16" is a bit too loud for me, even suppressed, 18" is do-able with a good suppressor and no ear protection as long as its open country. As soon as you're in heavy timber though, look out. Yes velocity is a consideration. I run the 165gr Speers at 2,550fps and am happy with the drops and killing power. I ran the numbers for the shorter barrel and that 50-75fps loss up front counts for a shit load downrange. You start to run into unburnt powder problems if you're not careful, with the 16" and shorter.
Having said that, I was impressed by what some of the guys are doing with short, fast twist .308s, with heavy 200gr+ bullets. For me though, the 180gr ProHunter does the job no problem, proper heavy deer bullet that.
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