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

To me the 300 BLK is a disappointment, not the cartridge but Remington's failure;

I picked up a 300 BLK after Rem/AAC picked it up (the 300 whisper), because with Remington's backing I 'knew' they would be providing hunting bullets that would expand at subsonic speeds... typical Remington 2 1/2 years later and still no subsonic hunting bullets! Yes you can drive 110 (barnes tac) to 150 (30-30 bullets) grain bullets fast enough to get good expansion, but the reason for this cartridge is to shoot subsonic... If I want to shoot supersonic there are lots of better cartridges available.

Tex n cal, From what I have read the 220 & 240 SMK's are great on deer/game if they tumble, if they don't it can be a long trail.

Jerry

Better chance he'll shoot it well huh? Most of the young AR shooters I've observed are Hell bent on emptying a magazine as fast as they can. Spraying bullets with no regard to any kind of accuracy. If someone takes shooting seriously, it's not a problem to shoot a RUM well. mtmuley

A 220 from my old gun, was a long trail...:(

I searched for gelatin test vids, and you can find a couple on Youtube with supersonic loads. They look pretty impressive. I would also think a 125 Nosler BT would also do well, especially out of a 1 in 8" twist.

Member Kentucky Windage shot a hog with the 110 TTSX, and was not impressed with the effect on the animal. I suspect the Barnes really needs to go faster to be a quick killer. And the CnC bullets cost much less, too.

I've only found one vid of a 220 subsonic test, and that was the 220 Remington:



It doesn't look real impressive to me. Maybe the 240 SMK would do better? But I wonder just how consistent tumbling is likely to be?

It is nice that the BO uses the same mags and bolt as a 5.56, and the subsonic loads function fine with no alterations to the lower. But so far I've not found nor seen evidence of a subsonic load that is a good killer of game animals. My Daniel Defense is a reliable, accurate rifle, but it stays loaded with supersonic ammo.

Curmudgeon much?

You see what you want to see. You dont care for those types of rifles, therefore you see their owners as lazy, irresponsible, and well, just not as good as you. Further, you feel that if someone doesnt shoot the way you think they ought to, they are reckless, dangerous, or foolish. You are what owners of the rifle that more or less personifies the gun rights movement call a "Fudd." Very Zumboesque.

"would ya shoot an elk with a .300 Blackout?"

If my life depended on it sure. If not to many other tools in the box to get the job done with.

If under 25 yards...I'd consider it!

I've been playing with 300 BO quite a bit lately in a range of bullet styles/weights, and am not overly excited about it. In my humble opinion, it's a niche cartridge for niche applications, and I would not include elk hunting as one of them.

liliysdad, I made a generalization I guess. In these parts, folks don't use ARs for elk hunting. Do you? Have you? Tacticool does not equal good hunting tool. Never said I didn't care for the AR rifles either. And I disliked Zumbo before his foot was inserted in his mouth. Back to my original question.....Most say the .300 BO is not an elk cartridge. mtmuley

I run three different loads in mine:

110 vmax at 2450fps for rabbits and varmints.

125 nab at 2300 for deer

208 amax at 1050 for subsonic plinking

I don't have what I'd consider an elk load for it but I have some 125 accubonds I could use if I had too.

Bb

Not what I would consider an elk round, but I would shoot one wit it.

If one doesn't consider a cartridge an elk round, why the Hell would one shoot an elk with it? mtmuley

Well, I guess I fall into that category. To me an 'elk round' is one that is capable under most circumstances. That includes typical ranges and angles at which the .300 Blackout might well disappoint.

My .44 Mag carbine falls into the same category as the .300 Blackout -- not an 'elk rifle' -- but I've taken it elk hunting many times - at least one day per season for almost 20 years. I figured I'd limit my shots to 100 yards and take only good angles. I would do something similar with the Blackout should I ever take it elk hunting, which is highly unlikely.

(When I got that 100 yard shot with the .44 I passed because I couldn't see the iron sights well and my buddy already had one down.)

If someone is taking shooting seriously, they will be able to shoot the rifle with less recoil better.

If they are not taking shooting seriously, they will be able to shoot the rifle with less recoil better.

More recoil (especially a schit load of recoil) loses every time.

tex'n'cal,

"Member Kentucky Windage shot a hog with the 110 TTSX, and was not impressed with the effect on the animal. I suspect the Barnes really needs to go faster to be a quick killer."

Was it the barnes tac-tx or the standard 30 cal. 110 grain TTSX?

Missed my chance to see how it would perform... My 13 year old wanted to carry the Blackout (a Rem/AAC Micro 7) loaded with the Tac-TX for a hunt, but some of the area was pretty open so I insisted he carry a std. cal. as I was concerned how well it would open at longer distances, as luck would have it he shot a buck at about 40 yards. May not have worked well as barnes claims it will expand to .50 cal at 300 yards! Thinking at 40 it may have had a problem?

Jerry

http://www.barnesbullets.com/blog/2012/02/09/new-300-aac-blackout-barnes-products/

I think the Barnes would have performed very well at 40 yards. Here is one recovered from water jugs, MV about 2400fps per load data, S&W M&P .300BLK, 110g TAC-TX, range ~10 yards.

110g TAC-TX is in upper left corner:



More is available here regarding the water jug tests:
http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/8850562/1/101_Water_Jugs_No_Survivors

I don't think less recoil in a marginal cartridge for elk is necessarily a good thing. At least in this case. mtmuley

Instead of trying so hard to convince him his weapon/caliber of choice is inferior, offer to setup test medium or help him find the best performing projectile for his purpose.

Experience speaks volumes to which, by your own admission, you have zero.

Do you really think you can have a significant impact on this guy in a conversation that starts.... "Hey, I don't know [bleep] about your cartridge, but some guys on the internet say...." ?

Hey thinman, how about I tell him about cartridges I know about that folks have killed elk with for years. I don't know about the Blackout. Kinda why I asked the question. I do know about bullets and ballistics thoiugh. No conversation has been had yet about whether or not he should use the BO. I've since investigated the cartridge and there's no way in Hell I'd use it for elk. Period. He has a .30-06. Guess he should use the BO so He doesn't think his weapon is inferior. Besides, it has less recoil that the .06 mtmuley

Don't be difficult. The 300 BLK will work fine within it's range, with the right bullets. Is the 30-06 a better choice? Of course. But the BLK will work if a man understands it's limitations.

Kind of like using handguns, archery, etc.

Understand the capabilities/limitations of the tool, and work within them.