What is the deal with the 300 Blackout anyway?
Let’s take a look at what the 300 Blackout cartridge really offers the modern shooter.
While it is quite easy to sit back and remark “my favorite caliber has been around for years and I would never change it”, sometimes you need to do a little research on newer cartridge offerings. That is certainly the case with the 300 Blackout cartridge.
So what is the real history of the 300 Blackout cartridge? My research turned up Robert Silvers, director of research and development for Advanced Armament Corporation said,
“We started development in 2009, but most of the work was done in 2010. A military customer wanted a way to be able to shoot .30-cal. bullets from an M4 platform while using normal bolts and magazines, and without losing the full 30-round capacity of standard magazines. They also wanted a source for ammunition made to their specs. We could not have just used .300-221 or .300 Whisper because Remington is a SAAMI company, and will only load ammunition that is a SAAMI-standard cartridge. We had to take the .300-221 wildcat concept, determine the final specs for it, and submit it to SAAMI. We did that, and called it the .300 AAC Blackout (.300 BLK).”
When all was said and done, the 300 Blackout became a reality. What is the 300 Blackout really good at? Well, performance in long and short barrels, along with fitting into the standard AR-15 frame size. Why not have a larger .30 caliber projectile in a smaller frame? This allows for more hunting applications and also tactical ones that require more knockdown power.
Out of a sixteen inch rifle length barrel my research has found that with a 110 grain projectile you are looking at velocities around 2,350 feet per second. You also have about 1,350 foot pounds of energy. Impressive right?
Well with a nine inch barrel your velocity has dropped to approximately 2,100 feet per second with around 1,100 foot pounds of energy with the same 110 grain projectile. Now you can have a shorter, more maneuverable weapon in confined areas or an easy packing firearm for rough back country. That is indeed quite a powerful little noisemaker!
Remember that you have the width on an actual thirty caliber projectile over the .22 caliber (5.56mm) projectiles that were the first for the AR-15 family. With that advancement, big game is now an option over just a “groundhog gun” many have touted the AR style weapons to be. The proof is in actual ballistics tests such as the image below.
The larger thirty caliber projectiles have better penetrating capabilities than the usual run of the mill twenty two diameter varieties. They certainly have a better chance at getting though thick vegetation and hard targets such as automobile bodies than a smaller projectile. The old saying “Go big or go home!” certainly applies to these situations.
From high speed to subsonic the 300 Blackout cartridge has a lot to offer the hunter, home defender or tactical operator. With projectiles ranging from on average 110 grains all the way up to 220 grains there is a large selection to pick from. With longer rifle length barrels, or even the shorter handgun length options, the 300 Blackout cartridge will be around for a long time to come.
