Caught the 300BLK Bug

So last year I bought a receiver thinking it would be nice to build a short barrel AR pistol for home defense and eventual suppressor use before Biden and the ATF decided to start making up more anti gun laws out of thin air. Health issues and the resulting lack of work delayed those plans but just got my first paycheck in almost 6 months so decided to celebrate by ordering the rest of the parts I needed to finish the build.

Went with 300BLK due to the better performance from shorter barrels and the potential to use it for deer hunting. Already picked out my supersonic SD rounds.

But the choices for a subsonic SD round for in home use seem less clear. Would like something that meets the FBI penetration standards preferably out to 100 yards or so but that doesn’t over penetrate targets at shorter distances. Not sure if it exists yet. Anyone have any suggestions? Also on the hunt for some affordable practice rounds but not counting on finding those any time soon.

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I have been using Stryker 147gr from American Marksman for practice rounds. Found them on Ammoseek with decent prices a while back for my 16" barrel 300bo rifle.

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Thanks for the heads up! Are those new production or remanufactured? Do you remember who you got them from? I’m always a little leery of ordering new brands from dealers I’ve never heard of.

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@mattm @Shamrock >> this is why people are jumping out of windows to get out of Ct.

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Was looking for a better value for 300bo practice; i.e. under $1per round. My purchases have ranged from .82 down to .74; orders have had turn and delivery times around 10days or less. The 50rd boxes do not state remanufactured on them, so I can only assume new production. American Marksman is the distributer with a KC area code; https://www.theamericanmarksman.com/. Their “about page” explains their business profile.
Stryker products ships directly from a plant in AR and is packed extremely well; maybe too well with the staples needing plyers to remove from outer packaging.

Quality and accuracy seems on par with Armscor, maybe a bit cleaner. 170rds so far without any performance issues. I’ve also purchased some 5.56 55gr rounds but have yet to see how they compare to other comparably priced products.

Hope you’re not being overly affected by the Tunnel Fire on the east side of Flagstaff; inferring location from some of your previous posts.

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That’s actually a step in the right direction…Crazy that none of the states around us even allow suppressors, MA, NY, RI…
My area still going crazy with NY/NJ folks moving in, sellers market big time… I’m headed back to TN pretty soon I think though, going to check out the area that initially attracted me, but never made it to.

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What headstamps are on the brass? Are they all the same?

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Believe it or not, subsonic penetrates. And penetrates. The big issue is that it’s hard to get expansion from subsonic.

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If you reload you can do almost anything with bullet choices and velocity
( of course if you can find the products with the shortage ) if you don’t already have them.

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Headstamps are all the same in the couple of boxes that I checked.
Sequencing of headstamp: letters, numbers and differing circles represented here by o & O
LC O 16 o O o O + O o O o (+ sign is within a circle)
Does this offer you any insight as to whether new or remanu?

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I would definitely say not only is it reloaded, but it’s reformed Lake City 5.56 military brass. So they took fired 5.56 and then cut it down to 300 length and loaded it as 300 blackout. It’s common practice, but not likely new brass.
Although it could be pull down 5.56 that’s been reformed without first being fired as 5.56. You would have to determine if the primer crimp has been removed to tell for sure. That could technically fall into the new ammunition concept, depending upon what the meaning of is is.

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I’m not a fan of videos, so here’s an article about how 223/556 brass is converted into 300.

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Fortunately we live well out of town and that fire isn’t near us. We do have some friends that were evacuated though. Very scary fire. Just took off in the wind. Can’t wait for the summer monsoons to kick in and put the fire season to rest!

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That is the problem I was running into on my search. Lots of big slow pistol bullets have been engineered to expand reliably at slow speeds but there seem to be a lot less options on the rifle front. I came across a couple of potential options from Hornady and Lehigh but the tests I found were rather limited.

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I haven’t jumped down the reloading rabbit hole yet:) Have the interest but time and space are limited.

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It is a rabbit hole, once you go in you ain’t coming out. Poor timing to get into reloading. When this crapola started I even had a hard time finding a good inch pound wrench because it was listed as a gunsmith tool.
I get the not enough space thing too. I have a large 2 bay garage thats Chuck full of toys and tools, and keep getting complaints in the Complaint box about not being able to put a car in the garage, but thats what Garages are for, aren’t they ?

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So I just checked and currently I can get mag tech fmj bullets for $0.23 each. Primers are $0.10 each. Premium Vihtavuori powder at $50 per pound is $0.07 for a subsonic load and $0.14 for enough powder for supersonic. Midsouth has blackout brass for $0.21 each. So it’s still cost effective with current inflated prices. If you used brass you already had, you could eliminate that one from the calculation. And if you really dove in, you could cast an indefinite supply of bullets with scrap lead and shoot for under $0.25 per round!
300 is one of the calibers I feel like the manufacturer’s really rip off people with.

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thanks for the info. not ready to jump down into the reloading rabbit hole. hate to say it but it’s easier for me these days to “write the check” versus doing the work myself. no space at home for reloading equipment and component storage. i currently save my 556 & 300bo brass for a friend’s son & daughter in law as they’re set up for 300bo and 9mm reloading.

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This is currently in stock.

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Thanks for the heads up! They do seem to be one of the top rated subsonics for SD. But they sure are pricey. Good thing they have a 2 box limit! And they have a free shipping offer at the moment!

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