#.300

We shoot Nosler .300 AAC Blackout 110gr Varmaggedon ammunition from an 8″ AR15.com AR upper with a 1:7″ twist barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight.

In today’s episode, we follow Miles to Shot Show 2018 Media Day at the Range and visit the Lewis Machine and Tool (LMT) booth.

It has not been long since the .300 AAC Blackout cartridge became an officially recognized round, but it has had more than enough time to gain significant popularity. The round was originally made by handloaders interested in slinging .30-caliber bullets using their ARs and is now used on an increasing basis for everything from target shooting to hunting various game. Although there has been a certain amount of debate surrounding the .300 BLK, ballistics do back it as a solidly performing round. In fact, it produces 16.7% more energy than 7.62x39mm at about 300 yards and also manages to outperform the M4 in general, including producing greater energy at longer ranges. Yes, the .300 BLK has become a popular round, and among the companies looking to produce rifles chambered in it is Stag Arms.

Now here is a wildcat that I can get behind. The .30 ARX is an immediately semi-auto AR-15 compatible cartridge. It’s nothing special from a manufacturing standpoint; as the cartridge creator claims, the .30 ARX is simply a necked-up 6.5 Grendel to accept common .30 caliber bullets.

Trijicon is now offering their 3.5×35 and 4×32 ACOG scopes with a BDC (Bullet Drop Compensation) reticle designed for the .300 AAC Blackout cartridge. The reticle is marked out to 600 yards for supersonic .300 BLK loads and 200 yards for subsonic loads. The diamonds drop markers are 2 MOA in width.

From the press release …

After I blogged about the upcoming H&R Handi Rifle chambered in .300 AAC BLK, a reader emailed me about an interesting wildcat …

In December last year Savage announced they would be producing a Model 10 Precision Carbine chambered in .300 AAC BLK. They have just announced they no longer plan to produce it.

[ Written by Dr. Jim and Mary Clary ]

Bryan captured the moment a .300 Win. Mag. round hit two blocks of ballistic gelatin during a demo of either the Remington XM2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle or the Remington Remington Modular Sniper Rifle (I can’t remember which was being used).

Two years ago Remington jumped into the modular precision rifle platform with their MSR line, this year FN hit back hard with their Ballista rifle. Easily convertible from .338 Lapua, .300win mag, and .308. Swapping out calibers can be done under 1.5-2 minutes, and is done so by loosening 4 captive barrel screws, and uses a self-adjusting bolt for proper head-spacing. The gun utilizes a composite mix of aluminum, steel, and polymer stock, with folding stock (adjustable), and more rails then AMTRAK. Coming in around 17lbs this looks to be a strong competitor in the military precision platform market.

In 2012 Hornady will be selling a line of .300 Whisper (compatible with .300 BLK AAC) ammunition. The subsonic load is a 208 gr A-MAX bullet that will achieve 1020 fps (480 ft/lbs, about the equivalent of a 9mm Luger+P load) at the muzzle of a 16″ barreled carbine. The supersonic load is a 110 gr V-MAX that achieves 2375 fps (1377 ft/lbs, about the same as a 5.56mm 62 gr SS109 load) at the muzzle. The ballistic gel comparison (below) of the two loads is interesting …

Smith & Wesson have launched their first .300 AAC BLK rifle and complete upper receiver assembly. The M&P15 300 Whisper is listed as compatible with the .300 Whisper and .300 AAC Blackout cartridges (The .300 AAC BLK is the new SAAMI, trademark-free, version of the .300 Whisper)

At least for me there is something oddly poetic about a modern AK-47 derivative converted to use modern version of the original AK-47 round, the .300 AAC BLK. This Arsenal SLR-106U was rechambered by Troy Sellars, the owner of In Range C2 Inc. of Kodak, TN. With the AAC 762-SDN-6 suppressor it functions perfectly with supersonic or subsonic ammunition.

Despite coming out strongly for the .300 AAC BLK cartridge, Wilson Combat has developed their own 7.62x39mm-equivalent for the AR-15. The 7.62x40mm WT is a 5.56mm NATO cartridge necked up to .30 caliber. To convert an AR-15 to use the 7.62×40 WT a barrel change is (obviously) required and a special Wilson-modified version of Lancer’s L5 AWM polymer magazine.