. You wont find a cartridge that does it all better than the 300 Blackout. I pulled these numbers out of thin air, but this general principles hold true for all gun barrels. Youll often hear people say that the ideal barrel for shooting 300 Blackout is 8 or 9 inches. None of the metal fragments penetrated more than 16 inches, which is exactly what you want with home defense ammo. One notable newcomer to the world of premium hunting ammunition is Discreet Ballistics. Its more powerful, efficient, and lethal when fired out of short-barreled rifles than 5.56 ammo. Keep in mind, that its wildcat predecessors like the .300-221 were known to be fairly accurate with the right twist rate. At bottom, bullets damage things, people, and animals by transferring energy to them. This will give you good enough performance for short-range target practice (controlled mayhem?) This is where a dedicated .300 BLK magazine can be tremendously useful. It works well with supersonic ammo. The subsonic 300 Blackout loads are often compared to 45 ACP, 10 mm or 9mm subsonic rounds. Youll also see bullet widths measured in millimeters (mm), and the width of the 300 Blackout bullet works out to 7.62 mm. To learn more about the 7,62x40WT click here. This is the perfect balance of barrel length for high muzzle energies, they say, without making the gun front-heavy and awkward to shoot. A cartridge load for 7 to 11-inch barrels with slightly more gunpowder to increase the velocity out of short-barreled rifles. And to take things a step further, what if you want to hunt animals like deer, hogs, or even elk with 300 Blackout? If that sounds like a rather small case to be necking up to 30-caliber, consider that the Fireball itself was made by shortening the 222 Remington, itself one of our smallest 22 centerfires. The only downside of these cartridges is the cost$1.8 per roundwhich makes it expensive to practice with this ammo. This load should also work well in a self-defense role where over-penetration is a concern. Subsonic ammo is lower-powered ammo that only propels bullets to just below the speed of sound. This is why the 300 Blackout is also called the 7.6235, which corresponds to its bullet width and case length in mm, respectively. I tried this for several rounds with the same thing each time. Copyright 2023 | Privacy and Disclosure | Curation Policy | DMCA Policy. Lets consider the Blackout with 150-grain bullets at 2,100 fps. Remove the gas block and look for off-center carbon ring where the block meets the hole in the barrel. For one thing, even if all of the gunpowder is burned, you can increase the muzzle energy of the bullet by keeping the gasses trapped inside the barrel for longer, allowing more time for them to push on the bullet. This is particularly true at longer ranges, where bullets begin to drop faster and it becomes harder and harder to predict where they will land. Heavy, slow moving subsonic bullets experience more bullet drop than fast, more aerodynamic bullets. It will eject the spent brass, but not pickup a new round. AAC took the .300 Whisper, made slight modifications to the case and bullet to improve reliability, accuracy, and performance, and birthed the 300 Blackout (theres more to this story, but thats the long and short of it). You grab some friends, line up behind the car, put your hands on the bumper, and push as hard as you can. Think again. By utilizing a fast twist to stabilize the long heavy subsonic bullets, I suspect accuracy suffers on the lighter loads. Its base, capped with a bit of lead core, penetrated to approximately 15 inches but was only about the size of an aspirin. Due to the bullets light weight, its able to reach a muzzle velocity of 2,800 fpsalmost as fast as a 5.56 and much faster than standard 300 Blackout ammo. Because velocity is critical to performance, this load should be a great match for an SBR. Take those two groups out of the mix, and the average group size falls to 2.42 inchesmore than .70 inch better than the average for the six supersonic factory loads I tested in the MPW carbine. One problem with many subsonic 300 Blackout cartridges is that theyre loaded with enough gunpowder to achieve maximum subsonic velocityabout 1,050 fpsout of a 16-inch barrel. While the bullet is obviously much larger, the parent case is 5.56mm so it will fit into the chamber. Thats not a bad tradeoff when you consider the terminal ballistics of 300 Blackout vs 5.56 (which youll learn next). Whether you're using a 7.5-inch, 10.5-inch, or even 16-inch barrel, sub-sonic .300 BLK vastly outperforms 5.56 NATO when fired