A light west wind was at my back as the rattling horns worked their magic. In seconds, there was movement to my left as a buck jumped out of his bed and into my view. The binoculars confirmed it was the big 8-pointer I had been hunting for three years. I wheeled around 90 degrees and shoved the safety off. When I found the sight picture, I only saw a white tail bouncing off. Everything worked perfect — it just wasn’t his day to die.
Bergara sent one of their Ridge Carbon Wilderness rifles in .308 to test, as I was needing a management gun to thin out some deer on a ranch. I added a Silencer Central Banish to the end of the barrel.
I shot the first box of ammo as fast as I could and then started to work on the targets. The gun shot a three-round group that was a half-inch and I was equally blown away with the suppressor and how much recoil the Banish reduced.
This was all with subsonic Winchester 185-grain ammo. Then, I shot one round into a buck at 120 yards. It knocked him down, but he kicked himself out of sight. No more super quiet ammo for me.
I gathered up some different ammo and hit the range again, as every gun shoots ammo differently.
The Nosler 150-grain ballistic tip hunting ammunition shot the best and we saw 2,780 fps from the barrel at 100 yards. The 125-grain ballistic tip also did well with 2,903 fps and very little felt recoil.
The 165-grain trophy-grade ammo were shooting about 3-inch groups. We tried Hornaday 168-grain ELD Match and the gun didn’t really like those, but it did shoot the 150-grain Superformance really well.
Bergara sells this gun as a wilderness backpack gun, but it came in a bit heavy with the scope rings, sling and Banish suppressor at 8.84 pounds. I think that is a perfect weight for Texas truck and blind hunting. It feels great in your hand, the action is super-smooth and the oversized bolt is great. I even carried the gun for about 9 miles during some December rattling sessions and the Versacarry gun sling was comfortable throughout.
A silencer is a game changer.
For any new shooter, recoil is always an issue, and the sound is too. Even with my years of experience, I love the quiet and low recoil. Testing shows the Banish 30 reduces the report of a .308 by a whopping 34 decibels at a minimum.
The swish sound of the bullet traveling downrange allows the report to be the loudest thing you hear.
The titanium Banish 30 with eight baffles weighs 11.2 or 14.3 ounces and is 7 or 9 inches long. The shorter version is a tiny bit louder, they say, although I opted for the longer one. It is easy to shorten by simply removing the last 2 inches. It is worth the wait and the process was super- easy with awesome Midwest customer service.
Back to the management deer, the last one was shot through both shoulders with four other bucks feeding nearby. He fell in his tracks with the Nosler 150s and, before I could get out of the blind, the other bucks were back out and heading back to the corn.
Silencer Central Banish 30 $999
Bergara Ridge Carbon Wilderness $1,599
Versacarry leather rifle sling $34.99
