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Posted: 1/21/2024 12:42:31 AM EDT
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I’m a multi skill maintenance technician and I have hammers of various sizes in my disposal. AR caliber selection can be similar and several different sizes may be required. I’ve been thinking about a 300 HAM’R, why I have no idea. I’ve got a 300BO and a 6.5G so I don’t really see the value add other than maybe I just want another caliber to reload and try to make time to shoot. Maybe I should just add a 16” 300BO upper to the toolbox for a velocity gain over my SBR for supers. I had a nice one built around a CMMG barrel and sold it when I added the 6.5G. |
| I have the Grendel and the 300 Hamr. If you have the Grendel there is no need for the Hamr. But the Hamr is very effective on hogs and what the Blackout would like to be. If I were you I would probably ditch the Blackout and build the Hamr. Get the best of both. |
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I have had my 300 HAM'R going for a while. I used an 18" Shaw Barrel on my build. Doing this over I believe Saturn also offers a 300 HAM'R Barrel. Wilson Combat would be another good barrel choice if they had in stock what you wanted. I have been running mostly the Speer 130 HP bullets. Wilson Combat no longer recommends this bullet. Not totally sure of all the issues, but in the Shaw Barrel it shaves jacket material donuts that build up. Per Bill Wilson over on the Texas Hunting Forum he says the Brass Shaving will go away on it's own around 200 rounds. I am currently at 105 rounds through my barrel. I need to get back to the range and finish break in. For Powders you have Three Choices. CFE Black, AA1680 / Shooters World Blackout. I have all three powders on hand, Wilson says he gets higher velocity using the CFE Black. Looking for Bullets that work well, shop the Wilson Combat selection. The Speer 130 Hot Core is one of his early favorites. Wilson also had very good prices on Brass. I just got a notification that Midway had the 130 Hot Core back in stock. So far I have not gotten mine down to One Inch Groups. I have not used any bullets known for benchrest accuracy in it either. From my reading accuracy improves as the round count goes up past 200 rounds on some barrels. Fingers Crossed :) If building a 300 HAM'R again I would give Saturn a call and see if they do in fact make a barrel. When I ordered my 22 ARC Barrel from Saturn the lady on the phone was pretty sure they chambered for the 300 HAM'R. My second choice would be a Wilson Combat Barrel. I normally handgun hunt deer season. I took the 300 HAM'R out the last evening of the Regular Missouri Deer Season. The last 30 minutes of the season I Tagged an 8 point with it. I am pretty sure that I was using the Speer 130 HP. The behind the shoulder shot was a complete pass through. Exit wound looked like about any other 30 cal deer rifle exit wound. The 300 HAM'R is far superior to the 300 BO shooting Super Sonic Bullets. I will probably talk my brother into rebarreling his 300 BO to a HAM'R this Summer. Bob R |
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Maybe I should just add a 16” 300BO upper to the toolbox for a velocity gain over my SBR for supers. I had a nice one built around a CMMG barrel and sold it when I added the 6.5G. HAM'R would get you a lot more velocity than the BLK in a 16". HAM'R even has significantly more velocity than the BLK in a short barrel as well. Grendel has the performance, but the HAM'R uses standard magazines and bolts and is easy to form from 5.56 brass. Being you already have the G, the HAM'R might be superfluous, but if deciding between the two I would go HAM'R |
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Pretty cheap to get into. Just rebarrel a 5.56. Kinda sorta 300 Blackout Magnum.. But with limited bullet selection. That's the biggest handicap with this round tbh. If you want to use it for hunting? Boring truth folks avoid Is all these small frame AR variant cartridges except the 30 RAR (proprietary upper) have about the same killing power with the right load. 300 Hammer, 6.8 SPC, Grendel, ARC, Blackout exc.. they are all best served keeping kill shots from 250-300 yards max. |
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It's an awesome cartridge for its intended purpose: eradication hunting of hogs. It can also be useful for other short range hunting, but the small frame 308s are far more powerful when you don't need rapid follow-up shots on a sounder of pigs. The same things that make it great for high rate of fire hunting could also make it a good self defense or LE cartridge. |
