Why Shoot a 300 Blackout? Kirsten Provides Some Answers
In her latest video, Kirsten Joy Weiss shows off the 300 AAC Blackout, a popular .30-caliber cartridge for AR-platform rifles. Kirsten explains the advantages for the 300 BLK for hunters as well as those using an AR for self-defense. The 300 BLK is popular with suppressor owners because it works well with heavy bullets launched at subsonic velocities.
Reasons to Shoot a 300 AAC Blackout:
— You can use your current AR Bolt, Bolt Carrier, Buffer, and Magazine. The only part you need to change is the barrel.
— 300 BLK conforms to state hunting regulations which may require a cartridge larger than .22 Caliber. The 300 BLK shoots .308 caliber bullets.
— Lapua now sells 300 AAC Blackout brass so no case-forming is required. Just load and shoot.
— You can shoot light bullets supersonic or heavier bullets subsonic. The subsonic capabilities of the 300 BLK make it ideal for use with a suppressed AR.
— With a .30-caliber bore and a modest powder charge, barrel life is outstanding with the 300 BLK.
— You can make 300 BLK cartridges from fired .223 Rem brass, which is plentiful and cheap.
— The .300 BLK performs well with some very accurate powders, such as Hodgdon H4198 and IMR 4227.
The 300 AAC Blackout was created by Advanced Armament Corp. and Remington primarily for the military as a way to shoot .30-caliber bullets from the M4/AR15 platform while using standard magazines. As explained by Robert Silvers, AAC’s R&D Director: “Now there is a way to shoot 30 caliber from your AR while still using normal magazines with full capacity. Even the bolt stays the same, and all that changes is the barrel.” For more information visit www.300aacblackout.com and download the 300 BLK Cartridge Information Guide (PDF).
300 Blackout SAAMI Cartridge Specification
SAAMI, the industry standards organization, adopted and standardized the AAC 300 Blackout in 2010. The SAAMI diagram for the 300 BLK is shown above. Lapua now makes 300 BLK cartridge brass.
300 BLK for 3-Gun Competition
The 300 AAC Blackout has been touted as an important new hunting round, but we see it more as a specialized “rule-beater” 30-cal option that lets 3-Gun competitors “make major” with a low-recoil cartridge that also offers long barrel life. For those who need to run a .30-caliber cartridge from a standard AR15 platform (as opposed to the AR10), the 300 AAC Blackout makes some sense. But for hunters using a bolt gun, there are any number of tried and true options, such as the 7.62×39, .30-30, and, of course, the .308 Winchester (7.62×51 NATO).
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Tags: 300 BLK, AAC Blackout, AR platform, AR15, hunting, Kirsten Joy Weiss, Suppressor
What about the 7.62×40-WT cartridge developed by Wilson Combat? It is just as easy to convert any AR-15 with just a barrel change. It too is a good hunting round, can also be fired subsonic, works well with a surpresser but has more capacity using the 223 cartridge case…..
300 AAC Blackout is great as a subsonic round using a carbine length (or shorter) gas system, but IMO it’s a bit lean on performance as a 30 cal. supersonic round and trying to run both ways (i.e. both supersonic and subsonic) with the same gas porting has it’s own set of issues (i.e. you have to port it for subsonic use and then if you don’t have things set up to throttle back the excess gas and you shoot supersonic ammo the action cycles way hard because it’s over ported). The video portrays it as a “one size fits all” round and there’s truth to that, although that’s not without caveats.
The whole point of the 300 WTF was to have a versatile round in one package. Unfortunately people do not seem to be as flexible as this round and expect too much from it.
With light weight projectiles at supersonic velocities it hammers. With heavy weight bullets at subsonic – same. The pity is that 240 plus weight bullets are not mainstream because they work very well in a hunting situation.
