Just a heads up on brass: I converted some BVAC 08 5.56 to 300, and the neck winds up being too thick. I only had like 45 pieces total, so I just scrapped it (hey, made for good practice at the process, at least).

The LC13 that I've converted is fine on neck thickness; just remember to check it. I have some test loads made up with Nosler 125 gr Ballistic Tips...now I just need to get a rifle for them, doh!

I have a question regarding case dim sizing. I loaded up a bunch of 110gr on about 5 different types of resized brass (LC, TZ, PMP, PMC, etc), that I did the resizing on. the cart length was correct, they were tumbled and primed correctly, and I checked them with a Wilson cart gage after complete loading.

however, when I tried shooting them out of the AAC 16in rifle, several of them would not chamber. they would stick on the top neck and I would have to bang them out. Is there a simple way to check the dims, like with a cart gage or is the prevailing wisdom to mic every round?

I now have about 500rds of suspect ammo.

I am using a rock chucker with rcbs dies.

ok, next question: I have read posts regarding some crimp and some don't. However, I am not understanding the purpose of the crimp. the bullets are tightly seated. can someone explain either the why of the crimp or do not crimp.

thanks for the feedback.

oh, I will be loading two rounds, one in 125 nosler and the other in 220 sierra sub and I will be using once fired LC brass properly created, including anneal, by someone other than me.

I shoot out of a 9in and a 16in AAC both suppressed and non.

I only crimp "non precision" projectiles.

Crimping stops bullet setback, but it also can help get a consistent tension on the bullet. The best uses for crimping with 300 AAC would be to stop the round from chambering in a 5.56 rifle.

Reading through here, it seems that some people get better accuracy with a crimp, some get better without.

For those of you using 200gr SMK's for subsonics....

Nosler 190gr BTHP for $19 per 100. (These are blems) LINK

I picked up seven boxes of the 190 CC's to try subsonic with Reloader 7. Hopefully they produce a decent load.

A crimp holds the bullet in case a split second longer and gives it more velocity, kind of like shaking a bottle of bubbly until pressure builds n cork pops. only deal is consistently measuring crimp pressure. titan reloading has a gauge to do it. LEE factory crimp is only one worth a damn!

Neither of my .300BLK (DD and Noveske) barrels like cases made from PMP.  I will not make BLK from PMP cases.

 

Picked up Hornady 9th edition manual today.  Was glad to see 300blk data for powders I already have,  aa9 and n110.

Hornady data matches Barnes on the 110gr Tac-Tx using h110.  Been wanting to load for this bullet.  Now have data for other powders other than h110 for supersonic.

From FC frangible 5.56 loads...

My 9.5" core 15 barrel seems to like 20.0 grains. I use a Lee fcd and keep them to an oal of 2.25. Brass is annealed, too. Everything done on a Lee classic turret press.

Was playing with some other loads that day, but the "doubles" in the centers of the green and red dots were shot at 50 yards prone with a 1-4x scope set on 4x. I figured that should work just fine for deer out to 150 yards or so.





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Hornady Unique Case Lube, and come Lyman mica and I have no problems full case sizing/forming both .300/.223 cases.

I'll second that, sometimes they come out pretty chewed up, and don't go anywhere near the die until cleaned up.

Finally received my suppressor! Did some loads with 208 Amax and AA5744.

Best loads (quietest/lowest velocities) were 9.1gr, velocities around 875-900fps.  Short stroking without suppressor, but with suppressor cycled fine.

Question:  How would one determine the "best" subsonic load?  Would it be based off of lowest speeds, lowest velocities, or quietest?

Also how low of a charge can one go?  I don't want to end up with squibs, so is there a velocity threshold, or a powder threshold to look for?

Thanks,

Alright guys after a long winter hiatus me and my son brought the 300 Blackout rifle back out.   I finally put a tactical scope on it (Mtac) so I could do a little better job at determining accuracy vs Irons at 100 yards.    I say it's a little better job as the Mtac  is not a cross hair scope it's more of a red dot with more than one dot vertically for range distance correction.    

Anyways.  The loads we tested were as follows.  

150g mil surp 150g steel core.
15.5g of Lilgun
Federal primers.
Not annealed and twice fired.
Crimped.  

These I had loaded up last fall as plinking ammo but they turned out to be accurate for me and full functioning.  Bolt always locked back.  Primers looked great.  I had no problem hitting a 15inch steel gong at 200 yards holding in the center.

125g Nosler BTs
17g of H110
Federal primers
Annealed
Crimped.

These shot well.  Had like 2 inch groups at 100 yards .  Had to hold top of the 15" steel gong to hit it at 200 yards.  Primers were pretty flat on these.  One primer in an LC case was pushed out about .010"

125g Sierra 2121s
17g of H110
Federal Primers
Annealed
Crimped

These also shot well.  Had like 2 inch groups at 100 yards .  Had to hold top of the 15" steel gong to hit it at 200 yards.  Primers were pretty flat on these.

