300 Blackout a good cast bullet round?

[Shooter6br]

May trade into a new Ruger 300 BO Ranch rifle. Is it a good cast gun? i load for my 30-06 American Enfield now. I shoot 50 yrds with it. Thanks


http://www.ruger.com/products/americanRifleRanch/models.html

[Deadpool]

What's the point in a bolt 300BO? Makes sense for an AR.

[dualsport]

Wrong! That's like asking 'why do you need another gun?' or 'why do you need another mold?'.

[BK7saum]

There is nothing wrong with a bolt 300 blackout. If shooting subsonic, you can load some VERY quiet loads with fast pistol powder, loads that will not cycle in an AR. Some cast boolits do not feed well in an AR as well. Will a 300 BO bolt rifle do anything that a 308 won't do? Probably not, but the smaller case is easier to work with when loading subsonic ammo. I have a 300 whisper Remington 700 and much prefer shooting it over a 300 BO rifle or 300 BO pistol.

Brad

[mckenziedrums]

The NOE 247gr bullet is an excellent cast option for subsonic 30 cal shooting no matter what case it is in. The bolt action 300 doesn't get you anything you can't already do in a 308 but as already mentioned it can be a little easier to work with the reduced case capacity depending on your powder choice.

If you're not looking for subsonic and don't care... then you can play around a bit with the lighter cast bullets and get good results there. Once nice thing is using W296 or H110 with 150ish gr bullets and shooting rifle for extremely cheap.

[Deadpool]

The bolt action 300 doesn't get you anything you can't already do in a 308

That's what I was thinking.

[Jupiter7]

What's the point in a bolt 300BO? Makes sense for an AR.

A few things. Does it with smaller case capacity(less powder) and is optimal for heavy long bullets that would choke in a cleanly chambered 06' or 308. BUT, feeding can be an issue with certain bullets because of the extreme variation in COAL. Honestly, I prefer 30-30 in a savage 340 for cast.

[odfairfaxsub]

It's throated for longer heavier bullets, smaller case space leading it to be a efficient round in the class it's in, short short action, and it's a tad but diff than daddy's hunting round. To me there's a mystic to the blackout round. Would I get a bolt one prob not but I also can't or won't do red dot loads in my ar15 aac bc I'm not yanking my charging handle all day long but if I was into the bolt I'd use unique, red dot etc

[MT Chambers]

My experience with the cartridge and others in very accurate boltguns is that both the .30 BR. and the .308 Win. are better cast bullet cals. and more accurate, the 30/30 and 30/06 have more potential as well, but lack accurate rifles...compared to the rifles I used to test the smaller .30s.

[2manyguns]

the 308x1.5 could be loaded down to 300BO velocity with a little pistol powder , I have a friend that did it for a cougar hunt, his thoughts were he didn't want to tear the cat up and they were using hounds so the cat would be in a tree I don't recall the powder but a 220 cast bullet was the pill of choice, today the cat is still laying on a log in his trophy room

[Artful]

What's the point in a bolt 300BO? Makes sense for an AR.

it was designed for the AR platform but in a bolt gun is still a good cartridge and as for down loading 308 it can be a challenge especially if doing subsonic with pistol powders and shooting up inclines or down into ditches - you can get extremely erratic velocity variations.

[Moonie]

It is a very accurate cast boolit shooter in both our AR uppers. Very fun to shoot and cheap to reload. In a bolt or single shot I don't think I would have as much interest, but then I have other bolt guns I shoot cast in.

[runfiverun]

I have the AAC bolt gun and I'm looking at getting the ruger for the wife.

try loading 3.5grs of 700-x under a 230gr plain base cast boolit in your 308 and let us know how that works out for ya.

I have some 308's and 30-06's and 30-30's, the 300 fills a niche the others can't quite get to. [guess that's why I had the 30 xcb built too]
the only thing that comes close is the 357 and since I'd have to buy a rifle either way I opted for the faster twist rate of the 300 to shoot slow big boolits out of.

