afalex1]

Day two

We spent a good 8 hours in the pouring rain trying to call coyotes (not something T-Bone Outfitters normally does). Our first stand we successfully called one in, but I didn't hold up my end of the deal. I missed the coyote I was using a 16" Rem AAC bolt gun in 300 BLK with another new suppressor Silencerco is going to be releasing very soon. The gun and suppressor were very quiet and extremely light weight. We hiked a lot of miles in the sloppy mud near Jacksboro, TX and called a lot of spots with fresh tracks and scat, but never had any luck. We hunted hard a did everything we could to get a coyote, but it just wasn't happening.

A pic of TLM, Mike, and Dave during a break in the rain



Took a break for dinner at Dairy Queen and tried to warm up and dry out. We gorged ourselves on chicken fingers and hamburgers until it was time to get fuel and gather gear. We scanned a few fields we have to hunt near Jacksboro and picked off a coupld of jackrabbits just to have fun with the Silencerco suppressed pistols Mike brought along. It is pretty fun shooting jacks with a suppressed pistol and a night vision compatible red dot. From here we make the trek to a property about 25 minutes away that has been getting a large boar on camera around 1100 PM every night. We spotted it witht he thermal right away as we drove in.

Our goal was to take it with the bolt action since it was a lone boar. The bolt gun had a day scope on it and the plan was to helmet mount a pvs 14 and look through the day scope. This is not the optimum setup at all, but can be done with a little practice. We slowly made our stalk towards the boar, but we had a really bright light at our backs from a house on the hill. As we made our stalk I think the pig could see our silhouettes as we made our way to him. We were at about 100 yards away and the boar alerted. He was looking right at us and started to move away when Mike took the shot. Unfortunately, the shot didn't connect. We hiked around and looked for more hogs, but didn't see any so we did the 35 minute drive back to the orchards.

We pulled in and scanned the first couple of orchards, but only found deer (26 in one field feeding together). We moved on to the giant rotten pecan pile and the hogs were everywhere. From a distance I thought it was 10-15, but as we got closer I could see there were around 40! The wind wasn't quite right for the stalk, but we didn't have another option because of the position of a house, the road, and the pecan pile. As we got close the hogs winded us, but instead of running away they ran straight to us. This time the shooters were TLM, Mike, and Dave. As the hogs lined up and made the trot towards us the shooters readied themselves. The hogs came to about 40 yards and the firing squad let loose.

Right away all three shooters hit the first pig and then everyone started picking up the runners. Some of the hogs split off to the right and went behind us, others ran in a line in front of us. We were able to communicate and work around each other while maintaining great muzzle control and shot location. In the end they dropped five hogs and giggled the whole time. Dave got to shoot his first suppressed rifle and is hooked too.




We wrapped up the hunt early and headed home to get some sleep to try to call in coyotes in the morning with HDfireman from Ident Marking.

 

[Chopperdrvr]

Sounds like a really fun night. Now you gotta tell us how the coyote hunt went. (Man you were quick with that reply. I couldn't even get it typed.)

 

[Wildfowler]

Please tell me more about the unreleased 762 can???

 

[Afalex1]

Hdfireman met up with us at the property we planned to call on. It was a cold windy morning after a cold rainy night. The wind was not helping us with the calling, but we had to try anyway. Failure was not an option. We made 4 stands total until we got one to come in. We were setup on a ridge that over looked a large field with a thick tangle ravine at the bottom. I was using Silencerco's 300 blk Remington bolt gun with the unreleased suppressor, Hdfireman had his custom 243 bolt gun with him. We ran the call for about 20 minutes and finally a yote came in. he was coming hard to the call and didn't stop until he was about 100 yards out. I lined up the shot, but I pulled left as the trigger broke and missed. I fired again and hit the coyote's leg. He started spinning circles and Hdfireman finished him off with his 243. Here is a picture of Mike with his weapons of choice for the day along with Hdfireman and his custom 243 bolt gun.



We went to the orchards to try our luck with the coyotes, but it just didn't happen. We did call in a large hawk, which almost landed on the call! We loaded up and went back to my house to enjoy some crock pot pulled pork, coleslaw, and sweet potatoes fries my wife made for us. We were all so hungry we hardly talked during dinner. With full bellies and gear prepped we headed off to to the orchard in Hdfireman's new/old landcruiser.