| I like the 300 HAM'R. There are a lot of .308 projectiles that work well with it. Other than the long solid copper bullets like the 110gr Tac Tx, most 300 Blk bullets used for supers work well in it. Wilson Combat has published a large selection of bullets that they recommend, along with providing reloading data. If you already have mags designed for 300 Blackout, they are also what you need for the 300 HAM'R. |
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On the subject of Magazines. Some say 5.56 magazines will work. I am not sure those making that statement own a 300 HAM'R. This might be true of the 300BO. My brother has a 300BO and he is using 20 round 5.56 GI Magazines in it. I had to do some searching for a 10 Round 300 Blackout Magazine for Deer Season/Range Work that would feed in my rifle, with my loads. My 300 HAM'R will not feed PERIOD from a stock 5.56 Magazine. I ended up using the Lancer Systems L5 AWM Advanced Warfighter Magazine for the 300 AAC Blackout. It looks to be a well made magazine, and has functioned 100% so far. I need to get a couple or four higher capacity ones for Self Defense. Looking on the Midway Site it looks like this Magazine is made in 10, 20 and 30 round versions. As of right now (01-22-2024) Midway has a Clearance going on the 10 round version. Self Defense Use, and Hunting: All you need to do is look at an exit wound on a deer to have no doubt the 300 HAM'R has much more punch at normal engagement Range than a 5.56. Normal Engagement Range for non-military I consider to be Point Blank to 250 Yards. Performance wise the 300 HAM'R is pretty close to the 7.62x39 which the wife deer hunts with in a Howa 1500 Mini. So far she has tagged two deer with the 7.62x39 and I have tagged one with the 300 HAM'R. I am loading the 130 grain HP Speer 308 bullets in both. Exit wounds on all deer shot through the Body behind the shoulder looked the same. Where we hunt in the Missouri Ozarks we seldom shoot a deer further than 150 yards. I consider the 300 HAM'R to be a good Deer and Hog Round at ranges under 250 yards. Brass is reasonably cheap, and can be formed from 223 range brass if one has to. Not a real big deal to not recover brass when hunting. The 300 HAM'R does not use a lot of powder. Another good point. Powder so far "CFE Black, AA1680, and Shooters World Blackout" have not been hard to find locally where I live. The Speer Bullets that I have been loading have also been reasonably economical to buy so far. So far I have been loading using Starline Brass. Wilson Combat stocks Sig Brass I believe also. We do have options for new brass. At the Range I attach my Caldwell Brass Catcher. This lets me recover 100% of my Brass, and also keeps it from getting dinged up hitting the concrete floor, or stepped on. I am using One Caldwell Brass Catcher, and Have Picatinny Brass Catcher Rail Mounts for all of my Range AR's. I keep the Brass Catcher in my Range Box. I just slide it on the Rail Mount of which ever AR I am shooting that day. Very Handy :) Lets keep the discussion going. Bob R |
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Wow, I didn’t realize I’d get this much feedback. I’ve taken several deer with my 300BO SBR using Sierra 110gr Varminter over 20gr of H110. Most of those shots were 100yds or less and were DRT. I’ve got two 6.5G, one 18” AR and a Ruger American Ranch. Have taken several deer with the AR out to 300yds. The Grendel is very accurate but performance is meh. The little Ruger is a great walk around gun but I’ve toyed with converting the Grendel AR to HAMR because I’ve got a crap load of 5.56 brass. I’m not planning on dumping my blackout because it has great versatility. |
| I have multiple length 223/5.56 builds, a large frame Armalite 308 build and an upper & lower just waiting to be completed. I've been seriously considering a 300 HAM'R for over a year now. I have no interest in subsonic/suppressed so 300 HAM'R just seems like the best option. I see a lot of people are going with a relatively long barrel. I'm considering the 11.5" because it will not be specifically used for hunting, but I'm not entirely opposed to going with a longer barrel if the benefits outweigh the convenience of a shorter length. |
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Quoted: I have multiple length 223/5.56 builds, a large frame Armalite 308 build and an upper & lower just waiting to be completed. I've been seriously considering a 300 HAM'R for over a year now. I have no interest in subsonic/suppressed so 300 HAM'R just seems like the best option. I see a lot of people are going with a relatively long barrel. I'm considering the 11.5" because it will not be specifically used for hunting, but I'm not entirely opposed to going with a longer barrel if the benefits outweigh the convenience of a shorter length. I've built them in 8", 11.3", and 16". For hunting in daylight I prefer the 16". For night I have an 11.3" set up with a thermal. The 8" with a Law Tactical Folder makes an excellent PDW. If you want maximum range the 16" is better, but in all barrel lengths they are effective. I suppress all my rifles with threaded barrels. |
