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Welcome to another episode of Reloading Adventures with Mygrainman!
We'll start this off with a little history...
20 years ago, I was newlywed, had no kids yet, and a decent paying job... AKA the last time in my life that I had a "disposable income".. and the last time I used credit cards before finding out the hard way how they work. One day my new bride and I were in our local Walmart and I tripped over a green box that contained this...
And after a little persuading, my wife let me throw it in the cart... along with a set of 357/38 and 7mm RM dies. Walmart doesn't/didn't have much in the way of components so I went to the local GS and bought some brass and a couple different weights of Nosler ballistic tip projos for the 7, a can of IMR4831, A big box of "laser cast" 158grain SWC and a can of Unique for the pistol, and of course the necessary primers. Got everything home, set it up and got to it. It was something to do after work, one of many hobbies, so I never took it too seriously. I slowly added to the bench... a tumbler here, case trimmer there, different powders and projos, but never "worked up" loads. I just went by the book... picked a powder and charge that looked good and made ammunition. Then the kids came, the credit card bills mounted... spare time and disposable income were but a fond memory. The reloading gear went into a tupperware tub, and stayed there for years before I got back into shooting again 5-6 years ago. This time older, wiser, and now armed with the knowledge gained by countless magizine articles, and hours, and hours of youtube videos. My eyes opened to just how involved true reloading can be.
I sold the 7mm, but still load for 357, and since added 9mm and .223. getting into .223 was a little more involved, but aside from a way to remove the primer crimp and mounting a drill to my case trimmer to help minimize the endless hours of case prep that comes with it... I didn't have to add much to my bench to effectively go from just making ammunition, to actually working up accurate, and consistent loads specific to each one of my guns. A great hobby that was actually affordable, I could shoot all day and come home and re supply for 15-20 cents a round. That is until I opened a can of worms called the 300AAC Blackout.
They make it so easy... "Literally all you need is a barrel" they said. So I scraped together enough parts to put together a pretty decent little AR15 pistol in 300BO that I lovingly dubbed "The Black Widow"...
She has VSeven forged recievers, an 8.3" Balistics Advantage Hansen barrel melonite coated with 5R rifeling guaranteeing sub MOA accuracy, a Noveske BCG, a Sig SB15 arm brace on a KAK super sig buffer tube, and she's covered in red colored billet aluminum "enhanced" parts from Strike, and Seekins, giving her unique aesthetics, and superb performance... she has a magpul afg, and a spikes pistol grip adorned with spiders to help pull the black widow theme together...and she's still attracting new and upgraded parts and accessories as time goes on. I know her gaudy red accessories are not for everyone, but she makes me happy.
Soooo....
Now I have the gun, but it needs to eat. Just need a new set of dies right? sure if you have lots of extra money, and you just want to "make ammunition", but that's not my cuppa.
First theres the brass issue... if you don't go out and buy a bunch of over priced factory ammo to shoot through before reloading, you need to either buy brass(also expensive) or make your own. This process becomes a hobby in itself and requires a whole new batch of tooling to get going. If you have the time (which I do) well worth it. It's a relitivly small investment($50-$100 in all) but it will pay for itself in no time.
Blackout can be very finicky... partly because it seats in the chamber at the case neck rather than the base like a .223/5.56 round, and some .223 brass is too thick where the new neck is formed, so a headspace/ case gauge is must have. Otherwise failure to feed/eject issues will plague you.... and if you have initial gas or buffer issues, common in BO builds, ammo issues will make an easy process much more difficult than it needs to be. Out of 800 or so pieces that I have converted so far... maybe 50-60 didn't fit the gauge. some of them I was able to resize to work, but 7-8% just didnt make the cut, and they have no place in the rotation.
The biggest suprize for me was the cost of .308 projectiles. The majority are $30+ per 100.. well over $40 for the really good ones. I can't afford this! I thought being a common NATO caliber they would be plentiful and inexpensive... not in the weights that are good in blackout. 110-150gr for supersonic, and 200gr+ for subsonic. 180s are cheap(ish) and will work in a pinch,but are too heavy for super, and too light for sub... the common 147grain from the M80 is notoriously inaccurate, and many of the cheaper light bullets are the wrong shape to reliably feed in an AR platform, and the manufacturers are obviously charging more for the shapes and sizes that work.