[kweidner]

I thought the same on the "why". I now have 3. An SBR, carbine length, and an encore. My favorite walking gun by far for SE woods. Have killed numerous hogs, deer, and vermin to date. I have designed 3 boolits and one bullet. 2 expanding at subsonic. It is the quietest suppressed platform I have fired to date. Check out my video on www.weidnercustom.com (http://www.weidnercustom.com). the video hardly does it justice as I have heard many suppressed subsonic rimfires that were louder and mine is 220 grains and expands.


I also make a 190 expanding bullet I swage for my suppressed .308 but it is nothing in comparison to the versatility and handiness of my SBR. I enjoy the BO platform so much I built a double stamper. Cheap brass, little powder, SD in the teens. MOA to 268 suppressed subsonic in my encore. I could write a thesis.....


Sorry rant over

[3006mv]

Yes and better in a bolt gun and when it was called 300-221 Fireball or 300 Whisper the original wildcat names.

[gloob]

I'd say it is. Cheap brass and efficient case size for cast bullets. I would rather have a bolt action than a semi. But I would rather a 7mm TCU, not being particularly interested in a silencer. Better ballistics and easier brass conversion. I wish it were more popular.

[GhostHawk]

I have a H&R single shot in .300 Blackout, I actually thought I'd never shoot the thing, bought it as an investment.

Threw a cheap Red Dot type sight on it, thought I'd sight it in for my wife to play with.

Out to 50 that little rifle was sweet, beyond that I had trouble because of my eyes not anything the rifle did.

In the process I bought the HF cut off saw and the jig, amazingly easy to make brass from .223 pickups. Which is one thing your .308 won't do. I discovered the joys of 4-5 grains of Red Dot behind everything from 93 grain little pills, 155 gr gas checked bullets, and 185 grain killers. They maybe slow, but they get there just fine.

On top of the other attributes my Handi Blackout is only 16.5" barrel, is threaded for suppressor, weights a bit over 5 pounds.
So you have a light weight, short, extremely handy rifle, great for a woods walk and anything from woodchucks and coons up to deer.

And if you cast your own bullets it shoots for less than .22lr with a very respectable THUMP on the far end.

On top of that, it is pretty quiet, and recoil is hardly even noticed.

I'm still breaking mine in, but it has become of of my favorites to take to the range. I'm not getting 1 MOA accuracy out of it yet, but if I was aiming at a pop can at 50 yards it would get hit. Easy to shoot, easy to reload, more fun than .22lr at less cost.

Now I don't have access to a chrony, yet. But at even 1000 fps that 185 gr bullet is going to leave a mark.

To me the real key to shooting a rifle accurately, is to shoot it a LOT.
With .30-30, .308, and .30-36 going a buck a shot most places that can be a little hard to do.

Not to mention I only paid 221$ for it new, add shipping, FFL fee, and a Simmons scope and I'm still under 300$.

[Lever-man]

You sold me on the idea. I have a Ruger American on the way in 300 AAC.. I was going to start casting for my 6.5 Grendal but what your saying on this thread makes more sense. If I like it, my AR in 300 AAC WILL be for sale.

[kweidner]

Just got another suppressor out of can jail. It was intended to be dedicated for the encore in BO. Somehow it spends more time on the SBR. Oh well time for another stamp. This time I may go titanium. Either way I am not parting with ANY of my blackouts! Yes they are stupid quiet.

[timspawn]

I bought a Ruger American Ranch on Saturday off of GB. If it likes cast, I will keep it copper free.

[Lever-man]

Picked mine up late yesterday, couldn't resist trying some of the Lee soup cans I had loaded. It has issues feeding them! I loaded them long as I thought I could crimped in the first grease grove, but the flat nose hits squarely on the edge instead of dropping the barrel. I only shot 3 will try more later but it doesn't look good for feeding flat nose bool its.

[Lever-man]

Shot a few more in my Ruger American 300 blk. Lee C309-113F GC lubed with Ben's Red and BLL, 4 gr 231. Still having feeding problems. I'm going to try a different boolit next.http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05/20/2c98726bd5e5418f64611f8ba931144e.jpg

[Lever-man]

Sorry about the photo orientation don't know how to change on here yet.

