does anybody here shoot the 300 hamm'r?

I can’t answer your question about the 300 HAM’R, but I can tell you that my experience has been that 6.8 SPC and 6.5 Grendel are both a significant step up from 300 BLK in terms of putting pigs down where they stand. I won’t wade off into the numbers game, but I have shot a significant number of pigs and deer with just about every cartridge that can be chambered in the AR-15 receiver and I committed whole heartedly to the 6.8 SPC and 308 for shooting pigs at night.

I looked hard at the 300 HAM’R before I discovered the POF-USA Rogue in 308 Win. The 308 is a superior round to the HAM’R and POF squeezed it into an AR-15 sized frame. Ammo is everywhere which helps since I don’t reload. I’m not trying to talk you out of the WC cartridge, but I’d give a hard look at the Rogue and see if it won’t meet your needs better than a proprietary round.

@greyling22

You might enjoy this thread...

Bill Wilson started it to help answer questions.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/AR-15/300-HAM-R-Information-Sharing-Thread/121-761597/

I don’t have one but I think the 300 hammer is a pointless cartridge because the load data they publish is 100 fps less than I get out of my 7.62x39 with CFE BLK. I get 2600 fps from a 125 nosler.

I think if you want more power in sub 30 caliber for an AR I would look at 6.8 spc or 7.62x39, or if you really want to step it up, a 7mm Valkyrie.

https://www.7mmvalkyrie.com/

My experiences and thoughts mirror what @marksman13 and @someguy2800 have said.

I looked into the 300HAMR when Wilson came out with it and also looked at the numbers one can get out of the 7.62x39 with CFE BLK and also said, nope.

Personally, I think the sweet spot for hunting performance in a traditional AR15 platform it is in the 6.8 SPC, Grendel and 7mm Valkyrie, all are a very good balance of power, trajectory and performance. I stick with 6.8 SPC, but if the Valkyrie were around when I got into the SPC I think I would have gone that route mainly due to my bias towards 7mm.

I’ve also gotten 2600 FPS from 7.62x39 safely with CFE BLK. I’ve also been shooting and loading for 6.8 SPC since 2012. CFE BLK is also a top powder for 6.8, and I’ve gotten 2800 FPS with this powder and Hornady 110 HPBT safely in an 18” barrel.

I have both a 300 HAMR and a 7.62x39 AR-15. I like both of them but my particular rifle in 300 HAMR is a higher quality build, so when I go nighttime hunting with a thermal my HAMR goes. But for daytime shooting and deer I typically use the x39.

My wife loves my x39 she has bang flopped everything she has shot with it.

I shoot reloads both with CFE BLK.

303 hunter said:

I’ve also gotten 2600 FPS from 7.62x39 safely with CFE BLK. I’ve also been shooting and loading for 6.8 SPC since 2012. CFE BLK is also a top powder for 6.8, and I’ve gotten 2800 FPS with this powder and Hornady 110 HPBT safely in an 18” barrel.

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Care to share what load was safe for 2600 fps, bullet, OAL etc….

Have you looked at 458 SoCom?

As was mentioned, 7mm Valkyrie is a great performer. Parent case is a 6.5x47, then wildcatted down to 7mm Valkyrie. It fits into an AR-15 lower also.

Or maybe try a 16” barrel? I don’t know

I went through the prerequisite “SBR” stage back in 2008. It’s much easier now with the wonderful Pistol “Brace” (brace? Who are they kidding?) LOL! However, by just a couple years later (2010), I had become very highly knowledgeable with Ballistics & reloading 223. I found the short barrel ROBBED the cartridge of necessary speed, and effective performance. I have never looked back! 16” barrel or LONGER on my rifles. Speed is power!

.308 and call it good. Taking names and kickin a** for years. I'm a 7mm fan so I shoot 7-08 but basically the same. Pigs die on the spot with a kill shot.

I can relate to being skeptical of a new round and fact is, there are many options that work well.

