This is the first year of my life that I deer hunted in a shotgun zone so I built a 10.5” barreled 300BLK AR pistol for me and my wife to use for deer hunting.

It’s 180 yards from the stand to the tree line and I am considering building a 12.5” barreled 308 to have a little more thump If we have to take a shot at the furthest distance.

Thoughts?

I only have a sample size of one, but I was not impressed with the performance of my 300BO with a 110gr VMax on a 50 yard broadside shot of a small/medium sized buck this year.  If I use it again, It'll definitely be with a different bullet.  But even with a different bullet, I'd limit myself to 100 to 125 yards.  This year, it was sort of a last minute decision to use the 300 vs 12ga, and the 110gr VMax was the only ammo I had available.  I did a fair amount of internet research that suggested that the 110 VMax at 300BO velocities acts more like a soft point bullet vs a varmint bullet.  It held together fine, but deflected off a rib and penetrated rearward into the deer and failed to hit the heart and opposite side lung (which was what I was hoping for), with no exit wound.  Despite it resulting in a kill after an 80 yard run, it left zero blood trail to follow.  Thankfully, I saw the direction the deer ran and was able to recover it within about an hour of searching.

That said, I definitely would not use the 300BO for a 180yd shot.  I think the 308 in pistol configuration would service you well with proper bullet selection and shot placement at that distance.

I second not using a 300BO for longer distances.  Even my 16in 300BO I would not really go over 100 yards with it.

I consider .300BLK to be a less than 100yd gun. I'd go to 150yds if the animal was standing still and broadside.

I can tell you from first hand experience shooting 6 whitetails, including 3 bucks of which the smallest dressed at 163lb with the chambering, that the Barnes 110gr TAC-TX is devastating within 50yds, even with an 8" barrel.

Here's one taken with my 8" suppressed pistol. 173LB 8pt. Double lung shot at 40yds. He ran about 50yds and piled in.

Attached File


Took an almost identical buck (probably the same bloodline) from the same stand last year, my last year hunting in MN regularly because I moved to Montana ??

He was at 15 yds and was a 1 shot DRT, but I can't find a pic on my phone.

Do you find that the 110gr Barnes Tac-TX reliably exits the animal?  If I use the 300 again, I'm debating between that bullet and the 125gr SST.

Thanks

I'm seriously considering building an AR-10 "pistol" in 6.5 cm with a 15.5" barrel for use during the firearms deer season on my land in MN (which is in the slug zone.)

MN Statutes:
Subd. 2.Pistol.

"Pistol" includes a weapon designed to be fired by the use of a single hand and with an overall length less than 26 inches, or having a barrel or barrels of a length less than 18 inches in the case of a shotgun or having a barrel of a length less than 16 inches in the case of a rifle (1) from which may be fired or ejected one or more solid projectiles by means of a cartridge or shell or by the action of an explosive or the igniting of flammable or explosive substances; or (2) for which the propelling force is a spring, elastic band, carbon dioxide, air or other gas, or vapor.

@sawgunner2001

No, it doesn't reliably exit. Neither does my .30-30 or my dad's .300 Savage but both of those guns have taken dozens of deer each and the calibers have taken hundreds of thousands of deer in the US.

I can't remember the results of each TAC-TX I've fired into a deer, but I recall two of the 6 having exit wounds. One was a doe where the bullet snaked between ribs on both sides but her chest cavity was mush, she was DRT. The other was a yearling with a straight on, down angle shot that ripped through it's sternum, taking half the heart with it. Those two were both with a 10.5" Noveske barreled SBR up close to the Canadian border east of Warroad.

Here's a few more pics:

163lb 9pt (5x4) taken with my Noveske SBR at about 25yds. He had his nose up a doe's ass when I shot.

Attached File


175lb 8pt (4x4) taken with the 8" pistol at 15yds. He walked right into me before dawn but 5 minutes after it became legal to shoot on the Tuesday after opening weekend.  Likely related to the 8pt in my 1st pic up the thread. Both were taken from the same stand on a farm outside of Watertown, one in 2017, the other in 2020.

Attached File


A recovered 110gr TAC-TX bullet. It was up against the shoulder blade of the deer from the last pic IIRC.  

Attached File
Attached File

So by law I need to make sure the barrel, receiver, and buffer tube are Less than 26” for this 308 pistol build….

The key word is "or" .
Read the statute again.
Or.
I'm sure our good friends at the DNR will try to mess it up however.

Build and shoot whatever you want.
It's a ridiculous rule anyways.
Same with the shotgun/rifle boundary.


None of the 3 DNR cops I've ran into in MN cared.

Tac-TX comes in 110 grain and 120 grain. Will drop whatever it hits provided your shot placement is good. 300BO will be good out to 200 yards hunting.

Very nice...

Attached File