[runfiverun]

we had the ruger out for the first time today, I noticed it's feeding quirks right off.

the rcbs 30-165 silhouette boolit fed perfectly from the magazine, but was iffy when single feeding.
the 311359 fed either way just fine, but wasn't quite as accurate.
I was pushing it a bit faster though because of the weight difference [and the wife was shooting it for the first time which would account for some of the accuracy loss]

[rockrat]

Another plus for a bolt action 300 BO is that I can go to the range and shoot 100 rounds easily(mines a single shot action)and if the wind isn't blowing too much, hit our 7" steel target @ 500yds easily. The guys shooting their 300 WM get a bit tired after awhile and have a bit of trouble hitting the gong.

[xacex]

I like the blackout. It is cheap to shoot, and cases can be made from range pickups. People like to compare it to a 308 and say it does nothing that the 308 cant do, but I have to disagree. The twist on a 308 is 1/10 vs 1/7 or 1/8 in blackout. That lets you stabilize a much heavier bullet. Cases are cheaper, and not as bulky for a small charge of powder that subsonic uses. The blackout also fills that super sonic mid range velocity well without having to step up to a larger case. Sure, you wont get the velocity of a 30-30 with a 170 grain boolit maxed out, or a 308, but for lighter game you don't need that anyway. For me the blackout works well for deer size game and below. I have got deer with a 8.5" blackout and they don't go more than 20 yards. All of my blackout firearms are semis (3) but I would not mind adding a bolt action to the mix. I have even thought about adding a side charger to one of the AR;s to make it a straight pull action. Why you ask? Because nothing is quieter than Red Dot behind a NOE 247 out of a suppressor out there. Well, until it connects on the other side. :D

[ReloaderEd]

I recently purchased an AR16 upper in 300 blackout. I intend to hunt deer with it using full loads and sierra 125 gr. hp bullets and enforcer pistol powder. Has anyone tested thee enforcer power in 300 bo brass? I would appreciate any help and advice I can get. thank you

[ThomR]

Being that it's a pistol powder I doubt that it will be able to cycle the gun. I could be wrong as I've never used that powder.
I use Lil'Gun in my 300 blackout with good success.

[RoyEllis]

https://sierrabulletsblog.com/2017/12/21/sierra-bullets-300-aac-blackout-load-data/

Free load data from your choice of bullet manu. even lists your powder choice as well......

[Texas by God]

AA1680 and W296/H110 will push that bullet to hunting speed for deer. I don’t think Enforcer will.

[kenton]

I recently purchased an AR16 upper in 300 blackout. I intend to hunt deer with it using full loads and sierra 125 gr. hp bullets and enforcer pistol powder. Has anyone tested thee enforcer power in 300 bo brass? I would appreciate any help and advice I can get. thank you


Look at pg 63 in the loading manual PDF
https://www.ramshot.com/load-data/

[Lloyd Smale]

I have 3 BO ar15s. I love them. the reason I do is cast bullets. I can shoot full power 130 cast into 2 inches at a 100 yards ALOT cheaper then I can shoot even surplus ball 556 bullet handloads. Then I can switch ammo to a barnes 110 and hunt deer out to 200 yards tommarow. Or slap on a can and load some heavys subsonic and play that way. My take on a ruger American. I shot my buddys a couple weeks ago it was loaded with that lee heavy (don't know the exact bullet) we were hitting a 10 inch steel plate at 300 yards EVERY shot. Cool thing with the closed bolt is it was even noticeably quieter then my ars with a can. Its sounded about like a pellet rifle and. All you heard was a pop then a clang as it hit the steel. Versatility!! Last deer season his daughter took a 6 pointer and a doe with that rifle using nos bts. I took two does doing crop damage shooting this year with my 16 inch gun. One up close and one well past a 150 yards both one shot kills that the deer never traveled more then 25 yards. After I shot his American I walked away with it right at the top of my next gun purchase list. In my opinion you have to look pretty hard to find a better medium bore cast bullet spitter then a BO.