I use 300 blackout, 6.8, 300 hamr, 308, 338 federal, and 458 socom and short of the 300 b/o, all of them work well.

I like to hit them hard and the 458 is awesome for short range, but falls quickly…338 is a BIG smacker, but as overall from an ar15, the 300 hamr hits ALL of the bases.

It’s very accurate and easy to load for-running a 130 grain speer hot core at 2531 fps and 1848# of energy and hits really hard

IMO, there’s zero drawbacks and the load i’m using isn’t at all pushing the limits

It’s an excellent load and if I had to have just 1 cartridge for hog hunting, it would be an easy choice

Thing is, there is NO “new” round. There is nothing new for the last 50 years or so. And there won’t be. Manufacturers keep re-hashing the same thing, give it a cool new name & BAM! New super round! It’s a crock.. Case in point: So many’s favorite the 300AAC, is an exact replica of the 300 Whisper!

It’s no big deal. Get what makes you happy. My contention being false narrative is spread as a result. By the manufacturers just looking to make a buck, and endless droves of “Fan Boys” who will defend their beloved new Super Round. A new lie has sprung. This newer thought these last 6, 7 years… that a smaller case can somehow produce equal, if not better results.. oh yeah, as long as it has a 30 degree shoulder & massively long throat! LOL! The 300 Ham’r ain’t bad. It’s what the Blackout should have been. However, the Blackout is a favorite of the QCC… the Quiet Can Crown, that is. Still, 223 remains a much more versatile round.

I have heard 300ham "makes 30-30 obsolete".
But I think every 30cal cartridge that's come out since 1894 aside from ones like 30 carbine "made 30-30 obsolete" yet here we are.

N555 said:

I have heard 300ham "makes 30-30 obsolete".
But I think every 30cal cartridge that's come out since 1894 aside from ones like 30 carbine "made 30-30 obsolete" yet here we are.

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Yup. Hard to make a cartridge obsolete when the sheer numbers of rifles chambered in the cartridge numbers in the 10M+. And despite there not being any new types of firearms designed for the 30-30, there are still production of lever guns in the cartridge to this day.

I think Wilson was pretty smart in the way he went about designing the 300 Ham'r. But yeah, 30-30 won't be obsolete anytime soon. It's "America's Caliber."

Wilson did what Ruger could have done with 7.62x39 when establishing the SAAMI standard for it. Ruger messed it up, so most standard American made factory 7.62x39 ammo is underwhelming when compared to hotter C.I.P. loads and handloads.

There's no push at the moment to reevaluate the SAAMI standard for 7.62x39, so people keep trying to reinvent it. 300 AAC Blackout didn't quite do it, but 300 Ham'r has. I don't need 300 Ham'r because I handload my own 7.62x39. I appreciate the Wilson Ham'r because I use 300 Ham'r load data as reference to build superior 7.62x39 loads for my Ruger Mini-30 and CZ 527.

Bill Wilson said the 300 Ham'r would not be possible without modern powders, so I cut Ruger some slack as I use the same powders Wilson does; Accurate 1680 and Hodgdon CFE BLK. Neither powder was available when Ruger proposed the 7.62x39 standard in the 1980s.

I call my x39 handloads 7.62x39 SPC II. The SAAMI standard for 7.62x39 could be officially updated and factory 7.62x39 could be loaded to better standards, but it's not gonna happen anytime soon, if ever. In the meantime, you have 300 Ham'r, which is still considered a "handloaders cartridge." If you handload you can optimize both 300 Ham'r and 7.62x39 to be about equal.

greyling22 said:

Yeah, I spent some time going over numbers, and I think a 12" grendel might be better for me.

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I understand that you are already loading for the Grendel and there is a lot to be said for that, but if you are willing to change cartridges, I think a 6.8 SPC might be a better way to go. I say this as a person who only hunts with 6.5 Grendel. I am a Grendel fan, but not a Grendel fanboy. Where the Grendel really shines is at longer distances, but if you are looking at 8-12" barrels, I figure you aren't shooting at 500 yards, right? So where the 6.8 SPC would benefit you is by getting more velocity for comparable weight bullets from the shorter barrels. The 6.8 SPC bullets aren't going to have as good of a BC as the 6.5 bullets, but if you aren't shooting longer distances I don't think that will be as much of an issue.

