Help me find a quiet rifle ...

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I'm all for suppressed ARs, but you should probably get your hunting bolt guns threaded as well. My two main hunting rifles are both chopped, threaded and used suppressed exclusively.

For an AR-15, I'd agree with everyone else that the 6.8 SPC and 6.5 Grendel are the best all around options. I hunted an 18" 6.8 SPC for a season several years back and knocked over a few deer. My load was 110gr Accubonds under a healthy load of AA2200 for 2,660 fps, and I was happy with the terminal performance.

This year I decided I wanted another lighter weight hunting AR, and put together a similar setup, but with a 16" barrel in 6.5 Grendel. Haven't killed anything with it yet, but my short notice load development produced a good-enough-for-now load with 120gr Gold Dots @ ~2,400 fps.

A quick zero check at the range confirmed I'm:

~1.5" high at 100
~ 0.5" low at 200
~ 10" low at 300

With a ~15 mph crosswind, corrections were 1.5", 5", and 11" respectively.

I would recommend putting an adjustable gas block on suppressed ARs, getting them dialed in helps with recoil, port pop (and therefore dBs at your ear) and gas to the face.
 
Not to get too far into the weeds, but how about the .30 RAR (Remington AR)? A 130gr Barnes TTSX at 2,800 fps zeroed for 200 yards would work nicely. Looks like the following:

1.9" high at 100 (1,865 ft-lb)
0.0" at 200 yards (1,524 ft-lb)
8.5" low at 300 yards (1,235 ft-lb)

I have a spare Daniel Defense lower and this thread has me thinking about a 6.8 SPC or .30 RAR upper. It also has me wondering if there's such a thing as the 6.5 SPC? Seems like it could offer a bump over the Grendel.
 
Not to get too far into the weeds, but how about the .30 RAR (Remington AR)? A 130gr Barnes TTSX at 2,800 fps zeroed for 200 yards would work nicely. Looks like the following:

1.9" high at 100 (1,865 ft-lb)
0.0" at 200 yards (1,524 ft-lb)
8.5" low at 300 yards (1,235 ft-lb)

I have a spare Daniel Defense lower and this thread has me thinking about a 6.8 SPC or .30 RAR upper. It also has me wondering if there's such a thing as the 6.5 SPC? Seems like it could offer a bump over the Grendel.

ARP used to offer a cat that was a 6.8 necked to 6.5 (Tac 6.5, 6.5x6.8, something along those lines), IIRC it was actually a little slower than the Grendel because of the narrower case with more taper. They don't seem to offer it anymore, but they do offer barrels in versions necked to 6mm and .30 cal called the Tac 6 and Tac 30.

https://ar15performance.com/__grendel__308__wildcats

I'll admit, the AR-15 compatible 270 MSR, sort of a Dasher necked up to 6.8mm, is kind of alluring, but ultimately would probably require more brass and load work than I'd like to put into a basic, lightweight, deer/antelope plunking carbine.
 
Not to get too far into the weeds, but how about the .30 RAR (Remington AR)? A 130gr Barnes TTSX at 2,800 fps zeroed for 200 yards would work nicely. Looks like the following:

1.9" high at 100 (1,865 ft-lb)
0.0" at 200 yards (1,524 ft-lb)
8.5" low at 300 yards (1,235 ft-lb)

I have a spare Daniel Defense lower and this thread has me thinking about a 6.8 SPC or .30 RAR upper. It also has me wondering if there's such a thing as the 6.5 SPC? Seems like it could offer a bump over the Grendel.
Where would you get cases for the RAR from? I didnt think remington made in since about 5-6 years ago?
 
Not to get too far into the weeds, but how about the .30 RAR (Remington AR)? A 130gr Barnes TTSX at 2,800 fps zeroed for 200 yards would work nicely. Looks like the following:

1.9" high at 100 (1,865 ft-lb)
0.0" at 200 yards (1,524 ft-lb)
8.5" low at 300 yards (1,235 ft-lb)

I have a spare Daniel Defense lower and this thread has me thinking about a 6.8 SPC or .30 RAR upper. It also has me wondering if there's such a thing as the 6.5 SPC? Seems like it could offer a bump over the Grendel.

The 30 rar is long dead and gone. No more brass or ammo or parts. They used a proprietary upper with a larger barrel shank and bolt.

MDWS does make a similar cartridge called the 30 sabercat which uses a larger stronger bolt in a standard size upper.

https://www.maddogweapons.com/30-sabercat.html
 
LoonWulf said:
Where would you get cases for the RAR from? I didnt think remington made in since about 5-6 years ago?

I was going to suggest that .450 BM cases could be necked down to .30 RAR but then I remembered why the lead engineer at Remington didn't use the .450 BM dimensions. The RAR is a 55 ksi cartridge whereas the .450 BM is a 38.5 ksi cartridge so he intentionally made sure that the RAR wouldn't work with a .450 BM upper, specifically the .450 BM bolt. He was concerned about excessive bolt thrust but too bad the RAR didn't catch on. Wikipedia needs to correct the "parent case" information for the RAR since they list it as .450 BM.

someguy2800 said:
The 30 rar is long dead and gone. No more brass or ammo or parts. They used a proprietary upper with a larger barrel shank and bolt.

Good points. Too bad really.

450bm_30rar.jpg
 
I was going to suggest that .450 BM cases could be necked down to .30 RAR but then I remembered why the lead engineer at Remington didn't use the .450 BM dimensions. The RAR is a 55 ksi cartridge whereas the .450 BM is a 38.5 ksi cartridge so he intentionally made sure that the RAR wouldn't work with a .450 BM upper, specifically the .450 BM bolt. He was concerned about excessive bolt thrust but too bad the RAR didn't catch on. Wikipedia needs to correct the "parent case" information for the RAR since they list it as .450 BM.



Good points. Too bad really.

View attachment 877550

Quite. I think it was about 10 years ahead of its time. Had it been released now with heavier factory ammo I think it would have made it.

Another failed Remington marketing on a really good cartridge (30RAR) in a long road of failed cartridge marketing (280Rem, and others).

The 30RAR really had legs in my opinion, if only Hornady had marketed it.
 
As long as we’re heading into the weeds, I want to offer my experience with a Daniel Defense AR (.223) suppressed with an OSS helix can that vents out the front. Not the quietest can available, but it is short, light, and creates no blow back through the action and charging handle. Therefore no adjustable gas block necessary and good function with no cycling issues. Since no suppressor on a high velocity cartridge is hearing safe, I will trade a couple of decibels for reliability. This is probably the direction that future suppressor design will take, and its a great field application for hunting.
 
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