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Tuesday, November 30, 2021

300 Blackout VS. 5.56 | WHY and WHEN you need them

 John Lovell compares the 300 blackout with the 5.56 and discusses contexts you may want one over the other. 

VIDEO HERE  (23 minutes)

24 comments:

  1. I built a 9" 300BLK pistol about 10 years ago. I let my brother-in-law try it out and he kept it. He did end up paying me for it. He paid the $$ for a suppressor and all he shoots is 159 grain cast bullets at 1000 fps.

    The pistol scratched my itch for 300 BLK. Another one is way down on my list. I would rather build a 11.5" pistol or SBR in 10mm. It would be interesting to shoot my 135gr coated RN that are running 1570fps in my 10mm pistol.

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  2. Not watching the video. 300 BO has one use, close suppressed fire in expert hands. Otherwise it is a solution in search of a problem (or more likely in search of a market). Cartridge is so poorly designed as to be worthy of legal action IMO. 300 BO will fit in a 5.56x45 magazine and will chamber and fire in a 5.56x45 chamber, destroying the weapon and likely causing injury. Anyone owning and keeping both weapons in the same safe or rack, or ammo for both, or god forbid loaded magazines not permanently marked needs to have their heads examined.

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    1. Yep, yep and yep. I'll go with 9mm for my quiet indoor social work needs TYVM. I still get queasy having multiple 12 and one 20 gauge in the same house.

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    2. Listen to Swrichmond. I had both. I had different mags. Metal for .300, poly for .223. I had different color mags, different color uppers. I had a highly-experienced friend with me at the range trying to figure out a failure-to-fire issue. Despite all our experience, we blasted a 5.56 upper to pieces when we chambered a .300 in it.
      He got powder burns, I was fine, upper and mag destroyed.
      I sold all my 300 BLK after that.

      Flame me if you want, I deserve it.

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    3. MURPHY'S LAW is the main reason I do not have one. i have had one pistol blow up on me. I do not need a rifle cartridge in a pistol to do the same.

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  3. The number one advantage 300blk has is it has subsonic rounds that work. Make 5.56 subsonic and you're basically shooting an overpriced .22 round. 5.56 is only effective at high velocity...and even with a suppressor not super quiet. Other than that 300blk doesn't have all that much going for it.

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    1. Other than a much heavier round than a 5.56, the fact that a 300 BO is not as loud as a 5.56 AR pistol even unsuppressed, and the muzzle flash isn't nearly as obnoxious as a 5.56 in low light conditions - you know, minor shit like that.

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    2. ...and then there's overall ammo availability. Quantity has a quality all its own.

      There are 4 common rifle/pistol rounds in the U.S. .30-06, 9MM, .556 and .45ACP. anything else is just a fad, IMHO.

      I don't want to hear about .308. It never should have happened. Oh, you get to carry one extra mag's worth of ammo trading weight between .30-06 and .308? Suck it up buttercup.

      .30-06 won two world wars last century. That's proof enough of its effectiveness for me.

      Nemo

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    3. I've got a .308 that regularly shoots under a quarter minute of angle, with groups as small as .014". You got a .30-06 that can do that?

      You pick your favorite calibers, I'll pick mine.

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    4. @ anonymous who didn't have the stones to identify his post with a handle.

      M1 Garand with a match barrel. As they say in the barbershop, NEXT!

      Nemo

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  4. If you want a quiet gun to protect your ears, then 300 BO is far from the only option. A rifle shooting 38 special, 44 special, subsonic 45-70, etc would have as good or better energy and make a bigger hole. See, for instance, this example of a 45-70 getting quiet shots without the need of a suppressor. https://www.jacklambert.com/2014/01/quiet-without-the-can-hunting-quietly-without-a-suppressor/

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    1. Jack Lambert needs to be careful. He's flirting with pressures and muzzle velocities that are flirting with getting a bullet stuck in the bore.

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    2. You want to load up at .45-70 with a 30 round mag? Do you have the forklift you'll need to move that thing? And yes, I own a single-shot that weighs in around 30 or so pounds.
      -Just A Chemist

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  5. i would love to have one if a person could find ammo for em. good luck with that.

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    1. I reload for ours. 300blk uses Hodgens H110 for most loads, the only problem is *some* loads have little to no wiggle room for errors. Lehigh defense has load data on their site for their projos, and from my experiences it is good data. Our three favorite loads are:
      Hornady (until I can find projos that are the same weight/type without the covid asshattery) 125gr FMJ super sonic load 17.1 grains of H110, 2.08" OAL.

      Lehigh Defense Controlled Copper Chaos fragmenting 115gr supersonic load 18gr H110, 2.11" OAL.

      Lehigh Defense Maximum Expansion 194gr subsonic load 9.8gr H110, 2.21" OAL.

      The Lehigh projos are damn expensive, but the controlled chaos loads in particular are *nasty* 16"+ penetration in gel (primary wound channel) with fragments breaking off at a 45 degree angle to the primary wound channel and penetrating to 14".

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    2. Right now I can find.308 cheaper than 390blk. Long distance, some times it's even better than being there.

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    3. Shit, my 41 magnum loads are 20 grains of H110 under a 220 grain hardcast.
      What I've found out about H110 over the years is that you have to load to 90% or better of maximum for peak efficiency.

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    4. Max load for the 194gr subsonic Lehigh Defense projectiles is 10.0gr of H110, and (in my gun at least) anything less than 9.7gr leads to short stroking and gas system issues.

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  6. Big slow bullets put alot of men in the ground.

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  7. I have enough calibers around here without adding one that can cause a catastrophic explosion if I put the wrong magazine in while it's dark.

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  8. I only have 300 Black Out in my safe. Not a big fan of the 556.

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