[Lloyd Smale]

If im not mistake enforcer is very close to aa9 in burning speed. I have surplus wc820 which is aa9 and it works great. Hard to find data for it but the load I settled on gets a 130 up to 2100 fps and 110s to 2300 out of a 16 inch gun and has single digit extreme spreads and will put 5 110 barnes x bullets into groups at a 100 yards out of my cheap psa gun that if I told you what they were id be called a lier. Don't let anyone tell you it wont work. It works VERY WELL and the added benefit to those of us who shoot cast to save money is you use 25 percent less then if you use 110 or 1680. Ive probably shot at least 3k of them through my 3 ars just this summer. Not a single flatten primer or problem of any kind. It even burns super clean.

[Conditor22]

My FFL has several H&R AAC 300 BO and a can. He loves 311-247-FN NOE over 4+ grns 700X.

super quiet, extremely accurate and hits hard

[popper]

Ed - might try the speer 150 BO GD for deer. Expands @ 1400 supposedly with 0.4 something BC. Groups good from my carbine @ 100, ~ 1900 fps.

[Time Killer]

It is a great cast bullet shooter. It is also just fun to shoot.

[bluelund79]

Between this thread and a pile of brass, I’m going to have to get another American Ranch rifle. As much fun as my Savage 340 in 30/30 is with cast, the 300AAC just seems like fun. My 5.56 Ranch rifle is a lot of fun and very handy to have.

[Preacher Jim]

Blue be careful the blk out so much fun in bolt pretty soon you will be like me and build one in 30x223 they are fun rounds to play with and good for lot of things

[popper]

IMHO, the 1:7 twist in most rifles is a mistake. I've shot 220 UMC subs from 1:10 carbine, no problem with accuracy. 180 cast (RD) work too (supers). First BO I got was supposed to be 1:9 but turned out 1:7, passed it to SIL. Even my 1:8 10" pistol works fine sub or super. Subs without a can are still noisy. Ammo is available now from 110 to 240 gr factory stuff, lots of cases at the range now - mix seems 50/50 BO/x39. Most of the rest is 223. Shooters are about 50/50 sub/supers now, most hog hunters and several deer hunters are using 125, 110 and 150 supers. 40Wt and 30 hammer are becoming popular - more powder. 30/30 and 308W get shot once in a while to prevent loneliness. And are much harder on the wallet and shoulder, even with cast.
350 legend is sort of a joke to me. Why not just a short 45/70 or 10mm carbine. Specs on the 350 (fps & distance) are supposedly better than 30/30 or equal, so why they restrict to 2" .357 straight wall is beyond me. Easier for game wardens to verify?

[SweetMk]

Well,, did the 300 Blackout die!!?? I think I searched correctly,, (maybe not?) but, all I can find on this forum is posts that are over a year old,,
I have had my PSA 300 Blackout close to two years, now, I think I need to learn a little about casting for the gun,,
I do like shooting heavier bullets, ALL that I have reloaded are 210 grain Sierra MK's,,

I did not want to start a new thread,, if I am beating a dead horse,, so, is there still love for the 300 Blackout!!?? :lovebooli :holysheep

[timspawn]

I shoot jacketed in my AR's. I have the American mentioned earlier in this thread and it would not feed the cast bullets I wanted to hunt with. They are are a flat nose design. I have a Handi that shoots well with 110 gr cast bullets. The Ruger likes them too. It's a nice plinker with those bullets.

[1006]

I had the first version of the Ruger American Ranch with a rotary mag. It would not feed ANY ammo reliably from the mag. I tried three new mags before surrendering. After reading good comments about the newer Ruger that uses AR magazines, I tried and later bought the Ruger with an AR magazine. The AR mag version runs really well with the 30-30 Bullets.

The loads that I shoot the most are Red Dot or Trail Boss for Subsonic speeds, and Alliant 2400 for supersonic. I have only fired the 150 grain plated 30-30 bullet from Berry Bullets. The supersonic load is a 1 moa load at 100yards. The subsonic loads group nicely at 50 yards.

In the bolt gun, you have a lot of bullet and powder combinations available that will provide acceptable accuracy.

[koger]

I guess I got lucky. I traded a buddy out of one for $300, put a Burris 3x9x40 with ballistic reticle. It loves a 220 gr Sierra loaded subsonic, and will put 5 of them in a hole about 3/4" at 100yds. I also got mine to shoot the lee FN 170gr lubed with alox and pushed by trail boss into 1 1/4" groups at 100yds.

