.300 Blackout Upper

Lineman73

Lineman73

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Last Thursday, July 5th, I picked up new S&W .300 Blackout upper to go with my M&P15 Sport! It has a 16" barrel, quadrail hand guard and a full length picatinny top rail. I added 3 rail covers and a sling swivel mount. Two pins out, off with the 5.56 NATO upper, two pins in, on with the .300 Blackout...it took about that long to snap in place. Perfect fit; perfect function, as expected.

As I will be using this upper about 90% for hunting (deer and coyotes) I mounted a Bushnell Trophy 1.5-5 x 20 scope on a see thru 3/4" riser (co-witness iron sights to be added later). I bore sighted it, then fine tuned it at the local indoor range (free advertisement: The Trading Place Pawn and Indoor Range in Monroe, GA--You're welcome Blake!) I'll check it out at 100+ yards soon. I fed it Remington 115 grain CTFB FMJ's to sight in. These were clean, reliable rounds. They left very little fouling and provided totally positive function. I had no problems at all.:cool: Accuracy was excellent. Once hitting point of aim, all groups could have been covered with a dime. Not bad for an old retired coot with lousy eyes!! I also picked up some Hornady 110 grain V-Max ammo for hunting and plan to get some Hornady 125 grain Zombie Max loads...just in case!!

I got the upper for $70 under Smith & Wesson suggested price. Not a bad deal!! I checked into a few other brands that I could have gotten cheaper, but with shipping figured in, there was very little difference.....sooooo. I liked the idea of the new upper matching the lower. I have been a faithful customer of Smith & Wesson for over 40 years now and if it ain't broken, don't try to fix it!;)

This is a great addition to my toy collection and should be a whole lot of fun to use. I'm sure the coyotes and deer are not looking forward to what happens next!!:eek:
 
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Lineman,
Did you ever consider the 6.5 grendel or did you just know you wanted the 300blackout? If so why/why not? I am looking into one or the other and just want some feedback.
 
I can see a possible use of the .300 for deer, especially if your state does not allow calibers below .243.

I'm trying to figure out why you would opt to use the .300 on coyotes given the plethora of .223 varmint bullets and their proven success on coyotes. What was the driving factor for this?
 
.300

AR newbie. Ordering my m&p sometime this week, probably Thursday. Late birthday present to my self partially subsidized by the girlfriend. Super excited.
Anyways, I had come across the blackout when looking at other uppers and read something about being able to just switch out the barrel since the round is essentially crammed into a 223 casing. Is this sacrelige or fairly common?
 
Basically that's correct ....... resized .223 brass.

The good ...... you don't need new mags.
The bad .... you don't need new mags ......... which leads to a situation that can (and has) been a significant problem.

If you make a mistake and put a mag loaded with .300 Blk in your 5.56 upper, it gets nasty just right after you squeeze the trigger ........ :eek:

Although the 300 is too big to fit in the 5.56 chamber in a static situation, in real life what has happened is ..... when the bolt release was pressed the bolt slammed the 300 round into the 5.56 chamber, the bullet was pushed back into the case, the neck was crimped by the 5.56 chamber, and when the trigger was squeezed the AR blew apart.

You can find the article and pictures by googling "300 black mistakenly in a 5.56 rifle" and then following the link posted in the second link on google's page under Sniper's Hide.

Typically I use all black mags, but before I order my 300 Blk upper, I'll be sure have different color Magpul mags delivered for use 'only' with the 300 Blk rounds/upper.

As I get older I find I need to do things like this with even the most benign things. :(
 
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Is there a way to buy just the barrel from s&w? I only want to use it rarely for hunting, so i don't want to shell out for an entire upper. Any ideas as to price?
 
Lineman73 said:
Last Thursday, July 5th, I picked up new S&W .300 Blackout upper to go with my M&P15 Sport!
Click to expand...
I know this is nit picking, but I was unaware of S&W offering a 300 Blackout upper.

S&W does offer a few uppers and complete rifles in 300 Whisper.

I know this is like the difference between .223 Remington and 5.56x45 Nato rifles.
 
storeyteller said:
Lineman,
Did you ever consider the 6.5 grendel or did you just know you wanted the 300blackout? If so why/why not? I am looking into one or the other and just want some feedback.
Click to expand...

I did a lot of research before I committed to the .300 Whisper/.300 Blackout. I considered 6.5 Grendel, 6.8 SPC, 7.62x39 Russian, .30 RAR and the .450 Bushmaster. I checked bullet/velocity stats, performance in AR platform info, available bullet weights, number of manufacturers producing the cartridge and last of all popularity of the cartridge. I did not want to get an upper that the ammo would disappear after a short time as I no longer reload (Crawling around on the ground to harvest brass is not for fat, 60 year old guys!). :(

I have two primary rifles for deer hunting: a Ruger M-77 Ultralight in .308 Winchester and a Savage M-116 in 7mm Remington Magnum. The .300 Blackout is just for those days when I feel like using the M&P. It's just kind of a knock around gun. Call it a whim!!

After the research, I eliminated the 7.62x39 because it does not usually perform all that well in an AR platform. Others were eliminated due to ammo availability or lack of bullet weight variety. Finally I checked into ammo popularity with two gun shops that I trust their knowledge and advice and the winner was the .300 AAC Blackout!;) I tossed up the cost of the various uppers in that chambering and although it was a bit more than some, I liked the idea of an S&W upper and lower. So there you have it.:cool:
 
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arizona98tj said:
I can see a possible use of the .300 for deer, especially if your state does not allow calibers below .243.

I'm trying to figure out why you would opt to use the .300 on coyotes given the plethora of .223 varmint bullets and their proven success on coyotes. What was the driving factor for this?
Click to expand...

If I plan on coyote hunting, I will use the 5.56 NATO upper. If I'm out deer hunting or just off season bumming around the woods where the target of opportunity could be a hog or a coyote, I'll opt for the .300 Blackout. I'm not proud about what I shoot coyotes with!! If it goes bang and makes them dead, it's a good coyote gun!! I have used .22 LR, .357 magnums, .44 Specials, .44 magnums, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, 12 gauge, 7mm08, .308 Winchester and 7mm Remington Magnum. If I see 'em, I kill 'em!!

BTW, Georgia allows any caliber .22 centerfire and up for deer. I may also opt to whack Bambi with Hornady .223 75 grain TAP load.

Such infinite variety!! Everywhere I go I'm getting choices!!! What a wonderful country!!:cool::cool::D
 
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