300 Blackout for White tail

I would find a better bullet if your set on hunting deer with 300BO.

If you're going super sonic you will be hard pressed to find a better bullet than Barnes 110gr TAC-TX. You want to stay lighter for best super sonic performance in 300BO; 110gr to 125gr seems to be the sweet spot for super sonic loads. I am sure others will chime in with other good super sonic bullets to try. I am sort of stuck on the Barnes for the time being.

If your going to try sub-sonic then you want to be in the 200gr + range. This is a tougher route, both in finding a good bullet and staying within it effective range. Maker and Lehigh are good choices to look at for sub sonic bullets. I have been playing with the 200gr Maker but am not happy yet, got to try another powder.

That isn't much expansion. Most big game bullets need 1800-2000 fps in order to expand. I don't know how much speed you can get with 110's, but most of the copper bullets need 2000 fps. If you can make that with the 110 Barnes bullets then it'll work. Most of the other 120ish gr bullets are really designed for varmints and usually not the best choice. But I'd choose them over a heavier bullet with no expansion.

If someone wants to use the AR platform to hunt with the original 223 is hard to beat. A 75 gr bullet at 2700-2900 fps will tear up a deer pretty good. The 6.5 and 6.8's are promising, but the 300 BO is a step in the wrong direction. At least until someone designs a heavier bullet designed to expand at those slow speeds.

Sierra makes a lightweight pro hunter 130 iirc? That is the direction you should be looking.

110 TAC-TX @ 2400 - 2100 - 1800





Nosler 125 BT @ 2200


....shot into a 50 gallon barrel of water.

Hornady's info on the ELD bullets shows a minimum expansion speed of 1800 fps. Your load is too slow for the bullet for hunting use. Might it kill a deer? Probably, but it likely won't be quick or humane. When you are limiting the speed you need a heavier and softer bullet.

please, don't hunt with that load. Follow the other advice here, the Barnes 110 for supersonics and Makers REX for subs are the way to go. I also hunt with my 8.5" barrel 300 BLK and these bullets are the way to go.

I thought the ELD bullets are match bullets and the ELD-X bullets were for hunting?

I agree you should use a lighter bullet. Deer are not armor plated and not very thick, no need for a moose bullet but at low velocities.

Why not use a 125gr, 140gr or even a 150gr bullet made by Hornady or Sierra for the 30-30? The bullets are designed to reliably expand at lower velocities.

Wouldn't 300BLK and 30 Carbine be near enough to make no difference on deer? I don't really have much experience with 300blk, but 30 carbine can be effective at limited range, say inside 100yds. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't 30 Carbine, 300BLK and 357mag be all in the same ballpark for deer hunting?

If I were contemplating this, I'd see if I could feed a 125gr jacketed HP ProHunter in the AR or whatever was Blackout chambered. Then I'd see how fast it'd run. But I'd rather have that bullet in a 16-20" .30-30 with about 28-30grs of IMR 3031 than try to argue Blackout vs M1 Carbine, because with a .30-30 you get more horsepower than either. So there's the minimum bullet, but I wouldn't argue for the Blackout in this application.

mustanger98 said:

If I were contemplating this, I'd see if I could feed a 125gr jacketed HP ProHunter in the AR or whatever was Blackout chambered. Then I'd see how fast it'd run. But I'd rather have that bullet in a 16-20" .30-30 with about 28-30grs of IMR 3031 than try to argue Blackout vs M1 Carbine, because with a .30-30 you get more horsepower than either. So there's the minimum bullet, but I wouldn't argue for the Blackout in this application.

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I missed the bullet weight and velocity in the OP. But my point holds, this is a less than ideal load for deer
357 mag = 624 ftlb
300blk OP load = 715 ftlb
30carbine = 929 ftlb
30-30 = 1827ftlb
So being that plenty of people take deer with 357mag, I can't say that the OP's load would not, but it would definitely need to be pretty close in. As opposed to, 30-30, Now at that point you have a classic deer round. Everyone will have their minimum threshold for what is an effective deer cartridge, so I'll put it this way...I've hunted with an M1 Carbine and been comfortable when I know my range will be 50-75 yards, I would not be comfortable with 357, so that puts the OP's load in an iffy spot for me personally.
Now if you were you were to load that 300blk with a 110gn or 125gn bullet and push it up to around 2000fps, now you have something that gets to my minimum threshold for deer.