[cwlongshot]

Same here. I have a very early RARR in 300 with that rotary mag everyone complains about...

I had ONE that was a bit temperamental. Disassembled and re wound and aside from breaking off the lil tab and having to glue it together... Its working 100%.

Yea there are some very blunt/FP 30/30 bullets that wont feed. But they hit the back of the barrel. Most all feed fine including the 165 RD that I like.

CW

[Gamsek]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201021/6a464375663153d06a5083a8579206d6.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201021/8c6f73adad3d49489de3b56c9dff3d88.plist
I love my MP 311-235 (224grs). Perfect for PC, perfect feeding from Ruger rotary magazine of Ranch 300 BLK, accurate and kills equally well. Beats Sub-X at 1000fps.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201021/eb9c0196010eb2d9e50f56799a3b552d.jpg

[timspawn]

Wow, a chamois with a 300 BLK! Very cool!

[SweetMk]

Wow, a chamois ,,,,,,,,,,, Very cool!

Did you save some of the chamois to dry your car with it??
That is what I do with my chamois,,,,,,, :smile:



:lol:

[Gamsek]

Did you save some of the chamois to dry your car with it??
That is what I do with my chamois,,,,,,, :smile:



:lol:

Steaks and we also make “chamois soup” as a special local speciality. It was 110m shoot. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201021/ae4ed6bb48ee633bf84b7eebc0e39bc0.jpg

[MUSTANG]

Gamsek :

What powder and how many grains are you using?

[Gamsek]

Gamsek :

What powder and how many grains are you using?

12grs of VihtaVuori N120 for 360 m/s, after seeing excellent groups I never bother to go faster (I did but only for bullet expansion testing with 20:1 and 10:1 alloy). Also now for all my loads under 1350fps I don’t use GC - still accurate.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201112/3729eee46a883df22e0cfe9d4d9e1ab0.jpg
Purple 10:1 alloy around 1325 fps, blue 20:1 alloy at that speed

[Lloyd Smale]

I had the first version of the Ruger American Ranch with a rotary mag. It would not feed ANY ammo reliably from the mag. I tried three new mags before surrendering. After reading good comments about the newer Ruger that uses AR magazines, I tried and later bought the Ruger with an AR magazine. The AR mag version runs really well with the 30-30 Bullets.

The loads that I shoot the most are Red Dot or Trail Boss for Subsonic speeds, and Alliant 2400 for supersonic. I have only fired the 150 grain plated 30-30 bullet from Berry Bullets. The supersonic load is a 1 moa load at 100yards. The subsonic loads group nicely at 50 yards.

In the bolt gun, you have a lot of bullet and powder combinations available that will provide acceptable accuracy.

same thing here. My rotary fed one was junk. Sent it back for the third time for them to deal with it and they finaly sent me a new ar mag model and that one feeds great.

[MUSTANG]

Gamsek:

Thanks for the info. I have a friend who enjoys building AR style rifles. He does a lot of 300 Blackout; but has been using jacketed bullets. He is interested in doing some cast in the 300 Blackout but has no experience in Cast so I am doing some research for him to collect information before I bring samples of 5 to 12 Cast bolts for him to work on reloading with. After that if he remains interested; we may have a casting party.

I do not have a 300 Blackout, and have never used any Vihtavouri powder; but looking at a burn rate chart it is close to Winchester 748, IMR 4198, H322, and BLC2. I have a good store of these powders so we should be able to work up some loads to test this winter. Thanks once again.

271271

[6.5 mike]

Been waiting for my 300 ruger to show up, but do have the same rifle in 7.63x39 to play with. Now that I've kinda figured out the PC thing this ought to get a hoot. I do have a 300 ar, but can't seem to talk myself into using cast in it. Yesterday I did make up some dummys with the lee 150 fn, 160 tl, 185 rn, & 200 rn. They all cycled fine, worked by hand. Do have some loaded with a 311410 lubed & checked ahead of 4 gr of red dot.