from a suppressed rifle. Instead, it was designed for combat, which typically takes place within around 300 yards (and the vast majority of that combat occurs within about 100 yards). (Have any suggestions for ammo that should be on this list? So, why not just use hollow point 5.56 ammo? Its also common for cheap, low-quality ammo to have varying amounts of gunpowder from cartridge to cartridge, which can decrease accuracy. There are two things you can do to increase a bullets energy on target: In general, the best way to increase the muzzle energy of a bullet is to fire it through a longer barrel. All else being equal, a bullet with a lower BC will slow down faster, whereas a bullet with a higher BC will maintain its velocity for longer. You will have to tweak subsonic handloads based on your rifle and the ambient conditions in order to get consistent subsonic performance. That person was Bill Wilson of Wilson Combat with his 7.62x40WT. A metal grip frame, slide ports and a red dot cut are just some of the new features. If youve spent any time poking around online, youve likely heard its . For example, a 55-grain 5.56 bullet bullet traveling just under the speed of sound1,050 fpsonly has 135 ft.lbf. As you learned a moment ago, the 300 Blackout has significantly more muzzle energy when fired through short barrels than the 5.56. Buy a new 300 Blackout upper, slap it on your AR-15, buy some 300 Blackout ammo, and suddenly your good ol black rifle is ready to slot ungulates. Let me know in the comments section below! The alternative to not using an actual .300 BLK magazine is to employ a 5.56 NATO/.223 magazine and then exercise more than stringent ammunition management to ensure a failure does not occur. That means if you aim at someones chest at that range, the bullet is most likely going to slump into the ground at their toes. A cartridge with a higher-pressure load contains more gunpowder, and a cartridge with a lower-pressure load contains less gunpowder. Thus, the 300 Blackout cartridge refers to a particular bullet and case combination. The rounds cycle smoothly by hand so I don't think that is the issue. I used load data from Hodgdon and Accurate, but my first attempt yielded supersonic velocities. This causes the animal to bleed faster and die sooner than if the bullet only enters but doesnt exit. JavaScript is disabled. If you are looking for an easy to tune, high accuracy round, you may be better served elsewhere. Anything more expensive is probably more than you need if youre just tearing up targets and having fun. Failure to Launch? Andrew Betts served with the Arizona National Guard for over 12 years, including a tour to Afghanistan. The 300 in 300 Blackout stands for .30-caliber, which is a measure of the diameter of the barrel a bullet is designed to be fired through. Using a Magpul magazine again as our example, they deploy a distinct rib design and smoother upper-half texture this provides the shooter a distinct visual and tactile difference from any other PMAG to mitigate dangerous cross-loading issues.. All Rights Reserved. In this article, youre going to learn . by jFlacoS Sun Dec 29, 2013 9:59 am, Post *Must have a registered ARFCOM account to win. . Heres what several 300 Blackout bullets looks like when removed from their cases: As you can see, one of the defining characteristics of the 300 Blackout is its long, steep, sharply tapered bullet. I could see no real advantage offered by the .300 Blackout in supersonic form over the .223 Rem. Having a high muzzle energy is nice, but it wont matter if the bullet loses most of this energy before it hits your target. The more a bullet slows down, the more energy it loses and the more it will drop. Knocks the burs left right off. The 300 Blackout, on the other hand, is designed to reach maximum muzzle energy when fired through a 9-inch barrel. ***Fixed! Predicting the trajectory of subsonic 300 Blackout bullets is difficult, as the ballistics coefficient can vary from 0.65 (very good) to 0.173 (dog doo doo). The barrel is chambered in 300 AAC Blackout with a 1 in 8" twist. This is important, because the distance a bullet has to travel before hitting its target can drastically change how it behaves in flight and after entering the target. There are many different theories on what makes the best hunting ammo. 300 Blackout vs. 5.56 Velocity Loss (In Feet Per Second). CONS: A little short in the stock and I'm no fan of super soft recoil pads. by jFlacoS Sun Dec 29, 2013 11:13 am, Post Open the gas port up a little at a time until the bolt will lock back on an empty