I have found 2 bullets that are somewhat affordable, feed reliably, and will give decent accuracy. The first and cheapest is the Speer Varmint 130gr HP... $17/100 at Sportsmans and while they make for a short COL (I went 2.010) and leave a big gap in the mag, they have ran flawlessly for me through the first 100 rounds I loaded(21 grains of CFE BLK).
The second, and the one went out to test yesterday is the Hornady 150gr HPBT. about $20/100 which is still steep imo, but better than most. After much research and pondering I loaded 10ea 19/19.5/20/20.5 of CFEBLK, and set them where they were just kissing the cannalure @2.080. I also loaded up some 150gr Sierra pro hunter spitzers I got on clearance at WM for $13/100 down from $35(score!) at the same charge weights, and headed to my secret spot by the creek yesterday to test them out.
I didn't have an ideal rest... bipod on a flimsy quad fender, while I was sitting on a log, and I was shooting a pistol with only a sig SB15 with a short lop... so the groups I got weren't anything special (between 1" and 3") but I'd feel confident taking a deer at 100yards with that.
Both bullets seemed to do best in my barrel at 20grains, best 5 shot groups right at 1moa, so that's where I'm going to load the rest. This was the first time I did an accuracy work up for 300bo. I never intended this gun to be anything but a close range plinker, but after seeing what my barrel is actually capable of, I decided I'd give it a go. I did work up the 130s to make sure there were no PSI issues, but I was shooting off hand with irons at pop cans. Yesterday I actually put up a couple groups with the them, and they were actually better than any of my 150s. Got lucky I guess.
Since I was going for accuracy, I robbed my poor spr of its scope, mount and bipod leaving her all but nekked... just looks wrong like this.
but the black widow looks silly too all dressed up like a big girl...
this short novel was brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Mygrainman
We'll start this off with a little history...
20 years ago, I was newlywed, had no kids yet, and a decent paying job... AKA the last time in my life that I had a "disposable income".. and the last time I used credit cards before finding out the hard way how they work. One day my new bride and I were in our local Walmart and I tripped over a green box that contained this...
And after a little persuading, my wife let me throw it in the cart... along with a set of 357/38 and 7mm RM dies. Walmart doesn't/didn't have much in the way of components so I went to the local GS and bought some brass and a couple different weights of Nosler ballistic tip projos for the 7, a can of IMR4831, A big box of "laser cast" 158grain SWC and a can of Unique for the pistol, and of course the necessary primers. Got everything home, set it up and got to it. It was something to do after work, one of many hobbies, so I never took it too seriously. I slowly added to the bench... a tumbler here, case trimmer there, different powders and projos, but never "worked up" loads. I just went by the book... picked a powder and charge that looked good and made ammunition. Then the kids came, the credit card bills mounted... spare time and disposable income were but a fond memory. The reloading gear went into a tupperware tub, and stayed there for years before I got back into shooting again 5-6 years ago. This time older, wiser, and now armed with the knowledge gained by countless magizine articles, and hours, and hours of youtube videos. My eyes opened to just how involved true reloading can be.
I sold the 7mm, but still load for 357, and since added 9mm and .223. getting into .223 was a little more involved, but aside from a way to remove the primer crimp and mounting a drill to my case trimmer to help minimize the endless hours of case prep that comes with it... I didn't have to add much to my bench to effectively go from just making ammunition, to actually working up accurate, and consistent loads specific to each one of my guns. A great hobby that was actually affordable, I could shoot all day and come home and re supply for 15-20 cents a round. That is until I opened a can of worms called the 300AAC Blackout.
They make it so easy... "Literally all you need is a barrel" they said. So I scraped together enough parts to put together a pretty decent little AR15 pistol in 300BO that I lovingly dubbed "The Black Widow"...
