300 BLK advice for a noob?

"Johnny's Reloading Bench" has decent videos of pretty thorough testing for 300 Black out Sub Sonic loads. He develops and tests load data for many powders and projectiles running each over a chronograph and then accuracy tests the best combinations. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...EE56C075E7AE577B70F8EE56C075E7AE5&FORM=VDRVRV

1KPerDay said:

Can someone go over the process for converting brass? Chop, lube, size, trim/deburr? Or is it more or less involved than that?

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I rough cut “over” finished length, then lube and using a GSI tool head and die with a Dillon trimmer I deprime, size and trim in the first pass then load on the 2nd pass, same as .223 except for the cutting part.

1000/hr is pretty easy once your ready to go.

The Dillon trimmer works well enough I don’t chamfer unless I am loading cast/coated bullets.

The Honey Badger is setup to run both super and subs. So youre good there. Alot of issues guys have with 300 BO subs is trying to run them in a rifle with a carbine gas system. Just not enough gas to run the action.

Your rifle may or may not have have issues with running relatively blunt projectiles. If it does not, then HiTek coated 200+gr bullets will work great for cheap shooting subs. Ive shot alot of 150gr FMJs from mine, but my gun favors 125gr bullets like SSTs or the Speer 125s. I do not shoot subs as I do not own a 30 cal suppressor.

Powders to look for are CFE-Black, H110/W296, LilGun., IMR 4227 are Hodgdon. There are other manufacturers with great powders for 300 BO.

Lee dies have had issues in the past with forming brass. Ive used Hornady dies from day 1 with mine and never had an issue. I doubt very seriously if you will need small base dies.

Converting brass is a simple process using a cut off saw and a jig if you dont want to invest in something like a Dillon trimmer.
This is my method
1: cut brass with saw
2: tumble in SSTL media to deburr for 1 hour (could be done manually, and a quick run in walnut to get the chunky stuff off prior to sizing)
3: form brass with 300 BO sizing die
4: trim with WFT2
5: tumble in SSTL media for 3 hours to clean and deburr (could be done manually, and run in walnut)
6: load
If you have an annealer, could anneal between steps 2 and 3. I have an annealer, but have never annealed 300 BO.

My setup for loading is:
Lyman 30 Carbine M die (final neck sizing pass and slight flare if needed for flat base or coated bullets)
Hornady seater
Lee FCD with a light crimp

I’ve been making pistol ammo for decades but only started loading rifle ammo a few years ago. .300 Blackout was my “debut” and I find it pretty similar to loading pistol.

I ordered a batch of converted-from-LC-5.56 cases from Carolina Brass to get started. Between that batch and cases saved from shooting factory ammo I’ve not had a need to use the chop saw and jig I purchased to convert .233/.556 cases.

The folks at Carolina Brass sold me some bulk packaged Hornady 150 grain FMJs. They ran fine although a little heavier than most Blackout supers. Most of my handloads are subsonic, either a 208 grain coated lead bullet or 220 grain Sierra Match Kings.

For powder I have used H110, IMR 4227, A1680 (that’s my “top shelf” powder) and Lil Gun.

1KPerDay said:

Thanks. How much did the chop saw and jig cost you? How much is brass from Carolina? Love your handle, by the way.

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https://www.carolinabrass.net/ is the website with pricing.

Chop saw came from Harbor Freight, about $30. Found the jig online for something under $20.

I’ve always liked Monty Python.

1KPerDay said:

Interesting they offer brass conversion for $.07 per. Anyone know how many .223 cases you can fit into a medium flat rate box?

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Somewhere north of a lot.

1KPerDay said:

Interesting they offer brass conversion for $.07 per. Anyone know how many .223 cases you can fit into a medium flat rate box?

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Get a weight minus the box and I can tell you. A gallon ziplock bag holds 11lbs or around 809 .223 cases.

223, 95.28gr/ea , 73.5cases/#, 13.6#/1000

https://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=210606

1KPerDay said:

Interesting they offer brass conversion for $.07 per. Anyone know how many .223 cases you can fit into a medium flat rate box?

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I just bought Speer nickel .223 once fired cases. Came in a medium flat rate box. Final count 1,047 cases. It was full. Cost me $100 and free shipping. Cases were cleaned and pre-lubed, but not deprimed.

