.300 Blackout

Hi G- I've had a Van Horn barrel (1:8) for my Contender Carbine in .300 Whisper for something like ten years now. Shoots pretty much whatever its fed. I did some pretty extensive testing of different stuff, as I wrote an article for submision to Handloader. (Rejected...) I did loads ranging from a .30-30 clone to nice, quiet rounds with the 240 gr. Match King. I love it. I just cast a new batch of the Lee 230 gr bullet today-initial tests were pretty much as expected. For deer, I consider it short-range, but realtively quiet for some of those close-in areas where you try to be inconspicuous.

I can't speak about it in the AR platform. I stuck with the Contender because it was relatively cheap, and I can shoot faster because I don't have to wait for that gas system to function !

I just had to google it to even know what it was ........

G-the .300 Whisper was the original incarnation of the .300 Blackout. The name has been changed, and not much else. (There were trademark issues with J.D. Jones, who did the original development.) Dan, not sure what you're driving at.

Dan I had never heard of it before at least not that I can remember. Once I hit the AR platform I go ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ........

Bob, I understand your reservations about the AR platform. I used one in highpower for many years, it did what I needed, but I never got really attached to it, and actually sold it off when the market went crazy. (Making an obscene profit.)

As far as the Whisper, remember that my enthusiasm stems from my location in Central New Hampshire. Many of the available hunting areas are small, distances are short, and...some are close to developed areas. An accurate, quiet round is very nice in those circumstances. If I were in your neck of the woods, something with longer legs would be more to my liking. There are many paths to Nirvana, and the Whisper is one of them. There was a good article in Handloader back in 1992, if you've got any interest.

I've had a .300 blackout for quite a while. It's a fad and a new toy, and except for the subsonic rounds in a suppressed gun I see really no point. My gun is not suppressed, nor will ever be. I actually only keep it because its a conversation piece at the local range and come on, it turns money into a "bang". In reality a lot of guys in central ky are buying these things and are too lazy to make the brass so I have been selling the hell out of primed brass. Will it ever catch on, probably not. Is it fun, well hell yeah. My biggest concern is for the morons that are blowing up their AR's because they are forgetting to keep the blackout ammo seperate and are trying to send a thirty caliber round down a 22 caliber hole. This has happened at the police range I attend. The gentleman had been shooting .300 blackout all day and thought he ran out of ammo, so he switched his upper back to .223 and grabbed the closed magazine which just happens to be loaded with .300 blackout instead. After a few stitches and powder burns he will never make that mistake again. He was lucky, others might not be so lucky. Regardless a nice bushmaster was destroyed. Think of .300 blackout compared to other caliber, like you would sex. Some are better than others, but all of them are pretty good :-)

I have a S&W AR15 with both 5.56mm and 300 Blackout uppers. All I shoot is paper but enjoy both. I have 5.56 sighted in at 200 yds with Nikon 223 Scope and it's a performer. I have the EOTech holographic red dot set at 50 yds and it is a lot of fun and very accurate. Actually the 300 reminds me of shooting a 30 Carbine. If I was still hunting I would make use of it for short range brush hunting.
As for chambering the wrong rounds (they do use the same magazine) I can't get them to chamber in the Smith & Wesson. The 5.56 is too long and the 300 is too fat. They do not feed at all in the incorrect chamber in the S&W. Not sure how the mix-up took place.