300 Blackout Gel Test
BY Herschel Smith
5 years ago
I guess I’ve never understood the love for 300 Blackout or why people think it’s a better option than virtually anything else, especially at long range, but to each his own. I know this round has its believers.
On December 21, 2019 at 8:38 am, BRVTVS said:
The selling point of 300 Blackout is the ability to shoot heavy bullets at subsonic velocities. Since subsonics are likely to have unreliable expansion, I think a larger caliber would make more sense for that role. See, for instance, the caliber selection portion of this page: http://www.silencerresearch.com/sound_suppressors_on_high_powered_rifles.htm
On December 21, 2019 at 8:39 am, BRVTVS said:
Another that you or your readers may like: https://www.jacklambert.com/2014/01/quiet-without-the-can-hunting-quietly-without-a-suppressor/
On December 21, 2019 at 8:45 am, Jack said:
300BLK’s biggest claim to fame — that it fits in .223/5.56 magazines — is, to me, it’s biggest achilles heel.
Seriously bad things happen when you intermingle 556 and 300BLK!
Thus, my next non-556 AR-pattern rifle will be in a *very* different caliber – either .308 or 6.5 Creedmore.
On December 21, 2019 at 9:15 am, Heywood said:
They are incredibly quiet but still have great ballistics subsonic. But that is about it.
On December 21, 2019 at 10:12 am, Blake said:
I didn’t get the 300 Blackout until I shot a match with a guy using the round.
The round is incredibly quiet. Basically a 22 on steroids. Which means that if one needs to engage in some work that requires good round that hits hard, with little noise, it’s an excellent round.
On December 21, 2019 at 3:41 pm, Peteypete said:
300 blk can offer improved penetration on sheet metal and laminate glass over 5.56 (55 grn or 62 grn but not sure about 77 grn) but still significantly less than 7.62×39 and 7.62×51. Recently I saw the DD complete firearm with the permanent suppressor in action and it was a ghost whisper compared to 5.56/.223, after seeing it I can understand it purpose and applications. I once didn’t understand 10mm MP5’s suppressed either.
On December 21, 2019 at 3:48 pm, Rocketguy said:
A lot of people believe in magic. Given a bore size, case capacity and operating pressure, what a round can and can’t do is pre-determined. Now, I like the Blackout but am aware of its limitations. Decent short barrel performance with supersonic and subsonic loads from an AR platform with standard mags. Great…but more of a niche round. The folks who think the services should switch to it whole-sale are on crack
On December 22, 2019 at 10:20 am, Okanogan Offgrid said:
Like mentioned above, the 300 Blackout is a niche weapon. It still amazes me that people will look at something that was designed for a specific purpose and complain that it doesn’t do something different as well as they would like.
On December 22, 2019 at 12:35 pm, Sanders said:
I had my choice of uppers to buy for a new (to me) caliber to mess around with. But I chose the .350 Legend over the .300 Blackout. Waiting on delivery of the upper from Bear Creek this week.
I believe there is a lot of potential for this round, and reloaders are just barely unlocking it. So far, some have gotten what has been called a 200 yard round to perform well out to 400 yards, but it is still new and folks are still experimenting with it.
Anyway, because of my wife’s bum shoulder, rebuilt jaw, and the inherent recoil sensitivity of those issues, the low recoiling 350 Legend may allow her to be able to hunt deer again. Factory rounds are certainly performing well on deer out to 250 yards from what I’ve seen online so far.
On December 22, 2019 at 2:16 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@Sanders,
Very interesting. Please keep me posted on how this gun runs, and your experiences. Do an assessment for us.
I’ve always been interested in a MSR that shoots something akin to the .357 magnum, and this is as close as anything there will be.
On December 22, 2019 at 4:14 pm, miforest said:
The 200 is a handgun alternative. It hits a lot hardder than a handgun and it intended for close range defensive use .
as for his video, I don’t get it , this performed better than the 77 gr OTM imi ammo he tested on 11/15. this has a sorter neck, 1.5″ vs 3″ , bigger stretch cavity , and about the same penetration at just over1 9″ . any way you slice it , that performance is great for short range defense. you won’t get that out of any 9mm or 45 . this load has to have close to 1000ft lb of energy to dump . sure it’s not a 308, but it is more managable out of an 8″ barrel gun. the recoil was low enough to allow fast recovery and followup . This means it fits into the niche that the m1 carb fits into . a GREAT option to a handgun for close quarters defense , out to up to 100yds. With soft point bullets that expand rapidly . It is not a long range battle rifle , and the bad reputation the m1 carb got was from trying to us it as a long range battlefield rifle with FMj bullets. nobody should try to do that with the 300 blackout, any more than they should try with a 9mmor 40 s&w
On December 22, 2019 at 5:58 pm, Ned said:
Have a Blackout with a brace and a 12.5 ” barrel. It is ready for home defense with 110 grain hp loads. I don’t feel under-gunned.
I also have a 308 AR 10 clone. I don’t use the 308 for home defense.
For home defense and gun ownership in general, I’m pro-choice. Smoke whatever brand you’ve got.
On December 22, 2019 at 7:45 pm, TheAlaskan said:
@ Jack
You said: “300BLK’s biggest claim to fame — that it fits in .223/5.56 magazines — is, to me, it’s biggest achilles heel.”
Then you said: “Seriously bad things happen when you intermingle 556 and 300BLK!”
And then: “Thus, my next non-556 AR-pattern rifle will be in a *very* different caliber – either .308 or 6.5 Creedmore.”
The 6.5 Creedmore uses, runs in the .308 AR-10 magazine.
On December 23, 2019 at 1:11 pm, Sanders said:
@Herschel Smith
I’ll let you know how it works for me. I picked up some 145 gr. Winchester White Box at Cabela’s the other day for $10/20. There have been some tests posted online of different loadings. One that was pretty impressive was a test in water jugs using 148 gr. Hornady XTP .357 bullets. It pretty much just exploded in the water jugs due to the higher velocity.
The other tricky thing about this round is the bullet sizes. SAAMI says it should be .355 to .357. Pulled factory ammo is all listed as .357, but actual measurements are showing they are using .355, or 9mm. The best options for hunting bullets are in the .358 range, but I guess those have to be resized down to .357 or they won’t chamber. Also, using Winchester brass, if you use a .357, you won’t be able to chamber the round. But, Starline brass is thinner and works with .357.
Many folks have gone ahead and just re-barreled to .358 so they could use the greater range of available bullets in that size.
So, you see there are still a lot of bugs for reloaders to work out on this round. It will be fun to see what folks come up with.
On December 23, 2019 at 1:44 pm, ExpatNJ said:
Seen this? Ammo that actually works underwater. Will certainly require a new gel-test technique. Could also give new meaning to “tragic boating accidents” .
DSG’s supercavitating underwater bullets
https://newatlas.com/military/dsg-cavx-supercavitating-underwater-bullets/
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a29963216/us-special-forces-underwater-bullet/
On December 23, 2019 at 6:32 pm, jack said:
@TheAlsaskan – thanks for the info re: 6.5CRD in .308 AR10 mags – I was unaware.
What this means to me is *either* 6.5CRD or .308 for my next MSR – but not both!