?: New M&P 15 Upper in .300 Whisper/.300 AAC Blackout

I have been intrigued with the M&P 15 Upper .300 Whisper/.300 AAC Blackout so I just purchased one last Tuesday. I put on a set of MagPul front and rear flip up sights and laser bore sighted it in. Being a new ammunition I have never used, I went the range and used Hornady 110 V MAX .300 Whisper Ammo (only ammo available). Within 5 rounds it was dead on at a 25 Meter M4 Zeroing Target on a 25 yard range. Accuracy was phenomenal! I know different weight projectiles are going to be sub or supersonic and impact point difference will change.

1. Has any one had experience with both types and provide data on the two variations of .300 AAC Blackout vs .300 Whisper?
2. What about reloading advice?

The 300 BLK is the round of the future IMO.

300 BLK is an improvement over 300 Whisper. BLK uses a 5.56 parent case. Whisper is a 222 Fireball or something, I forget. VERY similar, to the point people used 5.56/223 cases, but it wasn't a perfect solution.

People who aren't familiar with it try to paint it as a suppressor round. It truly does two things well - the supersonic allows you to get a legitimate 30 cal round in a regular 5.56 magazine with a regular 5.56 bolt. It can kill deer/pigs out to the distances where 95% of them are taken anyway. The 110 gr TTSX round that is designed to expand at a lower threshold is a HELL of a hunting bullet. All that said it also excels at shooting subsonics VERY quietly if you invest in a can - but even without a can, I consider it to be an improvement over the 5.56 for 200-300 yards and in depending on projectile selection yada yada yada.

300BlkTalk has a ton of information.

I have been seriously considering building a legal for deer upper for Kansas. Has to be over .24 caliber and from what I have read the .300blk has the ballistics of a 30-30 which would make it great for me. Please continue to give us updates on how it does for you!!!

Thanks for the information. I too appreciate the punch of a 7.62 round and the almost negative recoil compared to my M21. The great thing about the whole upper is I now have a multifaceted selection with the AR 15 lower and the choice of 22LR, .223, 5.56 .300 Whisper and .300 Blackout or 7.62 x 35 AR.

Get the upper, you will like it.

I think I may have found one of the answers to my questions at the following link:
http://300aacblackout.com/resources/300-BLK.pdf

gatekeeper said:

I think I may have found one of the answers to my questions at the following link:
http://300aacblackout.com/resources/300-BLK.pdf

Click to expand...

Gatekeeper,

300 Whisper/Blackout will be my next build. I do like what I read about the round.

However, the referenced URL is basically an advertisement for AAC, and they have taken a few liberties with the ballistics data presented. A dose of salt is needed.

The Black is not an improvement of the Whisper. They are, for all intents and purposes, physically the same round. They arrived at the same point, only Jones and the Whisper got there 17 years before AAC with the Blackout. Here's another article - NRA Mobile

Stebo said:

Gatekeeper,

300 Whisper/Blackout will be my next build. I do like what I read about the round.

However, the referenced URL is basically an advertisement for AAC, and they have taken a few liberties with the ballistics data presented. A dose of salt is needed.

The Black is not an improvement of the Whisper. They are, for all intents and purposes, physically the same round. They arrived at the same point, only Jones and the Whisper got there 17 years before AAC with the Blackout. Here's another article - NRA Mobile

Click to expand...

Stebo,
I appreciate the input, my intention was not to advertise the .300 BLK. My quest for Information has been to select the best over load for a dual cartridge chamber. Your link has helped educate me in the choice of rounds to use, especially for a new shooter with this upper.

Thanks

I may be wrong, but I don't see the .300 as the round of the future. If you want to run a can then they're appealing because of available ammo.

Unless adopted by the U.S. forces, I don't think it'll be more than a footnote in shooting history.

The ballistically superior 6.8 SPC performs great, but it never gained traction either. Unless something's adopted by the military I don't see it lasting.

Unless you want easy access to factory subsonics, why not just get a 7.62 X 39 upper? Ammo's abundant and cheap? Just my thoughts from the crystal ball, CD

Stebo said:

Gatekeeper,

300 Whisper/Blackout will be my next build. I do like what I read about the round.

However, the referenced URL is basically an advertisement for AAC, and they have taken a few liberties with the ballistics data presented. A dose of salt is needed.

The Black is not an improvement of the Whisper. They are, for all intents and purposes, physically the same round. They arrived at the same point, only Jones and the Whisper got there 17 years before AAC with the Blackout. Here's another article - NRA Mobile

Click to expand...

The Whisper is very similar - but some research shows it was the 221 Fireball that is the parent case. The chamber for the 3000 BLK is ever so slightly different. It is a .223/5.56 issue, so similar as to be almost academic... until tolerance stacking means it isn't academic in a specific gun with a specific set of components.