Tango2020 said:

Thank you for the replies. I was sure the expansion wasn't sufficient but wanted input from you guys the best direction to go. I'm going to buy some lighter Barnes and Sierra bullets and test those out. I have no desire to shoot deer with an ineffective round. Thanks again for the input.

Click to expand...

Just as an aside. (The following is an attempt at humor for the laugh impaired)

Ditch the 300, I recommend An F150 for hunting deer. I say that as I almost had a bunch last night. It ran out in front of my truck and a half second later and it would have been venison.

On a serious note, I don’t hunt but am thinking of getting a 300 Blackout upper so this conversation has been interesting until I interjected!

I have loaded Nosler 125 BT for deer hunting behind a stiff charge if Lilgun. I also have some Winchester factory 150 ammo that is advertised for deer. I have not been able to test either. Shots will be limited to 125 yards.

I got my very first with my S10 in early muzzleloader. Never hit a deer before. Really she hit me and their wasn't much I could do. I sure an F150 would do better.

At higher velocities you get much better expansion with an S10, though... that's not so good for the driver

I've seen deer hit with a 1982 Chevette... tore the front end up... deer got up and ran off. We're probably going to see this one shut down... something about not being a car forum. That said, this seems to be a running joke among deer hunters.

But, back on topic... I have wondered how the Blackout would perform if it were chambered in a 18-20" bolt action as opposed to the short barrels that are all the rage lately. But with the case capacity being less than a .30-30 or .30TC (which didn't seem to stick around long) I wonder how the 125gr bullets we've discussed will be effected.

mustanger98 said:

I have wondered how the Blackout would perform if it were chambered in a 18-20" bolt action as opposed to the short barrels that are all the rage lately.

Click to expand...

Probably not significantly better. The .300 Blk was designed specifically to be used in short barreled ARs, burning its powder somewhere around 8 or 9 inches of barrel. Using standard ammo and a long barrel you likely won't get a great boost in velocity. Moving to a slower burning powder in the longer barrel might get you more velocity, but I don't know what that would do to chamber pressures and such.

The cartridge was designed around the constraints of the AR platform such as bolt face, mag size, action length, and gas system. If you're going to eliminate those constraints, and then eliminate the suppressor constraint, and the short barrel constraint, you might as well use another cartridge.

If you want something that performs well out of a 18-20" bolt gun, there are rounds for that. .300 Blk just isn't one of those.

And now it's right back to the point that .30-30, .308, and .30-06 in their usual/respective platforms will all do a .30cal's job better and usually less expensively.

You know, T/C probably still makes Contender barrels... rifle and pistol... they did have them in .30-06... probably got the other two.

I am getting 2400 fps with Barnes 110gr TAC-TX with 19.0 gr of H110 in a 16-inch 1: 7 twist barrel. That is 1.2 gr under max load. With the right powder, a longer barrel makes a pretty big difference. H110 likes longer barrels.

Hornady 125gr SST over 19-20gr of 296/H110 or LilGun - Obviously you will need to verify in your rifle.

Excellent accuracy, in fact best I have tested in over 15 different bullets from 110gr to 135gr. Muzzle velocity flirts with 2400 fps from my 16" barrel, but is effective down to 1600fps, which is roughly 150 yards.

I use the 125gr pro hunters. But have also had good luck with sst and nosler Bt 150 and lighter on pigs. Never shot a deer with blk out.

I love the Barnes bullets but they are out of their mind on the price. I’ve never had the best accuracy from them either. But sure love the weight retention and absolutely predictable expansion.

There is a speer semi pointy SP 30 30 designed bullet that might be worth a look too, 130g I believe it is.

Tac Tx all the way if possible... Mine shoots great out of a 10 inch barrel, 2200 fps ish IIRC.

125 gr ballistic tips do 2400 with a max load of H110 in my 16” 300 blk. Lil gun did 2500 in mine with no pressure signs at 50 deg, but they were dangerously overpressure when I tested them at -20 F so I will never use lil gun again.

I am actually at the bench loading some 125 gr accubonds in 7.62x39. I was able to get 2600 FPS from my 16” AR15 with them today with cfe blk.