I weighed speer 223 cases a while back and found them nice and uniform. Then I reloaded them. Ugh. I like the looks of nickel, but it does not load as easy as brass and I had a terrible time with it shaving bullets as they were seated. Sure are pretty though.....

I've been loading blackout with h110 and 125 grn jhp bullets to great success. I have also been loading a cast, gas checked 30-30 bullet. 160gr. I found the blunt bullet gave me some issues in some mags. I like the blackout a lot more than the 223 when shooting because it is more pleasant. Less powder, less muzzle blast, the tone is deeper, it's just nicer. Of course, that is out of 16" barrels, rather than the what, 7" of the honeybadger with a muzzle break?

Now that my can is in I'm going to switch over to subsonics. My cousin swears by accurate 1680 in subsonic, so I bought some of that. I may try these 215grn coated bullets. http://www.brazosprecision.com/300B...vel-BaseNo-Groove-483ct-01284bullet_p_67.html

the other thing to keep in mind is that if you are trying to hunt with blackout, it doesn't achieve or maintain high enough velocities to cause most 308 caliber bullets to expand. It's why those stupid expensive barnes tac-tx bullets are so popular. I have heard that a thin jacketed varmint bullet designed to explode at 3000fps might perform more like a regular jhp at the 1900-2400fps-ish velocities you get with blackout (depending on load and barrel length) but I don't know that for certain.

1KPerDay said:

mu brother just bought a Q Honey Badger. While it's in NFA jail, I figured I'd get me/him up to speed on reloading since factory rounds are like $1.50/each.

1. Is it worth the trouble to convert .223/5.56 brass to 300 BO?

2. I assume the real value lies in subs but is there any reason to load "standard" .308 projectiles?

Any gotchas to be aware of?

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I bought 200 cases of 300 BO at a gunshow that were recycled 223. Half of them were 20-40 thousand too long. I had to trim over half of them. If you try to make your own you need to use an intermediate sized expander ball, say 7mm, before you size to 30 cal. It can save you some brass.

I'd like to have the 7mm expander explained to me as well, because, to my understanding, you're not necking up 223, you cut the whole shoulder off and size the leftover case down to 30 caliber. I've never had to make my own. I find plenty of it out at the range. Usually 3 here, 12 there, maybe 60 in a pile. It adds up.

1K, loaded up some test rounds with my buddy for his 300, 16" barrel. Settled on 2 different OAL's after measuring the magazine, 2.175 and 2.150 (curious to see the difference). Ran CFE Blk, ladder in .2 increments started at 10.4 up to 11.0. Using Everglades 200gr Plated BT. He'll take it to range later this week to see what works. At some point we will grab the chrono and see what we have.

1KPerDay said:

Please explain the process and the reason for the intermediate sizer ball. Thanks!

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Sorry guys. All of my brass was pre-formed by someone else. I have not resized 223 to 300 BO. I didn't realize that the cases were shortened that much. My bad.

Lee die set, (will upgrade to Redding) cheap 2 inch cutter from Harbor Freight and eBay jig that fits it, AA 1680 powder, 180 grain soft points (gun show buy, look like Sierra) works for me. Brass trimmed with Little Crow Gunworks trimmer.

At first, was destroying my converted .223 brass seating bullet, crunching them. Figured out to take one of the bullets, insert pointed end in brass and rotate. This was just enough to expand mouth sufficiently to seat.

Factory ammo reloaded fine.

Russellc

Since I am using 125 grain flat based bullets I bought the 30 Carbine powder funnel for my Dillon powder die. I give the case a little bit of flare to ease the seating of the bullet.

I load 10.8 gr of 1680 under a 208 gr Hornady Bullet for subs out of my 10” suppressed BO and they cycle fine and group well.

I keep annealed 5.56 Lake City brass and cut down/resize to 300 BO using a Hornady die.

I put a 30 carbine expander plug in a lee 38spl powder through die and use it to flare and charge the case with autodrum or Autodisk powder measure for my blackouts. Works great.

I only shoot supersonic right now, but it's lots of fun. I'm using 125 gn Speer TNT HP over 16.2-16.7 gn IMR 4227. Rifle is a carbine length gas system 16" barrel.

