Revisiting the 300 Blackout on a Savage platform?

[Dave Hoback]

I lived in Tucson. My friend has 15 acres just outside Benson. I like it there…. Quiet.

[mattri]

Very cool.

Plan for now is to keep the 150 Speer load as a default, start working with the cast 170gr and hope to find an accurate load for target work and eventually move into subs with either some 190 sub x or cast bullets.

[Fuj']

Maybe down the road for a short course score rifle, but a Whisper may lend itself to
compete with a 30BR. Get some bullets from Bart Sauter, And a 18" twist 4 groove
barrel.

[mattri]

Got some 170gt bullets cast, only tried one load so far but pretty happy with the accuracy. Four shots at 100 yards right at an inch, if I hadn't pulled the one high would be right at .5"
https://i.postimg.cc/ZWf5p6LS/20220617-151419.jpg (https://postimg.cc/ZWf5p6LS)

[Dave Hoback]

Very nice mattri! I like it brother. Nice “Chain-Link” group.

[mattri]

Thanks Dave, really hate to ruin a group like that but can't say I'm not used to it :black_eyed:
Wanted to stick with the factory stock as it is pretty light and nimble, fairly well suited for offhand shooting but may try a Hogue. Their stock handles well and the full al block really improves stiffness.
Also ordered a 230gr mould for some subs.

[charlie b]

Keep us posted. I've been on the fence about an AR cause I can't decide on a cartridge. Most people I have seen have not had that good a luck with the BO, especially cast.

I shoot mostly cast in my .308 and have a lot of fun shooting soda cans at longer ranges.

Phoenix is where I grew up. When I left in 1971 Phoenix had a population of 600,000. Miles between Peoria and Glendale. Fountain Hills was a mobile home office and that stupid fountain in the middle of the desert. Used to visit my mom there until she passed a few years ago. Don't miss it at all :)

[mattri]

Ha! I dated a gal from fountain hills in the mid 90s- looked a little different then- can't imagine now.

It seems the 300BO gets a bad rap and I think that has more to do with end users then the cartridge itself.

I don't get into the military or "tactical" aspects of the cartridge- they mean nothing to me. It is an interesting platform to do with as one sees fit.

Staying in the supersonic world for now-

With basic load work up a 150gr Speer is consistantly sub moa @ 200 yards in this rifle. Shooting farther than that with this cartridge could be very interesting but may not be super practical.

The 170gr cast bullet has proven to be accurate, moa to 100 at least.

Further testing with 15 and 16gr of CFEBLK netted 1430 and 1510fps respectively. Accuracy held with the 15gr load but opened up to 1.5 moa with the 16.

More testing seems moot for 2 reasons-

1) if one were looking for an effective hunting load using cast bullets, no leading and effective terminal effects with a flat noe bullet this seems adequate.

2) That round will be single fed- there is no way to make this bullet feed in this rifle.

Not the end of the world but having tried multiple configurations of multiple dummy rounds this bullet flat will not feed from the Savage internal mag.

[Dave Hoback]

I’m very honestly not a fan of 300aac. Save for being an excellent SUB-sonic round, I believe 223 is a much more versatile cartridge. The 300aac is almost a mirror image of the 300 Whisper, which was a failure. Nothing new.

However, that is me. The more important thing is that I am a huge fan of DIY’ers building their own rifle, and loading their own ammunition; Regardless of caliber/cartridge. Each of us chamber our rifles as we see fit and that’s all that matters. I don’t have to be a fan of a certain cartridge, to like ones project & speak with them about said project. I’m more an about the “Doing”, rather than the “outcome”. Although the outcome certainly cannot be be argued here. :redface-new:

[mattri]

Got out to the range this morning to try some new subsonic loads. Have been working mostly with cast bullets for the subs without a ton of luck- think that has more to do with my casting abilies than anything- so today tried some Hornady 190gr Sub-x bullets over CFEBLK for 1020fps, nice stable load does ok accuracy wise @100
https://i.postimg.cc/HrGrX4Cj/20220806-081059.jpg (https://postimg.cc/HrGrX4Cj)

Still sticking with the Speer 150s for a super load, this was at 300, wind was obviously a bigger factor:cool:
https://i.postimg.cc/K1yYRGnM/20220806-085357.jpg (https://postimg.cc/K1yYRGnM)

Happy with the round and the build so far- will definitely keep working on some cast loads, may look into powder coating etc.