.300 Blackout (110 gr Barnes TTX) performance report on deer

[DJC]

For those that hunt (or are thinking of hunting) with the .300 Blackout, here is some non-scientific info on performance.

Last week I was fortunate to harvest 17 whitetail deer on our property in Northern Michigan. All were does (female), dressed weights between 90-118 pounds.

Weapon was a BCM 9" .300 Blackout, suppressed, using the Barnes VOR-TX 110 grain TTX load.

Neck shots, ranges between 50-165 yards:
6 deer shot in the neck. 5 broadside, 1 facing the shooter. 5 of the 6 instantly dropped at impact, the 6th ran 30 yards (2 seconds or so) and dropped. All bullets completely passed through.

(As an aside, the 1 shot facing us was the 165 yard shot, made by my 14 year old daughter. I wanted to get closer, she said she could make a clean shot, I (skeptically) trusted her and told her to hold just below the deer's muzzle. Deer dropped instantly as bullet impacted center of the neck- proud moment...)

Shoulder shots, ranges between 50-120 yards:
The remaining 11 deer were shot in the shoulder. All broadside (or close to it). Again, all bullets completely passed through (this was surprising to me). 10 of them were hit where aimed- all killed with first shot. None dropped in place, all died within 50 yards and 5-6 seconds of being shot. The 11th doe was hit back a bit (liver) and required a follow up shot.

I was impressed with the performance of the .300 BO. It certainly has range limitations due to ballistics, but performed as needed at the ranges we were shooting. It doesn't anchor deer in place on shoulder shots as often happens with a "real" deer cartridge, but in a short, light AR platform it sure is handy.

[voodoo_man]

Congrats on your daughter making that shot, that is impressive!

As for the VOR-TX 110 grain Barnes load, while it works on dear fairly well, it works really well through vehicles and domestic doors. I've shot several hundred rounds of various .300 rounds through barriers for testing and the TSX (may also be known as TAC-TX) and VOR-TX work really well in the 110gr load.

[willie]

Thanks for making the interesting post, which for me reinforces how important bullet placement is. Also limiting target distance to caliber capability was strictly and wisely controlled. Sometimes I see good deals on 300 Blackout brass. Next time I'll notify you so your daughter will have plenty of brass to reload.

[Grouse870]

I recently picked up a 16” .300 blackout upper to use for deer hunting next year. I’m going to try the 110 Barnes VOR-tx. What do you think is the max effective range of this bullet? I was thinking 200-250 yards with the additional velocity of the 16” barrel. Thoughts?

[DocGKR]

.300 BLK will offer similar terminal performance to .30-30. Keep your shots under 300 yds, preferably even closer, and you should be good to go.

[Grouse870]

That’s what I was thinking thanks.