300 Fireball AR15 (Brass forming - post #150)

alberta tactical rifle said:
Did we mail that last week or this week? In all the excitement I just can't remember ......

Do you feel lucky punk? ....... well do ya? :kickInTheNuts:
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cabbage5.jpg


That is all. :p

-M
 
Well, I did it.....called Alberta Tactical and ordered a custom .300 Whisper barrel in 1-8 twist, 16.25" long.


If all works out, it should finish up looking pretty close to this

Recce1.jpg
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.......I'm either stupid or genius, I guess we'll see. ;)


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simpleton said:
.......I'm either stupid or genius, I guess we'll see. ;)
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You're so stupid it's GENIUS! :D

I'm that stupid too, though. ;)

BTW, for those who've been PMing me for updates - YES I HAVE THE UPPER IN MY HANDS NOW.

I will try to get some pics up as soon as I can - I have had one hell of a hectic week thus far (like getting home from the alleged "day job" at 2am last night, for example). It hasn't been conducive to picture taking - at least not in any kind of way that would do this BEAUTY of an upper any sort of justice.

It's just so HOT in person... gives me a friggin' stiffy every time I pick it up. Really, really top-notch craftsmanship by Peter and Rick at ATRS, seriously.

-M
 
I can see the advantage to having a suppressed subsonic round with a heavy hitting bullet. What about a lighter .308 bullet moving at 2200fps? Is there something I am missing?

on a side note, we really need to get the AR15 non-restricted. With all these new calibres (6.8spc, 6.5 gendrel, .300 FB) there is no reason the AR wouldn't be a viable hunting rifle.
 
DaveMachine said:
I can see the advantage to having a suppressed subsonic round with a heavy hitting bullet. What about a lighter .308 bullet moving at 2200fps? Is there something I am missing?

on a side note, we really need to get the AR15 non-restricted. With all these new calibres (6.8spc, 6.5 gendrel, .300 FB) there is no reason the AR wouldn't be a viable hunting rifle.
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Agreed. The AR15 in .300 Fireball would make a GREAT hunting round for deer.

-M
 
Doc M said:
Agreed. The AR15 in .300 Fireball would make a GREAT hunting round for deer.

-M
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Not to mention you can easily switch optics. Going from prairie hunting where you might need a sight with a bit more magnification to hunting in the bush where a holosight might do better.

The gun is damn reliable and more than accurate enough. I'm just brainstorming here, I wasn't intending to derail the thread. :D
 
What about a lighter .308 bullet moving at 2200fps? Is there something I am missing?
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This is nearly the exact same ballistics as the 7.62x39, which so many guys hold as being more effective ballistically than the 5.56mm. Certainly it isn't a long range combination but up close it would offer a lot more punch than a typical 62gr 5.56 round.
 
The BC of subsonics won't correlate to anything you are familiar with. Because the velocity is so low, the BC of just about any bullet will be much higher than the posted BC for that bullet. Also the effective range of subsonics is so short that BC pretty much becomes a moot point.

How about a 338-223?

http://www.reloadbench.com/cartridges/w338223s.html
 
I think this will be the next 300 Fireball upper.

We got our 1:8 barrels in and someone already ordered a 16" barrel. We ended up with enough blank left over to produce a 10.5" heavy barrel.

The upper will feature a pistol length gas system with a large bore JP adjustable gas block to cycle both the supersonics and subsonics. The barrel will be 10.5" long, measuring .900" at the muzzle with an 11 deg target crown. The forend is a 9" JP free float tube.

AR300Fireball2.JPG
 
That looks HOT. I like the HBAR look, but just couldn't justify losing the adjustable gas block for subs/supers.

I'm just waiting on dies from Sinclair right now and then will be out doing some load testing... I have about 100 or so pieces of brass made (I found a cheaper source - $68/100pcs .221 Fireball from P&D, compared with $84 at WSS... significant savings). I ended up grinding and polishing a $12 .308 expander button to mimic the Redding 'tapered expander', then just backed off a .308 die and slipped the Fireball brass into a .223 shellholder on the single stage. A dab of Imperial Sizing Die Wax every few cases, and it was gold.

I still plan on chopping down .223 cases eventually, but for starters these .221 cases worked quite well.

I have a crappy cell phone pic of some 'dummy' .300 Fireball rounds (no primer/powder) I worked up just for looks - let me get it uploaded and I'll put up another post.

-M
 
Here are three 'dummy' rounds (projectiles seated with a hammer... yes, a hammer - these are just for looks, until I get my actual dies).

utf-8BSU1HMDAwMzctMjAxMDA1MjMtMTgyM.jpg


Left to Right:

1 - .223 Remington, 55gn FMJ

2 - .300 Fireball, 168gn Sierra MatchKing (Moly)

3 - .300 Fireball, 147gn M80 Ball Projectile

4 - .300 Fireball, 165gn Sierra GameKing

the cases need a squaring of the neck after the stretching, but people were dying to see loaded rounds and this was the best I could do for now. I'll prime a batch of cases, then take 'em out to the range with my Lee hand press and a few different powders/a scale/a funnel to work up some loads.

-M
 
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