The 300 Blackout cartridge has really piqued
my interest. Similar in concept and performance to the 300
Whisper, which has been around for several years now, the
Blackout takes the concept to a new level, with SAAMI (Sporting
Arms and Ammunition Manufacturer’s Institute) specifications
and readily-available factory ammunition.
The idea behind the creation of the 300
Blackout is to give a 30 caliber AR-based rifle, capable of
subsonic sound-suppressed fire or full-power supersonic fire
with ballistics comparable to the 7.62x39mm Russian cartridge.
While there have been attempts at building reliable 7.62x39mm
Russian AR-15 rifles, with varying degrees of success, the
300 Blackout does all that the Russian cartridge does, with much
better reliability, while using standard 5.56mm AR magazines and
a standard 5.56mm-sized bolt face. The problem with adapting the
Russian cartridge to work in the AR is the shape of that tapered
cartridge case, which requires a curved magazine for reliable
function. The 300 Blackout has no such heavy taper, and works
perfectly through any reliable 5.56x45mm AR-15/M-16/M-4
magazine, keeping the same magazine capacity as the 5.56x45mm
cartridge. The Blackout cartridge succeeds in its goals of
meeting 7.62x39 ballistics with full-power loads, and also of
offering a reliable, quiet, and effective subsonic load for
rifle or submachine gun use.
The 300 AAC Blackout is the product of
development of the Advanced Armament Corporation (AAC). AAC is
now part of the Freedom Group of companies, which includes
Remington, Marlin, H&R, DPMS, Bushmaster, and others. While
some in the industry object to these large corporations such as
the Freedom Group buying up gun companies, the relationship
among the companies in the group, along with the deep financial
pockets of the mother ship, allows development of such
specialized weapons such as the 300 AAC Blackout to come to
market, along with the cooperation among the various companies
to support each other in the endeavor. In the case of the 300
Blackout, AAC has coordinated with Remington Ammunition to
develop and produce a reliable source of factory-loaded
ammunition, and Barnes Bullets, which is also now part of the
Freedom Group, has introduced into their new military/law
enforcement line a bullet specially made to consistently expand
at 300 Blackout velocities, and to feed reliably in the AR-15
300 Blackout weapons.
I was first introduced to the 300 AAC
Blackout several months ago while on a visit to the Leupold
& Stevens optics factory in Beaverton, Oregon. After a very
interesting factory tour in the morning, a few other writers and
myself got to spend the afternoon at the range with some of the
Leupold personnel. One of the rifles that we fired was an AR-15
chambered for the 300 Blackout. Leupold has developed a special
1.5 to 5 power scope that has a dedicated reticle for the two
current Remington factory 300 Blackout cartridges, with one side
of the reticle having aiming points for the subsonic load, and
the opposite side having aiming points for the supersonic load.
It is a superb riflescope, which I had the opportunity to also
use a couple of months later in South Carolina on a shoot with
AAC and other members of the Freedom Group. At both events, the
Leupold scope matched up perfectly with the trajectories of the
factory Remington cartridges, but the distance tried was only
out to about 225 yards. The scope is set up to be useful at
close range and also out to several hundred yards. Hopefully, I
can try out the Leupold on a 300 Blackout at greater distances
sometime in the future, but I do not yet have one of those
scopes here for a more thorough review. With both of those brief
experiences, I was impressed with the 300 AAC Blackout, and was
delighted when a sixteen-inch barreled upper receiver arrived
here a couple of weeks ago. I already had ammo waiting, so I
attached the upper to a DPMS lower which is fitted with a Timney
match trigger and an Ace skeleton buttstock. This lower usually
is mated to my Alexander Arms 50 Beowulf upper, and is perfect
for working out the AAC Blackout.