He has it setup with a W1000 with a LCD screen to display it in the cab. Mike would stick it through the sunroof and could scan 360 degrees. We got the the first orchard and spotted a badger. The landowner has declared war on the badgers because they have made a huge colony of holes in one orchard and the hole are damaging his equipment. Mike stalked up with a 22 pistol with a warlock suppressor attached, but unfortunately the little guy was already on his hole and spotted/heard Mike's approach.

We moved on and found hogs. There were around 20 feeding out in a huge open field about 1000 yards from the gravel road we were one. We drove about half way to them and slowly made a stalk. The hogs started to make their way towards us because there was a feeder between us and them. The majority of the group came towards us and we setup for the shot. All three of us were shooting and we had our targets picked. As the first few rounds were fired we connected on he same hog. Then they started running. I missed my first couple of running shots and then picked a hog up at about 100 yards. By then the larger ones had made it to the brush and the smaller ones were too small for me to bother trying to hit them at 150+ yards. We gathered them up and had three down within 2 hours of hunting. We had a good start to the night.



We loaded up and headed to the largest of the orchard we hunt. As we pulled in we spotted something in the W1000 that looked like a hog, but we couldn't exactly tell what it was. As he got closer I could see him in the night vision and knew it was a hog. This boar was moving fast and we had to cut him off or we would lose him. Mike and I grabbed our gear and took off. We were making a pretty quick hike across a field full old sunflower stalks and frozen ground. The wind was calm and the noise seemed loud. We went up over a small ridge trying to cut off the boar I kept losing again and finding in the thermal. I lost sight of him and started to move towards the last place I saw him when Mike clicked his tongue a couple of times. The boar had popped up over the ridge a little behind me, but about 25 yards away. He was looking right at us, but didn't know what to do. Mike and I dropped our IR lasers on him, counted to three, and dropped him. Our first two shots dropped him right away, but Mike wanted to make sure he wasn't running and dumped four or five in him! The sounds of the thuds bullets make on hogs at 25 yards is amazing. It is something I rarely hear unless I have suppressors.



We loaded up and moved on. This time we headed to what we call the Home Orchard. I used to not see hogs in the Home Orchard at all, but now they are out in FORCE. We spotted around 40 hogs in the W1000 from about 500 yards away. We made our stalk through the trees slowly got to the hogs. The orchards had a heavy layer of leave in between the rows and we had to talke our time as to not spook the hogs, but I think we could have sprinted up to them and been ok. They were going crazy over the pecans on the ground. I setup the pvs14 and Iphone on a tripod and we stalked in. Again, the dang iphone died before the shooting! We got to about 30 yards and started the firing team. Mike and I dropped our first hogs on the spot. a few of the group ran left and I was able to swing and drop one. Hdfireman dropped one on his side. We got four from this group and they all arveraged around 200 pounds. Most of the hogs in this group were nearly the same size. They were all huge! This all happened at 3:30 AM about 400 yards from the landowner's house. I called him today and he said he didn't hear a thing. The wonders of suppressors!



We were able to get a lot of video, but we will have to hold out to see it from Silencerco. I'm excited for what is to come from them to include their new products to be released soon and the hunting videos.

 

[Afalex1]

I can't give you any details on the suppressors. You will have to wait until they come out, which will be very soon. I will say I was impressed with them and think they are great products. I got to hear them on a 300 blk bolt gun, a 300 blk 10.2 SBR, a 7.62x39 AR15 and a 6.8 AR15. All of them worked well with it and the POI shift was minimal.

I also hear the spectre II and warlock on 22 pistols. the warlock is tiny and weighs next to nothing. Both are extremely quiet. Mike also used a 9mm Osprey on a 9mm from Glock works. It is pretty awesome to hear the pop a 115 grain 9mm slug makes on a rabbit.

I'm exciting for the 7.62 Specwar cans I have in the works right now. They are very efficient with the 6.8 and 7.62x39 I have.

