Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Would ya shoot an elk with a .300 Blackout?

A kid I work with is pretty imppressed with the .300 Blackout. Telling me all kinds of stuff and referencing youtube. I don't know squat about the cartridge, but he showed me one. Don't look like an elk killer to me. mtmuley

With a 125 grain bullet it's about an AK47 minus 75 yards.

I've shot a deer and a pig with the .300 BO, with subsonic loads. lost the deer, had to shoot the pig more than once. I might shoot small game or pests with subsonic loads. Elk? No, period.

With supersonic loads and good bullets? probably yes to deer and pigs. No to elk, again.

if it was in my living room and i had a clear eyeball shot.

A 30-30 would be much better!
And I've got a S&W M&P AR15 in .300 ACC or Black Out that I have killed several Hogs with the standard velocity loads. But most of my shots have been under 100 yards, and it's worked well enough.
Even so, I'm not at all impressed with its ballistics. I bought mine soley for a specialized hog gun to use with the subsonic loads and a suppressor.

To me, it's a 150 yard hunting round for Varmints, hogs, and small body Whitetails like we have here in TX.

Would I hunt Elk with It ??? Oh Hell NO!

I'd prefer my Hawken .54 cal Muzzle Loader with a Round Ball over the 300 ACC

But, I hunt Elk with my 300 RUM, so it's not a concern for me.

I shot one doe a few years ago with a 125gr Ballistic Tip, launched from a mildly loaded .30-30 at around ~2250 fps. It did an impressive job on the doe, and that's about the same speed you'd get from a .300 BO.

The doe shot with the BO took a subsonic 220 Matchking. Left a decent blood trail. Last I saw though, she was running like hell over a hill, on the next ranch, 200 yards away. The pig was shot with the 220 gr Outlaw State, which is supposed to expand at subsonic speeds. The entrances looked about the same as the exits.

Just a general rule of thumb I like to follow: Anyone referencing Youtube videos as their primary source of experience likely doesn't have a freaking clue what they are talking about.

If I could banish any one cartridge from the planet, that would probably be the one. I work in a gun shop and almost get physically ill when I get some "Tacticool" wannabe in the store that has drank the Blackout Kool-Aid. A certain gunwriter described the Blackout as an "ideal deer and hog cartridge out to 300 yards" and some of these newbies take it as gospel.

No. But I have a 30-06 for shooting elk.

If all I had were a 300 blackout, I would shoot an elk with it. I would limit my shots to broadside at 150 yards or less. Or I would purchase a Ruger American in 30-06.

Since I would not hunt elk with said round, no.

tell the kid to join a religious cult instead of a gun cult, he is a moron either way and will have better luck suckin up to some nut job guru than twisting some imbecilic idea about a suppressor cartridge into wounding large game animals.

I pretty much knew it was a no go as far as an elk cartridge. He likes ARs and the tactical stuff. Yesterday he swore a guy was smacking steel at 900 every shot with one. I think today we might have a lunchtime discussion about some things. mtmuley

+1........elk are tough critters

Would I shoot an elk with a .300AAC (Blackout)? Absolutely, yes.

Is it the ideal elk cartridge? No.

With the right loads and in terms of retained energy, my .300AAC (110g Barnes TAC-TX @ ~2400fps) is close to par with my .44 Mag carbine loads (240g @ 1881fps), with which I�ve hunted elk many times. The .300AAC has lower energy out to something past 150 yards but impact velocity is much higher.

Do I plan to hunt elk with the .300BLK? No. If I did would I pass given a 150 yard broadside opportunity? No.

Looking at some QL data, it looks possible to drive a 190gr bullet to about 1750 fps, at 55K psi.

At 150 yards, a 190gr LRAB would retain about 1600 fps, 1100 ft-lbs.

A 190 LRAB could have a PBR of over 150 yards, with a 2" LOS deviation, via 125yd zero. Nosler claims LRAB expansion to 1300 fps.

I wouldn't choose it, but if you loaded it right, it would hit as hard or harder at 100 yards, than many of the "long range" rigs deliver downrange, but with a lot less drift, so placement could be fairly precise.

This round has been around for so many years. It serves a purpose. ALways has.

But its the idiots that write stuff and the idiots that believe it that should be banned.

Its a good choice for the niche which it serves, that niche should be a lot smaller than it is numbers wise though.

Of course I"m always amazed at folks that think the 223 it too small for deer and the like, but lets cut the case off and put a bigger bullet in it and its just fine... amazes me to no end.

I would go after an elk with a 300 Whisper or Blackout. Use appropriate bullets that are designed to open at low velocity (such as 30/30 bullets) and keep shots close (within 100 yards or so).

mtmuley, just remember he is a KID, all full of himself and his idea's about things. A place most of us have been before.

I see the same with plenty of 'adults' too.

My first thought was no. But after looking at load data I'd say maybe. It ain't as far behind 30-30 as I initially thought. I still wouldn't use it as I have better options. But within its limitations, I don't see why it wouldn't work.