125g Hornady SSTs
17.0g of Lilgun
Federal Primers.
Annealed 7 each and not annealed 7 each
Crimped

These also performed fine.  May have had one occurrence of the bolt not locking back.   Still like 2 inch groups.   Couldn't really tell the difference with annealing or not accuracy wise.

Some thoughts on the day were,

I seem to recall federal primers being fairly soft compared to CCIs?  17.0g of H110 I don't believe is near max but it was definitely flattening the primers.
We were a little disappointed in the accuracy grouping but my eyes are not that great and I was doing my best to hold the dot on the center of the target.  Tricky without cross hairs in my opinion.  
I would say the rounds we've came up with are a good starting point and would certainly do fine in a battle scenario.

I have about 300 cases primed and ready for loading so I'll get back after it here pretty soon.  

This thread has been invaluable to me.  

 I really like my Core15 9.5" barrel.  These will be next reloads to try.   I just loaded up some 125gr Nosler BT's wtih 17.8gr of W296, OAL 2.16

Got my can last week, still waiting on the stamp for the lower that this .300 upper will live on.

What is that end cap, and where did you get it? I'm looking to put an end cap/550 wrap for mine until stamped.

SBR stamp on that?

You mean because of the carbine tube/rubber cap?  Shouldn't be an issue as long as he doesn't have a loose stock laying around, or has another rifle that takes carbine stocks.

no more the fact I would bet good money that the receiver is in some ones bound book as a rifle.. That's a factory M&P engraved lower.. Last time I checked S&W didn't make a pistol.. I could be wrong though.

Except for the fact that they've sold stripped M&P lowers for a couple years now, and I'm assuming that's what he used.  I'm with you if he didn't, obviously.



http://www.impactguns.com/smith-wesson-mp-15-stripped-lower-assembly-556mm-nato-812000-022188134193.aspx

Like I said I could be wrong..

Can't you also buy assembled M&P lowers?  So long as it was never made into a rifle, even an assembled lower should be transferred as an "other" and can be made into a pistol.  BCM, for instance, doesn't sell stripped lowers but you would certainly build one of their complete lowers that hasn't had an upper on it into a pistol first.

If it has had a stock attached to the buffer tube, the atf considers it a rifle from then on.  Stupid, I know...

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Not true, actually.  It only matters if it has had a stock AND an upper attached at the same time.
There is a letter to this effect, don't really have time to dig it up right now.

So if you buy a new complete lower and remove the stock before attaching an upper, you can legally build it as a pistol.

If it is first assembled as a pistol, it can then be converted to a rifle and back to a pistol.
If it is first assembled as a rifle, it is a rifle from then on.

THAT is stupidity.

Sounds good.

I picked up some 150 grain flat point plated bullets from Everglades ammo and one guy in the reviews said he used then with 300 blk. If like to use them with some mild Lil gun loads... Figuring starting out at 15.8 and working up in .2 increments. Anybody here tried these out? $60 shipped for 500 didn't seem to bad.

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Is anyone using CCI 41's for sub loads? If so, do you see a big difference in velocity or consistency vs standard primers?

I've been loading supers for the past year without issues but my sdn-6 should be out of ATF jail soon so I'm going to start with sub development. I'll be using a 16 inch carbine gas AAC mpw.

Basically I'm trying to decide if I should develop loads with CCI 400's or the 41's. I'll be using Hornady 208gr amax's, 220gr SMK's and powder coated Accurate 31-240E cast loads. I have lots of the 41's but fewer of the 400's. Powder will be 1680.

Just found some Midway 155 gr Blems in my bullet stash.  They look like Hornady bullets now to find a load for them.

MAHA

I tested some 150 mil surp pills with 11.6-15.2grns of 2400. Nothing fully cycled the rifle (16'' DD barrel, carbine gas, std buffer, old school 20rnd pmag) until I got to 13.3gr. Interesting results due to a chono that tried to pick up other shooters shots.

 

Well, I tried using Fat_McNasty's info about spinning the bullet in a .25" hole to mark it and then seating the bullet until that line is at 1.70".  While the bullets looked fine and the profile was basically the same as the TTSX bullets until the flat point, they wouldn't chamber at all...  The flat would smash into the receiver just below feed ramp on the left side, and would hit the bottom right edge of the right feed ramp and stick.  Either way, they wouldn't go anywhere at all...  Not being one to leave anything alone, I tried varying the seating depth a little bit to no avail, so other things would have to be done to get them to feed.  

