Thread: Hunting with subs in 300BLK

Having shot subs out of my 308 on fallow and pigs I really didnt like them as much as the as the bow which had a much bigger wound path. And limiting myself to 50m means its bow range with good practice and a compound. They killed but very slow often used both lead HPs and Lehighs. The Lehigh's were much better and id be happy shooting them for lungs etc within rage but the lead have been demoted to head shots (which i dont really or pests. I also used the factory Winchester subs but they were supersonic in my rifle although they did expand well they didn't seem to do any more damage than the lead bullets. I haven't tried the Sub x however and have only seen one shot and it was straight on as a homekill lamb and it kind of ramped up the skull and deflected. we didnt realise this at the time as the sheep got knocked out cold but woke up as we started to slit its throat. A closure inspection showed a cut/gouge up the forehead splitting the skin etc. Personally I do carry some sub loads with my 308 and will load some for my 7mm08 to carry to be able to shoot hares, possums etc but if i wanted a sub gun id buy something bigger bore like 45/70, 450 bushmaster.

From my experience hornady sub ammo Is shit. Inconsistent speeds, few supers in a sub box haha. 44mag could be a good bet? There is a very sexy 300blk mod 7 on tm...

there is likely to be a few more when folks wake up and realize what has been typed out in this thread is a fairly good representation across spectrum of hunting types and useage....the milage doesnt vary all that much when you compare what all have said...
subsonic .30 cal is pretty much the same no matter the case,killing power or lack thereof doesnt change.
supersonic...well the blackout does nothing anymanner of other cartridges cant do as well and much better.
so that ONLY leaves the little action ,lightweight and fast twist as advantages..... suddenly doesnt look so flash Harry anymore.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

there is likely to be a few more when folks wake up and realize what has been typed out in this thread is a fairly good representation across spectrum of hunting types and useage....the milage doesnt vary all that much when you compare what all have said...
subsonic .30 cal is pretty much the same no matter the case,killing power or lack thereof doesnt change.
supersonic...well the blackout does nothing anymanner of other cartridges cant do as well and much better.
so that ONLY leaves the little action ,lightweight and fast twist as advantages..... suddenly doesnt look so flash Harry anymore.

I had a blackout for a bit. Happy enough with performance with SuperSonics. Trialed subs, yeah nah.
Sold it to put towards a different calibre/rifle which was 45/70.
Blackout wouldn’t do anything my .223 wouldn’t do n wasn’t gonna sell/trade that in.
Wouldn’t bother me to have another one.


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Re: 45/70 and 450BM, the only reason for wanting a subsonic setup is noise, or lack of it. I couldn't quite convince myself that these larger calibres could be quiet, especially with factory rounds, so it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. Happy to be corrected. As for my 300BLK project, I'll switch to supersonic rounds once I've got through my remaining subsonics. As Micky Duck says, 300BLK loses it's shine once you take subsonics out of the picture. As much as it pains me to say it, should have got a .308!

@tikka probably is the best person to ask, I think he uses these Lehigh pills they are pretty pricey tho https://www.gunworks.co.nz/shop/item...ehigh-subsonic

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....st-trip-33902/

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....lackout-26739/

Think there was some photos on the second thread that aren't there now. I have noticed on a couple of unrelated older threads the photos are missing now - maybe the forum is holding too much data/photos and the admins are starting to delete them?

Here’s one of the photos you’re looking for @308mate - Lehigh Controlled Chaos.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

Here’s one of the photos you’re looking for @308mate - Lehigh Controlled Chaos.

Attachment 177905

These are actually 198gr maximum expansion taken from red deer.

Yeah I’ve shot plenty of deer and even more goats with a semi custom tikka 300BLK 12” 1:7 barrel using subs 90% of the time. I solely use purpose built subsonic Lehigh Defence 168gr Controled Fracturing and 198gr maximum expansion projectiles for deer as they have the quickest kills and had killed deer out to 280m with them. I’ve had quite a few bang flops on hilar shots.
Not happy with the results from hornady 190gr sub-x on deer and will only use them on goats now.
The powder I use is AR2205 for all supersonics and subsonic, and I use this powder in 4 other mates 300 blackouts that I reload for.


The top bullets are Lehigh 168gr controlled fracturing and the bottom are 198gr maximum expansion. The controlled fracturing work like buckshot from a shotgun, the 3 razor sharp petals cut the internals impressively and on fallow deer the the base will punch through the other side.

The maximum expansion open up like a broadhead and punch through deeper and found a few bullets on the off side skin and the odd small red deer with a prefect broadhead like cut on the skin punching clean through and they work good on big pigs too.

The thing I really like about the 300BLK is you can bang away all day on goats and around the next corner a deer unaware.


I will run run all these on one trip and dailup accordingly, Roberts 151gr HP cast, subsonic 208gr ELD, subsonic Lehigh 168gr CF and Nosler 125gr BT supersonic.

I use the 151gr cast for possums, mountain hares and the odd goat, I can only single feed them on a empty magazine in my rifle.
208gr is the most accurate ammo and use for head shot deer at long range(250m) and goat culling ammo.

125gr Supersonics for everything. I Also use 125gr SST, TMK.


A goat on the run about to be dropped with a 208gr eld.


Scopes I away between 2.5-10x42 and a aimpoint red dot with quick release mounts.

I haven’t used this rifle much this year as I bought a 308 for medium 300m-400m range hunting and using 151gr cast / trailBoss for point blank finishing shots and the odd goat and it feeds perfectly out of a tikka magazine compared to the 300BLK.

Another Sub-X fail today. Shot a goat mid-neck at 5 metres. It went down, then got up and ran 50 metres. Huge blood trail, but I was lucky to find it in dense bush. Might as well take up bow hunting!

Originally Posted by MB

Another Sub-X fail today. Shot a goat mid-neck at 5 metres. It went down, then got up and ran 50 metres. Huge blood trail, but I was lucky to find it in dense bush. Might as well take up bow hunting!

At 5 metres that would be perfect for a Bow with good broad heads the make a real mess with lots ob blood.

not a 300BLK but i've seen a goat shot through the front shoulder's with subsonic 308 and it shrugged it off and walked away. a super a bit later was a bang flop

What you don't have in velocity, it's better to make up for in bore size and weight. Unless you can reload specialist projectiles, get a big cal.

Here’s a hind I got the other day on the bush edge with a Lehigh 168gr Controlled Fracturing sub, shot at 80m and only ran 25m before running out of oil pressure.