Suppressor use here in NZ on both rimfire and centrefire is almost the rule rather than the exception nowadays, there are no restrictions on ownership or purchase other than having a firearm licence.
Rimfire suppressors with proper subsonic ammo are almost silent. I have a small plastic suppressor on my Gevarm 22RF which fires from an open block and just the sound of the falling block and return to open again is all you hear when shooting subsonic ammo. This suppressor has an internal wrapping of some sort of sound deadening cloth held in place with a spring. The suppressor chamber is quite open with no washer type baffling down to near bore size as most other suppressors I've seen have.
Suppressors for centrefires are usually fitted with approximately a third or slightly more of their length coming back over the barrel i.e. the thread that screws the suppressor to the barrel is someway down inside the suppressor, not at the end of it so the suppressor is not just hanging off the end of the barrel. Often the barrel is shortened a couple of inches before threading so the rifle is not overly long with a suppressor fitted however that is a choice for the owner. The medium calibres such as the 7mm-08 or 308 don't lose much performance when shortening barrels although suppressors are commonly used on the magnums too.
The centrefire ones certainly take the sting out of the shot and also some of the recoil. A 7mm-08 with a suppressor is a pussy to shoot. Animals don't seem to know where a suppressed shot is coming from so don't get overly jumpy if a shot is missed or if shooting more than one from a group of animals.
They certainly make a rifle forward/barrel heavy although with todays crop of 22" barrel lightweight plastic stocked rifles the weight of the suppressor helps with steadiness for off hand shooting, The majority here now use bipods too so rifles are well weighted forward anyway. My three sons all use suppressors and bipods on their 7mm-08's,
I'm still old school finding a rifle with a bipod and suppressor weighs my tired old legs down too much and my father resting his 7mm Magnum over my shoulder on several occasions to shoot a bunch of deer while I held the spotlight buggered my hearing while I was still at school.
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