Cheap 300 blackout projectiles?

RockRiver

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What do you guys use to load subsonic 300 blackout for plinking? I'm planning on developing a 110-125gr load for close range hunting but I want a cheap 200+gr bullet for suppressed fun.

Any ideas?
 
The last I bought was a 220 Gr. Leather Head coated projectile. They cost like .14-.15 cents a round. Pretty good quality too.


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https://palmettoprojectiles.com/

These work very well for me with both A1680 and Shooters World Blackout

I’m going to try some of those next. I like how they have sorta boat-tailed the base.

That is the only thing I don’t like about the Leather Head bullets. The LH are squared off and require a good amount of case flaring.


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Some good info there fellas, thanks. I'll probably try both of those. To be clear, I need to flare before seating cast bullets correct?

EDIT, I posted this before seeing @ncav8tor response above.
 
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I have seated the LH projectiles as short as 2.065 but ultimately ended up deciding to seat them to 2.10 OAL. They just seemed to fit the magazine better. I am using 9.6 gr of IMR 4227 out of a 9 inch barrel. That gives me an average of approximately 1040 fps, well below supersonic speeds. And I am also running a suppressor.
 
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Just starting to load .300BLK and I'm leaning toward either the leatherhead @ .14c or Berry's plated @ .22c. I'm concerned about shooting cast through my suppressors but the .14c price point is damn tempting.
 
Still need to flare quite a bit for palmetto 203s or the coating will rub off when you seat them.
 
Just starting to load .300BLK and I'm leaning toward either the leatherhead @ .14c or Berry's plated @ .22c. I'm concerned about shooting cast through my suppressors but the .14c price point is damn tempting.

I wouldn't be concerned about the coating or a lead issue at all. Most of these coatings are good up to 1400-1500 fps before it becomes an issue. The big thing is to make sure you flare enough to keep from shaving the coating off and exposing the actual lead bullet.
 
Do you seat yours as deep as they call for? 1.95" seems really short, but I haven't seen the bullets. I've got some W296 already that I'll try and I think I'll pick up some A1680. I'm gonna have to get a flaring die as well.
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My gun is a 10.5" 300 BLK. I seat these at 1.96" over 9.0gn H110 to stay subsonic. 9.4 would go too fast. I developed this on my own without the chart above. Had to seat short to clear the lands. These pills do not have the long taper point you find on a FMJ
 
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My gun is a 10.5" 300 BLK. I seat these at 1.96" over 9.0gn H110 to stay subsonic. 9.4 would go too fast. I developed this on my own without the chart above. Had to seat short to clear the lands. These pills do not have the long taper point you find on a FMJ

10-4 I guess it will be a good idea to use my split case to find out where the lands are and back off from there. This reloading stuff is addicting!


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I received the 203gr bullets from Palmetto Projectiles. I loaded up 5 each of 9.2gr, 9.4gr, and 9.6gr of W296 seated at 1.95" per their website. I loaded up an extra 5 of the 9.4gr to use as sighters. My plan was to shoot enough to ensure it was stabilizing and grouping for me before putting on the suppressor and seeing at what charge weight they go supersonic as I don't have a chronograph.

I had previously shot the gun with 220gr fmj factory ammo so I figured it would be good enough to shoot at 50 yards and be on paper. After the first two shots weren't on paper I moved in to 20 yards. I ended up loading another 10 rounds to sight in with because I couldn't get it sighted in, kept chasing it and couldn't get it to group at all. I was using paper plates with target dots in the center and it was all over the place with most shots missing the plate all together. I tried upping the charge weight and that seemed to make it worse. The holes that did make it on paper almost looked like they were slightly oblong.

Am I correct in assuming these aren't being stabilized? Barrel is PSA 8.5" 1/7 twist. I have shot supers with this barrel with success and the 220gr subsonic factory ammo was grouping about an 1-1/4 at 50 yards. Anyone have an idea what is going on and what I can do to remedy this? I was planning on getting some AA1680 to test but I'm doubting a change in powder will make a difference?

Another bit of info is that this is the first time I've ever shot the gun without the suppressor on it. I'm not sure what difference that would make but I'm not going to shoot these with it on until I'm sure they are stabilizing.
 
Good choice there... yes it sounds like they are tumbling.
Did you find any leading in the barrel or at the muzzle?
 
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Good choice there... yes it sounds like they are tumbling.
Did you find any leading in the barrel or at the muzzle?
I will check this tonight and get back with you, I didn't clean it after I was done shooting. If I do, does that mean the bullet is going too fast for the twist rate of my barrel?
 
I will check this tonight and get back with you, I didn't clean it after I was done shooting. If I do, does that mean the bullet is going too fast for the twist rate of my barrel?
Unlikely.
Would most likely point to undersize for your bore, or coating damaged during seating. Lead clogged grooves don't stabilize well. Stray far enough to the wrong and the bore will lead heavily quick.

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I don't really know where your problem lies but if I find myself in your shoes I'll do these things:
- inspect the gun for damage, debris, any evidence.
- check torque on bbl nut and break.
- verify diameter of both bore and break.
- weigh and measure a handful of bullets
- pull a few loaded rounds, measure and inspect the coating after pulling.
- cycle a few dummy rounds through the gun and inspect those.
- either measure my lands or trial-and-error seat with longer OAL until i find them, then back off ~0.03"
- Try some of the other powders listed
- use a chronograph.


