RE: Hunt with silencer/suppressor
I do not own one. Though I have toyed at the idea several times. Much more appeal to me than anything full auto, which means less accuracy, and a higher price for the weapon (much higher) and more ammunition.
I have shot to date four different rifle systems with suppressors: a 10/22, where the barrel and supprssor were integral. It was built by the gunsmith at the gun shop I worked at for a few years, pretty neat stuff. Totally legal and liscensed. Also got to tinker with one of his ARs in a 300 whisper... same deal... self made. Just a .223 necked up to accept a 30 cal bullet. Reall really impressive.
Other two were a Rem 700 308 that is used by a member of our urban hunt team for just that... removing deer at night from golf courses, airports, neighborhoods, parks etc (I use a bow). He loads subsonic rounds and it is no louder than a .22 rifle with subsonic ammo. Just a muffled snap, not much louder than a firecracker set under an empty tuna can. 200gr bullets.... very very very effective. The gun is really deceptively powerful because you feel like you are shooting a .22, but get results like... well a .308.
The last was sort of a special circumstance. When I was living in SC, I got to do some culling down there as well (funny how I always get asked to do this sort of thing) on tomato farms on kill permits. One of the guys who asked me out to the farm was a good customer of mine at the shop. He has a custom built .50 cal with a suppressor. Same deal.... just loaded down with sub sonic ammo. Suppressor is as big as a 3 liter soda bottle. Suprisingly quiet. Shoots some huge 800 and something grain bullet. The really impressive part of his set up is the scope. I don't know where he got it or what it set him back-though I have heard rumors from some of his friends it was over $25K(he is a retired Marine lawyer.... never married, no kids... lots of money... lots of time.... likes his toys). All I can say is at 500 yards on a moonless night you can read a license plate with it. And it is very scary accurate.
All the suppressed rifles I have shot have hadthree things in common, they definately suppress the report and with the right ammo almost totally silence it (imagine shooting that .50 with no ear plugs.... and you can hear that bullet hit a deer too), they were all VERY accurate, and they are all very expensive compared to standard hunting rifles.
The least expensive of the lot was Terry's 10/22. Granted, the rifle is about a $200 gun... and he had to pay his $200 tax and wait 6 months for it to clear. But he did all the work himself. Most of the barrels that have suppressors built into them that I have seen for sale at various places are in the $800 range.... so you can figure that his rig is roughly $1000 plus a $200 tax stamp.
And so far as VA and SC go.... they absolutely legal to hunt with. Fully auto rifles, I don't know of aplace that they are legal to hunt with. But VA and SC look at a suppressed rifle just like they do a regular rifle, as long as you can legally possess it, and it is of suffiecent caliber (.23 or larger in VA, and not a rimfire in SC) then you are good to go.