Home » Blogs » Is 300 AAC Blackout the New Black?

Is 300 AAC Blackout the New Black?

Robert Farago - comments No comments

CMG 300 AAC Blackout rifles (courtesy The Truth About Guns)

Regular readers no doubt know that our man Leghorn is deeply enamored with 300 AAC Blackout (a.k.a. 300BLK). Back before the round was making the rounds, Nick was singing its praises and predicting a glorious future. The future is now; plenty ‘o gunmakers are making rifles and barrel conversion kits to accommodate the cartridge. CMMG offers five rifles chambered in 300 AAC Blackout (the four above and one more besides) and three barrel options for DIY gunsmiths. In case you’re still not convinced (general ammo availability issues aside), here’s CMMG’s pitch for 300 AAC Blackout . . .

The 300 AAC BLACKOUT (7.62X35mm), or 300BLK, offers increased energy delivery and knock-down power in the same package as a 5.56mm AR-15 rifle. By utilizing a 30 caliber projectile, a wide range of loads are available in the 300BLK caliber for shoooters to tailor the round to their specific needs.

Whether you’re seeking a high-powered sub-sonic solution for suppressed fire [ED: now that’s what I call poetry], or an impressive brush gun, the 300 AAC BLACKOUT should be your caliber of choice! The 300BLK round only requires a different barrel as the rifle uses the entire 5.56 AR-15 platform to function.

You in?

Tags Rifles
Photo of author

Robert Farago

Robert Farago is the former publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns.

0 thoughts on “Is 300 AAC Blackout the New Black?”

  1. We are not going to win until the politicians, the media and average anti-gunner gets it through their thick heads that gun violence will decrease if we decriminalize/ tax/ and regulate marijuana, gun suicide is not gun violence, ‘Nothing Stops a Bullet like a Job’ programs work, and half a dozen secondary arguements. Their shouted mantra of Ban Guns just does not work.

    Reply
  2. I’m in

    18″ Wilson Combat barrel on a RRA upper with free float. 51T Muzzle for when I get a can… need ammo! (Holding on to my last 60 rounds of Hornady 110gr)

    Reply
  3. Just saying this, but maybe it isn’t a good idea to print one of those in the color scheme of a nerf gun….

    That’s just asking for something bad to happen with a kid.

    Reply
  4. LOL on the safety. Mine was a b1tch for a while too. Very tough on the thumb but it loosened up nicely over time.

    I also had the problem of the stock smacking me in the face a little bit. I fixed that by swapping out the muzzle compensator for a muzzle brake. I guess the compensator caused just enough twist to cause the stock to catch my cheek and sometimes bump off my ear muffs.

    I like the full-size stock which I think is about a 13.5″ length of pull instead of 11″ or 12″ like most AKs. Much more comfortable for me.

    Reply
  5. China isn’t fascist, literally, by definition.

    Fascism is an ultra-right political ideology motivated by resistance to social change, veneration of traditional, conservative values, opposition to any form of egalitarianism, including liberal democracy and socialism, populist economics (the narrative is typically “the hard working middle class is being drained by the top and bottom of the spectrum”) and belligerent militarism.

    Authoritarian, sure, but if you think they are crapping themselves and calling the state department to invoke a law that prohibits the US from transmitting tech data to foreign nationals that was passed at the height of the cold war and whose prosecutions spiked under GW Bush, you’ve taken a hard turn into Alex Jones Crazyvania.

    Far more likely that it’s simple security theater from the USG, the same kind of thing where if someone tries to sneak bombs on a plane in their shoe, everyone has to take off their shoes at the airport. China is not worried about freaking plastic popguns.

    Reply
  6. In? Absolutely, that is if I can make my barrel 11.5inch, but I don’t think the ATF will stop being paranoid anytime soon.

    Reply
  7. Have a DSArms 300 BLK upper on backorder. Also have reloading dies, brass, and primers ready to go. Wish I’d bought more of those CCI primers on backorder though, things are double what they were in December. Haven’t seen any commercial Blackout on sale for months either.

