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Posted: 7/30/2026 2:00:13 PM EDT
| Is there any budget options for some 300 blackout subsonic fun plinking? |
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Originally Posted By dryflash3: Cast bullets. if your buying get the "coated" ones. I would look at Missouri Bullets first. I you cast, get a 200gr + mold then powder coat. I don't want to use up my lead source with bangbangbangbang guns. I cast only for revolver and lever guns. |
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I read “plinking” as “how inexpensive can I get?” They appear to be sold out at the moment, but I bought a bunch of pulled JSP .30-30 bullets from AM for around 10¢ ea. That’s better than I can find Berrys or any commercial coated bullets for. You have to wait for them to get some in stock and then wait until they mark them down 40%, which is about every 3 days. They cycle fine subsonic using CFE-BLK. Although that isn’t the quietest powder. I need to try them with some N120. |
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Originally Posted By Turbo30cal: What is AM? https://americanreloading.com/collections/projectiles Link is to the projectile section, not the main page. I already got 2 boxes of the 30-30 170 gr bullets, they look great. |
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Originally Posted By dryflash3: https://americanreloading.com/collections/projectiles Link is to the projectile section, not the main page. I already got 2 boxes of the 30-30 170 gr bullets, they look great. Which ones did you go with? I see several 170gr. Why would anyone go this route over Berrys 200gr? |
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Raven Rocks has new plated 220s for $0.22/ea and they usually run sales on bulk deals if you subscribe to their email list https://ravenrocksprecision.com/product/campro-30-cal-308-220gr-fcp-bullets-with-double-cannelure/ |
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Originally Posted By Turbo30cal: Which ones did you go with? I see several 170gr. Why would anyone go this route over Berrys 200gr? I didn't say there were better than 200 gr Berry's, I was just being a nice guy and providing a link. |
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Originally Posted By Turbo30cal: Why would anyone go this route over Berrys 200gr? In this instance I would go with Berry’s. The current listing for the 170 gr. bullets works out to around 23.5¢. You can order 220 gr. blems from Berry’s for 20.1¢, and the heavier bullets are easier to get to cycle. When they were in stock, I was buying the 150 gr. .30-30 bullets for 10.8¢ delivered. If we’re taking about a cheap plinking load, this was it. Add primers at 7.4¢ and powder at around 10¢ and you get plinking ammonia for around 28¢ ea. The .30-30/170 listed is more like 41¢ for loaded ammo. Still much better than factory blaster grade ammo, but quite a bit more expensive. A year or so ago, Midway had a bunch of seconds that looked like the Sub-X bullets, but weighed in at 225 gr. I forget what they cost but they were less than the Berrys blems. I think I grabbed a thousand or so. But once they were out, they were out. Point being, watch for cheap pulls or blems and grab them when available. |
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I keep an eye out at Midway or Midsouth for their blem .308 heavy stuff. I've bought 212 and 220gr bullets that were "blem" for great value before. Also want to add that I've used the coated lead bullets from Steel Valley and Missouri with so so accuracy results. I also didn't care for the extra steps of flaring the case mouth and then crimping back down. |
| I dig THESE for subs. 200 and 220 grain. N120 |
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I’ve never loaded 300 Blackout with the intention of going subsonic. I have had really good experiences with surplus .308 147-150gr FMJs for plinking. It’s weird that these bullets that are 50+% larger and nearly 50% heavier than the 110 varmint bullets can cost a lot less than the varmint bullets (like Sierra’s #2110 110gr HP Varminter, for example). Anyway, there are two things that go into a 300BO subsonic load: a heavier bullet and the right charge of the right powder. Fortunately, there are plenty of published loads for a range of heavier bullets with “the right powder” already figured out. Given that it’s easy to be SUPERsonic with 150gr bullets. I’d recommend going up quite a lot in bullet weight. If I was going to work on this kind of project, I’d start looking for 200gr bullet loads. I’d see which bullets the manuals list around that weight and then start figuring out which bullet to buy. Aside from the buy-in costs, casting is THE cheapest way to get bullets in the weights and designs you want. The technique for casting bullets isn’t super challenging, even though it can take years to feel like you know everything about casting with a specific set of dies. Coating the bullets you cast isn’t hard either. But watch out; casting is addictive, kinda like handloading. 
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