magazine. What barrel and gas tube length? Lining up and Picking Sides - A WW3 Story. If it is mixed brass of 223/5.56 brass that was converted to 300 Blackout I have read in a couple of Forums that NATO 5.56 wall thickness creates issue when trimming or cutting it to make 300 blackout brass. Years later, I headed out the range with a custom Remington Model 7 chambered in 300 BLK. Most people rarely shoot at targets more than 300 yards away with either 5.56 or 300 Blackout. A grain is a unit of measurement used in the firearms industry for measuring bullet weights, equivalent to about 1/15th of a gram. By the end, youll know everything you need to know about 300 Blackout ammo, whether you should try it, and what you can expect if you do. However, the 130-grain TTSX did not, mainly because the heavier bullet could not achieve as much velocity. It was first concocted by J.D. When frangible bullets hit a hard target, like a wall, they disintegrate into dust without passing through the target. Theres one key difference between hunting ammo and home defense ammo. Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more. In the case of home defense, the main concern is the bullet either missing or passing through your wouldbe assailant, and hitting a loved one in another room, flying through the wall and hitting someone next door, blowing away the neighbors dog, or all of the above. .300 Blackout Review (BLK) 2022 - Why This Ammo Is GREAT - Gun Advice While different brands, weights, and loads of ammo will have slightly more or less muzzle energy than this chart shows, it gives you a good ballpark estimate for most off-the-shelf 5.56 and 300 Blackout ammo. The point is that if you are going to choose a rifle sized weapon, you ought to use ammunition that can do rifle sized work. PRESCRIPTION 1Bullet: 110-grain Sierra HPPowder/Charge: Hodgdon Lil'Gun, 20.0 grainsPrimer: Federal Small RifleCartridge Overall Length: 1.89 inchesMuzzle Velocity: 2,402 fps. Remember, one of the main selling points of the .300 Blackout is that all of the parts are the same as your 5.56mm rifle, except for the barrel. The 300 BLK rifle magazine is based on the original design offered by the company and provides a steel and polymer design for both a translucent smoke finish and solid black options The reliable, and trouble-free feeding system is tailored perfectly for the dimensions of the 300 BLK cartridge. The two primary kinds of ballistics you need to worry about are external ballistics and terminal ballistics: So, with this model in mind, lets look at the 300 Blackouts external and terminal ballistics. Trouble with RCBS 300 Blackout Dies Not Seating Bullets Consistently March 31, 2021 If you're having trouble with RCBS or Hornady 300 blackout dies not seating bullets consistently, this should help. The 5.56 is more or less the opposite of the .50 BMGits half as wide and 10 times lightermaking it pretty worthless for penetrating through barriers. But what does this mean for boar and deer killing performance? The leader in the shooting industry for modern sporting rifle magazines is Magpul, and their .300 BLK magazines have an optimized internal geometry that accommodates a wide variety of .300 BLK cartridges. In laymans terms, that is exactly what we are looking for a magazine made for the varying bullet types, grain weights and shapes that come with the .300 BLK cartridge. After reducing the powder charge, eight of the next 10 rounds were subsonic. In addition, my testing revealed it is relatively easy to assemble .300 AAC Blackout handloadsboth subsonic and supersonicthat are more accurate than factory loads. If you're trying to create supersonic loads with long, 150-grain or heavier bullets, you'll find powder space is limited. You can find factory, boxed ammunition anywhere from a 110-gr. This load was very accurate, besting the most accurate factory load I fired from the AAC MPW carbine by more than .50 inch. Its more expensive ($1.4 most places), but its some of the most accurate subsonic 300 Blackout ammo you can find. Just for kicks, I also assembled subsonic loads with two heavyweight bullets. It would work well for defense and tactical applications; the bullet's bonded construction would help it hold together when encountering a barrier. Keep your gear handy when it's not on your belt. AAC rigorously tested a variety of designs to make sure it perfectly fit standard AR-15 magazines, fed into the gun, and fired without a hitch. I loaded an additional 10 rounds using the original data and fired them through a CVA Scout with a 16-inch barrel. The