So, out came the dremel (no fluting was done to the barrel, I swear) and I used a small stone bit to extend the feed ramps about 1/16" further down into the aluminum upper receiver.  After some more testing (and much less FTFs), I then gently took the sharp edges off of the sides of the lower 1/4 of the ramps that are cut in the barrel extension.  The reason for this was that some of the bullets I tried to feed were getting marred from the feed ramp sides when they hit them, especially the right side ramp.  Once the edges were radiused a bit I used a buffing bit and some white polishing rouge to polish them up to a very smooth finish and tried it out.  I hand cycled probably 20 rounds of the flat-points and then checked them to ensure they didn't set-back when chambering.  All were fine, so I tested the other loads I had on-hand and found no issues.  So... no more problems feeding the flat points, and even the 220 grain subs, Tac-TSX, and TTSX bullets seem to slide in easier.  

Now to just do some live-fire testing when I get a chance (hopefully tomorrow or Saturday) and see if either of the loads I put together today do ok for accuracy.  

FWIW, the bullets are a lead plated bullet, and the lead and plating are pretty soft.  The FCD will easily put a crimp ring around the bullet when you crimp it.  

The OAL of the load is only 1.85", so they're pretty darn short.  The bullets are .85", btw, and my cases are trimmed to 1.355".

Now that I think about it I'm not sure if it was FMN or you I got the measurement from.. If it was your info, I apologize for misplacing the thanks. It sucks to get old and forgetful.

I'd never had a problem with a .223 ar feeding anything, but the bullet profile of a typical .223 is worlds different from those flat point bullets.

Should I do anything to coat the area of the receiver I removed the anodizing from, or not even worry about it?

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LOL it was Dry (he posted it first /shakes fist @ Dry), but I say the same thing when asked as well.. what your playing with the the same thing as the xtreem 150. and opening up the feed ramps is the way to go with this bullet.. or run it through the ULD bullet die. then you have something with the proper shape.

they really need to make the one on the left. it would sell like hot cakes.


Or I should get some then mod them then sell on the EE..

Is the uld die you're taking about the one I just googled and it was around $350 or so? That's a steep price to pay to just make plinking rounds. $50 or so I could do, but I've got a lot of mouths to feed and $350 I just couldn't.

That is the bullet, though, that you showed in your pic. Glad I did what was needed regarding the feed ramps and I won't be an arfcom joke (at least not yet) for taking the dremel to my upper.

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LOL yup $350 for that little baby. trying to talk one of my teenagers in to converting about 2k of them to test the waters.

So I'm not the only one using child labor, huh?  I had Danny (7) depriming 5.56 cases the other night and he did fine with them.  He also helped me in converting about 200 .223/5.56 cases to 300 blackout the other day.  I'd chop them with the saw and hand them to him, and he'd debur the cut and put them neck up in a tray.  I'd spray them down with case lube once we filled it and then we'd start forming cases.  I'd form, he'd wipe the necks off, and after a while we traded spots so he could pull the handle.  Once we finished that I used my WFT to trim them to final length.  I had him hit them one more time with the deburring tool on the inside of the case neck before he'd hand them to me to run through the torch to anneal and drop in the water.  

Once the cases were dried, I let him prime a lot of those 200 cases on the Lee press and he did fine with it.  The only issue we have now is every day since then he's been asking me "When are we going to make more bullets, Dad?".  He helped me some tonight with the 150's, but all we really did with loading was put together 10 each of 15.8's and 16.0's (grains of lil' gun).  He'd put the case in the shell holder, I'd work the lever, and at the appropriate time he'd put a bullet on the case neck and then pull it out once it was set/crimped.  The kid really is a good little worker, and whatever you're doing he just wants to be a part of it.  Love that boy's heart.

I find much better consistency with ball powders using magnum primers.  YMMV but I think that is generally an accepted thing.

This happened to me.  Measure your case OAL of your loaded rounds.  Mine were trimmed after sizing toward the the higher end of the SAAMI OAL.  The ones that wouldn't chamber actually were out of spec due to tolerances.  Luckily I was just doing workups, so I didn't have a lot of loaded rounds.  I also had the sizing die a touch too high which allowed this to happen.  I took my problem cases, resized, retrimmed, and they chambered perfectly.  Testing this past weekend went very well!

I didn't gauge every case.  They chambered in my Sheridan and looked OK in my Wilson.  Obviously I missed the problem cases.  I need to wear my jewelers magnifier when using it from now on.

What's the going rate for components? From All Weather Arms I'm finding processed Lake City mil surp brass converted for 18 cents per. On the same site, he's offering 125gr blems for 27 cents per bullet, that I emailed and he said they were Sierras. Also, what do I need for reloading? My dad has a press and is set up for 5.56 and .308. Thanks guys

Thank you

Thanks for this info.   At 50 yards. I put 4 in a dime sized area at 50 yards with the 20 grains H110 and the Barnes TAC-TX.  I found my load!