Setup:  I'm sitting at one of those plastic picnic tables with the SBR on a short bipod pointed at a target 50 yards away and there's a gusting wind from my 8:00 that's going anywhere between 8-15 mph.  So, not great conditions, but not too bad for only 50 yards...


Well, I got the can finally (YHM Phantom) on the 9.5" SBR and ran some loads through it that I'd worked on.  I first tried a load of those 150 grain flat-point plated bullets from evergladesammo.com (http://www.evergladesammo.com/bullets/308-150gr-plated-fmj-bullets.html).  I'd had to open up the feed ramps quite a bit just to get them to hand-cycle, but since they seemed to be hand-cycling just fine without any set-back, I figured they'd be good to go... I was wrong.  The only ones that would load correctly were the rounds I loaded by letting the charging handle fly.  The next round nosed into the top of the chamber lugs and the bolt rode up over the rear section of the case and chewed it up.  It also pushed the bullet back into the case probably close to 1/4" (and that was with crimping the rounds pretty hard with a Lee FCD).  I wondered how they'd do for accuracy with 15.6, 15.8, and 16.0 grains of lil' gun, with all of them loaded to 1.85" OAL (found that was the OAL to set them to using the technique where you mark the bullet at .25" diameter on the ogive and then measure from that line to the rear of the case to get 1.70").  Out of the first 5 loaded at 15.6 grains, I was only able to use 3 due to them not feeding and buggering up the rounds, and they were all over the place at 50 yards, too..  we're talking a 6" spread between high/right and low/left.  

Next was the 15.8's... between the 15.6's and 15.8's I opened up the feed ramps just a smidge more and then re-polished the ramps again just to try to get them to feed... Same thing...  buggered up another 2 rounds, and once again, the spread was around 6" between the 3 of them.

Finally was the 16.0's, and I just loaded them one at a time.  I found that if I just let the charging handle fly on them they didn't tend to get any set-back on the bullets from the bolt going forward.  Same accuracy, btw... it was all over the place again.

I also had loaded up some Barnes 110 grain T-TSX bullets (blue tips) at 2.07" and 2.09" OAL over 20.0 grains of W296 (same as H110).  The 2.07" OAL load shot about an inch right and inch low of the 110 grain Tac-TSX loads I'd sighted it in with (also over 20.0 grains of W296) and all but 1 were within an inch and 2 were practically touching.  The 5th round I knew I pulled, fwiw.  The 2.09" OAL load was basically in the same location on the 2nd target with the same overall group width, so I don't think there's a discernable difference in loading them at 2.07" or 2.09", at least with my gun.  The TAC-TSX rounds are still my got-to-shoot-something bullets and they're the most accurate that I've found so far.  I'd love to find some sort of cheap FMJ round to use that would give me decent accuracy using Lil' Gun powder, but so far I'm striking out with it.  I can't get anything I've tried (Nosler 150 grain ballistic tips, 110 grain Tac-TSX, and those 150 grain FMJ flat-points) to group well.

5 rounds 300blk 125gr nosler 100 yards

I need to try it at longer ranges, but I've been busy with the 5.56

Load data?  OAL?  Specs of rifle/sbr?

Nice group, btw.

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Holy Shit! thanks dude.  New to this caliber and of the 5 books I have, not much published info.  (not new to reloading at all).

That load is
19.2 gr PP300MP
OAL 2.155"
Primer CCI450
Formed LC brass
Nosler 125 gr ballistic tip


Rifle is an Alpha Shooting Sports 16" KM13 upper on a Spikes lower.

tag

Here is one that is promising.  Only 50 yards.  Shot through a 16" carbine gas Wilson Combat stainless barrel, carbine buffer/Spikes T1, SLR adjustable gas block opened almost all of the way.  It cycles and locks back.

Bullet:  125g SMK
Powder:  4227/18.2g
Crimp:  FCD @ 15lbs (using a consistent crimp handle)
Brass:  2x annealed FC
Trim Length:  1.359"
COAL:  2.21"
Primer:  CCI 41
FPS:  2002

Seven or eight rounds @ .62" or about 1.2 MOA (.4 and .8 MOA without the low pulled one)

Nice group above, RLR350.  

I tried some more things with the Xtreme 150's (the flat point 150 grain plated bullets) to attempt to get them to feed.  First, I loaded 5 to 1.93" instead of 1.85 as I had before and put a medium crimp on them with the Lee FCD.  I found a few places where guys had loaded them to 1.927 and had gotten them to feed, so I figured it was worth a shot.  I found that when a round was coming up on the left side of the mag it would feed just fine, but the right side would nose into the receiver just below the feed ramp.  So, I brought the right side feed ramp down a smidge more on the receiver, and that seemed to get the bullet on the ramp instead of into the flat part of the receiver.  So far so good.  Well, that was with only loading them two at a time in a 20-round pmag.

