Posted by Eric Drake on 2023 Jul 11th
Mountains, Mullets, Merica! Suppressors And Rifle Performance - MDT Mention
“Mountains. Mullets, Merica!” recently posted a review of how his self-assembled .308 precision rifle performed with and without a Surefire 7.62 SOCOM Mini suppressor.
The host begins the video with an overview of his rifle build and his reasoning behind his selection of each part. The rifle used in this video features a Pristine rifle action, a Proof Research .308 carbon fiber 1-10 Twist barrel, a Riton 7 Conquer 3-18 with a PSR reticle, and an MDT XRS Chassis with an Accu-Tac bipod mounted on the lower ARCA rail. The host notes that he likes heavier bolt-action rifles for precision target shooting.
After the rifle build overview, the host moves to his flat range to shoot Federal Gold Medal Match 175 Sierra MatchKing at 100 yards, 500 yards, 800 yards, and 1100 yards with and without a suppressor.
The first non-suppressed five-round group at 100 yards averaged 2573 FPS with a Standard Deviation of 2.6 FPS. The second non-suppressed 5-round group measured a 1.25-inch spread, with four of the five shots touching each other on the paper and one flier.
The next series of non-suppressed shots are taken at steel circular targets from a distance of 517 yards. Holding adjustments for wind, the host takes shots at the steel target and hits the latter three shots of the six-shot group after dialing in his holdovers. The host then moves out to shoot a 2/3rds IPSC steel target at 820 yards with the non-suppressed rifle. After adjusting for wind and distance, the shooter misses the first two shots and hits the target with his last five out of seven shots in the group.
Next, the host shoots at a full-sized IPSC silhouette from 1100 yards with 13.6 miles of elevation holdover. With the wind calmer than previously, adjustments to windage holds are changed, and the rifle manages to make five out of seven shots on target.
For testing the host uses the highly versatile MDT XRS Chassis System.
The first suppressed five-round group at 100 yards averaged 2583 FPS with a standard deviation of 9.4 FPS. The additional groups were aimed at small stickers on paper targets at 100 yards. This was to demonstrate the impact shift caused by the Surefire SOCOM Mini suppressor. Of the additional groups, there was a trend of roughly half-inch lower point of impact with the suppressor attached to the rifle. Moving out to shoot the small steel target at 517 yards again, the host lands all five of his shots taken with the same 3.5 mil elevation holdover he used when shooting his rifle non-suppressed. At 820 yards and the same holdover used when shooting non-suppressed, the host hits the 2/3rds IPSC target four out of five times. Finally, at 1100 yards, four out of the nine shots fired hit the target after some zero adjustments.
The host gives his final thoughts at the end of the video, noting that those using suppressors on precision rifle build should expect the same performance and accuracy as when they shoot their rifles non-suppressed. With a suppressor-equipped rifle and a correct zero at 100 yards, there should be no decrease in accuracy compared to a non-suppressed rifle. These tests are important but hard to perform because of atmospheric changes that may present themselves and shooter errors throughout the shooting process.
Want to get zeroed and push your rifle out to 1,000 yards? Check out this awesome video from Mountains, Mullets, Merica!
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