300 blackout, powder choices

[Shadow9mm]

Hey, wound up with a 16in 300 blackout upper and some once fired brass in a trade. Naturally I ordered some dies. Based on my research the powders that I have on hand that should play nice are H110, AA1680, and Lil-gun. Planning to load some bulk 150g fmj to start because I have them.

H110 tends to bind up powder throwers its so fine. heard its good for lighter bullets 150 and less?
lil-gun runs hot
AA1680 looks like it might get me into compresses loads real quick if im not careful. heard it runs the gun well and likes 150s and up.

Any thoughts on these powders or quirks of 300 Blackout that I should know about?

 

[Shadow9mm]

Quick note, got all my brass prepped, noticed the max charged for AA 1680 with 150s were listed as compressed in my Speer manual. went ahead and threw a little powder to see how it looked. straight thrown in it was about half way up the neck. I tapped the case on the table a bit and was able to get it close to the bottom of the neck. Compressed loads have never been my thing, plus I hate fighting seating depth, so I will be trying H110.

 

[Recycled bullet]

I loaded and shot several hundred 225 Grain spire point powder coated cast bullets over H110 powder through my ruger ranch rifle recently. I shot mostly sitting my butt on the ground, rifle balanced in my hands, elbows partially resting on my knees. I used 2.20 inches as my cartridge overall length and it fed really, really well through Magpul 300 BLK magazines.

 

[Recycled bullet]

I have dispensed H110 powder through the Lee deluxe metal body powder measure attached to the Lee powder measure stand. It works very well for what I am doing (lots of 357 mag, 300 blackout subs and even 308 Winchester with IMR3031 aka "Lincoln Logs") and does not leak or bind. I have dispensed several pounds of powder through it and it is very smooth now. I feed 1 lb powder bottles directly into it with the adapter it comes with. I like it a lot.

 

[Shadow9mm]

Well, I tried the H110 and the low case fill made me nervous. So I ended up loading the compressed 1680 loads, lesser of 2 evils imho.

I did run into 1 oddity loading some 150g gold dots for the blackout, they don't even seem to be seated far enough in. I double checked the specs and my measurements, they are loaded to Speers specs to a T.

 

[Recycled bullet]

This is a picture of some of my bullets loaded at 2.2" in the magazine.

What is the overall length for the cartridges that you are testing right now?

 

[FrankenMauser]

Are you wanting subs or supers?

 

[Shadow9mm]

Are you wanting subs or supers?

All supers at this point. No suppressor, so no real advantage to subs for me. I have considered getting some 220 berrys and loading them supersonic. Looking at the data I should be able to get then in the 1200-1300fps range, kinda like a juggernaught load if you will.

 

[Shadow9mm]

This is a picture of some of my bullets loaded at 2.2" in the magazine

What is the overall length for the cartridges that you are testing right now?

Loaded col per the manuals, which is where i put them.
Speer 150g gold dot, 2.180
Hornady, 150g fmj 2.090
Hornady 168otm 2.215

 

[FrankenMauser]

All supers at this point.

Then you're better of sticking to Accurate 1680, CFE Black, SBR SOCOM, SBR Blackout, PP300MP, Ramshot Enforcer, 4227, Norma 200, 4198, Reloder 7, or whatever else you can find in that fast rifle / slow handgun burn rate.

 

[Shadow9mm]

Then you're better of sticking to Accurate 1680, CFE Black, SBR SOCOM, SBR Blackout, PP300MP, Ramshot Enforcer, 4227, Norma 200, 4198, Reloder 7, or whatever else you can find in that fast rifle / slow handgun burn rate.

Will do, thanks. Trying to use what I have on hand. Had a coupe pounds of 1680, H110, and lil gun sitting on my shelf. 1680 has been reasonably available. If it plays nice I will probably stick with it going forward.

 

[HiBC]

See post #5.

The case neck is short as it is. I'd take full advantage of the neck available.

Looks like I would seat .050 or .060 deeper,myself.

 

[Shadow9mm]

See post #5.

The case neck is short as it is. I'd take full advantage of the neck available.

Looks like I would seat .050 or .060 deeper,myself.

I considered that. However I already had compressed loads even seated out that far. That load is straight out of the speer manual, I would like to think that they know what they are doing. At the very least I figured I should do what they said and see if it worked or not before I started improvising.

 

[P Flados]

I have run a good deal of both H110 and WC 680 (milsurp version of 1680) with 150 to 165 gr bullets (both powder coated cast and jacketed) in several BO pistol length AR uppers.

The H110 loads "made me nervous" a little bit when I first loaded some up, but they worked pretty good from a function standpoint. One H110 load I ran was down around 82% fill.

My 680 loads were generally around 100% fill.

Overall my BO efforts were disappointing for accuracy. The best guns did mediocre (3 - 4 MOA) with jacketed bullets and even worse with cast (very few groups below 5 MOA). I put a lot of time and effort into trying to get happy with a 300 BO to no avail.

 

[Shadow9mm]

I have run a good deal of both H110 and WC 680 (milsurp version of 1680) with 150 to 165 gr bullets (both powder coated cast and jacketed) in several BO pistol length AR uppers.

The H110 loads "made me nervous" a little bit when I first loaded some up, but they worked pretty good from a function standpoint. One H110 load I ran was down around 82% fill.

My 680 loads were generally around 100% fill.

Overall my BO efforts were disappointing for accuracy. The best guns did mediocre (3 - 4 MOA) with jacketed bullets and even worse with cast (very few groups below 5 MOA). I put a lot of time and effort into trying to get happy with a 300 BO to no avail.

I have heard accuracy was not one of the strong points of the 300bo. I wont be tinkering with cast for this, just jacketed or plated. Id like to see 2moa, but 3 would be ok. 4+ makese think something is wrong with the gun or my load.