300 AAC Handi Experiance?

[HARRYMPOPE]

I took an 300AAC Blackout H&R Handi Rifle in trade today. Anybody play with one? if it's no good with cast I'll let it go rather than spend $ for dies.

[skeet1]

I just got an upper in 300 blackout and what shooting I have done with it looks like it will be a good shooter. I am using the Lee/Harris 312-155 bullet mold sized at .311 and using 296/H110 powder. I made a simple jig for my table saw to keep my fingers away from the blade while using a carbide blade to shorten .223 cases. Cases are easy to form.

This caliber in a Handi Rifle should be a fun one to shoot. Good luck!

Ken

[blackpowder man]

When they first came out a friend of mine got one. I had an old sako rebarreled to a 300 whisper and after a couple years of playing with it I let it go. My friend never tried cast in his H&R, but if my sako had shot anything like his H&r did with jacketed I would have kept it. The pic below is 3 shots by him and 3 shots by me with a new rifle using remington 220 grain subsonics.

[1989toddm]

I would be interested also in this. Have been trying to decide what cartridge to go with in a single shot to plink with and since I already make the brass I'm tempted by the Blackout.

[HARRYMPOPE]

I have some dies anda bit of brass borrowed so maybe this weekend i'll find out.

[Jailer]

I really like mine. Or should I say I really like my daughters 300 blk handi.

Was plinking at steel a couple weeks ago with the Lee 312-155-2R loaded with 4.8gr of 231 and the same bullet over 15.2 gr of H110. They are both accurate loads in this gun. Accurate enough to consistently hit steel at 240ish yards with a red dot anyway.

[HARRYMPOPE]

what dia. did you size the Harris bullet to?

[Jailer]

what dia. did you size the Harris bullet to?

I run both the Harris design and the Lee design sized to .310

[Jeff H]

I took an 300AAC Blackout H&R Handi Rifle in trade today. Anybody play with one? if it's no good with cast I'll let it go rather than spend $ for dies.

Specific to the Handi, I have shot one of these a good bit with cast. I have posted here and on GBO regarding details and experience, but overall, it is a very nicely done little rifle, finished better than most current production Handis I have seen and it is accurate with everything form 98 grain RCBS .32 cal SWC to 170 grain LEE 30 cal FPs. I tried the most recent iteration of Michael Reamy's .311-165, but it was at about that point that I gave up on it.

If I had left it chambered as it came from the factory, I would have bought, rented or borrowed a reamer to taper the parallel-sided ball seat by a degree or degree and a half - whatever would have allowed .311" diameter cast bullets to conform as they passed through as opposed to being "shaved." A lead ring developed and filled the space between the case mouth and the end of the ball seat in the chamber - after which, it shot very well. Occasionally, the ring would come out on a case mouth and I has a wild flier after that which filled that gap again.

I shortened a LEE 7.62x39 collet neck sizer to 1) neck size only and 2) control the amount of neck tension which prevented re-sizing the bullet. I cast pretty soft and don't harden my bullets usually. PM me for details for the die mod if you want. I offered to write it up later and there were no takers so I didn't bother. LEE dies worked great. I had the normal two-die set and the altered 7.62x39 collet die. I also used the LEE universal neck expander.

Since I had really wanted a .357, when I had to decide to spend money on the ball seat, I just had it rebored to .357 Mag., but if I were to have kept it, the change to the ball seat would have likely made it trouble-free. We all know how the best laid plans go though, so I went for the full rebore and gave the 300 BLK up. Nothing wrong with the cartridge, and in the little Handi, it was a very nice-shooting thirty.

I also have access to a LEE 113 grain RFP that shot very well too, but all the GC bullets I shot left the GC well below the neck and I didn't like that regardless of what some say is OK or not OK. I don't like it. It a fella were to "fix" the ball seat to shoot cast without the lead ring, might just as well do some measuring and thinking about maybe extending the leade too so long bullets could be seated out.

Unless you're going to shoot sub-sonic, I would forget that it's the 300 BLK or even the Whisper and set it up to shoot cast as appropriate for the case capacity and get far more versatility out of it. It would probably "ruin" in for shooting standard 300 BLK cartridges, but for the small investment of the rifle, it has potential as a really versatile cast bullet gun. Nothing against the BLK, just a unique opportunity to play with a very "cast bullet appropriate" case capacity in a very maneuverable little rifle.

The fast twist did not seem to have an adverse impact on my lighter bullets either. I pushed them from sub-sonic to about 2kfps (according to the data I was able to scrounge). Both my lighter and heavier bullets mushroomed in a semi-rotten hardwood stump at fifty yards and most grouped at an inch or under. I did not play with it long enough to really tweak it down below that so I thought it was pretty impressive it shot so well without trying ten powders, different alloys, etc.

[skeet1]

I have a .311 sizer die so that is what I use. Seems to be OK.

Ken