Thread: 300 blackout

Originally Posted by Jhon

Mmmm... I watched a Gunblue59 vid a while ago, last year sometime, where he dismissed the Blackout as the least useful/appropriate calibre ever sold to hunters. Does nothing well enough that existing calibres don't already do and better. Best left for its intended military purpose- an AR platform round for quiet close quarters fighting. Well that was his opinion anyway - after a lifetime of military and police weapons training, hunting and gunsmithing. Some validation for that view in this thread so far (ducking and diving)

But each to their own and if soneone wants to lend me one I'll happily try it out lol

Yes and no. To use modern woke terminology, my 300BLK "journey" started when I went rabbit shooting with a forum member many years ago. He turned up with an AR15 in 300BLK. I thought, yeah whatever, but he explained that he used subs on rabbits and supers on goats to good effect. I wasn't the slightest interested in the AR platform, but the cartridge intrigued me, seeming to be versatile. Roll on a few years, Hornady released the Sub-X round supposedly designed to expand at subsonic speeds which was of interest because I don't reload. Around the same time, I had a landmark birthday, so bought my novelty gun, a Bergara BA13 in 300BLK with a 16.5 inch barrel. Loved the format of the rifle, but found the Sub-X rounds extremely lacking at killing animals when taking classic chest shots, even at short range. Switched to supersonics (Hornady FTX) and it's been great. Despite things not turning out as intended, I have a very short, capable, relatively quiet bush rifle with low recoil. For reference, energy levels are around the same as .223, but obviously the ballistics are very different. Muzzle energy is 1303 ft.lb. It does fall off very quickly, but that's not an issue for close range bush hunting. I've yet to have a goat not fall down with the FTX rounds. Others use suppressed, subsonic rounds to good effect when taking CNS shots under more controlled circumstances. I wouldn't write it off.