Thread: Supressor design question

So from my internet research and measuring various suppressors I have at home, it looks like the norm for center-fire can is 1.5 inch / 38mm diameter minimum. My DPT cans are 44mm diameter.

For rimfire can it is less, typically 25mm to 30mm, so around the 1 inch mark.

I have a Bergara BA13 in 308 that I would like to use with open sights. When I screw on my DPT center-fire can, the 44mm diameter makes the front sight blade disappear. I only intend using the suppressor for sub-sonic ammo, not my normal super-sonic 168 Amax load.

So I have 2 options, either raise the sights, or decrease the can diameter.

I guess my question is, how small a diameter can you go to assuming similar wall thickness ?

Pressure wise, I have got @Puffin to run some simulations in QuickLoad. His version did not have TrailBoss, but we got a similar load using ADI AS50, driving a 152gr cast projectile to 1050 fps out of a 16.5 inch barrel with 1:12 twist. Peak pressure looked like 10,000 psi, and muzzle pressure around 2,000 psi.

If you compare that to peak pressure for 22lr @ 24,000 psi, it would seem reasonably safe to consider using a rimfire can (bored for larger projectiles, doh) for sub-sonic loads only out of the 308 ???

Interested to hear comments or real-world experiences

@gundoc