1K, so don't know what the FPS is on these as we haven't found a spot to run chronograph on them yet. But he liked the 10.6gr CFE BLK at 2.175 OAL. Reported that he felt unburnt powder in the 2.150 splash back on him( don't know what that is all about). We were using 200gr plated. All the usual conditions apply YMMV, these are loads we use, always verify loads thru published data...etc etc... But good luck and god speed

Do you guys anneal the brass during .223 - .300 conversion?

I've been reloading 300 BO for a few years now. My rifle is a pistol-gas 8.5" SBR AR. The buffer is H2, but other than that nothing special has been installed to make it better function at subsonic speeds.

I have been working on loads that get unsupressed subsonic loads to fully function the action (cycle the action AND hold the bolt open after the last round). I figure when I eventually install a suppressor the loads with STILL be subsonic and the added back pressure will not cause a function issue (slightly over gassed is better than undergassed). If you ONLY expect to use your gun with a suppressor installed, it may open up additional powder options as these can leverage on the additional back pressure the suppressor provides to better cycle the action. But if you then need to use the loads w/o the suppressor you may run into an under-gassed situation. For me, I am looking for loads that will work with or without the suppressor so I have only worked up loads w/o a suppressor.

Also realize that barrel length makes a difference too. A subsonic round that has enough pressure to make it out of an 8.5" barrel at 1050fps should have a higher MV out of a longer barrel. This means a load created to be subsonic for a short barrel may no longer be subsonic out of a longer one.

When taking suggestions for 300 BO load data, make sure it is clear if they were tested on an AR and whether they produce enough gas to function the action fully without a suppressor. There are MANY powders that can be used from bolt action rifles that will reliably send the bullet down range at 1050fps. But MOST of these will NOT cycle an AR even with a suppressor.

A1680 and CFE-BLK are the two powders that I have found reliably work with subsonic heavy bullets and AR pistol-gas actions. If I had to pick one... I'd go with A1680. A1680 used be hard to find, but now it is relatively easy. CFE-BLK is VERY similar but I've found A1680 more consistently works as you get down to subsonic speeds. The kicker for me is the last round bolt hold open. A1680 always seems to fully work the action. I have been surprised a few times when A1680 cycled the action and locked the bolt open with MVs BELOW 1000fps!

A1680 has load data down to 125gr bullets and CFE-BLK has 110gr bullet load data, but most are compressed loads. I try to stay way from compressed loads just to leave a margin of safety.
For lighter bullets (below 168gr) at supersonic speeds I switch to H110. In the past IMR4227 has also worked very well for me. My favorite light bullet load is 17.7gr of IMR4227 below a Barnes 110gr TAC-TX bullet. My rifle REALLY likes this load and this bullet. For plinking, 150gr FMJ Hornady bullets are the cheapest I can find but I can't get them down to subsonic speeds (not sure I even tried?)

As far as cases, I initially converted FC cases as I had hundreds of once-fired cases stashed. That seemed the most economical way at the time as no one was yet selling 300 BO cases yet and no one was selling converted cases. The process is a bit time consuming and you will need extra tools to cut and trim the cases to length, but for me it let me be involved in one more step in the reloading process. There is a list of cases that have the correct case thickness so you don't need to trim the outside of the neck. Stick with these and you should be fine. I supposed I lucked out because my Lee FL sizing die has no problem reforming the cases. I may rotate the case 90deg and run the case thru the sizing die twice, but I don't need to remove the decapping pin. Just one extra stroke on the press the first time it is formed.
When Carolina Brass started selling converted LC cases I bought a batch to save some time. They work well but most were cut to a length a tad shorter than min trim length. Their current ad says the cases may be as short as 1.350". Maybe they have improved their QA but some of my cases were definitely shorter than that. So far this has not caused any problems. If you want to skip the time and effort involved with converting cases, I can recommend the Carolina Brass option.
As far as needing to trim 300 BO cases after firing... because the cases are almost straight walled (very small shoulder), I have not yet had to re-trim any cases because they have exceeded the max case length of 1.368". This is a bonus. All my other rifle cases eventually stretch and need to be trimmed.

If you are seriously considering reloading 300 BO, you should go here. Lots of good info. Have fun!