    Reply
  8. I am still shopping for a folding stock SBR in .300 BLK, preferably 18-20″ OAL folded, to use as a suppressor host. Any suggestions?

    Reply
  9. 5th picture- I love springs made out of twister coat hangers. This is one reason every 3rd world country rebel/terrorist/freedom fighter has an AK.

    Reply
  10. I think this is a good start, but please do not take this as some bigoted comment.

    They are again showing some folks living in the “backwoods” if you will. This isn’t a family necessarily on the forefront of crime ridden streets. I feel that the anti-gun crowd will still see this as a group of “red necks” crying about their government coming for their guns.

    Reply
  11. I dont know if its criminal, but it is jaw droppingly stupid. Still, Im glad hes not a police officer anymore. His bad judgement should be enough to keep him out of law enforcement forever.

    Reply
  12. This reminds me of the old Apple advertisement for their PowerMac G4, which claimed that it was “too powerful” and the gov’t had declared it a weapon. They were simply referring to the same export laws in this case, but it raises the question (forget cars): What if U.S. citizens were required to pass a background check and register their computers with the federal government?

    Reply
  13. This is a really neat caliber. Bought a Daniels Defense last fall and took it to TX for a deer hunt. Was shooting Barnes 110 gr bullets. A 12 and a 15 point were both DRT. Like all Barnes bullets, perfect mushrooms.

    Reply
  14. It’s really a sad day for sciam. I love their magazine up to the point where they attempt to enter the political realm. I think a majority of their readers may agree too. If you follow their posts on facebook you will see people sounding off in the comments against biased articles.

    Reply
  15. “a staggering number that is orders of magnitude higher than that of comparable Western democracies.”

    Comparable Western Democracies? What might THOSE be? What western democratic republic has a growing, largely unregistered armed citizenry whose RKBA is cemented by its foundational legal framework?

    Mr. Henderson I can think of a number of words to describe your work. Science is not among them.

    Reply
  16. Just got back from my LGS (Franktown Firearms).

    Plenty of ammo on the shelves, but not much at prices I’d want to pay (e.g. $44 for a box of 50 .223 Rem, in a brand I didn’t recognize). I did pick up a box of bulk 180gr .40S&W – 250 rounds for $135. Not cheap, but not as horrid as it was a couple of months ago (when I could find it).

    Plenty of AR-15/M4 magazines, PMAG and MSAR.

    Reply
  17. I’ve been down this road with SciAm back in the 90’s. They haven’t changed their stripes, they’ve just becomes “less science, more advocacy” over the decades.

    As a result, I’ve not taken anything therein seriously since the early 90’s.

    Reply
  18. Pretty sure when he said “No takedowns. Ever.” He meant it in the way that Thingiverse took down his stuff, which was just because they didn’t like guns. That’s how i took it anyway. I figured they’d be getting a foreign server though, once they have that then the DOD can FOAD since the files are being hosted outside the US.

    Reply
  19. This article is misleading enough to be considered fiction (showing up on The Onion didn’t help). They didn’t storm the theater. There was a group of actors who were standing in the lobby, including the ones dressed as Iron Man and Nick Fury, doing cosplay promotion as they had done for a number of other premieres. The cops were called, came in, checked the weapons (which were properly marked as fake), and left. Then a bunch of sleazy reporters sensationalized the story and spread it all over the internet.

    Reply
  20. These people were traumatized enough having to sit through that piece of crap film…but seriously, did they not even stop to think about it?

    Reply
  21. I am the person in the quote. The 9-12 Delaware Patriots is AGAINST Delaware HB 88, “Possession by a Person Prohibited”. I’m not sure how anyone can interpret this quote for being in support of this terrible bill.

    This bill creates the potential for mistakes to be made by the multitude of officials who are in the string of deciding who keeps their firearms and who does not. From the counselor to the Department of Justice to the Courts to the State Police to the local law enforcement agencies – this is a huge string of people who can decide someone should be ‘prohibited’.