 

[Ratdog68]

What a great weekend... and you got in some trigger time as well ! Nice to hear TLM got to take a break from diapers. And, we need pix of the upgrades to the new/old Landyacht too. Good to hear that a good mix of guys were able to connect.

 

[PRyan1877]

Way to go guys, you had a great time for sure. Thanks for the write up.

 

[DDriller]

Sounds like you had a great hunt. Suppressors will spoil you! Would love to get my suppressed .338 Spectre down there to see what the little 300 grains pills would do.

 

[Afalex1]

I'm sure the 300 grain bullets would rock them. Do you use a suppressor?

 

[Wildfowler]

Somehow I knew you were going to say that....

I sure hope it's a 30 cal version of their saker. (Assuming it proves to be as durable as they claim, which I have no reason to doubt)

I like SWR/Silencerco. Although I don't have anything with the Silencerco name of it.


I'm sure the main point of this topic was not to discuss the new can.

Great hunting report.

 

[DDriller]

I'm sure the 300 grain bullets would rock them. Do you use a suppressor?

Yes I run an Octane9 HD on it with a 8.7" barrel.

 

[Shooter]

Nice hunting. Suppressors are really nice to use. There are many manufacturers out there. I have used Silencercos product and they are very nice. I have six different ones, by three different manufacturers and have used many more overseas and ebery one of them work well. Noise wise it is difficult to tell a big difference, and when engagaing targets quickly damn near impossible to tell. POI wise, there is a difference. Much of it based on what type of mount you use. If I was doing it all over again I would have four of the six be screw on and two would be QD.

Anyway, Good hunting, and there is a ton of new stuff coming out at the Shot Show to include some very nice weapons mounted thermal and a mid range price-not high dollar.

 

[Ratdog68]

Ok, I'll bite (Shooter). Why not "all" thread on? And, what would you NOT have thread on? Personally, I'd lean towards only thread on.

 

[Shooter]

and so would I but I have three set up as bug out guns for humans so I would want to move atleast one of those around and use them totally for CQB. I do not worry about POA/POI until it gets to about 100 to 200 yards. Anything in closer will not be precision shooting.

All of my weapons I look at for accuracy would be screw ons. Just my choice.

I do not disagree with you at all. I do teach CQB, in another life so I have to have options. Right now my favorite is a SBR that Ident built for me with a 12.5 inch upper that was built by Wes Grant in 6.8 with an ident suppressor that is screw on. It works great for me and is a fast accurate shooter. My other CQB weapons are QD mounts. and they work fine but you MUST check them and make sure they do not back off or you will get baffle strikes.

You must remove screw ons now and then to clean the threads on both the weapon and the suppressor or they WILL rust on eventually and that can be a problem with a precission weapon.

 

[hdfireman]

Great write up Alex and as always you put shooters on targets. Like Alex said, can't talk much about the suppressors but I will say that Silencerco is on the right track and I think customers will like their newest additions.

 

[Afalex1]

I prefer direct thread cans too, but I think silencerco has a great mounting system on the saker and specwar. I have worked in the machining field for 10 years and have a pretty solid foundation in designing fixtures, jigs, and machining aircraft parts. From comparing several different quick disconnect systems I think silencerco's is on top.

They use extremely strong and fast acme threads to attach the can to the muzzle device and a cam lock type ring that clamps two teeth onto a knurled ring on the muzzle device. I think its a strong and reliable design.

However, always check the tightness of all suppressors during use. Even direct thread cans may come loose over time.

 

[Ratdog68]

Understood (Shooter), thanks for the clarification on that. I'm a huge fan of CRC's Assembly Lube with Moly/Graphite. Been using it on the dis-similar metal threads on the bike for years and years, ALWAYS have found good/clean threads that work well. I do NOT like seized threads. LOL Use it on my firearms too.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

It was a great hunt and a pleasure not getting my ears blow out by the other hunters. I was really impressed with the silencerco people and gear. Not only do they make great gear but they actually know how to use it. Hunting with multiple people shooting moving targets at night is not easy, and can be interesting with certain people. Everything on this trip meshed well and felt very comfortable like we had been hunting together for years.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

Here are a few pics I have from the hunt.






762 Saker pre release.