When I loaded them up 5 at a time in the 20-round pmag I noticed that the left side would feed just fine, but on the right side the bolt carrier would ride up and over the round instead of catching it with the lower right lug on the bolt sometimes.  I tried this with 4 different mags (straight aluminum 20-round mag, c-products 30-round aluminum mag, 20-round pmag, and a 30-round pmag).  The only one that seemed to want to feed correctly consistently (with hand-cycling) and let the right-side round catch the lug was the 30-round pmag.  From the looks of things, the bump on the right side inner portion of the other mags may have been pushing the forward part of the round up, and thus pivoting the rear portion down, which was causing the lug to not catch it.  I tried taking a little bit of meat off the 20-round pmag's bump, but it seemed to have no effect.  I didn't take much, though, for fear of screwing up my mag.

The good thing was that after a LOT of cycling by hand, the rounds still were at 1.93" after I finished.  That at least tells me they're not nosing into anything badly at the moment.  Now..if I could just get it to feed on the right side of the mag.  Anybody have any ideas?

I'm currently loading 18 gr of 4227 behind a 125 gr cast lead bullet with gas check.
With this bullet and powder it is a very compressed load, but great accuracy, but it leaves a deep ring on the nose of the bullet.
I'm wondering if one of the other powders like h110 or 296  will be as compressed for such a load.
I don't have any of either to try for volume, so if some one has all three, or just the h110 and 296, could you check the level of volume in the case?
Thanks.
'Borg

Well, I tried the 150 grain flat points again today (still at 1.93") with another bolt carrier and they fed just fine.  Apparently that one bolt must miss them JUST enough to not strip them off, but the old bolt I swapped in did fine.  Their accuracy still stinks, btw... as it was around 3" at 50 yards.  Of course, this is with newly formed brass, so maybe they'll do a little better on the 2nd firing.  I did have one round loaded with another bullet (T-TSX) get a chunk of its rim ripped off while shooting today.  Never had that happen before...  It was FCC brass, fwiw.  Just knocked it out and kept on going.  I did find out that all the carbon that's getting on the brass must be doing it when it gets popped out of the chamber and gets the blow-back from the can on it.  The case that got stuck was perfectly clean in the chamber, whereas all the rest were coming out NASTY looking with carbon all over them.

I loaded up some 220 grain SMKs over 8.6 grains of Lil Gun at 2.12", and they fired and cycled just fine out of a 20-round pmag.  They weren't very loud out of the can, either.  Sounded kind of like a potato gun.. accuracy wasn't all that great, though, as they were about 2 1/2" at 50 yards.  I'm only using a 1-4X scope with a pretty fat dot in the center of it, so I'm not expecting stellar accuracy out of it, but I thought it would do better than that.  Is the lousy accuracy possibly a function of the newly formed brass and the groups may tighten up once they've been fired a time or two?  I know that with my older brass I could get 3 rounds of 110 grain Tac-TSX either touching/overlapping or almost touching at 50 yards, but this newly formed brass' groups have been at best an 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" at 50 yards.  I like nickel-size groups at 50 yards.... not the ones I'm getting.

FWIW, I've loaded something like 90 rounds of Barnes T-TSX bullets in brand new brass, plus another 80 or so of Tac-TSX bullets in new brass.  If it's a matter of not getting good accuracy out of the brass until they're shot once and form to the chamber's dimensions, should I pull those with the collet puller and load them with the cheap 150 grain bullets so I don't waste the expensive ones?  I don't want to waste my good bullets with that non-fired brass if just firing once will fix the accuracy issue.  And, since I like to shoot stuff and I have PLENTY of Lil' Gun powder (around 7 1/2 lbs still), I wouldn't mind going through some rounds of it.

Eta: I found some very small flakes of copper in the can and on the flag hider/mount... About the size of grains of salt or so, but less than paper thin, after shooting the 150 grain flat points through the can. From what I've read there have been issues of the plating flaking off if either pushed too fast or crimped too much. I did put a pretty good crimp on them and the first load had several going probably 1800 fps or so given the 15.6 to 16.0 loads I tried... So, it looks like I'm going to be trying them again with loads in the 14.x range and see if I get any more flakes.

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Anyone try using Sierra's 30/30 bullets in their 300?

Listed diameter is .308, so I suspect they'd work. But someone with firsthand experience would be appreciated.

