Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 300 PRC w/ 24” Tube

I’m considering building a 300 PRC to run suppressed for spot and stalk elk and deer out to 600 with practice on steel and paper out to 800 yards. It will be twisted appropriately for 200-200 grain bullets such as Berger and Hornady. I plan to add a Silencerco ASR brake for QD with an Omega 300.

Will a 24” tube be great for this or should I go with 26”?

I will be in and out of vehicles plus carrying it through brush from time to time, thus the QD. Thinking 24” Proof CF sendero (not lite).

24" and roll......

Same thought here. I wouldn’t want a 26 and a suppressor myself at all. Hell I’d probably give up a little speed and take it back further. With that big case and 200+ bullets it isn’t giving up much in the grand scheme of things.

20", and only that long because your can's warranty doesn't cover shorter barrels on "magnums".
A 24" barrel on a long action, plus the added length of the can, will make for a behemoth of a rifle.
You'll never notice the small decrease in velocity in the field with the shorter barrel, but you'll certainly notice the extra length on the longer rifle when trying to navigate the brush with the equivalent of a 30" barrel.
Also, ditch the brake and just go direct thread. Not much point in a can if you may take a shot without the can and destroy your hearing via the brake. Plus having a can separate from the rifle is one more thing to forget, and the zero will likely be different if you have to take an unsuppressed shot.

A 24" barreled long action 700 (44.5"), plus 7" of can, equals 51.5" of rifle. For reference, an 870 pump with a 30" barrel goes an inch shorter in OAL. I know a 30" 870 seems rather long in the squirrel woods for sure.

How much reduction in noise do you really expect to get from the suppressor shooting a 300PRC @ 28-2900fps? I've shot my 300PRCs - both 26", with a suppressor on each (Dead Air Nomad-30 and a Q Thunder Chicken) at the range. Can't say that the noise reduction was anything to write home about, or that it suppressed the 300PRC enough to be hearing safe. YMMV

Why ditch the QD brake? Since I plan to remove and add it back more frequently than just leaving it on for a trip, isn’t the QD better for repeat accuracy than the direct thread?


I get shooting it with and without the can POI difference but isnt the QD better about returning to the same POI than a direct thread?

You've got that bassackwards.

Brush, 24 inch, and suppressor. You can make them work in a sentence, but not in the real world of hunting. Pick 2 of the 3.

I'm not wanting a can on a hunting rifle.

If you like them, go for it.

I second what prairie goat and jPro said. 24" and a 7" can is not something you are going to want to carry anywhere.

The OAL of my rifles has gone up since I started using suppressors for everything, but my rule of thumb is 22" barrel +5" can or 20" barrel + 7" can.

There are some QD mounts that are very repeatable but the silencerco are not really one of them. I say that bc I have owned two. They are repeatable by AR-15 standards, not LR shooting standards. The Thunderbeast CB mount and the others of similar design are another story.

23" and a UL7 were miserable for me to carry in heavy cover. Personally I'd vote 6.5-284, 6.5-06, 280, 280ai at either 20" suppressed or more likely 23-24" unsuppressed. This with your 600 yard desired range on game. Build it on a good stock with blind magazine. Best of luck.

Also you really do not want to be taking your can on and off before a 600 yard shot. Even the very reliable conical mounts like Thunderbeast you might see a small zero shift if a speck of dirt, carbon, etc somehow ends up under the mount.

Most of the ratcheting/lock collar/coarse thread mounts you can plan on 1moa or maybe much larger zero shift every time you take the can on or off because those systems are built loose to keep the cans from getting carbon locked from guys doing mag dumps. I have plenty of those types of mounts...on my AR's.

If someone at the shop trying to sell you a suppressor told you otherwise, they are a fuhhhkin liar. Your can stays on the rifle. Your barrel just needs to be shorter so you can leave the can on.

As far as sound reduction, with most 7 inch cans you're taking 165 DB down to maybe 140 DB. Still loud AF but a tiny fraction of the sound pressure unsuppressed.

I'd go 20" or 22" max, I'd probablyjust go 21" and split the difference. The 300 prc isn't too terribly inefficient. I'd also consider a 300 wsm as they are very accurate and efficient and mine shoots heavy bullets almost the same speed as a prc.

I don't like to take even my 26" unsupressed barrels hunting anymore. My 28 nosler has a 26" carbon barrel with a slayer break that adds at least another 2". I never hunt with it anymore.

Last year I took my elk with an 18.5" barrel 7-08. I've never liked long barrels but hunted with a 26" 264 for 4-5 years 15 years ago. Anything longer than 24" total seems to stay in the safe these days. Range finders and scopes with dials ended my need to squeeze out a few extra fps.

Bb

i just got my my 338 Lapua scoped with a Nightforce scope and sighted in, this rifle has a muzzle brake and the Brux barrel is 28 inch long . this rifle groups 1/2 inch at 100 yards off my bench i am very happy how well it shoots with Nosler Accubounds 225 gr. 2800 + FPS . i would have a longer barrel on your rifle and no can on the end either. good luck,Pete53

338- Lapua shooting like a 338 Win Mag.

Like a 24" barreled 338 win mag.

That’s kinda what I was thinking. Isn’t a real big feat to get most any 225 up to and over 2900 in a 24-25” barrel Win Mag..

I used a suppressed 300 mag in Africa to cull. Certainly quieter than a naked barrel. It was a 26" tube.
It would have been unwieldy in brush