Not having access to the special scope that
Leupold builds for the Blackout, I mounted another fine
riflescope; a Leupold Mark 4 4.5 to 14 power with illuminated
mil-dot reticle. This scope is very versatile, and the mil-dots
do double duty at estimating distance and also as aiming point
holdovers at extended range. The illuminated reticle has a
rheostat dial to adjust the brightness, and the glass has superb
optical clarity. I fired the Blackout using the three factory
loads available to me, along with a handload that used the
Barnes TAC-TX 110 grain bullet loaded over 19 grains of Hodgdon
H-110 powder. This load has not been pressure tested, and is not
published in any load data manual. It worked very well for me,
pushing the sleek Barnes bullets out the muzzle at about 2300
feet-per-second, with very good accuracy. The Remington
sub-sonic load pushed its 220 grain bullet to 1028 fps at ten
feet from the muzzle. The 125 grain Remington OTM load
registered 2213 average fps at the same distance, and the
Atlanta Arms Pink Tip clocked 2232. All accuracy and velocity
testing was done at an elevation of 542 feet above sea level,
with temperatures in the 65 degree Fahrenheit range, with a
slight breeze and low humidity. The 300 AAC Blackout upper
exhibited very good accuracy, as shown in the pictures, with
every group fired grouping three shots into one and one-half
inches or less, with five shot and even ten-shot groups doing
almost as well. All accuracy testing was done firing from a
solid bench using a Target Shooting, Inc. Model 500 rifle rest.
I had hoped to test the 300 AAC Blackout with
my Tactical Solutions sound suppressor, but I could not remove
the flash suppressor to do so. I tried to remove it, but seeing
that I was going to likely damage the flash suppressor in the
attempt, I stopped before making a mess of things. I did,
however, fired suppressed 300 Blackout rifles in Oregon and
South Carolina previously, and can attest to the fact that the
subsonic ammo made almost no sound at all upon firing, and I
could hear the bullet hit the target at 100 yards easily.
The 300 AAC Blackout is a superb cartridge
for its intended use as a close to medium range fighting rifle,
and should also work very well for hunting medium-sized game and
predators. It is superior to many other AR-based weapons in that
regard, and also superior to 9x19mm similar carbines,
short-barreled rifles, and submachine guns. The Blackout offers
more power with a better bullet design for increased
effectiveness. The ability of the Blackout to use cheap, proven,
and plentiful AR-15/M-16 magazines is a great advantage, along
with a seemingly-endless variety of .308 inch diameter bullets.
With the technological knowledge and
manufacturing ability of AAC, combined with the support of the
other companies in the Freedom Group, it looks like the 300 AAC
Blackout has a bright future ahead of it. AAC has already shown
an affordable NEF single-shot as well as a Model 7 Remington
bolt-action chambered for the 300 AAC Blackout cartridge. I had
the opportunity to fire both, and they shot very well. The 300
AAC Blackout is a very efficient cartridge, with a much greater
terminal effect than its diminutive cartridge case would
indicate. Nothing is wasted in the case design, and it takes
very little powder and muzzle blast to achieve the resulting
performance of the little cartridge.
The 300 Blackout upper receivers and barrels
are available now from AAC, and Remington and Atlanta Arms
already has 300 AAC Blackout ammunition in full production.
Check out the 300 AAC Blackout online at www.300aacblackout.com.
For more information on the ammunition shown
here, go to www.remington.com
and www.atlantaarmsandammo.com.
300 Blackout ammunition is also available
from www.pnwarms.com.
For a look at the extensive line of quality
Leupold optics, go to www.leupold.com.
To order the Barnes TAC-TX bullets shown
here, go to www.barnesbullets.com.
Jeff Quinn
NOTE: All load data posted on this
web site are for educational purposes only. Neither the author nor
GunBlast.com assume any responsibility for the use or misuse of this data.
The data indicated were arrived at using specialized equipment under
conditions not necessarily comparable to those encountered by the
potential user of this data. Always use data from respected loading
manuals and begin working up loads at least 10% below the loads indicated
in the source manual.
