If you have built a 300 BLK AR I want to hear from you!

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kdunn

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I am about to get started on my first AR build. It is going to be a 300 blackout SBR, run with a .308 suppressor more times than not, used mostly on the range but for some hunting also. I want the barrel to be around 9-11 inches. The only parts I have for sure decided on are the upper and lower receivers, which will be San Tan Tactical.

So here is my question, what parts did you choose for your 300 BLK build and why? I am just looking for "inspiration" and ideas of what to use on my build.

(yes I know there is a sticky similar to this, but the answers to that were very generic and I am looking for responses specifically related to a dedicated suppressed 300 blk build)

Thanks for the help!
 
I went with a Noveske 10.2" barrel because I feel they are some of the best quality. I also went with a 9" NSR rail because I like the sleek look and the skinny handguard that flows nicely with my 762-sdn-6. My BCG was Noveske also just to stay with one manufacturer. Upper is a vltor slickside and gunfighter charging handle.

I never really put it on bags and tested the accuracy to be honest. But offhand it hits what I want and is more than enough accurate for hunting purposes.

I would suggest getting a shorter barrel. From what I understand, subsonic blackout powder all burns out within 8 inches or so. No sense having more length, especially with the can.

The only other way I would consider going is with the can recessed in the rail if it was going to be a truly dedicated suppressed upper. Seekins has a rail that are the right size for that application. And they look slick as hell recessed.
 
Good thread. I'm starting basically the exact same build (a .300Blk SBR for shooting with a can) and will be interested to hear what everyone comes up with.
 
I have five rifles in 300 Blackout (actually two 16", one 12.5", one 8" upper to interchange with 12.5", and a AAC Handi rifle) all of the AR uppers I assembled using: 3 CMMG barrels and one Rainier barrel, Daniel Defense uppers, Aim niboron/ nitride bolt carrier groups, a variety of rails and YHM gas blocks. I love this caliber, shoot only supersonic and reload about the same cost as .223 if I use surplus 147 gr FMJ bullets. I use the Handi rifle (16" barrel) for pig hunting in Texas and took a number of small pigs and a one shot kill on a huge 350# Boarwho ran sixty yards and was dead when he hit the ground. There is enough Blackout stuff out there that you can build your AR anyway you wish. Good luck guys I think you will be happy with your results.
 
I've got a handful of blackout rifles myself and I've got to say, by favorite one is my handi rifle. It's quiet, accurate, and doesn't end up with me shooting a while lot of ammunition in one session!
 
I built a gun almost exactly like what you're thinking of, suppressed SBR with a 10.5" barrel. My advice would be to go high quality because with a SBR you'll eventually want it to get there anyway, so it'll be easier in the long run to just start there and not have to be replacing a bunch of parts along the way. I say this from the experience of cheaping out on a few parts and while they're not bad necessarily, I'm now in the process of upgrading them.

I would go with a Noveske barrel. I think 10.5" is perfect of you're going to use the gun suppressed and unsuppressed, but if you're going to only shoot with the can I'd go with an 8" barrel. You don't gain much (if any) advantage from the 2.5" and it will make the package a bit handier, especially if you're using a full sized .308 can (mine adds about 8" to the gun). Also remember that if you do shoot with and without the can, you'll have a different POI, mine is about 4" left at 100 yards when I take the can off. This is more personal preference, but if I was only going to shoot suppressed I would do an 8" barrel and 12" rail and have the rail cover part of the suppressor. Just make sure the rail is large enough to go over the can (a YHM rail should work depending on the diameter of your suppressor).

For lower parts, the only difference I've found is in the tigger group (my DD trigger is much better than my PSA trigger) but if you're going to be replacing the trigger with something else, pretty much any kit will work.
 
I bought a 8.5" barrel from PSA for $79 back when they had their black fri sale in December, installed it on a spare 223 upper I had.Runs like a top and hits where I aim, now all I need is to find a use for it.
 
Great responses guys! This is exactly the kind of stuff I'm looking for! Keep em coming!