These bullets:

https://www.sierrabullets.com/store/product.cfm/sn/2020/308-dia-30-30-125-gr-HP-FN



https://www.sierrabullets.com/store/product.cfm/sn/2000/308-dia-30-30-150-gr-FN



https://www.sierrabullets.com/store/product.cfm/sn/2010/308-dia-30-30-170-gr-FN

Anyone have any good load data for 175 gr or 230 gr lead for the 300 BLK? Bought these two new molds Lee 2-Cavity Bullet Mold TL309-230-5R 30 Caliber and Lee 2-Cavity Bullet Mold C309-170-F 30 Caliber.

The 230 gr is dropping them out at 230 gr as the 170 gr is dropping them out around 175 gr or 176 gr both where cast from the same range lead cupcake puck. I have been having trouble finding lead load data for this caliber and keep getting people telling me to google it and find nothing on google. Powder I have on hand Lil gun, H110, 296 and X-800. Thanks

Need to ask the pros about the primers on my latest 300 blackout load. I didn't have any small rifle magnum primers so I used CCI small rifle primers. Wondering if that's why the primers look flattened ? I had no issues with small rifles in my whisper barrel ?
This was fired out of a 8" 8 twist 300 blackout barrel with pistol gas system. They were loaded with 15.9 grains of IMR4227 under 175 gr SMK's.
I don't have time to get to the range for awhile so just working out a plan for the next trip.
Thanks

Those primers do look pretty flat, and many/most seem to have a "crater" around the firing pin dent that is associated with the primer cup "flowing" into the bolt's firing pin hole.

The "magnum" aspect of CCI primers is usually a hotter, longer-burning flame, which has sometimes given me an impression of making a load "hotter" than the same load with their non-magnum primer - but this is all from pistol loading experience, so that may not actually be what's going on.  I don't know whether or not CCI uses thicker cups for their magnum small rifle primers, but it could be part of why you see that kind of flattening.

As a safety-oriented reloader, I always work up a load if I change ANY component, even just the primer, and especially if I change from a standard to a magnum primer (or vice versa).

Thanks for the reply. I'm starting fresh on this load min charge was 15.7 and the max is 16. Something I will look when I get home. I shot the 15.7's and they looked almost the same as the lesser one in the picture. The group was ok . I stepped up to 15.9 and the group was great but the primers looked worse ?
Just researching a  we plan before the next range trip.

No load data from the hornady 9th is listed

So I loaded up some of the 7.62x54r pulls.   This is what I found out

• Most of the bullets pulled measure .308 minus the ass end of them.  For some reason the last few millimeters of the ass on the bullet swells up to .310 (good strong birthing hips on these Russian bullets


• These bullets are REALLY long for 147 grains - I mean REALLY long


• Because of their shape and they look like they would be good if they where loaded subsonic, but they do not weigh enough to do anything more than plink (which is why I am experimenting with them in the first place so no big deal)


• I cant get 17grains of 4227 in a case along with the bullet unless I compress the hell out of the powder and bulge the case


• Pulling them after loading 5 with bulged cases was not that hard

Going to try again tonight with 11 grains and work my way up to 14 if I can.  17 is just too much for these.

Today is going to be a good day for experimenting.









<off topic meme removed. This is not GD.> dryflash3

Let us know what your favorite is!

One main reason I hate 4227.  Very accurate powder but every time I reload with it its so close to the top it spills out as I spin the shell plate.  Have to hold my finger on top as I spin it.

Will do. I''ve had limited success with lil gun for subsonic, but finally got some 1680. Many of the powder loads seem to be well known but oal is all over the place so it's going to be an interesting test. I'm running a Wilson combat 11.3" 1/8 but which I can't find many people using in this thread so it's going to take some tuning. I'm also more curious about crimp vs uncrimped. I'm always worried the crimp may just give enough pressure to push it past subsonic

Does anyone have a link to the thread that's dedicated to just the 300 load data?  For some reason my search can't find it.

Thanks!

Got 1k pieces of brass back from processing.





       
 

If you don't mind me asking, how much and where?  I hate cutting 223 brass on the mini chop saw.  

 

IM inbound.



 

Best place to pick up cheapest bullet for just plinkin

Im new to 300 and am slowly gathering some stuff..

Assuming something in the 130-150gr area. again just for plinking

Does anyone make a plated 210-240 grain lead bullet for 300?

Hello all. I have a question I am sure someone in this thread can clear up.

I am new to reloading 300 blackout.

The powder I have is imr 4198. I plan to use 178 grain amax in converted lake city 556 brass.

I found a recipe for this powder on another site. It is as follows




The only difference for my rifle is a 10.2 inch barrel instead of a 16.1.
Should I expect similar results with the same powder charge for my 178 grain amax rounds?

