I'm bailing on the sbr blackout in favor of 1 of 2 options:

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greyling22

greyling22

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I'm bailing on the sbr blackout in favor of 1 of 2 options:
1) 300 ham'r in an 11.3" barrel.
pros: limitless brass, seems to be a decent performer. looks to offer an additional 150-250 fps over a blackout of equal length barrel, depending on bullet weight. a little different, which is kind of fun. many bullet options. easy to form brass from 223.
cons: limited load data, the short barrel and all recommended bullets currently OOS. shorter range than the grendel

2) 12" grendel
pros: I already load for a grendel in a 16" variety. longer range, more data out there for reloading. Less chance of the caliber being abandoned.
Cons: I'll then have a space ar chambered in grendel that has limited use. less novelty factor, may not hit as hard at close ranges.
 
Why would you go short on 300 Ham'r. That cartridge is really good out of a 16 inch and if I was doing 300 Ham'r it would be an 18" or 20" I could make a similar argument for 6.5 Grendel.

300 Blackout, short barrel, suppressor, and subsonic ammo is so much fun at the range and in the woods for varmints. I just built a 5-inch upper to go with my 9-inch.

I love 300 BO and loaded 350 rds this weekend and the only caliber I own more firearms in than 300 BO right now is 40 S&W so that may completely invalidate my post. :rofl:
 
If subsonic performance is what you are looking for may I suggest 7.62x39? Handloads will do 2600 fps with a 125 grain bullet and CFE BLK. When your not in the mood for reloading you can buy steel case ammo for roughly the same cost as 30 caliber bullet, powder, and primer is currently going for. I stopped loading 300 blackout after building a 7.62x39 upper.
 
Only interested in supersonic loadings. And I want to go short because once you add an 8" suppressor it makes an awkward package in an atv. And my little 8" blackout just doesn't hit very hard. And I'm tired of buying the barnes tac tx bullets just to get expansion.
 
I guess I'm the exception here...I've always loaded my 300 BO to above sonic levels and LOVE IT. Its pleasant to shoot, no issues with the setup and it is silly accurate at up to 300 yards. 110-135 gr bullets, even 110 gr 30 Carbine bullets, feed and shoot awesome with this home-build.

MTCW
D
 
I like the 300 Hamr but mine is an 18" barrel. It beats the 300blk by enough to matter IMO. And I use 125ish grain bullets. I have a 7.62x39 upper also and its accurate too. I even resize the .310 Gold Dots and can use them in both rifles.

My 300 HAMR is a higher quality build so when I'm hunting thats the one I take .out of the time but the 7.62x39 build shoots just as well with its chosen load.
 
greyling22 said:
Only interested in supersonic loadings. And I want to go short because once you add an 8" suppressor it makes an awkward package in an atv. And my little 8" blackout just doesn't hit very hard. And I'm tired of buying the barnes tac tx bullets just to get expansion.
Click to expand...

How big is your suppressor? If short barrel oomph is what your looking for I think a 350 legend would make a lot of sense. I have never loaded a 350 legend but for example my 13" 357 maximum will do 2300 FPS with a 180 grain hornady XTP.
 
ballistics I have found:

11.3" ham'r

110gr Hornady SP, 2457fps
130- 135 grn 2300fps



12" grendel

100-grain 2,470 fps.
Wolf 100-grain FMJ-BT averaged 2,341 fps.
Hornady’s 123-grain AMAX 2,308 fps.

is this basically 6 of 1 and a half dozen of the other? my hesitation in the grendel is picking up a 12" grendel, and never using the 16" again. then what do I do with this whole spare AR? sell the barrel and do what? store it will a ban and be glad I have it? and what if I cannot find any brass at the range? what do I do then? buy brass? [scoff!!]
 
Without doing anything to it, the 30x39 makes a nice SE hunting cartridge with 150s and 1680 at 2500-2600 FPS. Sota Arms makes runs of these 1-10 twist 16” barrels on occasion. The older 7.62x39 die sets came with a .308 expander, very easy.
 
Armorer 101 said:
Without doing anything to it, the 30x39 makes a nice SE hunting cartridge with 150s and 1680 at 2500-2600 FPS. Sota Arms makes runs of these 1-10 twist 16” barrels on occasion. The older 7.62x39 die sets came with a .308 expander, very easy.
Click to expand...


I'dike to know how you're getting 2500fps with a 7.62x39 shooting a 150gr bullet. I just don't see that as possible. You can get a 123/125 grain going really close to that but no way a 150.
 
greyling22 said:
I'm bailing on the sbr blackout in favor of. . . 300 ham'r in an 11.3" barrel (or). . . 12" grendel. . . Only interested in supersonic loadings.
Click to expand...
It sounds like .300BO was always a much less than ideal choice for your priorities.