problem becomes even more pronounced when the round is fired from a carbine or pistol-length barrel, and that's where .300 Blackout steps in. . ) In my experience the 300 Blackout runs best with a pistol length gas system. This test is a good example of the penetrating power of 300 Blackout: In the video, a 300 Blackout bullet penetrates 24 inches of pinewood whereas a 5.56 bullet only penetrates 16 inches of pinewood. Jason Imhoff then drafted the specifications for the cartridge that would eventually be approved by SAAMI. Either the bullet was slipping forward in the case when the cartridge was chambered, or the carbine just did not like the AccuBond. Perhaps one of the most sobering problems with .300 Blackout is the ability to chamber in a .223 or 5.56mm barrel. Well, someone did. I chose two Berger VLD bullets, the first of which was the company's 190-grain Hunting version. The 300 Blackout cartridge was designed from the ground up to be fired through AR-15s, and as a result it doesn't suffer from any of the reliability problems of other cartridges. Had problems with cycling both. Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. With. The reason the cases of the 5.56 and 300 Blackout are so similar is because both cartridges need to fit in the same gun. With that out of the way, lets look at the bullet drop of the 300 Blackout. It should be equally or more powerful than the 7.6239 cartridge (AK-47 ammo) when fired from 9-inch barrel. This process provides substantially more neck tension, and when employing the technique with the .30 Rem. Each load was fired into blocks of 10-percent ordnance gelatin positioned 15 feet from the muzzle. For now, lets focus on subsonic ammo. . AR. Finally, some .300 AAC Blackout brass has crimped primers, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason for this occurrence. Instead, you want the bullet to enter the target, transfer all of its energy and lethal force to the person, and stop inside them without flying out the other side. Like airplanes, once in flight bullets have to overcome two main obstacles to reach their target: Air resistance is also referred to as drag. Ultimate Guide to 300 Blackout | Ballistics, Uses, & More! Unfortunately, reducing the speed of a bullet also significantly reduces its energy. Adam is a manager at The Guns And Gear Store in Waite Park, MN. I also learned in my research that virtually all 300 AAC Blackout pistol builds utilize: a pistol length gas system, a lighter, carbine weight bolt carrier group (BCG), and a lighter, carbine weighted buffer in order to cycle sub-sonic reliably. Magtech Full Metal Jacket Subsonic 200-grain 300 Blackout, Magtech Full Metal Jacket Supersonic 123-grain 300 Blackout. Also guessing that you've already checked that your gas block is properly lined up with the port; opening up the port would be my last resort unless it's one of the barrels known for having small ports to begin with (have to search around the net, don't remember which they were but there was some discussion of them a while back). When I built mine, I settled on a 22 barrel, [], The 300 AAC Blackout (300 BLK) is a popular alternativecartridgein the AR-15/M16 M4 (AR) community. The data has not otherwise been tested or verified by the NRA. In many ways, the 300 BLK in design terms is the opposite of a modern match cartridge like the 6mm BR or 6.547 Lapua. We dive deep into the best of the .300 Blackout. It cycles supersonics fine, it cycles the subs with a borrowed suppressor just fine, but it's not getting enough gas to run subs with no can. It may not display this or other websites correctly. I recommend first to try slower powder, I had the exact same problems with mine. by 20X11 Sun Dec 29, 2013 11:19 am, Post Even worse is when a combine that harvests grain needs a part only made in China. The 300 Blackout is a rifle cartridge thats more powerful than 5.56/.223 (AR-15 ammo) when fired out of a barrel thats less than 16 inches long and works reliably with both super- and subsonic ammo. We dont need to get into the nitty gritty details right now, but the long story short is that the more you increase the length of a barrel, the more you increase the muzzle energy of the bullets you shoot through it. Specifications: Length: 3.8" Width: 2.1" Height: 2.5" Weight: 9.0 oz Water Resistant: Submersible to 10 ft. Mount: 1" Weaver or MIL-STD-1913 rail Power Source: One 123 lithium battery by jFlacoS Sun Dec 29, 2013 10:42 am, Post Most barrel makers and benchrest shooters will tell you the best accuracy for a given bullet is obtained with a twist rate that just stabilizes the bullet. A 300 Blackout was not used to take this feral hog, but its parent case, the 221 Fireball, was! If you like Rifleshooter.com, please follow us on Facebook. I'm having a similar issue with a friends blackout pistol. As an added bonus, its all-copper construction means you dont have to worry about picking slivers of lead out of your steaks. 