Not sure what Richard means when he says “with light weight projectiles at supersonic velocities it hammers”. As AR-15 rounds go (and I did a whole pile of testing with a few different uppers) I found the 300 AAC Blackout (or the 300 WTF) to be a very hard round to tune for true consistent accuracy (i.e. consistent .5 MOA). If you mean it “hammers” in the sense you can get a 125 gr bullet up over 2200 fps with consistent 1.5 – 2 MOA accuracy well o.k.
The problem we see is that the round’s performance is “oversold” to be more than it is and customers call us repeating the “sales mantra” and having unrealistic expectations. It’s a great round for what it is but it also won’t give you 308 Winchester performance out of an AR-15.
Robert is spot on. This is not a accurate round that’s why Savage said they drop the clambering from thier lineup. Savage didn’t want to explain to there customers why the gun was so inaccurate.
I’m not quite following the thought of subsonic vs larger 308 calibers shooting subsonic.
subsonic is subsonic.
I have a 300 black out with a Wilson combat 1 in 8 twist barrel, standard gas block and just a standard mil spec bushmaster AR. I built the upper from brownells 49.99 upper specials they were running last year. I can just swap uppers if I want to go back and forth on it, no tuning required.
it shoots both sub sonic 208 grain hornadys very well, right at 1 moa sometimes better, although its trajectory is like a rock being thrown I will give you that, but the lighter supersonic rounds is very accurate (not bench rest accurate, but for hunting applications its just as accurate as most standard off the shelf hunting rifles)both suppressed or unsuppressed.
I just use mine for hogs, I cut my own brass out of range brass or blanks. 208 grain amax through the skull of a hog drops them every time.
I guess if .30 is required to shoot a particular match it might be something. Looks useless otherwise. I see no use for it in a real HP match.
By “hammers” it puts sensible big holes in furry things at sensible hunting ranges using sensible amounts of powder. The advertising, but note so the internet, hype has seen a polarising of the commentary; as has the division of support between WTF fans and those keen on the PPC variants.
I don’t care either way. As an early adopter, I have used it hard and it works for me!
” This is not a accurate round that’s why Savage said they drop the clambering from thier lineup. Savage didn’t want to explain to there customers why the gun was so inaccurate.”
Um, no. They used 1/10 twist which everyone (but them) knows would not make subsonic stable. Savage just didn’t have the knowledge to design the rifle properly.
“and trying to run both ways (i.e. both supersonic and subsonic) with the same gas porting has it’s own set of issues (i.e. you have to port it for subsonic use and then if you don’t have things set up to throttle back the excess gas and you shoot supersonic ammo the action cycles way hard because it’s over ported). ”
That is just not true. It is in spec with one gas port size because the subsonic is double the projectile mass and so produces close to the same amount of gas even at the lower velocity.
“What about the 7.62×40-WT cartridge developed by Wilson Combat? It is just as easy to convert any AR-15 with just a barrel change.”
That is not a SAAMI standard, only one company makes it, it is only about 70 fps faster, and it gives up compatibility with normal 5.56mm magazines.
My Quote:
“and trying to run both ways (i.e. both supersonic and subsonic) with the same gas porting has it’s own set of issues (i.e. you have to port it for subsonic use and then if you don’t have things set up to throttle back the excess gas and you shoot supersonic ammo the action cycles way hard because it’s over ported). ”
Johnson’s reply:
“That is just not true. It is in spec with one gas port size because the subsonic is double the projectile mass and so produces close to the same amount of gas even at the lower velocity.”
My reply:
Hmm – – Interesting theory but I would not exactly say it proves out like that in real life.
“Um, no. They used 1/10 twist which everyone (but them) knows would not make subsonic stable. Savage just didn’t have the knowledge to design the rifle properly.”
Savage tried several twist rates, bbl lengths and bullet weights before determining that the inherent accuracy of the round was not up to their standards.
For you to say that Savage “didn’t have the knowledge to design the rifle properly” is stunningly ignorant.
So can you shoot .308 bullets in the 300 Blackout? I have hand loads of Win .308s i shoot in my T/C Prohunter