I recently bought a Bergara HMR in 6.5 PRC. I also put in the paperwork for a Trust on a banish backcountry (my first suppressor). Current wait times for that paperwork is ~5 months. I plan to use another rifle for hunting this year and use the Bergara for 2025 hunting season. I also handload.
I am trying to decide if it makes any sense to work up a handload for accuracy now or wait for the suppressor to come through before working up a load. I just don’t have any experience with a suppressor so I don’t know how the accuracy will be affected by screwing on the suppressor compared to the default muzzle break the gun came with. So far I have only fire formed my lot of Lapua brass with a minimum load but have done nothing for load build up.
In my experience, there is some shift in the point of impact when you put on a suppressor. So you’d eventually need to tweak your zero. But, as far as +/- powder charges or seating depths, I haven’t ever seen any difference with/without a suppressor.
Good to know. So working to best group size won’t be wasted by screwing on a suppressor later.
In any case, I just got my paperwork back “Approved” from ATF so I’ll only have to wait another 3 weeks or so while I finish up the paperwork and 7 day waiting period. NICE!
I have a NFA Trust and usually it has been taking 3 to 4 months for approval. Last week I got an approval in 4 days. So I bought another one. Did the Certification yesterday we will see how long this one takes
I think it’s fine to work on a load before the suppressor comes. It’ll change the velocity slightly and the point of impact will be lower, but the accuracy won’t change much.