Its been argued for as long as the AR-15 has existed, is the 5.56×45 a powerful enough cartridge to get things done. I’m of the camp that doesn’t like the round…I’m also quick to point out all the large game animals taken by 5.56/.223, and the amount of casualties of war that have come at the hands of that round…I just decided that 7.62×51 was a better cartridge for me.
Of course the length of the 7.62×51 is MUCH larger than the 5.56×45, so it won’t fit into the magazine or action of the AR-15, which means if you made my choice, you’re choosing a larger rifle platform such as the FN FAL, AR10, HK G3, FN SCAR 17, M14 etc.
Another argument was simply to switch to the AK-47 and the 7.62×39 intermediate cartridge.
But the AR-15 is a fantastic, and ubiquitous rifle, so people started looking for stopgaps.
About 10 years ago the 6.8 Rem SPC and the 6.5 Grendel were designed for the AR-15. For various reasons they never really took off, but the 6.8 SPC came close.
Now we have the .300 AAC Blackout, which is a really slick cartridge. I’ve had a chance to shoot one at York Arms, and I was both impressed by the specs AND the performance.
Well Jeff and….Jeff both have been playing with the cartridge too.
(I love that they kept the chrono gate getting shot!)
I must say the .300 BLK is taking hold…and given that it uses almost all the same components as the standard 5.56 rifle, including the magazine, but has performance much closer to the 7.62×39, but is optimized for the AR-15, I suspect this cartridge has a good chance of taking off for people looking for more power from their AR for personal defense or for hunting.
I think it’s a cool round, but I think it will remain a boutique round just like the 6.8SPC. If I had some extra cash to blow it would be something nice to play with but I don’t think it is better enough to justify the cost of a switch for a defensive arm (for someone who shoots a lot).
It will forever be a boutique load if the ammo is in the hands of handloders and small-batch factory loads (like its cousin .300 Whisper ), but what do you think if you can start finding the ammo on the shelves of gun shops and Wal Marts?
Maybe the performance isn’t enough for people committed to 5.56 (or 7.62×51 like myself) to switch, but what about somebody buying their FIRST black rifle…or who want to drag an AR into the field for deer season?
None of them will ever really compete while the NATO nations use 5.56×45…but it might make some serious in-roads.
I like this cartridge a lot. If you get a suppressor and a night scope, this may be the finest hog hunting round ever developed.
Yeah, the Jeff Zimba video was the first time I’ve actually heard a .300 BLK subsonic suppressed, and it seems REALLY quiet. The penetration test seems VERY good, so the heavy ball rounds should thump piggies pretty hard, I hope it DOES work that well, The south needs to wipe out those horrible hogs!
All the cool kids have a 6.8.
I think it’s going to stand the test of time, to be honest.
.300 blk has a couple of issues with OAL and the front rib of the magazine. You have to set the bullets farther back in the case so they don’t bind up on the magazine’s rib. Doing this gives more leade distance for the round to hop and that tends to have a negative effect on accuracy. I think they’re going to end up getting special mags.
A couple of places have abandoned the .300 because they couldn’t get it to work correctly. Savage for one.
I’m not a fan because it literally does duplicate 7.62×39 in its supersonic load and 6.8 is better than that. The problem with 6.8 was and is that whole SAAMI versus SPC2 issue. Guns made to SAAMI specs are not near as good as the later guns made to SPC2 standards, but there’s no industry patron to champion 6.8 so it’s been just word of mouth.
Happily I can report that I can buy 6.8 ammo at most places (not Wal Mart). Marathon, not sprint…
Cousin? ITYM “identical twin”.
I’m hoping this resurrection will reach critical mass, the Whisper never really did.
You have a point. Those S&W guns are stamped with both calibers, Wally generally refers to the caliber as .300 Whisper.
That being said, depending on who made the brass, and loaded the cartridge, some .300 Whisper rounds will work, others won’t in these guns.
But given that identical twins aren’t 100% identical, they’re close enough for that analogy to work perfectly.
Just .300 Whisper is the crazy wildcat twin that stays out too late, and the .300 BLK is the commercial twin who wears a coat and tie to the breakfast table. 😀
Identical twins is a good analogy. When you look close, twins don’t look exactly the same.
IIRC .300 blk is backwards compatible with .300 Whisper ammo, but not always vice versa.
Never looked at the case diagrams to see how the two are different. If its shoulder placement there might be headspace issues either way.
Yup, that’s exactly what I meant.
Nice follow-up with the tie thing.