Telekinesis, I have given a lot of thought to the Noveske barrels. I will be running unsuppressed at times so I will probably end up going with a barrel in the 10.5 inch range. I have also looked at Black Hole Weaponry Barrels with the 1:8.5 twist rate but there isn't a whole lot of info on them out there so it makes me hesitant to buy one just yet.

How about twist rate tho? My understanding was that the faster twist rates will stabilize the subsonic bullets much better. But I have seen people say the opposite. What is yalls experience with this?
 
I built my 300BLK about a year ago, after trying to collect parts during the 2013 "panic". Price was less a priority for me than quality, but I was willing to compromise to some extent depending on what I could find. I stayed with well-known names, though.

I've never heard of your chosen upper/lower receiver, so I can't speak to its quality. You'll find, though, that there are 4, maybe 5 actual manufacturers of AR receivers, and they do castings/forgings to the specifications of who orders from them. I went with a matched set of Mega A3 (flat top) receivers, they are one of the "4 or 5" who make for other brands.

I chose a Rainier Select Match barrel (16", 1:8.5 twist) with carbine gas. They are made from Shilen blanks.
Flash supprssor is an AAC, threaded for an AAC sound suppressor (if I ever go that route)

My BCG and bolt is an AIM Surplus nickel-boron M-16 unit; same material as a Spike's Tactical, grade 8 gas key hardware, properly pinned and staked. Charging handle is a VLTOR BCM Gunfighter, with an extra large latch release. Lower receiver hardware is all CMMG. I started out with a CMMG single-stage trigger, now have a Geissele DMR High Speed National Match 2-stage.

Gas block is a low profile Wilson Combat adjustable, with a Wilson Combat straight gas tube. Forend/rail/barrel nut is a Geissele Super Modular MkII, 13". Buffer tube is a milspec Magpul with a Magpul ACS carbine stock. The pistol grip is a Hogue.

Sights...... my purpose for this rifle is part plinker, part point defense, short to mid-range. I wanted something that would work up close as well as out to about 150-200 yards, that I could hit a man-sized target with at that range. If I put them in a small plate-sized circle, so much the better. I went with a Redfield Counterstrike reg/green dot 1x, with an integral laser. The laser sits below the sight line of the optic, and above the barrel, so BUIS has to be offset so they don't block the laser. I went with an inexpensive offset sight from Black-Ops Tactical (Amazon .com). They have an A2 style rear windage and elevation, with small and large aperture, and work great. I have the BUIS zeroed for 50 yards, the laser for 50 also, and the 1x dot sight (has a 3 MOA dot) for 150 yards. I can't remember what brand the light is, but it's a 500 lumen, and it will light up a target out to 100 yards easily.

After a year of use and maybe 1500 rounds through the gun, only three failures to feed, all due to improperly sized cases (my reloads, my bad. Problem corrected). With a spotter, I can walk the POI as far out as 300 yards shooting steel silhouettes. I generally use 30 round P-mags. My total cost was around $1600, so it wasn't a cheap build, but it's a quality one.
 

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What are you 300 BLK folks seeing in terms of 100 yard accuracy with supersonic ammunition?
 
I can't say anything about the rifles, but I can say that making the brass is REALLY SIMPLE with a Dillon RT 1500. if you want to do a high volume of shooting that's definitely the way to go. My friend and I processed (made out of 556 brass) about 2000 of them for him recently on my 1050. the worst part was setting up the machine and if you are familiar with it that's really no trouble. The only thing Dillon needs to do is make a different case feeder plate for 300 AAC BLK. It's too slow with the large pistol, and you have to stir it to keep up with the press. I was agitating the cases while my buddy pulled the handle on the press. If I didn't he had to spend a lot of time waiting for the case feeder to catch up.
 
What are you 300 BLK folks seeing in terms of 100 yard accuracy with supersonic ammunition?

Mine is more accurate that I can shoot. This is a 30 round mag, rapid fire (one round per 2 seconds) at 100 yards. My loads, 1x fired LC brass, resized from 5.56, Win. small primer, 19 grains LilGun pushing 155 Sierra Palma MK. 1x 3MOA green dot sight.
 