I'm not sure what you'll find but if it's not the barrel length & twist rate that's screwing you then it's something else that you can find and fix.
 
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So I have found a fair amount of leading, no big flakes but lots of speckles on the patch. It all came out with a few cycles of brush and patch with CLP as the solvent. Bore looks good now. I did measure a bullet and it measures .309. After seating to 1.95 (with no crimp), I pulled it and it measures .306 everywhere below where the case mouth is, .308 right at the case mouth, and .309 the rest of the way until the ogive. I seated same bullet back into the same case and crimped using the built in crimp on the RCBS seating die. I pulled it again and the measurements were the same except the crimp left a slight ring and it measures .304 at the crimp. ID of resized case before flaring is .305". Any ideas?


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I'm thinking it's not gun related as I recently shot some 110gr v-max that shot fine as well as some 220gr factory fmj. Maybe I should try those loads again and see if I have the same results?


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Are you expanding the case neck before seating?

Yes I am using Lee universal flaring die. The bullets I pulled showed no signs of the coating being damaged so I'm assuming I am flaring enough. I measured a case before and the OD increased .005 at the edge of the mouth after flaring. I only know this because when I set it up the first time and flared: I measured it, seated the bullet, pulled it and saw that the coating was fine, and set the flaring die back up to flare that same amount. I then did 100 cases that way. I pulled a bullet I loaded from the first batch and it measured identical to the one in the picture above with no damage to coating.


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There are lots of possibilities. Catfish's post is good, always check basics. It may be that the case neck is resizing the part of the bullet that's in the case, which can cause leading and poor accuracy. The solution is to try a larger expander to expand the whole neck, not just flare the entry. I'm not familiar with the lee die, I either use a lyman m die or use the powder funnel on the 550b.
 
There are lots of possibilities. Catfish's post is good, always check basics. It may be that the case neck is resizing the part of the bullet that's in the case, which can cause leading and poor accuracy. The solution is to try a larger expander to expand the whole neck, not just flare the entry. I'm not familiar with the lee die, I either use a lyman m die or use the powder funnel on the 550b.

I think you may be on to something there. From my measurements it seems seating is sizing the bullet down .003". Maybe I need to get the M die to expand the whole neck and try that. I didn't really give it much thought but I figured since there were parts of the bullet still at .309 above the case it wouldn't cause accuracy issues. At least not to the extent of missing a 10" plate every other shot at 20 yards.

I have another question, anyone know why an undersized bullet cause leading? Seems counter intuitive.


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Undersize causes leading because leading is not typically from bullet to bore contact it is from gas cutting.

Proper sizing is critical, .305 is probably barely riding the lands and not filling the grooves, won't seal and hot gas blows right by it. What you still have at full diameter is probably not strong/long enough bearing surface to seal.

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Gas passing the bullet, bullet not engaging the rifling fully, bullet not rotating around it's axis are some of the common thoughts. Lots of variables, such as the hardness of the alloy, bore condition, pressure of the load, lube/coating, and maybe a little snake oil affect the results.
 
I'd start by flaring more than you think is necessary. I use the same bullets and I don't get any swaging or crimp ring in mine. But I open up the case mouths noticeably. If you just can't get that to work try contacting Lee for an oversized mandrel instead of buying a whole new die.

ETA: assuming Lee dies?
 
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I'd start by flaring more than you think is necessary. I use the same bullets and I don't get any swaging or crimp ring in mine. But I open up the case mouths noticeably. If you just can't get that to work try contacting Lee for an oversized mandrel instead of buying a whole new die.

ETA: assuming Lee dies?

Good thoughts here gentlemen, I surely appreciate the input.

My dies are RCBS F/L. Catfish, any chance you could measure ID of your sized cases before flaring or maybe the OD of your mandrel to compare? I'll definitely try flaring more but with the taper of the Lee flaring die I'm not sure I'll be able to increase the ID of the entire neck and return it back straight afterwards. What die are you using to crimp? I have been using the RCBS seating die to crimp with the seating stem backed out. I'm wondering if I flared enough to not size the bullet if the Lee factory crimp die could squeeze it back straight to the correct diameter? I think I'll follow your other advice first and contact RCBS to see if they offer a mandrel that is sized larger, maybe .308? That would be one thou under what the bullet measures and with a crimp it would probably retain it. Would the Lyman M die expand it enough to work?

Do you think I should try a different cast bullet before going down this rabbit hole? Or will I have the same problems regardless with cast bullets? I'm curious enough to try and pin this down, if only for educational purposes, but I'd like to eliminate some easy variables first.


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My thoughts are that the case neck is sizing the bullet back down, too small.

Lee makes a die set for 7.62x29 that includes two expanders - one for .308 and one for .311. I doubt you have one (I do) but it would be interesting to run the .311 expander through your brass and see if it still has enough neck tension. In any case, a larger expander mandrel sounds like a good experiment.

If you can seat the bullet longer, it would provide a larger bearing surface (ahead of the case mouth) that might alleviate the problem.
 
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I have had very poor success in loading my 300blk. My results are about the same as yours when using coated bullets. I've pretty much given up on them and will stick with plated, but have yet to match a factory round for accuracy.
 
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