    There is an enormous potential for these decisions to become very arbitrary decisions. Since there is no real definition in this bill of what constitutes a psychologically ‘prohibited person’, it is up to the system to decide. Thus, anyone can be deemed dangerous and therefore prohibited and their firearms confiscated.
    This bill also creates major violations of patient’s privacy as doctors’ records are shared throughout the system. With the HIPPA laws, we have to give written permission for my anyone to have access to our records or for my doctor to speak with anyone concerning our health. With this law, the health records essentially become public records open for anyone to review.

    These records will travel through the courts, the State Police, the Department of Justice, the local law enforcement agencies, the Department of Health and Social Services, and the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, as a minimum.

    The burden of proving one is no longer prohibited is on the patient. This is somewhat like seeking parole from jail – the odds very heavily favor the system. The system decides who will be permitted to have their firearms returned. Once a person is deemed ‘prohibited’, there is very little likelihood that the system will decide he is no longer in that category.

    The word confiscation from other family members in they house was used in the hearing though they said, “Of course we are not considering that”. So that will be accessible information and an invitation to the bad guys to visit an unarmed home. Would this also be accessible to future employers?

    While parading itself as a means of keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous people, in reality this added section of the bill simply makes very public the counseling records of patients and gives the State another means of firearms confiscation with virtually no hope of the individual having his guns returned.

    Perhaps that is the real intention of this bill – confiscation of firearms under the guise of protection of society.

    Make no mistake on my position or on the position of the 9-12 Delaware Patriots.

    Molan Labe

    Theresa Garcia, Executive Director
    9-12 Delaware Patriots

    Reply
  22. Scene from : “Blackhawk Down”.

    Ranger Captain to “D”: “Sergeant, why is the safety not ON on your weapon? (M4, patrol sling, muzzle safe, chow line).

    “D” to Captain: (Holding up his trigger finger.) “THIS is my safety. SIR!”

    Train right. Know what you’re doing. Calm down. Everything will be fine. You newby guys with excess testosterone who start frothing at the mouth when you approach the firing line, take a pill. Victory goes to the guy in control of himself, not to the whirling dervish who sprays the most bullets, intentionally or not.

    It’s NOT the equipment, men. It’s YOU. How do I know that? Experience. Plus, I watched a newby shoot a “friendly” dead in fear induced panic during an attack. There was nothing wrong with his weapon or his holster. HE was a fool who knew better than everyone else. Stop blaming the equipment. Take a closer look at yourself.

    It is almost ALWAYS the human factor that is to blame.

    Reply
  23. The final report isn’t even out on this incident yet. There are people that have stated that Lanza went through the High School parking lot first, but saw the cop that was stationed there and left. It will be interesting to see if that’s in true and in the report.

    Reply
  24. Bought a CMMG 300 AAC Blackout a year ago and with an AAC can, it shortstrokes using Remington 220 grain subsonic ammo. Would eject the spent round but would not blow back far enough to strip the next round off the mag and load it into the chamber. Tried to get help from CMMG but all they would do is tell me that their 300 Blackout didn’t like the Remington ammo. In my humble opinion, that’s pretty sorry- building a gun that won’t operate properly with the most common ammo on the market. Under the circumstances, I will NEVER buy a CMMG product again. If any of you have suggestions to make this gun work with the Remington ammo, they would be appreciated. I’ve already tried a heavier buffer without success. I don’t want to enlarge the gas port because higher pressures will result when shooting supersonic ammo. I’m thinking about cutting little bites off the recoil spring to hopefully find a point where the Remington 220 will cycle properly. Have I tried other manufacturers’ subsonic ammo? No, because none has been available.

    Reply
    • Why not try a “lighter” buffer for the remington ammo, they sell them for “competition” guns. Could solve your problem, it’ s a cheap solution. Or just send me all of your remington ammo, it shoots just fine through my AAC with a Huntertown can….

      Reply
  25. I own one in 300 blk and love it. I reload my own by cutting down the .223 brass.

    So no shortage here!

    That will also take care of the remington issue the other guy has. you can put what you need for powder. the remington is probably a little light in the powder.

    now 22lr thats a different story. thats been a shortage. lol

    Reply

Leave a Comment