First time reloading 300 Blackout

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Morrey

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This is my first foray into 300 BO, and while .308 and 30-06 are long time calibers I have loaded, 300 BO is all new to me.

My platform is an AR with a 16" suppressor affixed barrel with a 1:6 twist. I have some 220 gr sub rounds I bought to test on hogs at close range, so my focus will be loading supers for general purpose shooting and probably some hunting too. I expect to find the subs challenging to hunt with, so the supers may be my go to hog rounds after all said and done.

I need to select a good pill for this supersonic load. I expect most decent hunting bullets will expand ok at 100 yards in the 2,000 - 2,200 fps range. Is 125 grains about right? I am concerned the 1:6 twist and a light bullet at supersonic velocity may be a mismatch? Any particular bullet maker stand out making pills for this cartridge? Suggestions welcomed as I plan a trip to my reloading supply warehouse next week. Thanks!
 
I have had good luck with the 150gr bullets for Supersonic, I cast a 229gr bullet that I Load in 300BO. The Super's are good to 250-300 (Prolly all you would want distance, as energy is starting down). The Subs are good to 75-80 yds, beyond that Energy, Tumble, (The other stuff that makes bullets difficult to Manage & Maintain. But Hogs at 75, a BLAST. Hogs at 250, OK.

Shooting Subs at 70-75, the Hogs won't be able to figure out where they are coming from, therefore, they won't know which way to escape. Get it??

Good Luck, just my $0.02
dg
 
I need to select a good pill for this supersonic load. I expect most decent hunting bullets will expand ok at 100 yards in the 2,000 - 2,200 fps range. Is 125 grains about right? I am concerned the 1:6 twist and a light bullet at supersonic velocity may be a mismatch? Any particular bullet maker stand out making pills for this cartridge? Suggestions welcomed as I plan a trip to my reloading supply warehouse next week. Thanks!

Who's manufacturing those barrels? That's a fast twist indeed, but at only 2400fps I personally don't think the lighter 110gr bullets will have a problem holding together. The Barnes 110TSX black tipped bullet is a great expander even down into the 1500fps neighborhood.... but they are about .60 cents a piece. I'm a huge fan of the 125TNT - they shoot awesome in my rifles over a variety of powders, and expand well enough to hunt with if you can maintain reasonable range & impact velocities.
 
Who's manufacturing those barrels? That's a fast twist indeed, but at only 2400fps I personally don't think the lighter 110gr bullets will have a problem holding together. The Barnes 110TSX black tipped bullet is a great expander even down into the 1500fps neighborhood.... but they are about .60 cents a piece. I'm a huge fan of the 125TNT - they shoot awesome in my rifles over a variety of powders, and expand well enough to hunt with if you can maintain reasonable range & impact velocities.


The rifle manufacturer is Sig and the AR is the MCX Virtus. Twist rate is 1:6 in the 300BO. Never had a twist rate this fast as most of my other calibers are 1:10 so I know what to expect from them. For hog hunting where I may need some extra weight to do damage in that thick hide, I'd probably say 125 gr would the starting point. Conversely the range is not even 100 yards for typical shots as I setup my stands and feeders with close ranges in mind. I am going to check out the Speer 125 TNT
 
110 grain Barnes Tac-TX (not TTSX) is the supersonic hunting bullet of choice. Some others that fair decenty are the 110gr VMax, 110 grain Varmageddon, 125 grain SST, 125 grain Speer TNT, and both the super and sub sonic bullets by Makers and Lehigh Defense. have fun!
 
Nosler 125 gr BT
15.7 gr H110 with a suppressed 16" barrel with 1 in 8 twist I get about 1945 fps. Anything above this and I get pressure issues (see here).

Regarding subsonic, I like Sierra Pro-Hunter 220 Grain RN Bullets (P/N 2180), 10.7 gr of Accurate 1680 gets about 1030 fps with a suppressed 16” barrel with 1 in 8 twist. But not sure how effective they would be for hunting.

 
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For subsonic I have had good luck with the Missouri Bullet 245 gr lead RN. I used AA1680 and with 11 gr they cycled my 16" non suppressed upper with good accuracy and right at 1060 FPS average at 10 feet. I shot them into water jugs and they did not expand and penetrated 6 of them but did tumble around after 4 jugs. Probably not the best for hunting but they will penetrate through a pig easily I would think. Just another option for you to consider.

I also agree that The 125 gr TNT is a reasonably priced bullet for super sonic work.
 
Nosler 125 gr BT
15.7 gr H110 with a suppressed 16" barrel with 1 in 8 twist I get about 1945 fps. Anything above this and I get pressure issues (see here).
Is the suppressor causing the pressure over that FPS? I have no experience with them. With a 16" 1 in 8 barrel with no suppressor I am running the Hornady 125 Gr SST at just under 2250 FPS with no pressure issues. I run other 125/130 Gr bullets at 2200+ FPS with no pressure signs.
 
To the OP, the 125 Gr SST will do the job, and the Speer 130 Gr SP is great in the 300 BLK as far as performance on target, but my barrel doesn't like them.
 
125 gr Speer TNT shoot well in my 300 BLK. Somehow, I cannot get my 300BLK (supersonic) shoot as accurate as my 223 and 308 and even 7.62x39 AR. Maybe is the fast burning powder and small case capacity. Speer TNT is the best bullet for me in 300BLK. I load with H110 and H4227.
 
Is the suppressor causing the pressure over that FPS?

Yes, I believe it is. I could probably stretch it to 2000 fps, but the 1945 fps is very accurate and works fine on deer out to at least 100 yds. I have not measured the velocity unsuppressed.

In response to my request for help with primers blowing out, 243winxb replied (See Post #6) with a link (http://m.hornady.com/ammunition/superformance-in-gas-operated-firearms). However the link no longer works. Luckily I had downloaded the article. Here is a part pertaining to supersonic and suppressors.

Superformance and Suppressors.jpg
 
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All of the quick expanding hunting type bullets work.
I’ve shot hogs with:
150gr nosler BT
125gr nosler BT
125gr hornady sst
125 grain sierra pro hunter.
I think my next purchase will be some 110gr hornady sp. $20 at grafs.
I feel like the nosler 125 dropped them best, but I shoot too many bullets to spend the money. I’d bet the Barnes 115 are the king of your rich. I’ve been shooting sierras lately because Walmart had them for $20/100. They work fine.

I’ve yet to kill anything with subs. But I tested a load this morning that put 9 rounds through one big hole at 50 yards. And a 10th I’m sure I pulled that was 1.5” left.
 
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