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Bangswitch, thanks for the input. San Tan Tactical is pretty new (or at least has just been recently discovered) and makes quality billet upper and lower receivers. You should check them out.
I also looked at the AIM Surplus BCG and may go that route for the price on a NiB BCG.
I will also look into the Rainer Arms barrels. If I can find a quality barrel with a 1:8.5 twist I think that would be preferable since I will be shooting a lot of subsonics.
How are both of these items working for you?

And while price is an issue (not wanting to break $1500) I would prefer to have a quality rifle than a cheap rifle. That's why I am building it myself so I can buy parts as my budget allows.
 
Went with an AR Stoner (Satern-made) 10.5" 1:8 lightweight from Midway because all of the Rainier Match and UltraMatch barrels of that length and twist were backordered for almost a year (this was in the post-Dorner rush). I'm a Rainier guy in general. I did not want to go with their select because I was not sure the twist could handle the heaviest subsonics and the polygonal rifling is not supposed to work well with heavy cast bullets (I still plan to experiment with very heavy case subsonics one of these days).

10.5" because it is a very efficient length for supersonics. Subsonic only will do fine in the 8" range. Novekse's have small gas ports and may not function well with subsonic unsupressed. If your are going with an adjustable gas block you want a fairly large gas port.

The accuracy with commercial ammo is about 1.25 MOA which is pretty good for a lightweight. I would have preferred a heavier contour. Would have liked sub-MOA out of the box but it's not enough to run out and buy another barrel. If a Rainier Match barrel is available, choose that.

My only issue is that the fillet at the base of the muzzle threads was not squared off which caused a suppressor misalignment. It is absolutely impossible to get in touch with Stoner Arms but Midway got Satern to contact me after I told them I was unable to contact Stoner after months of trying. Satern explained that they do not do this because "silencers are illegal in IA". This was a while ago, they may do it now. Anyway, I sent them my barrel and they cleaned it up.

I used a Syrac Ordnance Gen II adjustable gas block to allow me to fire all 4 combinations (supersonic suppressed, supersonic unsuppressed, subsonic suppressed, subsonic unsuppressed). Found one setting that works well for Supersonic unsuppressed and subsonic suppressed.

9" Samson Evolution handguard because it is light and strong and fairly slim. This was before the Evolution KeyMod and the BCM magnesium handguards came out (I've used both since).

Wilson AccuTac flash suppressor because it is of the gas-self-tightending helical design and does not need to be torqued down which works great when taking off and on.

Full size: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21431738/guns/300 BLK/IMG_20140722_080626 crop.jpg
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Full size: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21431738/guns/300 BLK/IMG_20140722_080459 crop.jpg
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Full size: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21431738/guns/300 BLK/IMG_20140722_080727.jpg
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Mike
 
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I wasn't concerned with the polygonal rifling in the Rainier barrel because I never intended to shoot cast bullets. I also went with carbine length instead of SBR because I didn't want BATFE to get any of my money; properly set up, the 16" can still shoot subs and cycle the action reliably. I'm using a carbine buffer and spring, it will cycle and lock back on 1100fps 220 grain subs.

I was looking at the Spikes NiB BCG, and saw the specs on the AIM Surplus were the same, and it was about 2/3 the price. No-brainer.

I'm entirely happy with how my gun performs; I don't run the gun "wet" like so many people say to do, I just lightly oil everything after cleaning and it rocks. As good as the accuracy is, I've thought about trying a 4x scope of some sort to see how well it reaches out past 200 yards. I know it is effective past that, from shooting silhouettes at 300, but I had to have a spotter to walk me onto the target using the 1x dot sight.

I mainly shoot two weights of bullet; either 125 Nosler green tips, or a Sierra Palma 155 or Hornady AMAX 155. I have some A1680, but mostly use LilGun or H110 and load to around 2000-2100 fps
 
I echo Bangswitch with my Rainier 16" poly, they just shoot a lot better than I would have guessed. I use reformed brass with 15.8 H110 and 147 Hornaday FMJ or some 145 gr that came from Eastern Europe somewhere but they shoot great and I wish I could find more. I seem to always include a 300 when piling the PU full of AR's to go shooting.
 