She has VSeven forged recievers, an 8.3" Balistics Advantage Hansen barrel melonite coated with 5R rifeling guaranteeing sub MOA accuracy, a Noveske BCG, a Sig SB15 arm brace on a KAK super sig buffer tube, and she's covered in red colored billet aluminum "enhanced" parts from Strike, and Seekins, giving her unique aesthetics, and superb performance... she has a magpul afg, and a spikes pistol grip adorned with spiders to help pull the black widow theme together...and she's still attracting new and upgraded parts and accessories as time goes on. I know her gaudy red accessories are not for everyone, but she makes me happy.
Soooo....
Now I have the gun, but it needs to eat. Just need a new set of dies right? sure if you have lots of extra money, and you just want to "make ammunition", but that's not my cuppa.
First theres the brass issue... if you don't go out and buy a bunch of over priced factory ammo to shoot through before reloading, you need to either buy brass(also expensive) or make your own. This process becomes a hobby in itself and requires a whole new batch of tooling to get going. If you have the time (which I do) well worth it. It's a relitivly small investment($50-$100 in all) but it will pay for itself in no time.
Blackout can be very finicky... partly because it seats in the chamber at the case neck rather than the base like a .223/5.56 round, and some .223 brass is too thick where the new neck is formed, so a headspace/ case gauge is must have. Otherwise failure to feed/eject issues will plague you.... and if you have initial gas or buffer issues, common in BO builds, ammo issues will make an easy process much more difficult than it needs to be. Out of 800 or so pieces that I have converted so far... maybe 50-60 didn't fit the gauge. some of them I was able to resize to work, but 7-8% just didnt make the cut, and they have no place in the rotation.
The biggest suprize for me was the cost of .308 projectiles. The majority are $30+ per 100.. well over $40 for the really good ones. I can't afford this! I thought being a common NATO caliber they would be plentiful and inexpensive... not in the weights that are good in blackout. 110-150gr for supersonic, and 200gr+ for subsonic. 180s are cheap(ish) and will work in a pinch,but are too heavy for super, and too light for sub... the common 147grain from the M80 is notoriously inaccurate, and many of the cheaper light bullets are the wrong shape to reliably feed in an AR platform, and the manufacturers are obviously charging more for the shapes and sizes that work.
I have found 2 bullets that are somewhat affordable, feed reliably, and will give decent accuracy. The first and cheapest is the Speer Varmint 130gr HP... $17/100 at Sportsmans and while they make for a short COL (I went 2.010) and leave a big gap in the mag, they have ran flawlessly for me through the first 100 rounds I loaded(21 grains of CFE BLK).
The second, and the one went out to test yesterday is the Hornady 150gr HPBT. about $20/100 which is still steep imo, but better than most. After much research and pondering I loaded 10ea 19/19.5/20/20.5 of CFEBLK, and set them where they were just kissing the cannalure @2.080. I also loaded up some 150gr Sierra pro hunter spitzers I got on clearance at WM for $13/100 down from $35(score!) at the same charge weights, and headed to my secret spot by the creek yesterday to test them out.
I didn't have an ideal rest... bipod on a flimsy quad fender, while I was sitting on a log, and I was shooting a pistol with only a sig SB15 with a short lop... so the groups I got weren't anything special (between 1" and 3") but I'd feel confident taking a deer at 100yards with that.
Both bullets seemed to do best in my barrel at 20grains, best 5 shot groups right at 1moa, so that's where I'm going to load the rest. This was the first time I did an accuracy work up for 300bo. I never intended this gun to be anything but a close range plinker, but after seeing what my barrel is actually capable of, I decided I'd give it a go. I did work up the 130s to make sure there were no PSI issues, but I was shooting off hand with irons at pop cans. Yesterday I actually put up a couple groups with the them, and they were actually better than any of my 150s. Got lucky I guess.
Since I was going for accuracy, I robbed my poor spr of its scope, mount and bipod leaving her all but nekked... just looks wrong like this.
but the black widow looks silly too all dressed up like a big girl...
this short novel was brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Mygrainman
Last Edited:
I like the way you write 
esp with all the pictures 