300 Blackout ammo is legal for hunting deer in almost every state as long as you use supersonic ammo, and its legal in many states with subsonic ammo, too. If youre using subsonic bullets, then cut that range in half. Their 300 Blackout ammo is a little pricey but still affordable, and they were one of the first companies to start producing the cartridge after it was invented. The military was interested in this kind of performance for clandestine operations, I assume. He bought one of these https://www.americantactical.us/6334/detail.html and it won't cycle the 208grn hornady amax subsonics without suppressor. For example, shooting 208g Amax with 10.7g of Hodgdon 4198, it functions great and keeps the bolt open on the last round. That way, you can practice on the cheap while maintaining your skill with home defense cartridges. The muzzle energy, which is the energy of a bullet just after it leaves the barrel of a gun. What do I need to do to get it to cycle for him? I say that because they aren't getting stuck, it's almost like the bolt/extractor isn't even engaging the case. Despite losing 28% of its velocity, the 5.56 is still moving 34% faster than the supersonic 300 Blackout at 200 yards, making it the better choice at that range. Now, to calculate a bullets energy on target, you need a few pieces of data: Bullets have the most energy right after they exit the muzzle of the gun, and this number is referred to as a bullets muzzle energy. (Not important in my opinion, but worth knowing if youre concerned about the government keeping tabs on your arsenal). He is a Glock and Smith & Wesson Certified Armorer as well. "Not cycle" can mean several things - does it extract and eject the fired round but not feed the next round, something else? Its more powerful than 5.56 ammo when shooting subsonic (quiet) bullets. ALWAYS CONSULT COMPREHENSIVE REFERENCE MANUALS AND BULLETINS OF PROPER TRAINING REQUIREMENTS, PROCEDURES, TECHNIQUES AND SAFETY PRECAUTIONS BEFORE ATTEMPTING ANY SIMILAR ACTIVITIES. As a general rule, then, you want your bullets to shoot flat, or with as little drop as possible. The 110-grain Barnes TTSX bullet is a better choice for the .300 Blackout than its 130-grain cousin, but there is another lesson: If you're loading this bullet for a faster-shooting .30 caliber, when impact velocities drop below 2,000 fps, do not expect expansion. In other words, if you were to shoot a 5.56 through a 9-inch barrel, it would have significantly less muzzle energy than the 300 Blackout. Not a lot, but those high B.C. Increasing it from 8 inches to 16 inches, though, might only result in a 20% increase in muzzle energy. Ruger American in .300 Blackout - test & review - Rifle Shooter Itll reliably kill deer, hogs, and people within those ranges, too. Copyright 1996-2023 AR15.COM LLC. Assuming it takes two shots on average to kill most game, including missed shots and the occasional berzerker boar that needs a mag dump, that means youre only spending $3 to 6 per animal. The same thing happens on a smaller scale inside the barrel of a gun. You see, just because all of the gunpowder in a cartridge is burned doesnt mean that increasing the barrel length doesnt offer any benefits. Are you running a can with your subsonic and are the subs factory or handloads? Once you start trying to do other things with the 300 BLK, better options emerge. The 300 Blackout just doesn't pack enough powder to require a long tube for full combustion. Springfield Saint Victor 300 BO Issue? | The Armory Life Forum . Ballistics data gives you a means of comparing one cartridge to another so that you can tease out their strengths and weaknesses and decide which one is the best choice for different jobs. Where are you located and maybe somebody local can take a look at your gun. PRESCRIPTION 6Bullet: 150-grain Nosler Ballistic TipPowder/Charge: Hodgdon Lil'Gun/17.0 grainsPrimer: Federal Small RifleCartridge Overall Length: 2.18 inchesMuzzle Velocity: 2,058 fps. Using Fiocchi .300 blackout 220 grain subsonic ammunition. 