I sort of did. I took down a Model One Sales .223 upper, added an AR Stoner 16" LW 300 BLK barrel, a 300 BLK marked stripped upper, and a new hand guard.

With a standard buffer and AR 15 bolt carrier it cycles great with all the Super Sonic loads I use. If I substitute an M16 carrier it won't cycle well.

I chose a 16" barrel because I didn't want to fool with a tax stamp, and anything longer than 16" is a waste with the 300 BLK.

I chose a Hogue hand guard because they are cheap, look good, fit my hand well, and I won't be hanging any stuff on it.
 
Arizona Mike, That is a great looking build. Very similar to how I want mine to turn out! But I will be putting some sort of red dot on it and Magpul BUIS instead of a scope.
 
The only thing Dillon needs to do is make a different case feeder plate for 300 AAC BLK. It's too slow with the large pistol, and you have to stir it to keep up with the press.

Use the small rifle plate.

The cutter will last longer and you won't have the big "birds nest" of brass if you don't trim it all off. I built this machine to cut them down before I run them through the Dillon with the trimmer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNXz97yWp2w
 
Walkalong, Did you have any trouble with your Stoner barrel like ArizonaMike did? I have thought of using one of their barrels but with the problem he had, and with the tough time he had getting in touch with customer service, it makes me leary of going near this brand.
 
This is my entire journey along with my load development

http://www.dayattherange.com/?page_id=3460

Utilizing Midwayusa, Brownells and a few local shops I manage to get everything I needed to completely build my first AR. At some point I may get around to submitting the government form 1 , pay my fees and purchase a SBR (short barrel) to go with this rifle. Until then the major parts I used are

CMMG 1/7 Twist, Pistol length gas system, 16′ carbine barrel. I read of to many issues with other length systems and decided on pistol length.
Standard GI Trigger
Sun Devil Lower
Yankee Hill
DPMS Upper
Mako GLR16 Butt Stock
Burris AR-P.E.R.R. 1 Piece Extended Scope Mount
Wilson Combat Accu-Tac Flash Hider
Double Star Lower Parts Kit
Double Star Low Profile Gas Block
Weaver 3-12×44 Scope — Lit Reticle and Scope caps.
These are the major components I have assembled along with a few other minor parts which can be seen in the pictures below.
 
I sort of did. I took down a Model One Sales .223 upper, added an AR Stoner 16" LW 300 BLK barrel, a 300 BLK marked stripped upper, and a new hand guard.

With a standard buffer and AR 15 bolt carrier it cycles great with all the Super Sonic loads I use. If I substitute an M16 carrier it won't cycle well.

I chose a 16" barrel because I didn't want to fool with a tax stamp, and anything longer than 16" is a waste with the 300 BLK.

I chose a Hogue hand guard because they are cheap, look good, fit my hand well, and I won't be hanging any stuff on it.
Mine is pistol gas and before I had the adjustable gas block I used an M16 carrier (I actually don't own an AR15 carrier, even my Colt came with an M16 carrier) and an H2 buffer.
Now with adjustable gas I can probably run an empty C buffer like I do with all my adjustable gas guns, but have not tried it yet (still running at the gas settings I worked out for my H2 buffer). I'm currently running two mid-length and one rifle-length guns with adjustable gas blocks and empty C buffers with no issues.

Mike
 
Arizona, I have never seen an ar scope mount used that way. Looks like it works. I didn't read the whole thread. Is your rifle finicky with ammo?
 
Currently building my second AR in .300 blackout. This time I'm gonna go with a complete rifle from Texas Dhooters Supply since it was so cheap I would have a hard time building it any cheaper. This one will be in FDE was th a 10" 1:8 twist barrel, 9" quad rail and mil-spec trigger; don't know what it is but it feels like a standard DPMS trigger.
I completed the E-file from-1 this afternoon so when I get approval the lower will be off for engraving.
 
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