Anyone Played With the 300 Blackout?

conor_90

conor_90

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I know the flavour of the week is 7.62x39, and it is popular to contrast it with the 30/30. I have owned both these calibers in bolts and levers, but never got around to the the maligned sks. I never reloaded the 7.62x39 either, so I feel I didn't tap its full potential.

I have been looking at the 300 Blackout bolt actions that have been filtering onto the market over the last few years. These rifles seem better put together than the lower end 7.62x39 and I'm guessing the round is here to stay because of the southern market.

I'm wondering if anyone has owned one these and used it for hunting and what their impressions were? What velocities did you achieve through careful handloading, and were the bullets on the market effective on deer sized game?

I am thinking ammo is bound to be more accurate than 7.62x39 from the factory. Plus for reloading all the bullets are basically premium that are tailored for the round. Plus the benefit of cast 200 grain bullet plinking ammo. It appears to best the 30/30 and 7.62x39 for "longer" range shooting in terms of flatness but I don't know about terminal effect.

Velocities measured from 16 inch barrels seem fairly reasonable for deer. On the net there are americanos plunking away at all kinds of game with both subsonic and high velocity (I would stick with these for game) loads from AR's.


I think we all know there are other calibers more capable than 300 black/7.62x39/30/30 not really the point of the thread, think of it as a 30 cal sub .308 win shoot out if you must.

Thanks for your responses.
 
played with 2, 18 inch barrel and a 26 inch barrel, nothing but heavy jacketed bullets and heavy cast, both will shot MOA at 100 yards but that is the farthest I have shot them to thus far, haven't taken one hunting yet either.....but that was my original plan
 
I was interesed in a 16" 300 ruger amearican ranch unill I handled one, and $70 for the crappy mags wtf??? Was more interested in it as an economical plinker/low sound pest gun... but something better than the ruger???
 
Remington and Kimber both make 300 blackout rifles if you have deeper pockets.

The ruger is ugly as hell, but I kind of like it.
 
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I really like mine. It shoots cheap berrys plated bullets well. Jacketed 125gr bullets at 2050 or so. Its no 30 30 which i also have, the 30 30 is flatter and more powerful to any effective range despite a spitzer bullet theoretically overtaking it beyond that from the blackout. I never killed anything with it it seems to drop at 150 like the 30 30 at 200 and you would be down to the 1800 fps s.p. recomendation by some bullet manufacturers. Brass is easy to make and cheap. Its close to bur not equal to the 7.62 x 39 which i also have but the blackout shoots 308 bullets. Its a fun short range gun, knocks plates over with authority compared to 223.
 
conor_90 said:
I am thinking ammo is bound to be more accurate than 7.62x39 from the factory.
Click to expand...

I don't know if I would go that far, some of the factory loads havent been great for me, especially some of the heavier Remington stuff. I run a 14 inch on a Howa, and the biggest issue so far is huge changes in running one load to another (in some cases I have had to go almost a foot in change of elevation from one load to another at 100yds). On top of that, factory ammo can be really hard to find at times. You can buy quality 7,62X39 from makers like Sako, but most folks want the cheapest possible. The up side is its easily available, so when Howa get their 7,62X39 chambered rifles out later this year I will get one for sure.
If you plan to reload, either one will suffice.
 
^more variety for a reloader with 300 black I would think. 7.62x39 I only see one bullet from hornady, I have never seen sako 7.62x39 ammo on the shelf. I sampled about 8 brands of factory 7.62x39 though and all were pretty meh with a couple of exceptions (Sellier and Belliot, Hornady SST).

Did you order your 14 inch barrel prefit in order to keep it NR?

Yodave your second link works if you follow it, don't know why the pictures aren't showing up atm. Looks good.

Porpoise Barnes makes a bullet that is supposed to expand at lower velocities for the 300 blackout. I can't find any published reviews where it is used on anything but ballistics gel though.
 
Dosing said:
I don't know if I would go that far, some of the factory loads havent been great for me, especially some of the heavier Remington stuff. I run a 14 inch on a Howa, and the biggest issue so far is huge changes in running one load to another (in some cases I have had to go almost a foot in change of elevation from one load to another at 100yds). On top of that, factory ammo can be really hard to find at times. You can buy quality 7,62X39 from makers like Sako, but most folks want the cheapest possible. The up side is its easily available, so when Howa get their 7,62X39 chambered rifles out later this year I will get one for sure.
If you plan to reload, either one will suffice.
Click to expand...

the blackout is a handloaders dream, factory ammo up north is going to be a bugger to find. The fact that it is almost as economical as pistol ammo to reload with the right components is why it has such a great following, from subsonic to sonic there is a lot of territory and shooting needs that it covers. On the west coast where there is lots of small black tail deer it is a dream rifle, shots well under 100 yards are typical of deer hunting in these parts
 
I have shot one. Ruger Ranch bolt action 16"
Best load so far was Vmax 110gr supersonic about 1.5MOA. Hornady 130SP close second.
No velocity yet because of the rain.
But within it's hunting range (100m I would say) this kind of precision is plenty.
 
I have a good mate with one, or perhaps its a 300 wisper, its chopped to 14" and has a silencer, (I am back in New Zealand, for the summer, or until oil picks up) it dosnt shoot all that great a groups, 4" at 100m, but a 200gr cast lead slug, at 980 fps, is quite effective on smaller deer, and pigs, I prefer a sonic round, at reduced speed, 3030 at 1600fps, is what I use, Having spent quite a bit of time, playing with sub sonic 308, 3030 I now much prefer a med cal, at higher speed, but still suppressed, for game.
Have 4 rifles out for threading and suppressing, at the moment, hopefully done by next weekend.
 
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