300 AAC Blackout Brass

[YRUpunting?]

What are you guys using to cut your 223 brass for the Blackout?  Any tips on the making the brass?

[Jason F]

Size the 223 brass with expander ball removed.  Grind off with belt sander to get close. Resize with expander ball back in die then final trim.

[bikerbeans]

Harbor freight has a mini chop saw that you can use for your rough trim then finish with a case trimmer.  Someone out there is selling a fixture to hold the  brass on the HF saw but I can't remember which  website I saw it on.   I use either a 1" table mounted belt sander or just resize the 223 to 300 AAC and grind it all the way down with a power case trimmer.   Anybody have a spare bushing for a Universal case trimmer?

BB

[YRUpunting?]

I watched a few videos with the mini chop saw and that's probably the way I'll go.  Looked like a useful tool anyway.  I found the jig on Ebay, but for $57 I think I can come up with my own.  I could see buying the jig to feed an AR but I only have (will have next week) the handi. 

With the case trimmer do you have to switch collets as the neck's cut away?  Or do you just get past the shoulder and then switch to a .30 collet for a final clean up.

[casca1]

I have the handi blackout
i bought all the tools needed  chopsaw 
                                        jig
                                        world finest trimmer for blackout
                                        chamber gauge
it was alot to lay out for, but it was worth it. 
Try 300 blk talk forum  the best place to learn and read about the 300 blackout
 
I scraped alot of brass while the learning curve was on.
 

[YRUpunting?]

I scraped alot of brass while the learning curve was on.

If I may ask, what went wrong?

[tlmkr38]

I'm lucky in that we have a CNC mill at the shop and i trim them in it. Figured the trim length then run them through the sizer.

[YRUpunting?]

In my research I've come across one method where the 223 brass is ran through the 300 die without the expander ball and then cut to length.  Size and trim like normal.  Anyone try this method?

[bikerbeans]

In my research I've come across one method where the 223 brass is ran through the 300 die without the expander ball and then cut to length.  Size and trim like normal.  Anyone try this method?

Yes. I take full length 223 brass and lube it then run it thought a Lee FL 300AAC size die w/o the decapping pin/expander.  Then trim, deburr & chamfer.

[LaOtto222]

Not sure why you fellas want to make brass when you can buy it. I have made brass for the fun of it and when I can not get it any where else. I made 221 Fireball out of 223 when I could not get it any where. Here is one source of 300 Black Out Brass that is already formed for you, and the price is not too bad $60 for 250 and in stock.

http://tacticalbrass.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=10

Good Luck and Good Shooting

[YRUpunting?]

Not sure why you fellas want to make brass when you can buy it. I have made brass for the fun of it and when I can not get it any where else. I made 221 Fireball out of 223 when I could not get it any where. Here is one source of 300 Black Out Brass that is already formed for you, and the price is not too bad $60 for 250 and in stock.

http://tacticalbrass.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=10

Good Luck and Good Shooting

Thanks for the link.  The only reason I was looking into making the brass was I could only find 300 BO at about double these prices.  I'm only loading for the Handi so 250 should last me a while. 

[SHOOTALL]

Be careful with that brass , I got some and used it . Now take this with a grain of salt. I got a new 700 in 300 BO. Got some 300 whisper ammo 20 rounds. Ordered the 250 rounds from the above listed source. Loaded 30 rounds with a Hornady die set.
 Now this is not a cut to the brass or the dies or the rifle for that matter but I will pass along what happened.
 When first shooting the Whisper ammo no resistance over normal was felt when chambering a round. The first round from the processed ammo was hard. NOTE- I resized every pcs. of brass and trimmed , chamfered etc each before loading per instructions with the brass. As I shot several others the bolt would not close. Back to the 300 Whisper it would chamber and fire but not extract. Had to replace the extractor on a gun fired less that 15 times .
 So I would suggest going easy , if it is hard to chamber DON"T FORCE IT ( yes I did ).
 So far I had the extractor replaced and 200 whisper and factory 300 BO ammo works good. I have not tried the remanufactured brass yet since the repair.
 To be fair I have no proof as to the cause so I won't lay blame . I don't care for the way the dies worked with such a short case soi I may have cause the problem. I have replaced the dies with Redding dies.
 My point here is to warn others to be careful and don't force things not to cut down any product or tool. The brass I received look good and consistent and I would not have a problem ordering more if I can work out my problem. My gunsmith buddy thinks it was a faulty adjusted extractor and I should have had it checked before forcing it. He feels it was sticking out to far and blocking the bolt .
 
 good shooting.