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Right now I have four rifles with 16" barrels, two with 18", and one 20". (five ARs and two bolt actions) I do see about 40 fps difference between the 16" and 18" and another 40 fps between the 18" and 20" barrels. I really don't want to drop below a 16" barrel. At the same time, I have no plans on shooting sub-sonic. Lancer, Pmag, D&H, and Wilson Combat all have a 300 BLackout magazines which are perfect for the 300 HAM'R. There are 30 plus bullets from 95 grain to 150 grain bullets listed on Wilson Combat website that are suitable for the HAM'R. If you can't find a few that suits your needs, you have a problem. The 130HC Speer works well on game and my groups usually vary from 3/4" to 1 1/4 inches. Sierra 125 gr. PH works well and gives me MOA groups all day. Many of my friends favor the 125gr. TNT. I'm just getting into the Lehigh bullets and they are impressive. As mentioned, 1680, SW Blackout, CFE-BLK, and SW SOCOM powders all work well with 300 HAM'R. There are several other powders that can be used but the ones listed give the best results. Wilson Combat markets new brass (SIG or Starline) and I form a lot of my brass from once fired LC brass. I've shot NC whitetails, black bear, hogs (About once a year when I get a chance to go to Texas.) and coyotes. I've heard a lot of people claim this cartridge was a "hog" cartridge, they are wrong. It is a shoot anything cartridge. More importantly, a 16" AR 300 HAM'R makes a fine home-defense carbine. But the closest I've come to using one for self-defense was when a bear was trying to start a fight with my dog. When my grandson needed his first "deer" rifle, I gave him a HAM'R. What more can I say. |
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Quoted: I have multiple length 223/5.56 builds, a large frame Armalite 308 build and an upper & lower just waiting to be completed. I've been seriously considering a 300 HAM'R for over a year now. I have no interest in subsonic/suppressed so 300 HAM'R just seems like the best option. I see a lot of people are going with a relatively long barrel. I'm considering the 11.5" because it will not be specifically used for hunting, but I'm not entirely opposed to going with a longer barrel if the benefits outweigh the convenience of a shorter length. I believe the Wilson Combat website has ballistic data for the various barrel lengths. I'd bet that 4-1/2" of barrel would be worth all of 200+ fps. From 16 and up there won't be as much difference. |
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Quoted: Unless you need subsonics, 300 Ham'r is going to do much better than 300 Chimpout. Factory ammo is not wallet friendly though. You've TOTALLY talked me into it now  . The ONLY question is ... what barrel length? Others have me nearly talked into 16" instead of 11.5". 16" seems logical, but most 300 Chimpouts are typically short and people seem to be happy with them. I just have to decide on barrel length based on ballistic data.
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Quoted: You've TOTALLY talked me into it now . The ONLY question is ... what barrel length? Others have me nearly talked into 16" instead of 11.5". 16" seems logical, but most 300 Chimpouts are typically short and people seem to be happy with them. I just have to decide on barrel length based on ballistic data.Bingo, you nailed it! “Ballistic Data” is what this is about. I’m happy with my 300BO in its roll as a dedicated suppressor PDW and sometimes critter getter. But, I’ve been eyeing the 300 HAM’R as a “308 lite” and comparing it to my 6.5G. When my kids started deer hunting I made my own ‘308 lite’ loads to use in my Rem Model 7. It was pushing a Sierra 125gr pro hunter out of an 18” barrel @ 2500fps. They took several deer with that load, I did too and no lost deer either. I’m seeing the performance, on paper, of the 300 HAM’R is nearly identical to that ‘308 lite’ load. If I had discovered the HAM’R earlier I probably wouldn’t have got into 6.5G. Do I need another cartridge in my collection to complicate logistics, probably not but I’m really tempted too. |
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Sierra 125gr pro hunter out of an 18” barrel @ 2500fps. I get a little more velocity out of my HAM'R with that bullet but it is close. Not enough to worry about. The biggest problem I have with the HAM'R is it has turned into the rifle I grab each morning during deer season. My .308s end up sitting idle. You can't beat the little Ruger Ranch rifle after using the Wilson Combat's HAM'R conversion kit. |