One caution: my 7.62x40WT (the .300Hamr's older brother) is very choosy for powder burn rate. There's a small window of suitable powders that will function, and the window shrinks as bullet weight increases. You will need to stay within kissing distance of A1680.
 
edwardware said:
It sounds like .300BO was always a much less than ideal choice for your priorities.

One caution: my 7.62x40WT (the .300Hamr's older brother) is very choosy for powder burn rate. There's a small window of suitable powders that will function, and the window shrinks as bullet weight increases. You will need to stay within kissing distance of A1680.
Click to expand...
Fortunately, I have 4 lbs of 1680 and nothing to use them on. I was going to use them on heavy subsonic blackout rounds, but my gun didn't feed them well
 
CarJunkieLS1 said:
I'dike to know how you're getting 2500fps with a 7.62x39 shooting a 150gr bullet. I just don't see that as possible. You can get a 123/125 grain going really close to that but no way a 150.
Click to expand...

I could definitely see it in a ruger american or the like running 55,000 psi, but that sounds like a bolt lug breaker in an AR15.

I get 2600 fps from my 16" barrel AR with the book maximum load of CFE BLK and a 125 grain .308" nosler. I would guess a 12" would probably loose like 150 fps? I would like to try loading it with speer 150 grain flat point 30/30 bullet to see what I can get out of it. I bet that would hit hard.
 
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Yeah I have seen your post about the 125 .308 bullets you have shot. I have tried a few .308 bullets in my x39 AR carbine and pistol and for some weird reason the only .308 bullet they shoot well is a 135gr FTX. And my 16" barrel and my 11.5in barrel vary roughly 130-155 fps depending on powder bullet combo. Both of mine do well with the Fusion factory load (discontinued) and my reloads using the same bullet. My reloads gain +200fps over the Fusion load and both are extremely accurate.
 
CarJunkieLS1 said:
Yeah I have seen your post about the 125 .308 bullets you have shot. I have tried a few .308 bullets in my x39 AR carbine and pistol and for some weird reason the only .308 bullet they shoot well is a 135gr FTX. And my 16" barrel and my 11.5in barrel vary roughly 130-155 fps depending on powder bullet combo. Both of mine do well with the Fusion factory load (discontinued) and my reloads using the same bullet. My reloads gain +200fps over the Fusion load and both are extremely accurate.
Click to expand...

The only bullets I’ve ever shot in mine are 125 gr accubonds and 125 ballistic tips besides for steel case stuff. They both shoot astonishingly well so I never tried anything else. That’s a bummer that they discontinued the fusion. Hopefully they are going to make something with the same bullet but loaded a little hotter
 
greyling22 said:
ballistics I have found:

11.3" ham'r

110gr Hornady SP, 2457fps
130- 135 grn 2300fps



12" grendel

100-grain 2,470 fps.
Wolf 100-grain FMJ-BT averaged 2,341 fps.
Hornady’s 123-grain AMAX 2,308 fps.

is this basically 6 of 1 and a half dozen of the other?
Click to expand...

greyling22 said:
my hesitation in the grendel is picking up a 12" grendel, and never using the 16" again.
Click to expand...

It’s a strong possibility you won’t... or you simply shoot it when you take a friend, work colleague, relative, child, neighbor, church acquaintance, etc shooting with you...

greyling22 said:
then what do I do with this whole spare AR? sell the barrel and do what? store it will a ban and be glad I have it?
Click to expand...

Eh, any of the above.

greyling22 said:
and what if I cannot find any brass at the range? what do I do then? buy brass? [scoff!!]
Click to expand...

There are worse things.
 
Another 7.62x39 fan here. 7.62x39 will do anything 300 Ham'r can. But we'e talking more like 2300 fps from an 18" barrel with 150 gr pills, and that's really pushing the edge of safe pressure. That's ok occasionally. Nice thing about x39 is you don't lose much velocity with shorter barrel lengths... about 12 to 15 fps per inch of barrel.

I load 110 gr to 150 gr bullets between .308 to .311 for my Mini-30. There's a lot to choose from. For powders I use A1680, CFE BLK, A2200, and Shooters World SBR SOCOM, but I mostly plink with inexpensive factory steel case.
 
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110gr Hornady SP, 2457fps
Click to expand...

1475 ft/lb

Hornady’s 123-grain AMAX 2,308 fps.
Click to expand...

1455 ft/lb

Those are just a couple hundred ft/lb more than I get from my 8,5” 300 blk and more than 700 ft/lb shy of what I get from my 458 socom.

What is your intended use?
 
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