Slowly looking forward to when family finances, and personal liberties, once again become more abundant…
Wondering and considering the pros and cons on adding to the family inventory with the different options, one per family member or something… Thinking about building from the Aero Blem and Overrun sales.
My understanding is, the 300BLK upper fits the same lower receiver as an .223/5.56 upper, and a dedicated .22LR upper. 300BLK can also be easily suppressed with both super and subs readily available. I have a buddy who uses his 300BLK for deer hunting and home defense, which would be my primary focus. Will Print for Food is suggesting a home printed Suppressor may last longer on the smaller pistol calibers than rifle calibers as well. [No, ATF, I have NO plans to print a suppressor without asking for my unconstitutional permission slip and paying my poll tax first ] Just weighingpotential options.
Considering the AR-10 in .308, I understand it has a lot more stopping power and greater range based on velocity more than mass… Suppressors would need to be professional manufacturing, which is another $1k to the end price…
As to the greater range and stopping power, the .270 Win hunting rifle is enough in this season for the needs, and I pray both Russia and China remember the notion attributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto “You cannot invade mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass.”
Thoughts, comments, concerns… declarations of heresy…
For building a family inventory it might be hard to beat .223/5.56. Recoil is lower for shooters who may be sensitive to that and there are a lot of high quality SD and practice ammo options that will cost a lot less than the other 2 calibers.
If I was most worried about hunting and other longer range uses I would lean .308.
300blk has benefits when used with shorter barrels and suppressors. It also is better for short range hunting than .223. But quality, purpose designed self defense ammo is a lot harder to find and a lot more expensive.
Yes, loads of interchangeable parts with a .300blk/5.56 build! Including the magazine… to my understanding.300blk is a cut down 5.56 casing necked for .30cal.
Which means you can inadvertently run a.300 into the action of a 5.56… once,… only bad things happen after that.
So if you opt to do a dual caliber build, make absolutely certain you keep your ammo separated, and only load specific magazines that are clearly marked with each caliber.
Obviously, unless you are a licensed manufacturer, I wouldn’t recommend printing a suppressor.
The suppressor on my Tavor is a printed unit (CAT WB 718)
The downside of suppressing a semi automatic rifle is it puts a lot more gas pressure on the bolt, and it off-gasses from the bolt WAY more than non suppressed.
Obviously, a hypersonic bullet has a sonic crack, no suppressor can change that….
But to change the sound of your rifle from a deafening boom to simply a sharp crack is damned nice!
There are subsonic rounds available even in .308 for your consideration.
It’s all hearsay and hypothetical until you prove it to yourself.
I’ve built a couple ARs using Aero Precision lowers and matching 223/5.56 uppers. Easy peasy build, lots of options. I used ALG free-floating handguard/rails as they use an easier installation process (a collection of shims) than the traditional fussing with a torque wrench that other handguards require.
I use a bolt gun for my 308 loads as I came to conclude that AR-10 style rifles tend to be less accurate at the ranges 308 is capable of and heavier than their AR-15 counterparts. I saved up Cabela points to buy my bolt gun. There are many good long range guns available. I picked a Benelli Lupo.
For Sure! Thinking possibly a designated color if I go that route: Red Mags and a Red Hand Guard… but all in time…
But, thinking about simplicity if things go sideways, if everything is a .223/5.56 then there is a whole lot less challenges and confusion in the height of stress and adrenaline - back to the basics and training.
Get everyone a quality, reliable, white light, sling, and optic equipped AR type in 5.56 and put all the rest of the energy time effort and money into training
IMO don’t worry about suppressors until everyone has a complete high quality rifle with a quality optic and the sling/white light, cases of ammo downrange in prior training plus cases of ammo ready, and a plethora of spare parts that can be used to fix and upkeep all of the rifles.
AR-15 lowers, besides.300bo,you can also go 6.5 Grendel or 7.62x 39 upper if you want a bigger hole. I’d start with 5.56 personally due to ammo cost and availability, plus it’s a good round, not much kick, fast and accurate. My .300bo gun loses accuracy when suppressed, well it did. I’ve since changed to an h3 buffer but haven’t bothered with a can on it yet as a Stribog has become the new “quiet home defense” gun. Loving that gun.
FWIW, a couple months back I did do that stupid trick of putting a mag of .300bo in a 5.56 upper. Glad it was a cheap gun but it still sucked, wrecked one of the guns my son left behind and ended that drill quite abruptly. Pulled trigger and definite wtf moment. Mag ejected, magwell split, bolt is jammed into the chamber, bottom peeled back, and the bullet made it 15" down the barrel, yet externally the barrel looks fine. PSA 4150 nitrided I believe.
I only have one .300bo gun (8 AR’s in 5.56), and have wrapped a strip of duct tape around the bo mags, and separated them from the others. Live (fortunately) and learn.
Regarding Aero Precision. Think I have 3 or 4 Aero lowers and one less upper. They make a decent product but I (and others) have noticed they have drastically raised their prices recently. I’ve got AR stuff from low (dirty bird, nbs) to fairly high end (Daniel Defense,FN) and have been happy with the Anderson lowers and cheapazz uppers I’ve bought for my last couple guns. PSA had complete lowers for $120 a week ago, and I’ve gotten a couple nbs uppers from AR-15 discounts for $200 minus bcg/ch. Out of my four or five 16" guns, that $20O upper is more accurate than the two DD’s and one or 2 Aeros in that length.
I noticed this same thing as well recently. I had decided to cut back with my experimenting in 300blk and just standardize around .223/5.56. Wanted to replace my very accurate 300blk Aero Precision upper with an AP Wylde or 5.56 upper. But noticed their prices had increased by at least 50% over what I had paid just two years ago!!! Settled for a PSA upper at 1/3 the price but haven’t had a chance to test it out yet.
Even at $330… this is still 7-8 months of my pocket money/self & home defense/range time/ammo budget right now…
There is a chance my budget could open up in May after graduation, and assuming I pass the FE Evam on the first go-round. … and assuming there are no hijinks and chicanery, there might, could, maybe, possibly, prayerfully, be a little inheritance money ($1,000 ) which my wife would allow me to invest into home defense (including a pistol with an optic ) in 3-6 months also still assuming no tomfoolery and entitlement issues
Just starting the conversation now so I have an idea of what direction would be worthwhile as I pray on what the Lord would desire for my family in the future, unless anyone feels led to send me some College Graduation Gifts (anything except 4am no-knocks and flaming paper bags on the doorstep gladly accepted!)
] Just weighingpotential options.
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) which my wife would allow me to invest into home defense (including a pistol with an optic 
) in 3-6 months also still assuming no tomfoolery and entitlement issues 
