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.
