300 Blackout musings, and an attempt to gather data.

So if I'm completely honest here, the main thing thats going on is my paranoia is getting the better of me and I'm preparing for "it" as much as anything else.

I've never had a 300BLK before, and I'm in the process of building one, but with two uppers, both are intended to be full time suppressed, but I will source some supers in the beginning for function testing etc as they are just plain cheaper and easier to get right this moment. However, the ultimate goal is to find out what each upper likes to eat the best thats subsonic, while still getting a loading that has good terminal performance in tissue. Obviously looking for subs means not looking for a lot of range out of them, so lets say up to 150-200 yards as a starting point, but realistically, I'd settle for 100. I do not reload for 300 at the moment, but am looking to change that by the end of the year.

On to what I'm trying to feed:

Can will be a 8x1.175 form 1 can by JR machine products for now, replaced with an nomad XL when it gets out of jail.

First upper will be a maxim defense PDX 5.5 upper with a xeno brake.

Second upper will be a 7.5 inch faxon barrel on an AERO m4e1 upper with AERO nitride carrier, also have a ballistic advantage 8.3 Hanson that I will try at some point, also with a xeno.

My goal is to find something that gets to 1.5 MOA or better with subs. Ideally I'd like to find something that has good terminal performance, meets my accuracy goals, isn't hard to source components when things are "normal", and could be used for taking game as well.

Not looking for a magic answer or anything here, just some ideas of where I wanna go to try and meet my goals.

At the risk of pushing this to the reloading forum, I haven’t been shooting BO in about four years now, but from the components I have in the cabinet, it looks like I was running a 210 Hornady AMax on top of IMR 4198. I made the brass from .223 that I cut down with a little powered saw.

Ended up with a nice little 75-100m sub load that grouped about 1 at 50-75 and 1.5 at 100.

I’m done with .300 so I have an 8 lb jug of powder and some other stuff for loading it that I don’t need. Check the reloading forum for more info on that and a saw for anyone who wants to make their own brass.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bolt_Overide

So if I'm completely honest here, the main thing thats going on is my paranoia is getting the better of me and I'm preparing for "it" as much as anything else.

I've never had a 300BLK before, and I'm in the process of building one, but with two uppers, both are intended to be full time suppressed, but I will source some supers in the beginning for function testing etc as they are just plain cheaper and easier to get right this moment. However, the ultimate goal is to find out what each upper likes to eat the best thats subsonic, while still getting a loading that has good terminal performance in tissue. Obviously looking for subs means not looking for a lot of range out of them, so lets say up to 150-200 yards as a starting point, but realistically, I'd settle for 100. I do not reload for 300 at the moment, but am looking to change that by the end of the year.

On to what I'm trying to feed:

Can will be a 8x1.175 form 1 can by JR machine products for now, replaced with an nomad XL when it gets out of jail.

First upper will be a maxim defense PDX 5.5 upper with a xeno brake.

Second upper will be a 7.5 inch faxon barrel on an AERO m4e1 upper with AERO nitride carrier, also have a ballistic advantage 8.3 Hanson that I will try at some point, also with a xeno.

My goal is to find something that gets to 1.5 MOA or better with subs. Ideally I'd like to find something that has good terminal performance, meets my accuracy goals, isn't hard to source components when things are "normal", and could be used for taking game as well.

Not looking for a magic answer or anything here, just some ideas of where I wanna go to try and meet my goals.

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300 blk was designed to be an improvement on suppressed submachine guns in traditional pistol calibers. Think of suppressed 300 blk subs as pistol rounds. 100-150 yard effective range with 100 being more realistic.

Not sure what your idea of "it" is but for any sort of scenario involving a break down of social order that has civilians carrying rifles the logistics of common guns and common calibers (5.56 AR, 9mm Glock) outweighs any minor advantage .300 subs might provide.

A suppressed .22 like a S&W M&P 15 or a dedicated CMMG .22 upper would likely be a more practical augment to a 5.56 AR

I was in a similar situation a few years back and really wanted subsonic 300 to be the home defense weapon.

But ultimately I feel good about my pistol skills and the benefits of being able to shoot one handed outweighed “tactical” advantage of a rifle shooting handgun-ish boolits.

Plus I figured that if I was going to use a rifle I would want something that penetrated traditional armor. Sure, you could swap to supersonic 300 with a mag change or load both in one magazine but the POA/POI shift unsettled me.

So I decided on nightstand pistol with electronic ear pro and a closet suppressed 5.56.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JCN

I was in a similar situation a few years back and really wanted subsonic 300 to be the home defense weapon.

But ultimately I feel good about my pistol skills and the benefits of being able to shoot one handed outweighed “tactical” advantage of a rifle shooting handgun-ish boolits.

Plus I figured that if I was going to use a rifle I would want something that penetrated traditional armor. Sure, you could swap to supersonic 300 with a mag change or load both in one magazine but the POA/POI shift unsettled me.

So I decided on nightstand pistol with electronic ear pro and a closet suppressed 5.56.

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Thanks for the input gents. Already have the 5.56/.223 and 9mm glock angle well covered. Fair point about the suppressed 22.

@Bolt_Overide the only subsonic expanding load from the factory I know of or used was the SUB X 190gr load from Hornady, it cycled well in the Colt's I converted to 300 BLK using an 8.5" barrel with H2, sorry I don't recall gas port size. The Hornady stuff also works well in the Sig Rattler so long as the gas has been adjusted but I'm basically at sea level. Accuracy was good to 100y, it was less the 2" but not by much and I don't recall the exact numbers. They were shot using a bipod and sand sock so I don't think practical accuracy will be better, more likely around 2.5 MOA maybe 3 depending on shooter barrel combo. The AMAX 208's were awesome with regards to accuracy but too expensive to be worth it as they don't offer expansion, those shot right around an inch plus or minus. For practice I was using subs produced by a local company but they went under. If gallant bullets ever get their 217gr lead polymer coated bullets back in stock they will make for good cheap practice inside 100 but your barrel may be a huge factor at anything past 150. LL used them when they were Leatherhead Bullets. I've used them and was pleased with the results to 150-175, maybe 200 but I don't recall exactly. If you used them make sure that you ever so lightly bell the case mouth or you will damage the coating, also be careful with neck tension/crimping. Make sure you shoot some copper jacketed stuff after and punch your barrel. Just my .02.

There are a few boutique MFG's, like (http://outlawstatebullets.com/2.html), (https://makerbullets.com/proddetail.php?prod=308200SBLK) that make a bullet that offer .30 cal that expand at SUB velocities but they won't be cheap and you'll have to buy load and shoot them over chrono then compare your velocity numbers to the expansion threshold the MFG gives to figure your max ranges. Now to be fair my info is about 2-2.5 years old but I spent a crap load of money and several years messing with 300 BLK. Word of advice since you're asking for it is Subs are fine 150 and in but would never count on expansion. Supers for everything else past. If you plan to shoot anything four legged be ethical and use the Barne's 110-120 loading or the Hornady 135 loading. All three of those I've used and they are excellent, keep them to about 250y +/- depending on barrel length if you want expansion on the short guns best at less than that from my experience. White tail dropped quickly, but I wouldn't use it on anything that far with a thick hide. The Sig offerings are quite good. Their SBR all copper loading produces excellent accuracy even out of a 5.5" barrel and to be honest I was the most impressed with it. Barnes stuff is the shit but expensive especially now. Hope this helps.

FWIW I ended up back with 5.56mm for everything pretty much. The 300BLK is for travel and just plain fun. If HCM has your scenario pegged he's spot on,