So I assumed a whole lot. What is your intended purpose for this gun? If it is just a plinker, then my suggestion may not be all that relative. If you are wanting this for hunting where you might be shooting out to 200 yards or so, then you might want the extra velocity from the 6.8. Grendel and 6.8 do have comparable velocities from comparable weight bullets, but the Grendel standard test barrel length is 24" to get that velocity. For the 6.8 SPC, it is 16" (IIRC). So the 6.8 does a little better from shorter barrels than Grendel. Ideally, that extra velocity will mean a greater variety of hollowpoint bullets will open up better and frangible bullets break apart better and you may want all the help you can get from a shorter barrel. If you were going for self defense that would most likely be inside of 50 yards, I would go with the bigger (.30) caliber and find a particular bullet that will expand as much as possible given the potential impact velocities. You may not have a lot of bullet options that will expand well at lower velocities, however, but you only need one.

greyling22 said:

So since this thread kind of came back to life, I'll post an update: I wound up going the hamr route quite some time ago. I'm getting approximately 16" blackout velocities out of an 11" barrel. I think I can pick up another 100fps with a powder change and upping the charge a little. I'm just forming cases right now. It's a fun little round to load for, but I think it really wants a longer barrel.

One thing it does offer me that grendel and 6.8 etc do not is a standard 223 bolt head. I'm left handed and took this opportunity to finally build a lefty ar out of some stag parts. Unsuppressed, it's not really needed, but suppressed, it's very nice. shot a doe with it.

All in all I'm pleased, but if I was doing ng it all over, I'd buy the Ruger sfar in 308 and never have gone down the grendel/hamr route.

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I've read a ton of Wilson's info over the last few years since 300 Ham'r became a thing, and have benefited from it. I think you're right that it wants a longer barrel. It really screams in the 18-inch barrel he seemed to favor in early reports with projectiles up to 150 gr.

Velocities are greater than 150 gr 30-30 factory loads out of a 20-inch barrel lever gun, and of course 300 Ham'r can use higher BC bullets, so it's better all around at longer range. Wilson's adverts are strangely similar to Ruger's adverts when introducing the 7.62x39 chambered Mini-30 in the late 1980s.

But, you can't beat .308 Win, if that's what you like.

greyling22 said:

All in all I'm pleased, but if I was doing ng it all over, I'd buy the Ruger sfar in 308 and never have gone down the grendel/hamr route.

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Agreed. With CMMG’s small frame AR10 and Rugers SFAR a long barreled 300 HAMR makes no sense.

someguy2800 said:

I don’t have one but I think the 300 hammer is a pointless cartridge because the load data they publish is 100 fps less than I get out of my 7.62x39 with CFE BLK. I get 2600 fps from a 125 nosler.

I think if you want more power in sub 30 caliber for an AR I would look at 6.8 spc or 7.62x39, or if you really want to step it up, a 7mm Valkyrie.

https://www.7mmvalkyrie.com/

Click to expand...

I decided a few months ago that it’s such a pointless cartridge that I should build one. Actually i was looking for a good alternative to 30 Herrett for my contender for silhouette shooting. I wanted something with a smaller case head to allow higher pressure than the Herrett without worry of stretching the frame, and something with tougher brass. 30 Herrett is made from 30/30 brass and it’s very susceptible to case head separation due to the thin brass and the frame flexing. It occurred to me one day that 300 ham’r is the same base diameter and length as 357 maximum, so I called up match grade machine and had them make me a barrel with a 300 ham’r chamber but with a larger neck and a rim to accommodate cases formed from 357 max brass. They made one mistake on it though, I hate the name 300 ham’r so I asked them to mark the barrel “308 maximum”. I’m hoping they can redo the marking for me.