300 AAC Blackout reloading

[9th Company]

Do you reload? What bullets do you use? 110 to 230 grain? What powder? What is your most reliable recipe? The most accurate?

Where do you get your components?

[CMV]

Re: 300 AAC Blackout reloading

I put some of that info in the AR section on your other post.

10.9 gr A1680, LC reformed brass, CCI #41 primer, 220gr SMK, 2.260" OAL, light Lee FCD is a very good subsonic load.

18.1gr H110, LC reformed brass, CCI #41, 125gr SMK. 2.210" oal, no crimp is a very good supersonic load.

Of course you'll need to work up your own loads & I wouldn't recommend using mine as a starting point. Start with about 11.3 gr for your subsonic and work DOWN.

But really depends on what you're wanting to do. For just a supersonic plinking load a lot of guys use M80 FMJ bullets since those are generally the cheapest .308 projectiles in bulk.

You have a lot more options in a bolt gun since you aren't worrying about cycling the action, but if you go with carbine length gas (not pistol), H110/W296 & A1680 powders, you can make an AR run 300BLK really well.

[LEE7.62]

Re: 300 AAC Blackout reloading

You can get free brass if you're willing to work it up yourself and scrounge the 5.56 from the range. There is a small electric desktop chop saw at Harbor Freight that will cut the brass cases. Also this plastic jig from Squirrel Daddy-
http://www.amazon.com/300-Blackout-C.../dp/B00GYZWVYS
I load 115gr Hornady Vmax, 125 gr Nosler BTs, 147gr FMJBT, 130 gr SOSTs, 175 and 220gr SMKs. Only 2 powders needed- H-110 and AA1680. H110 will load all the supersonics and AA1680 for subs. Note: these are all fired through an AR platform with a 10" bbl and suppressor. Each weight has a critical length that you load OAL to- I keep a master case for each to set my seater. They all get a light crimp- and I mean light. Just enough to press the brass onto the bullet and not enough to crimp the jacket.

[9th Company]

Re: 300 AAC Blackout reloading

For cheap supersonic rounds, something like this can be used:
https://www.wideners.com/itemdetail.cfm ... 01264&dir= (16 cents each)

For ammo, you can load with something like these bullets:
http://palmettoprojectiles.com/ (11 cents each in quantity, 203 grain)
http://www.leatherheadbullets.com/products.php (14 cents each in quantity, 240 grain)

^ Note that both of those bullets are slightly oversized. They require that you flare the case mouth, and then crimp after seating the bullet. I use a Lee universal neck expanding die (http://www.midwayusa.com/product/140461 ... anding-die) and a Lee factory crimp die (http://www.midwayusa.com/product/548891 ... c-blackout), and they both are fantastic.

[CMV]

Re: 300 AAC Blackout reloading

I use the Missouri Bullet Company coated cast 245gr bullets for subs. They're 0.310" diameter but seat just fine with a chamfer in the case mouth. I don't need to expand the mouth any with those.

[9th Company]

Re: 300 AAC Blackout reloading

I got all the above fore mentioned material and have reloaded a few rounds. Strangely enough my reloaded Palmetto Projectile rounds 203 gr would pass on a Wilson gage but get stuck in the barrel and not fully chamber. I'd pull out the round and get powder all over the place. I'm going to shorten it a bit from the 2.260 inches overall length to 2.0 inches as the thread below recommends.

http://www.300blktalk.com/forum/viewtop ... rojectiles

[CMV]

Re: 300 AAC Blackout reloading

In an AR or a bolt gun? It would take an odd bullet profile to be mag length and still hit the lands in an AR. You can put some layout fluid (Dychem) on one & see. Ride the charging handle & use the forward assist to chamber it gently.

I have a buddy's barrel sent off to another buddy to re-cut the chamber. His was never finish reamed and it shipped that way. It had the issue you are describing - rounds would almost chamber & but get stuck.

Also do a 'push test' on your finished rounds. You should be able to get really good neck tension on 300 BLK & it should take significant force to set the pullet back pushing the nose into your bench.

I don't know how long the bullet you are using is, but at 203gr it probably has some decent length. 2.000 is pretty short OAL for a bullet that long. But I'm assuming a somewhat similar profile as a 208gr AMax. I would suggest finding the proper length for your rifle & using that IF you are indeed jamming the projectile into the lands. To do that, you load a dummy round extra long with little neck tension and chamber it as gently as possible. Then extract it as gently as possible & measure. Repeat a few times since it's hard to get the hang of it & get the neck tension just right to work. Once you are sure you have a good measurement back off about .010" & that's a good starting point. You don't want the bullet jumping farther than it needs to to engage the rifling.

Loading it real long & with little neck tension makes the ogive hit the rifling as you're chambering then it pushes the bullet back into the case. The neck tension needs to be light enough that it easily pushes back when doing this, but enough that the bullet doesn't want to stay in the chamber & pull back out when you extract. Once you have that figured out & get the same measurement a few times in a row, you know the exact distance for THAT bullet in THAT chamber. Then you can play around with OAL once you're inside an accuracy node. -.010" is a good place to start, but anywhere between -.005" - -.020" is fine.

[9th Company]

Re: 300 AAC Blackout reloading

All of the rounds I loaded to a 2.25" OAL do not feed all the way in my AR 15. I can however tap the bolt carrier and make them feed. However I want them to feed so I shortened them to 2" OAL and they feed ok. Shoot ok, and being subsonic are nice and quiet.

[RT]

Re: 300 AAC Blackout reloading

All of the rounds I loaded to a 2.25" OAL do not feed all the way in my AR 15. I can however tap the bolt carrier and make them feed. However I want them to feed so I shortened them to 2" OAL and they feed ok. Shoot ok, and being subsonic are nice and quiet.

Has anybody tried subsonic out of a longer barrel? I was thinking that subsonic out of a 24" with one of those Noveske flaming pig type devices might not be very loud, and legally, its not suppressed.

[CMV]

Re: 300 AAC Blackout reloading

18" is as long as I've gone, but nowhere close to hearing safe. I made a very similar muzzle device as the flaming pig for my SBR. It helps a little but I perceived noise downrange is louder. Just kind of 'moves' it away from the shooter [a little] but doesn't make it any quieter.

300BLK subs unsuppressed is kind of pointless. If they weren't Hollywood quiet suppressed, they probably wouldn't exist.

To 9th CO - what bullet are you using? If you're using something common like a SMK, AMax, VLD, etc and can't load real close to mag length something else is wrong. If you're using something with a round nose profile like a 30 cal carbine bullet you might play hell getting them to feed, but a spitzer should feed fine. You might want to use a go/nogo gauge set on that chamber.

I use these from MBC and they feed just fine loaded to 2.160" OAL:



I load 208 gr AMax to 2.250" OAL & 220gr SMK to 2.260"

[9th Company]

Re: 300 AAC Blackout reloading

http://palmettoprojectiles.com/

203 grain from these guys. I'm not the only one with this problem, see the http://www.300blktalk.com/forum/view...to+projectiles thread for a discussion for this.

I have been loading IMR 4227 in these, the starting load. The below pictured are 2" OAL and work fine although there is some more room in the magazine for bullet length.

As stated before, you still need hearing protection for these, like a subsonic 22LR, although noticeably quieter than supersonic for sure.