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Quoted: You've TOTALLY ...The ONLY question is ... what barrel length? ... 20"er is an interesting option: LINK |
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We grabbed a couple AR's and went to the Range yesterday afternoon (01/28/2024). The plan was to get the Rubber City Gas Key adjusted on my brothers White Oak 204. I also grabbed my 300 HAM'R to get a few more break in rounds through it. Well the upper range (50 - 200 Yards) is a mud pit. "We just completed lots of Berm Work." Waiting on a little dryer conditions to get it rocked. So we used the Hi Power Range. We painted the 200 and 300 yard steel. I decided to try the 300 HAM'R on the 300 yard Steel, as my brother was shooting on the 200 Yard Target. I have not settled on a Bullet and Load for the 300 HAM'R just yet, so no Log Book Drop Chart. I made a SWAG (Scientific Wild Assed Guess) and dialed 8 MOA Up. That was over the Red Dot painted on the steel. I kept dialing down to 6 MOA Up. Which went under the Dot. Looked like about 6.50 MOA Up would be very close. NOTE: The last Zero was with the 130 Speer HP. The bullet's used were some discontinued Hornady 125 SP's that I had on hand. I loaded them for Break In Rounds to use them up. I drove down for a look at the 300 steel. It looks like the 18" SHAW Barrel likes the 125 SP Hornady's better than the 130HP Speers. The bullet splash's were strung up and down from adjusting the Weaver 2.5-10X Classic Extreme Scope Up and Down to get on the Bulls Eye. The Left to Right was what got my attention. The Horizontal Stringing was UNDER 3 Inches at 300 Yards. Looking like this load will shoot Under One MOA. I may need to get some 308 bullets known for accuracy, and see what this 300 HAM'R is capable of. The Build: 18 Inch Shaw Barrel (H-Bar Profile ?) .750 Rifle Gas Stern Defense Two Stage Cassette Trigger 2.5 LB Stern Defense 15" M-Loc Forend Yankee Hill M-Loc Bipod Stud Harris Swivel, Notch Leg, Bench Rest Bipod with Pod Loc. Mag Pul MOE Rifle Stock & Grip Weaver 30mm, 2.5-10X Classic Extreme Scope with Tube Mounted Bubble Level Leupold MK AR 30mm Cantilever Base. Anderson Lower Aero Upper Yankee Hill Extended Rear Take Down Pin (I Clean a Lot) So far it has bagged an 8 Point Buck Deer Season 2023, and an Armadillo. I am getting more impressed with the 300 HAM'R the more I shoot it. Bob R |
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Quoted: We grabbed a couple AR's and went to the Range yesterday afternoon (01/28/2024). The plan was to get the Rubber City Gas Key adjusted on my brothers White Oak 204. I also grabbed my 300 HAM'R to get a few more break in rounds through it. Well the upper range (50 - 200 Yards) is a mud pit. "We just completed lots of Berm Work." Waiting on a little dryer conditions to get it rocked. So we used the Hi Power Range. We painted the 200 and 300 yard steel. I decided to try the 300 HAM'R on the 300 yard Steel, as my brother was shooting on the 200 Yard Target. I have not settled on a Bullet and Load for the 300 HAM'R just yet, so no Log Book Drop Chart. I made a SWAG (Scientific Wild Assed Guess) and dialed 8 MOA Up. That was over the Red Dot painted on the steel. I kept dialing down to 6 MOA Up. Which went under the Dot. Looked like about 6.50 MOA Up would be very close. NOTE: The last Zero was with the 130 Speer HP. The bullet's used were some discontinued Hornady 125 SP's that I had on hand. I loaded them for Break In Rounds to use them up. I drove down for a look at the 300 steel. It looks like the 18" SHAW Barrel likes the 125 SP Hornady's better than the 130HP Speers. The bullet splash's were strung up and down from adjusting the Weaver 2.5-10X Classic Extreme Scope Up and Down to get on the Bulls Eye. The Left to Right was what got my attention. The Horizontal Stringing was UNDER 3 Inches at 300 Yards. Looking like this load will shoot Under One MOA. I may need to get some 308 bullets known for accuracy, and see what this 300 HAM'R is capable of. The Build: 18 Inch Shaw Barrel (H-Bar Profile ?) .750 Rifle Gas Stern Defense Two Stage Cassette Trigger 2.5 LB Stern Defense 15" M-Loc Forend Yankee Hill M-Loc Bipod Stud Harris Swivel, Notch Leg, Bench Rest Bipod with Pod Loc. Mag Pul MOE Rifle Stock & Grip Weaver 30mm, 2.5-10X Classic Extreme Scope with Tube Mounted Bubble Level Leupold MK AR 30mm Cantilever Base. Anderson Lower Aero Upper Yankee Hill Extended Rear Take Down Pin (I Clean a Lot) So far it has bagged an 8 Point Buck Deer Season 2023, and an Armadillo. I am getting more impressed with the 300 HAM'R the more I shoot it. Bob R Thanks Bob!! |
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