re: 300Blackout For Deer Hunting

I have Ruger American Ranch in 300BO and absolutely love it for deer and hogs. I use the cheap 150 grain Winchester Deer Season XP ammo and have had great results with it. I use a suppressor on mine and with supersonic ammo there is very little recoil. There's not a lot without the suppressor (a little more than my AR in my opinion), but almost none with it. My daughter has taken several deer with it, starting at age 8. I definitely recommend it, especially with a range of 150 yards in. Its capable beyond that, but within that range they are very effective.

My 8 year old has killed 5 so far with my 300 blk out. AR platform for the short stock worked well. I will say 4 of the 5 deer were all shot under 100 yds and had zero blood trail. Was shooting Barnes 120gr. and never had a pass through shot. Switched to hornady 110gr. Recently And have yet to pull triggers

I shoot Hornady 110g for hogs. Works great! My first 300 black out didn't like Barnes. Made the switch and have had zero issues. I did grab a box of Winchester 150g deer and have yet to shoot at an animal.

The 300 AAC Blackout and 6.5 Grendel are both fine choices for a deer hunting youth gun. See my comments above re: the Grendel. In the lat 90's I bought a 12" Contender barrel in 300/221. JD Jones had just "invented" what he called the "300 Whisper." The Whisper was designed for deer hunting (supersonic bullets) or tactical uses (using subsonic heavy bullets in the AR 15 platform.) The 300 AAC Blackout is ballistically identical to the 300 Whisper, AKA 300/221. All three use the same dies. I killed 3 or 4 deer w/ my handun barrel using supersonic 125-130 gr bullets. All were 1 shot kills, including one at 190 yards. Unfortunately, the Whisper didn't see much tactical use so its use was limited to handgun hunters. Fast forward 20 years of so and everything changes: the AR is really popular, suppressors are common and AAC tweaks the Whisper to make the Blackout. Sorry for the unsolicited history lesson.

As far as supersonic bullets for the 300 BO, it's hard to beat the 125 gr Nosler BT. At BO velocities, there's not nearly as much energy or velocity as in other rounds so the 125 gr NBT expands and penetrates nicely. The 150 gr NBT/Ballistic Silvertip (same bullet) is also good. I don't have experience w/ the 125 nor 150 gr Nosler Accubond, but have read some good comments.

Yes, bullet selection is paramount. I bought a 10.5" AR pistol in 300 BO for hog hunting a few years ago. Of course, the hogs left by the time I developed a load. Nevertheless, I killed a small doe '22 w/ the BO using the 125 gr Hornady SST. Exit hole was not very big and blood trail was light. I found the deer, but won't use that bullet anymore on deer. Other bullets I'll use based on reliable reviews are the 110/120 gr Barnes TAC-TX. 110 gr Hornady V-Max, 125 gr Speer TNT, the aforementioned 150 gr NBT and the 150 gr Speer Gold Dot (there are two, get the one labeled for the Blackout). I've never used subsonic loads in the BO, but my undertanding is that the heavy, round nose work best. The longer, heavy HP bullets don't reliable tumble as well as the shorter RN bullets and the subsonic BO kills by the bullet tumbling, not expanding.

Good luck hunting and enjoy time in the field w/ your kids.

South La

quote:

---

110gr Barnes TAC-TX

---

That’s what my son killed his first deer with this season. About 80yrds, doe, center shoulder, exit lungs and ran 60yrds with pitiful blood. As much as I like it I’d really like to find a better blood producing round.

I have a Ruger American 300 blk out for my kids. They’ve killed a pile of deer with it and we’ve never lost one. Use hand loads my buddy makes and they essentially fragment inside so there is massive devastation but little blood most of the time

Nothing wrong with 300 AAC Blackout for deer hunting within 100-125 yards, but on an AR platform a 6.5 Grendel has the same recoil with much better ballistics and performance on deer sized animals and is a 200-225 yard gun.

If I didn’t have a Grendel I would feel like I had adequate firepower to let a kid take a shot at a doe from the box stand to the feeder with a 300 BLK.

Nice deer. Yea, the no blood thing is almost a deal breaker. Hopefully the 110 hornady helps as previous poster mentioned.

My kids have killed 8 deer with 300 BO out of an AR. Never lost one. All shot with 110gr Hornady VMAX. Some have had a pass through others did not. Some great blood trails and some not great. All deer shot within 150 yards