10 mph wind coming at a right angle from the side of the shooter, 0.3 ballistics coefficient (about average for 300 Blackout). TS Customs Quick Adjust Knob for KMW Loggerhead Cheekpiece, Modular Driven Technologies (MDT) HS3 Chassis Review: Part 2 Shooting the MDT HS3 Chassis System, Rifleshooter.coms 50-25-7 Practical Carbine Standard, Shortening a shotgun stock and fitting a recoil pad, Completing an 80% 10/22 Select Fire LLC RAZOR Semiautomatic Receiver. by rjacobs Sun Dec 29, 2013 12:09 pm, Post PROS: Straightforward design; 7" barrel twist; Great compact rifle handling character. 4 Reasons .300 Blackout Is a Terrible Choice for Home Defense. He's also a writer for the NRA Shooting Sports USA, TheFirearmBlog, Sierra Bullets, All Outdoor, OutdoorHub, and Boyds Gunstocks. Momentum! The barrel on the Savage is just over 16 inches, as are all the rifles in this test. All technical data in this publication, especially for handloading, reflect the limited experience of individuals using specific tools, products, equipment and components under specific conditions and circumstances not necessarily reported in the article and over which the National Rifle Association (NRA) has no control. Lehigh Defense 300 AAC Blackout 78-grain High Velocity Close Quarters. Heres a fun example of this principle in action: Thats a .50 BMG punching through three cinder blocks, and the reason its able to pull this off is because its an extremely heavy bullet moving very fast. . Machining a wide hollow point bullet out of a solid slug of copper (which expands more reliably and holds its shape better than a mixture of lead and copper). by 20X11 Sun Dec 29, 2013 10:50 am, Post I get fails all the time with the T2 buffer but functions 100% with carbine buffer. If this interplay between barrel length, bullet energy, and ballistics coefficient seems confusing, I dont blame you. To increase bullet energy on target, increase the barrel length or the bullets ballistics coefficient. From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm. As this bullet penetrates into someone the aluminum nose of the bullet is pushed back into the copper base. The RCBS Primer Pocket Swaging tool will correct this, but taking care of the issue is a time-consuming affair. In the AAC MPW carbine, the 10-shot, 100-yard group measured 1.81 inches. Some people even go so far as to say that anything longer than a 9-inch barrel for a 300 Blackout is a complete waste of space and weight. bullet all the way up to 220 grains. So, who is right? The latest content straight to your inbox plus an automatic entry to each of our monthly giveaways! In short, the 300 Blackout is definitely worth investigating. It penetrated as deep as any of the lead-core bullets loaded in the factory loads I tested. All content Copyright 1998-2018 Rifleshooter.com, FTC disclosure: some links on this site are monetized, Removing stripped and sheared screws from a rifle, Project Guns- Gunsmithing articles and posts. I have a CMMG 8.5" barrel. In case you arent familiar with the term, plinking refers to more or less randomly shooting at stuff for fun, in a safe manner. through a short-barreled AR-15 . At that distance, the 300 Blackout has 2 feet of bullet drop versus 1 foot for the 5.56. The most important task of a magazine is that it feeds cartridges smoothly into the gun. There's a narrow band of powders that work well with the .300 Blackout. Today it is perhaps best known as a self-defense and military round, but gaining the spotlight as an effective hog killer, especially when combined with a suppressor to really muffle the report. As youll learn later in this article, while this does make rifles much easier to use in confined spaces, it also neuters the power of the 5.56 cartridge. . . 300 BLK, Cartridge Selection, Precision Rifles, Reloading . Though I had used the 110-grain Speer Deep Curl for plinking quite a bit, I had never tested its terminal performance before this project. On the other hand, skeptics claim that 300 Blackout ammo is overrated, overpriced, and flat-out inferior to most other kinds of ammo you can shoot. Flat nose rounds do not feed and again single feeding is difficult and requires pointing the muzzle towards the ground and getting the nose of the round into the chamber and out of the gap. I dont have comments enabled on this site, to discuss this post, feel free to comment on it there. Although theyre quieter, subs are also have significantly worse external and terminal ballistics and often dont have enough energy to make the gun operate properly. The 5.56 bullet disintegrated after penetrating only a few boards, whereas the 300 Blackout stayed intact as it sliced through every single board in this test.
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