I'm wondering about this same setup only a 8" barrel ?

no it will not be similar.  you will lose velocity. anywhere from 80 to 120fps based on the above load.

Alright blackout guys you can probably help me with this. Asking here in the reloading because i figured you guys have the best grasp of the limits to the gas system. I have a 16" daniel defense s2w barrel i got to tide me over while waiting for my form 1. Well it came back after only 30 days. So now i'm trying to figure out if i could just have this barrel taken down. Have any of you guys tested rounds in a 11.5" with a carbine system instead of a pistol? Would this even function properly?

 

 

I just put together a 8 inch barrel upper after trying to do what your asking. After some research and owning t he pistol barrel I'm glad I went this way. You will be shooting subsonic loads and you will need the pistol gas system. I did get some loads that would cycle but it's no problems with the pistol system.
I may get another 16" but it will have the pistol gas system.

IMR 4198
10-11gr for 190gr Sierra match king
10.5" Odin barrel
Bolt holds open

Subsonic! Don't have velocity data yet

The more I read the more it seems that 4198 is a Great blackout powder. Wonder why it does not have the following of lilgun, 110,1680 etc

I'm thinking of getting into .300 blackout, mostly for hunting deer and wild hogs.  Been reading through this thread and my head is starting to spin.  I have a few questions:

1) What sort of performance are y'all getting out of supersonic rounds?  Thinking about bullet weights in the 125 gr range.  

2) What barrel twist is best for supersonic ammo?  I have no interest in subsonic rounds, and i don't plan to short barrel or suppress this rifle in the foreseeable future.  

I'm not looking to push the level or performance of this round, I just want a good, accurate, relatively lightweight hunting rifle for shots 150 yards or less.  I keep hearing the blackout is perfect for that, but I want to see some numbers from the guys that are actually loading for it.  I've also looked at the 7.62x40mm round, but support for it, and barrels, are hard to find.

In my 16" Blackout with Nosler 125 Ballistic Tips I get 2157 fps with 17.5 grains of H110 using RP 7 1/2 primers in LC brass. My overall length with the 125 BT's is 2.060".  Data says 17.8 grains of H110 is maximum. With Hornady 110 V-Max I get 2370 fps with 19.5 grains of H110 and the above components. I shoot M80 147 gr. pulled bullets with 16.5 grains of H110 for slightly less than 2000 fps. At 16.7 grains with H110 and 147 FMJ's I get 2000-2010 fps. Fun to load and shoot and a good short range hunting rifle. I think my J&T complete upper has a 1 in 8 twist? Have two of them, one with an Eotech red dot and the other with an Aimpoint CompM3.

I'm loading for an 8 in pistol with a Sig Brace. my best load so far is using a 150 gr Hornady Interlock soft point, crimped into the canelure, over 17 gr W296 and a CCI 450 Magnum primer. They clock out at 1750 to 1810 fps and go into 2 in at 100 yds. I have no idea what terminal ballistics are like, I have a .257 Roberts I use for deer. I settled for the 150 gr because 125- 130 gr are just not available around here. I have some Hornady 85 gr .30 Mauser round nose pistol bullets that I use for cheap plinking but they are touchy about feeding. I have to get the adjustable gas set just right for them to cycle and not load more than 5 into on particular mag. But they're half the price.

I tried some Meister cast 165 FP for 30-30 but i think 1:7 twist is too much as group (pattern) went 16 inches at 100 yds. One post here talked about not much expansion on pigs with subs but i haven't seen any reports about supers.



 

Has anyone tried the Xtreme 150gn bullets yet?

I'm looking for a cheap load for 2gun.

You mean the 150 grain flat tip bullets? If so, yes.. Have had trouble getting them to feed and had to open up the feed ramps quite a bit. I think I'm loading them to 1.93". I've tried from 16.0 down to 14.8 grains of Lil gun using wolf SRM primers attempting to get decent accuracy and haven't had any yet that were less than 4" groups at 50 yards. Loaded some to 14.2 grains of Lil gun to see if I can get better accuracy and not get little bits of copper jacket in the can when I shoot, but haven't shot them yet. I'm putting a medium/heavy crimp on them with a Lee fcd, too.

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Yes those , I want to run then as subs .

How are you going to get enough pressure to cycle the bolt with only a 150 grain bullet?  I didn't think you could do it with less than a 180 grain bullet or so?

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Hey guys! Just wondering if I'm able to load 300 blackout with these powders.
IMR 4756, IMR 800X, and Trailboss. I havent been able to find any load data. thanks!

I do it with 175 down to 150  with 1680.

Had no idea you could get enough gas to cycle it with 150s loaded to subsonic velocities using any powder. How much powder for a 150 grain projectile? Thanks.

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