300 blk AR converted to??????

Status
Not open for further replies.

beeenbag

Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2010
Messages
1,821
Location
Grayson, Ky
So some swapping and changing of hunting rigs in the household has led to me having two virtually duplicate rifles, two 16" AR's in 300 blackout. As much as I am a fan of this round, I find it a bit redundant to have 3 of them and 2 being almost identical. So with that being said, I have been thinking of a swap to something different.

Just to lay the foundation, I already have several 5.56 flavor ARs, a 450 bushmaster AR for hunting, and 2 other 300's, one being a short pistol.

If you had a complete gun that you wanted to change up, what would be your suggestion based on cost (least amount of components to purchase), ammo and reloading selection, and of course, just something different and dare I say, "cool"?
 
If it were me, I would throw cost of reloading out the window and build a rifle in one of the three most effective rounds available in the AR-15: 6.8 SPC, 6.5 Grendel or 224 Valkyrie. Given your current rifles, the 6.5 Grendel would probably get my vote. Hunting and long range shooting in one convenient package.

Yep. You have the NATO standard covered, you have short range power covered. Get yourself something with a little range. The Valkyrie has proved to be mostly a dud. 6.8 is fine, 6.5 Grendel has the edge in ballistics...and cheap steel case. Go Grendel.
 
Yep. You have the NATO standard covered, you have short range power covered. Get yourself something with a little range. The Valkyrie has proved to be mostly a dud. 6.8 is fine, 6.5 Grendel has the edge in ballistics...and cheap steel case. Go Grendel.
Has the Valkyrie really been a dud? I’ll admit that I haven’t followed it very closely, but I’m planning to make it the next cartridge added to the stable. Most of what I have found has pointed to slower twist barrels causing accuracy issues, but the 1/6.5 or 1/7 twist barrels tend be great. What am I missing? Sorry for the thread hijack.
 
I would suggest trying a 7.62x39 or a 9mm. Both are great fun and cheap plinking. 7.62x39 will only require a barrel, bolt, and new magazines.
 
X39 won’t do anything your 300blk’s don’t, other than eat cheap surplus junk ammo.

Given the gap between your 5.56’s and 450, I’d vote Grendel or SPC.
 
X39 won’t do anything your 300blk’s don’t, other than eat cheap surplus junk ammo.

Given the gap between your 5.56’s and 450, I’d vote Grendel or SPC.

Whats wrong with cheap ammo? I assume your referring to the russian made ammo from Wolf, Tula, ect... which I have to point out is neither junk nor surplus.
 
Has the Valkyrie really been a dud? I’ll admit that I haven’t followed it very closely, but I’m planning to make it the next cartridge added to the stable. Most of what I have found has pointed to slower twist barrels causing accuracy issues, but the 1/6.5 or 1/7 twist barrels tend be great. What am I missing? Sorry for the thread hijack.



 


My only experience with 224 Valkyrie was 2nd hand from the owner of my local FFL. He assembled a 24" upper and I don't recall the details of what parts were, but he could not make it shoot. I'll have to do some more reading on what results others have had good or bad now that its been out for awhile.
 
Endo mag works, and it works well if you want 9mm. I'm a huge Grendel fan, and I've been toying with 6.8spc and 350 legend. (Or even better, 357ar max) and 277 wolverine.
350 Legend let's you keep the same 223 bolt. All you need is mags and barrel. Looks interesting, don't know if it will take off.
Grendel needs mags, bolt and barrel, and is better than 6.8 if you get out over 300 yds. It also has cheap steel caeed ammo available, but foreign ammo seems to be restricted further and further each year, so I don't know if I would count on that long-term.
6.8 is a nice hunting round, but seems to be fading into obscurity. Needs bolt, barrel, mags.
277 wolverine looks very promising, but is still a wildcat. 6.8 performance in a 223 based case. I Think you just need a barrel.

Of all of them, I'd take the Grendel.
 
If parts had been cheaper when I built my 6.8, I would have gone with a 277 Wolverine or 6.5 Grendel. Not that, performance wise, the 6.8 lacks anything.

ETA If I wanted to go with a wildcat, I'd try a 357 Gunner.
 
Whats wrong with cheap ammo? I assume your referring to the russian made ammo from Wolf, Tula, ect... which I have to point out is neither junk nor surplus.

Maybe you should read what I wrote instead of balling your panties.

Junk surplus ammo is cheap, and it’s junk.

You’re the one who pulled one out of three adjectives which you felt applied to your pet load and decided to take offense.

As far as Tula goes, since you brought it up, even though it’s not surplus, I can’t say I think a 40-50fps SD is anything of quality. But to each their own.
 
I vote Grendel.

I got my upper from Atheris Rifle, shoots sub MOA 5 shot groups at 100 if I do my job with Hornady stuff.

Even shoots Wolf decently, around 1" for 3 shots at 100. Maybe 1.5". Get a couple fliers per box, though.
 
Maybe you should read what I wrote instead of balling your panties.

Junk surplus ammo is cheap, and it’s junk.

You’re the one who pulled one out of three adjectives which you felt applied to your pet load and decided to take offense.

As far as Tula goes, since you brought it up, even though it’s not surplus, I can’t say I think a 40-50fps SD is anything of quality. But to each their own.

Whoa, whoa. Nobody’s panties are bunched but yours evidently. If you want to converse like an adult I’m game, but I’m not doing this.
 
I’d say Grendel or 7.62x39. However, 300 blk does everything 7.62x39 will do, and fit in AR mags. OTOH 7.62x39 steel case is dirt cheap.

Grendel has the same mag issue, you will need to get a couple curved banana mags. however you also get cheap steel case ammo, and long range! If you go Grendel, get a longer barrel to take advantage and make sure your components are compatible - they come in two flavors.

Check out bear creek to see what sales they are running, I put together a Grendel rig with a $180 complete upper and a bunch of spare parts I had lying around. I’m into the caliber for under $500, including glass and 500 rounds of ammo.
 
JS8588...I don't know about the first video since I didn't watch it, but the second video you posted, "The Final Word" has those guys shooting so rapidly I don't know how they could make any conclusions about it. Most of the time, shooting for MOA, I'm at least taking time to aim between shots......
 
JS8588...I don't know about the first video since I didn't watch it, but the second video you posted, "The Final Word" has those guys shooting so rapidly I don't know how they could make any conclusions about it. Most of the time, shooting for MOA, I'm at least taking time to aim between shots......

I believe they were just cutting up the camera footage so that you would see them shooting 5 shots but not have to sit there and watch them shoot groups, which would have made for a long boring video.
 
For target, 224 Valkyrie-I too had issues when it 1st came out to get a good load, as the 90 grain SMK wasn’t ready for prime time-saw a video of guy with 88 grn ELDM/varget was having great results...duplicated that load and mine is now very accurate (out of 6 groups, best of 9/16 and a 5/8”)

For hunting, 300 hamr-you lose the subsonic benefit of 300 b/out but using 130 FPHC load, getting 1690# energy versus 1424# from my upper end 110 TTSX 300 blackout load and 1612# from my 6.8 spc 120 sst load that has 2” groups...)-have hog hunt in a week and anxious to try it out
 
Last edited:
I keep going back an forth between 9mm, 6.5 Grendel and the 277 wolverine. I’m most likely going to go 9mm simply because anything I would do with a 6.5g or 277 is already covered by one of my many other guns, but a pistol caliber carbine is something I don’t currently have
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top