That said - AAC turned the 300 BLK over to SAAMI and doesn't "own" the round in the way other manufacturers have tried to profit from a new cartridge.

If the .mil adopted it, great, but I think there are enough recreational citizen shooters to support it and foster growth. I also think the LE community will be interested and you'll see some adoption there in time.

I'm all too aware that the Whisper has been around - I wanted one for years prior to jumping on the 300 BLK wagon. The 300 standardizes, streamlines, and created an aftermarket. Same mags, same bolt, just a barrel swap gets you there. Add in the support of Remington, AAC, a BUNCHof other manufacturers - Novveske, S&W, hundreds of others - and finally - the reloading components are the same you need for other common rounds.

The 300 is here to stay... just as the Whisper has been with us almost two decades, this improvement and new infrastructure will only serve to bolster a great round.

great. looking for a new AR and the 300 may be my choice.

pangris said:

The Whisper is very similar - but some research shows it was the 221 Fireball that is the parent case. The chamber for the 3000 BLK is ever so slightly different. It is a .223/5.56 issue, so similar as to be almost academic... until tolerance stacking means it isn't academic in a specific gun with a specific set of components.

Click to expand...

Hornady recommends its .300 Whisper ammunition in firearms chambered for either .300 Whisper or .300 AAC Blackout.

Smith & Wesson stamps the barrel of its M&P-15 Whisper barrels with: “300 Whisper/300 AAC Blackout".

Major manufacturers such as Hornady are building ammunition headstamped .300 Whisper and recommending it for use in either platform—in addition to producing reloading dies that are marked “300 Whisper/Blackout".

The author of the referenced article shoots 600 rounds of mixed Whisper & Blackout from 4 manufacturers through both Whisper and Blackout rifles and finds from the accumulated ballistics data that "we’ve determined that there’s not a lot—if any difference between the two cartridges".

A quote from J.D. Jones - “If it looks like a duck, talks like a duck, flies like a duck, walks like a duck, it is essentially a duck."

pangris said:

That said - AAC turned the 300 BLK over to SAAMI and doesn't "own" the round in the way other manufacturers have tried to profit from a new cartridge.

Click to expand...

The implication seems to be that AAC made some "noble" gesture in turning over the 300 Blackout specs to SAAMI.

In fact, Silvers states "A military customer wanted ..." This indicates AAC intended to make a profit from this customer. Silver also states "They also wanted a source for ammunition made to their specs. ...... Remington is a SAAMI company, and will only load ammunition that is a SAAMI-standard cartridge." Nothing wrong here, but SAAMI recognition was required for AAC to complete this arrangement and make a profit. I applaud them, but nothing noble either.

Your statement also implies that Jones did something wrong by trademarking Whisper. Jones is an inventer, tinkerer, a leader in subsonics. He invests time, money, research, and should expect to profit from his hard work. SAAMI will not recognize a trademarked name, but Whisper is CIP recognized.

I am considering getting one these uppers from S&W just curious about the price $819, is this the normal price or an inflated price? It seems alittle high for an upper when I see spikes has a .300 aac upper for $375, not that it's in stock or any thing. Thoughts, suggestions or alternatives please. Not being sure if upper assemblies will fall under any bans I kind of want to get one while I can, if any are to be found.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

you have to see if the spikes comes with the charging handle and BCG, some uppers come complete and some come minus some very important parts.

Cdog said:

I may be wrong, but I don't see the .300 as the round of the future. If you want to run a can then they're appealing because of available ammo.

Unless adopted by the U.S. forces, I don't think it'll be more than a footnote in shooting history.

The ballistically superior 6.8 SPC performs great, but it never gained traction either. Unless something's adopted by the military I don't see it lasting.

Unless you want easy access to factory subsonics, why not just get a 7.62 X 39 upper? Ammo's abundant and cheap? Just my thoughts from the crystal ball, CD

Click to expand...

The 6.8 has been picked up by the Jordanian Military, the Saudi Royal Guard, and may well be adopted by the Czech Republic. The Whisper is still mostly used with suppressors by various military units.

I have a 6.8 and don't see it as a hunting round much past 200 yards. The same can be said about the Blackout. You get 2580fps from a 16" AR with a 95gr TTSX from the SPC around 2350fps with a 110gr TTSX in the Blackout.

Probably the biggest reason the 6.8 isn't more popular than the 300 AAC is that Ron Silver, the head of R&D for AAC, has done a great job of marketing and the only people doing PR for the 6.8 have been Remington. Enough said.

oneyeopn said:

you have to see if the spikes comes with the charging handle and BCG, some uppers come complete and some come minus some very important parts.

Click to expand...

I confused my sites spikes is $750 with BCG but Model1sales is $385. Should have posted while the data was fresh in my mind. But the SW upper doesn't include the BCG according to the description but maybe that's the going price.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk