Looking for 300Blk powders

hydro556

Gunny Sergeant
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Minuteman
Dec 1, 2007
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STL, home of the Cardinals.
My 8.2" 7 twist Noveske upper is due tomorrow. I have pretty much everything needed to reload for this round, except powder.

I plan to load mostly heavies subs. I need powder that is best for this, and will be running a SDN-6 can.


I am wondering which powders I should try. I have like 24+ lbs of Varget and may try to trade an 8lb jug for something more suited for Blk. Any suggestions?
 
Re: Looking for 300Blk powders

AA1680 is what's used in the factory ammo, and is a good bet to ensure cycling the action of an AR. It is a bit dirty though. VVN-110 is much cleaner and more consistent, but may or may not cycle your AR. It's worth a try though. If you are unsure of what I'm talking about, you will require 8-9 grains of VVN110, and 11-12 grains of AA1680 to get the same velocity, therefore the 1680 is producing more gas to cycle the action, at the expense of being slightly louder. I did some experimenting with H4198 and it seems to be about the same burn rate as AA1680. Whether it is cleaner or not, I did not fire enough rounds to know.

Long story short, start out with AA1680, then if you are not happy with it, experiment with some others that have a similar or slightly faster burn rate. Also when loading subs, start a bit higher than you think you need, and work your way down to ensure you do not stick a bullet in the barrel.
-Dan
 
Re: Looking for 300Blk powders

I've tried a couple of powders and AA1680 worked the best for me. I'm shooting it with small rifle primers and Sierra 220 grain Matchkings.

I did have to swap my buffer out though -- the Spike's buffer was over the standard weight. Once I went to a standard buffer, it worked great.
 
Re: Looking for 300Blk powders

AA1680 for subsonic works great and Lil'gun for supersonic. you can do more experimentation but why reinvent the wheel.
cheers and enjoy your blackout.
 
Re: Looking for 300Blk powders

Something that not many people are using for supersonics due to it being a somewhat new powder is Alliant Power Pro 300 MP. It is ideal for 110 grain class bullets.
 
Re: Looking for 300Blk powders

When I was researching reload data for 220 gr to shoot subsonic, 11.2 grains of AA1680 was all I could find. However, when I started shooting them, I ended up lowering my load to 10.5 gr's. This is where I found the best accuracy and have no problems with the bolt cycling. I shoot Sierra 220 RN's.
 
Re: Looking for 300Blk powders

I've tried RL7 with some 208 amax's with so-so results. Supersonic I've really liked h110 with 125 gr nosler ballistic tips and Sierra 110 gr hp's
 
Re: Looking for 300Blk powders

Remington ammo tested in both 16" and 8.5" uppers. Remington subsonics are supersonic.
Hornady Whisper ammo subsonics are subsonic in both systems.

In Reloading, supersonic loads, H110 or N110. Either works well when you know the powder response to temperature.

AA1680 works fine with subs in the 208-220 weight range. This is with both the 16" AAC built upper and a 8.5" upper. Had to drop the charge in the 16" from what ran best in the 8.5, and I saw a post above that mirrors my experience.
DID NOT work with 240's in the 16" upper. Will cycle action to pick up next round but will not lock the bolt back. I was dissapointed in this. I wanted to be able to use the same buffer with all loads.


Anybody out there done a successful 240 load on a factory AAC gas set-up? Looking for assistance here.