Confirmed, 300 Blackout WILL run on black powder

[Dolomite_supafly]

I have said it for a long time but a friend of mine decided to try it and it works great. He even shot it with his silencer and all was good. He used 24 grains of FFFG with a 125 grain bullet.

 

I might have to pick up a pound of FFFG to try some HEAVY bullets.

[CommsNBombs]

I wouldnt shelf that stuff at all.

Black powder loves gaining volatility when it sits. Especially in contact with metal.

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[Omega]

BP is not that bad, I've left my ML loaded for over a year and it fired on the first primer.

As for using it for 300Blk, besides "just because", why use BP? It's good to know it works and all, but unless you use it in a bolt action wouldn't it dirty up the gas tube too much? Has he cleaned out the silencer to see how much soot it collected?

[Ron Padilla]

the same thought crossed my mind, that it would be dirty as heck.  But I guess, when the SHTF, and there coming to take them anything would better than none just to launch a few in the last few moments of desperation, or the oh well what could it hurt kind of moment. JMOSO 

[runco]

Forgive me, but I must ask the question, why?  Is it for a SHTF event, or other?

[RED333]

This is good to know, thanks for the info.

[10-Ring]

This is good to know but I'd be curious as to how long it will run and how long it will shoot accurately. 

[RED333]

The FP-45 Liberator was made to fire just a few rounds, just enough to do away with an enemy and pick up their firearm and ammo.

Black powder is easily made.

[Caster]

I wouldnt shelf that stuff at all.
Black powder loves gaining volatility when it sits. Especially in contact with metal.
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Black powder from the civil war has been found and is still as safe to use as the day it was made. If it gets wet, it only needs to dry and the clumps broken up. You cannot make black powder unless it's wet when combined. So long as the base components don't separate, it's just fine.

As far as a metal container, only a fool would store black powder in a ferrous container in the first place. Brass? Yes. Wood or plastic? Yes. Steel? Hell no.

The same cannot be said for nitrocellulose. It most certainly will degrade with time depending on storange conditions, but even then it takes a while unless you just leave out in the sun and rain. I've shot ammo from WWI with no issues. I've seen 45/70 black powder loads fired that were loaded well over a hundred and twenty five years ago. Bang...smoke. Edited October 31, 2015 by Caster

[Dolomite_supafly]

I have said for a very long time that the 300 Blackout is the PERFECT caliber for end of times. It is much easier to cast bullets for than 5.56. It is more miserly with the powder than 5.56, develops similar energy with 1/3 less powder. The parent case, 5.56, can be found anywhere guns are shot. It will easily cycle with subsonic bullets in an AR then fire supersonic bullets without issue. It can be loaded with 0 buck balls for taking small game. Oh, and one more thing, it can do most of this while using blackpowder now.

 

Not many calibers are as useful or as versatile as the 300 Blackout.

 

And with a rethink of how to use the 300 Blackout it becomes much more of a viable long range caliber as well. Right now everyone I know, with the exception of a few, load either lightweight supersonic rounds or heavy subsonic rounds. The lightweight rounds run out of steam pretty quickly and the heavy bullets start out without a lot of steam but hang onto the steam a lot longer. But what about loading those really heavy bullets at max velocity? Using a 220 SMK loaded to 1,400 fps (which is doable) that bullet will remain supersonic past 500 yards and at 500 yards it has over 200 foot pounds more energy than a 125 loaded to maximum pressures.

 

Right now there are 3-5 of us testing to see where the middle is. That is the middle between lightweight bullets and heavy bullets loaded at max to determine how far a supersonic bullet will go out of a Blackout. We are thinking that using a 175-180 bullet will yield the longest supersonic range. Imagine taking a standard AR 15 and using it in the same role as most people use AR10's. I have said that the 300 Blackout is like a 308 Winchester minus 275 yards. We are trying all the traditional powders as well as some not so traditional, like blackpowder, powders. I recently did some testing and was amazed that almost all of the "5.56" powders ran my Blackout. I also have some great loads using Blue Dot which has traditionally been used solely for pistols but cycles my 300 Blackout AR without issue. But that makes sense because the 300 Blackout is nothing more than a pistol caliber. 45 ACP cases hold more than a 300 Blackout and 357 magnum is nearly identical. So if you view the 300 as a pistol caliber the powder choices grow substantially.

 

We never expected BP to be ideal but considering you can find all the components to make it at most pharmacies BP would be a great alternative when nothing else is available.

[juliang]

I would love to hear more Dolomite. Please keep us or me informed on any loading data that seems to have a good future. 

[Jct1911]

I've shot some 178grn supers with 5744, can't remember velocity but at 400yds holdovers were similar to 500yd holdover for .223 at 3100.

[Wingshooter]

On 10/31/2015 at 3:23 PM, Dolomite_supafly said:

I have said for a very long time that the 300 Blackout is the PERFECT caliber for end of times. It is much easier to cast bullets for than 5.56. It is more miserly with the powder than 5.56, develops similar energy with 1/3 less powder. The parent case, 5.56, can be found anywhere guns are shot. It will easily cycle with subsonic bullets in an AR then fire supersonic bullets without issue. It can be loaded with 0 buck balls for taking small game. Oh, and one more thing, it can do most of this while using blackpowder now.

 

Not many calibers are as useful or as versatile as the 300 Blackout.

 

And with a rethink of how to use the 300 Blackout it becomes much more of a viable long range caliber as well. Right now everyone I know, with the exception of a few, load either lightweight supersonic rounds or heavy subsonic rounds. The lightweight rounds run out of steam pretty quickly and the heavy bullets start out without a lot of steam but hang onto the steam a lot longer. But what about loading those really heavy bullets at max velocity? Using a 220 SMK loaded to 1,400 fps (which is doable) that bullet will remain supersonic past 500 yards and at 500 yards it has over 200 foot pounds more energy than a 125 loaded to maximum pressures.

 

Right now there are 3-5 of us testing to see where the middle is. That is the middle between lightweight bullets and heavy bullets loaded at max to determine how far a supersonic bullet will go out of a Blackout. We are thinking that using a 175-180 bullet will yield the longest supersonic range. Imagine taking a standard AR 15 and using it in the same role as most people use AR10's. I have said that the 300 Blackout is like a 308 Winchester minus 275 yards. We are trying all the traditional powders as well as some not so traditional, like blackpowder, powders. I recently did some testing and was amazed that almost all of the "5.56" powders ran my Blackout. I also have some great loads using Blue Dot which has traditionally been used solely for pistols but cycles my 300 Blackout AR without issue. But that makes sense because the 300 Blackout is nothing more than a pistol caliber. 45 ACP cases hold more than a 300 Blackout and 357 magnum is nearly identical. So if you view the 300 as a pistol caliber the powder choices grow substantially.

 

We never expected BP to be ideal but considering you can find all the components to make it at most pharmacies BP would be a great alternative when nothing else is available.

I love the idea of adding some range to the 300bo. What length barrel are you using for your testing?