[bikerbeans]

Be careful with that brass , I got some and used it . Now take this with a grain of salt. I got a new 700 in 300 BO. Got some 300 whisper ammo 20 rounds. Ordered the 250 rounds from the above listed source. Loaded 30 rounds with a Hornady die set.
 Now this is not a cut to the brass or the dies or the rifle for that matter but I will pass along what happened.
 When first shooting the Whisper ammo no resistance over normal was felt when chambering a round. The first round from the processed ammo was hard. NOTE- I resized every pcs. of brass and trimmed , chamfered etc each before loading per instructions with the brass. As I shot several others the bolt would not close. Back to the 300 Whisper it would chamber and fire but not extract. Had to replace the extractor on a gun fired less that 15 times .
 So I would suggest going easy , if it is hard to chamber DON"T FORCE IT ( yes I did ).
 So far I had the extractor replaced and 200 whisper and factory 300 BO ammo works good. I have not tried the remanufactured brass yet since the repair.
 To be fair I have no proof as to the cause so I won't lay blame . I don't care for the way the dies worked with such a short case soi I may have cause the problem. I have replaced the dies with Redding dies.
 My point here is to warn others to be careful and don't force things not to cut down any product or tool. The brass I received look good and consistent and I would not have a problem ordering more if I can work out my problem. My gunsmith buddy thinks it was a faulty adjusted extractor and I should have had it checked before forcing it. He feels it was sticking out to far and blocking the bolt .
 
 good shooting.

The issue I have found with converting 223 or 5.56 brass to 300 BO is the wall thickness varies a lot.  There are certain types of brass that will not work w/o neck reaming.  There is also  variation in wall thickness piece to piece on brass with the same headstamp.  Some of the stuff is so thick you will notice it along the way other pieces are only a couple of thousands to thick.   Best to check the neck of the loaded rounds with a caliper and if it is close to or  larger diameter than the SAAMI chamber dimension don't put it in your gun.
 
BB     

[SHOOTALL]

good advice , thanks

[LaOtto222]

You can have wall thickness issues with any brass when you neck it down and/or shorten it. This can happen if you neck down your own brass or if you purchase brass that is necked down for you. I have personally necked down military brass to 221 Fireball and I did not have to turn the necks, so I would think that it would be less of  problem with necking it down only to .308 from .375. Any thing is possible and I am sure some manufacturers no matter if military or civilian do not have uniform wall thicknesses. One run of brass may vary from another too so you may not have problems one time and the next time you will. As suggested by bikerbeans, the cases may stick if the wall thickness gets a little large. This can be avoided if you measure the neck diameter after a bullet is seated. If it is larger than the chamber diameter, you are going to have issues. I have done this to see how much I have to turn necks. after the bullet is seated and measured, I pull the Bullet and run the case back into the sizer die to true every thing up again. As I said, that can happen when forming brass if done at home or by someone else.

Good Luck and Good Shooting

[petemi]

Everyone here knows I'm lazy......32-20 or .30 Carbine.  It's a lot easier and just as much fun.

Pete

[YRUpunting?]

Everyone here knows I'm lazy......32-20 or .30 Carbine.  It's a lot easier and just as much fun.

Pete

I agree with you Pete, but those are custom barrels and hard to find or expensive to have made.  Besides the 300 AAC comes already bobbed!

[SHOOTALL]

The 30 carbine is a tapered case and it can be quite hard to get long heavy bullets seated straight and they remain so. I have tried and also read where J.D. Jones tried ad found it did not work. Something not good shooting thru. a suppressor.

[petemi]

I don't know Dan, trotterlg, Larry, can tell you what it costs to make a .32-20 or a carbine, I can't.  I know it's about two trips to the grocery store.    

My .32-20, is my least B.S. caliber.  I can load little 70 gr. pills or 170 gr. .303s.  I don't load the later.  I do load a 123 gr. spire point that works well.  You have to understand, I'm not looking for super low velocities or suppression, but the .32-20 can do that also.  It can also rip the knickers off a woodchuck at 200 plus yards...and a lot more too.  .32-20 performance has been well documented for over a hundred years...no need to go there.

Sorry to say this guys, but in my opinion the .300s, the BLK and Whisper are fads and will wander off into the woodwork, along with lots of more deserving calibers.  I can't see that they do any more than lots of existing calibers.  Examples...I could load down and suppress a Maxi, even a tirty tirty.  What's the point?

Pete

[SHOOTALL]

Getting it to work in an AR 

[bikerbeans]

Likes the 45-70 & 32-20.  Hmmmmh, I think the gentleman from da U.P. is very fond of any cartridge that was introduced when he was a youngster.
 
BB

[quickdtoo]

[YRUpunting?]

    

[gcrank1]

Pete, you have those heavier bullet weight options because of the barrel twist used in the stub project. If you had an old original 32-20 with its slow twist you would be limited in bullet length/weight. I had wanted to shoot 32-20 in schuetzen matches but the poor ballistic coefficient bullets the old Stevens model 44 would stabilize were not competitive. I only mention this because some here may not be aware that there is considerable difference between the custom propositions so often praised here and originals, if you can find one (stuff still turns up).
I still like the 30-30 loaded with cast bullets of about 120-130gr. as an 'all rounder' (short full deer loads, of course), though with 100-115ish gr. its a good 'short range' proposition. Iffn I had an AR I suppose the H&R 300BO would make sense.