300BLK and L’il Gun?

[vanfunk]

Hi All:

I got it under my skin that I wanted a .300 Blackout rifle for general utility. I thought about a Mini-30 and 7.62x39 but for the money, I decided to build my own. Mine’s a 16” carbine (Rosco barrel) with a pistol-length gas system. I am going to reload for it to wring out a little economy and find a load that’s accurate. I don’t intend to shoot subsonic ammo and won’t get a suppressor. Bullets in the 110-150 grain range will be the norm.

Checking reloading manuals and online resourses, it seems L’il Gun achieves the highest velocities at some of the lowest pressures. I can almost always find it on the shelf at my LGS, and it’s often less expensive than other powders. All of that sounds great! Now, I have also heard that using L’il Gun “vaporizes” copper and will copper foul the barrel in short order, and that it “runs way hotter” than other powders. One poster I came by in a forum somewhere complained that it made the fore end of his rifle so hot after a few rounds that he couldn’t hold the rifle.

The complaints sound like abject hyperbole to me, almost to the point of insanity. Can anyone with experience chime in here on L’il Gun and its employment for the 300BLK?

Thank you!

 

[maxxhavoc]

I WANT to like Lil Gun. But so far, I haven't had much luck with it.

I only load 300BO subs, but I have used it in 350 Legend and 7.62x39. The High-Speed for Low pressure promise in the load data looks good, but it tends to be finicky for me.
More than other powders, when you get up in case capacity, pressure spikes - at least in my experience. It is the only powder I have popped out primers with Hodgdon load data.

With the small capacity of the 300BO, if I ever wanted to load supers, I would go to H110/W296. The pressure/speed numbers might not look as good, but it loves filling up cases. It can have issues if you load UNDER load data.

IMR 4227 is more consistent than these, once again max speed will be less. And it kinds makes the range smell like cat pee.

 

[dh1633pm]

Never thought about using Lil Gun for in my Blackout (Model 7). I do like to shoot 150 grainers using H110. I have heard the varying opinions about Lil Gun. Hard to separate the wheat from the chaff on all that's been written about it, which makes me stay away. Probably to my own detriment.

 

[jmorris]

They should rename lilgun to 22 Hornet powder as I really like it for that round. For 300 aac I get better results with H110/W296, for supers ~110 gn.

 

[vanfunk]

Thanks Guys! I have some H110 (actually, I think it’s Win296, same thing) on hand for magnum revolvers so I may try that first. I have 125 grain bullets on the way from Midsouth Shooter’s Supply and meanwhile I’ll continue to research things. Maxxhavoc, I totally know what you mean about 4227; I burned up a bunch in .44 Magnum and it turned the whole range into a giant litter box, lol.

I just got back from the range after trying out the new carbine and I am super happy. After getting the ACOG sighted in I proceeded to shoot this 10 shot group at 100 yards. I knew I pulled one a little high (isn’t there always one where you curse yourself and just know you screwed up?) but without that one, it’s a one-hole group. This is with somewhat boutique ammo (can’t remember the name right now) loaded with 125 grain SSTs (2150 fps out of my carbine). Pretty enthused about this new caliber!



Here’s the new build: