Ejection

Ran 60 rounds through the pistol. Most were 150 grain Hornady fmj boat tails over 16.5/16.6 grains of H110 and Remington 6 1/2 primers. Fun load to shoot, might be warm in the pistol but they also work in the rifle. Switching to the non magnum primer seems to help, at the risk of slam fires, unfortunately. Maybe the cci 400s would be a better choice.

The ejection pattern was different than the 130 grain load. Closer to 3:30 vs the 4:30 position of the lighter bullets. Consistent though.

Since the load works well, I turned into that guy. Bought out Bass Pro Shops bullet stock. Now I have 800 bullets to play with. And I scored 22lr, too! Mostly to restore what we shot last weekend 

300 thru this 300

Between Saturday and today, the 300 BLK pistol has roughly 300 rounds through it. I'd say the rifle has around 500 through it. Target below is from sighting in a new optic at 25 yards, then, um, rapid magazine unloading via the barrel. Still the 30-30 bullet load, runs like a sewing machine. I even tried a Gen3 PMag loaded to 30 rounds. I need to try the 20 rounders again, now that it has the H2 buffer. Maybe they will feed better with the slightly slower bolt speed.

  

My wife ate this thing up Saturday. Even with all the pistol oddities, she liked it better than the rifle. She did prefer the subsonic loads, though. 

I think it may need a Magpul K2 grip or a BCM mod1 or similar.

That made a huge difference

Finally got some AA1680. (Thanks to my wife, no less) That stuff rules for subsonic 300 BLK. Even with the heavy buffer, it locked back at 11.2 grains, magnum or regular primers. Carbine or pistol. The 150 grain loads worked in either pistol or rifle with H110 loaded to 16.6 to 16.8 grains and regular primers.

S.E.G.

300 BLK subsonic from a pistol at 7 yards is just too damn much fun.

 Now if I could just get the right powder to make my own- H110 is not right for subs, AA1680 is supposed to be the best, but I can't find any right now. Of the test rounds I loaded with different powder charges, all of them ejected and locked back on the bolt carrier, but not the bolt itself. Some of the Hornady factory stuff did that today, depending on the mag.

Also scored like 60 .223 cases from the brass bucket.

All in all, a good day at the range.

Range Pr0n

You know when someone posts about a range trip without target pictures, well, they had a bad day. Nah, just learning to shoot something new.

Finally found a barrel to my liking- 8.5" Rainier Arms Match 300 AAC Blackout, 1-8" twist. Aero upper and lower, AR Stoner nickel boron bolt carrier with a Windham C158 bolt. Ace pistol stock. Right now, I am using the Midwest Industries G2 2 piece free float rail and am topping it off with a Troy Claymore.

Robbed the TruGlo off of one 6.8 for now. Quick impression; it sucks on a pistol. Needs to be bigger.

150 rounds today. Mostly reloads. Even ran factory Hornady subsonic fine. Hornady supersonic was harsh, but locked back okay. More on that below.

 

Protip- do not run an extended charging handle on an AR pistol. Luckily, my nose is big and has plenty of crush space.

Why no SBR? State of Iowa is an Only Ones State for NFA weapons.

Lancer 20 rounders, Troy 30 and Pmag 30 ran my reloads fine, even the 30-30 bullet reloads. It hated with a passion the 30-30 reloads from a Gen 3 PMag 20 rounder. Same rounds fed like a top in a 30 round Pmag. 

The factory Hornady 110 grain in the QD hole is the one that got my nose. Those fookers are loaded hot. I'm running a carbine buffer, not an H2 buffer. The latter might help with taming it some, it landed near 6 o'clock. Subs landed 3 o'clock, and my other reloads landed 4-5 o'clock.

Range time

Made a hipster load for the 300 Blackout. 130 grain round noses meant for a 30-30 levergun. Speer 2007. In my gun, they feed fine.  The lighter of the two didn't lock back one time with a Pmag, but ran fine in GI style magazines. No clue what the OAL is, I made samples that loaded in the mag properly and fed, then based the rest on those. Update- 1.90-1.91" Short bullet is short.

50 yard target. Top left, top right and bottom right 130 grain 6.8. Center is my hipster 300 BLK load. Bottom left???? Center bottom is a 30 round mag, irons, 125 grain TNT 300, 17.5 grains H110, Rem 6 1/2 primer.

 

Center- 5x2 attempts at subsonic. 200 grain Speer. The only functional loads- 12.3 grains H110. I think they were supersonic. Bottom left was 150 grain Speer Hotcores over 16.8 and 17.2 grains H110. 6 1/2 all around. 25 yards. Top left 30 rounds of the 125 grain load, irons. Top right and bottom right were the 130 grain loads, adjusting the irons L to R and up to where I want them.

Fun range time

No, not out of the ordinary. Made more fresh Blackout cases. Only problem was brass catcher related. I need one of those nice ones, not the $12 cheapies. Went back to 2.095 OAL, otherwise same specs as yesterday. Fed great. Full 30 round mags. The C-products mag was fine, as was a Pmag. I also ran single shots, all 4 times I went empty, it locked back. Even triple tapped fine.

Well, that went better

The 300 BLK brass I made today fit in the chamber and went bang. Always a bonus. Now I'm running up against the not enough .308 bullets wall.

Also got to fix a case over bolt malfunction. I made this batch a little shorter, and the aluminum mag hated them. Couldn't load over 20 rounds, and the last two decided to leave the mag at the same time. I pulled the buffer tube out, cleared it. Worked fine for the next PMag. Another PMag was fully loaded, no problems. Locked back properly, 3 o'clock ejection. 17.5 grains of H110, 125 Speer TNT, Rem 6 1/2 primers. 2.06 or so OAL. 2.09 has run fine in the past; this was also a new mag. And I was using it as a rest. It was raining, and I decided to just shoot at an existing target. So no pictures.

Range time

Sighted in the Blackout with my reloads. 16.8 grains H110, CCI 450, 125 grain Speer TNT. 2.10 OAL. All at 25 yards.

 

Playing mix and match with the purple. The A2 stock is a little long. Who decided on that length? I'm 6'5" and it seems like a stretch. But, the scope might be a little forward for an A2 stock.

 

The 6.8 target. 50 yards, 115 grain Nosler, 25.8 grains Re10x, CCI450. 2.29" OAL

The readjusted cases worked better. (bolt closing is good, right?) Lock back was intermittent. Hell, feeding was intermittent. This thing was dead nuts with new ammo. Now, anything over 10 rounds, it is pissy. Thought the rifle extension and its heavy buffer would slow it down. It might be too slow. I will also try a different bullet, see if it will digest some 130 grain hot cores. Its sister eats those for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. but groups like crap with the 115 grain Noslers. This load was on the light side.

Center was cold bore. Top right 8 were the finale. Top left 7 was shoot, clear, shoot, clear. Lube stupid bolt carrier more, shoot, clear. Bottom left and right were 15 round mag shot slow, steady with flyers caused by a cranky trigger yanker cursing the single shot crap.

Range trip: now with words

Went to the range for only the second time this year. Helped sight in the Burris FFIII/scope combo a coworker bought. I shot this 7 shot group through the Fast Fire III at 25 yards with 115 grain Noslers over Re10x. Not sure how many grains, we mixed up magazines once. I think 26-26.6 grains. I had a ladder loaded up in the box, I'm not sure which mag he grabbed. I was also testing new, fully loaded mags and didn't have Magpul baseplates on them yet.

 

The new 300 Blackout ran great. Locked back on empty. Fed great from a melted Pringles can lid, M3 20 round PMag (10 rounds) and 20 rounds from a 30 round Gen 2 Pmag.

Carry gun mag got a spring cleaning. No problems, even with all the lint on the gun. Also ran a Pmag that had been loaded for 2 years. Fed great in the 11.5. It locked back every time with the lighter BCG. That thing must have a small gas port- it runs the best with a carbine buffer and AR-15 bolt carrier. The M-16 carrier is in the Blackout now, no problems with it at all.

Weight

The Blackout in the previous post :

7 lb 10 oz no mag
7 lb 15 oz with a Pmag
8 lb 15 oz with a box of Hornady 110 grain sitting on the scale.

How not to build an AR pistol

So, I started to build an AR 15 pistol.

So far, so good, right? If you look closely, it is a CMMG barrel, chambered in 300 AAC Blackout. That is a Kies compensator, no it is not clocked "right," not that it matters other than the wrench flats. It may get replaced, so I'm not too worried about it right now. Armalite (spit) clamp on front sight base.

I don't think the proportions look right for a pistol: