300 Blackout bolt gun as a deer/hunting rifle?

[TNFrank61]

So, since my planes for a 300 Blackout AR are on hold for a while I figured I just might drop back and punt and pick up a Ruger American Rance in 300 Blackout to play around with. What range do ya'll think these would be good at for a light weight deer rifle and which loads would work the best? Would something like a 125gr load be good or do you think a heavier 150-165gr bullet at max velocity would work out best. Is there enough energy to make 300 yard shots on deer size game or would 200 yards be more realistic? Thanks.

[ncbowhnter]

I would think around 200. The bullet drops quite a bit after that and I read somewhere that the bullet needs at least 1800fps to expand, not sure at what distance it drops below that?
I was hoping to put mine to the test today on a coyote at around 225yds but none decided to show themselves.

[AR-300]

Most hunters use 110 - 125 gr bullets effectively out to 200 m
The 147/150s are usually plinking rounds
208 - 220s are used for subsonics, usually suppressed

[jwb47]

to be honest I find my self shooting my remington 700 aac more than I do my 8.5 inch and 16 inch ar's . I cant comment on the ruger it seems like its catching on . max distance dpends on bullet performance , marksmanship and size of the deer your hunting . I would not hesitate to take a 250 yds shoot on the white tail around here with a barnes 110 grain . I have killed deer with the barnes bullet previously mentioned nosler 110 grain varmageddon and outlaw state 225 grain . lowlight says he now has a 155 grain bullet that will expand at an extended range . I will try that one when I get caught up with everything else I have on my plate . Im sure others have their pet bullets and will chime in soon.

[TNFrank61]

I know there use to be quite a few .308" "Handgun" bullets for rounds used in things like the T/C Contender handgun with a 10-14" barrel. I'd bet they'd expand and work better at 300 Blackout velocities then the full on Rifle bullets would.
I didn't see anything listed on the Midway USA site that would be a hunting bullet under handgun and .308" so I may have to research it a bit.
Probably most of what I'll do is just play around in the desert once we move to AZ. and shoot at some coyotes and maybe a Javelina or maybe a deer if I get drawn for deer season.
I just figured if I'm going to go with a bolt gun I may as well get it in the same cartridge that I'll be building my AR in so I'll just have to get one set of loading dies and one bunch of ammo and loading stuff. Just trying to keep things as simple as I can.

[ncbowhnter]

You can research this for days but from what little I've read, the lowest recommended ft-lbs of kinetic energy is 800 for deer. Other articles advise to forget kinetic energy and look at the velocity and recommend that the bullet still have around 2000fps for impact. That way the bullet will have enough velocity to expand and cause the trauma damage, not just simply the bullet passing thru. I have observed this with subsonic rounds. They will go thru a lot and not expand at all which if placed properly would put a very small hole in the heart or lungs, but other than that will not cause much damage. Now if your shot is off a little with a bullet with enough velocity behind it, it will cause so much trauma that it has a much better chance of being fatal versus a slower one that doesn't hit the vitals. Look at some gel tests on youtube.
Now with all this in mind, I plugged some numbers into my shooting calculator and came up with this...
At 200 yds, with a 110gr hornady v-max, the retained velocity would be 1788 and the retained energy would be 781. Take that for what its worth.
I would love to hear of some real world experience though so I'll be staying tuned to this one.

[gds]

You can research this for days but from what little I've read, the lowest recommended ft-lbs of kinetic energy is 800 for deer. Other articles advise to forget kinetic energy and look at the velocity and recommend that the bullet still have around 2000fps for impact. That way the bullet will have enough velocity to expand and cause the trauma damage, not just simply the bullet passing thru. I have observed this with subsonic rounds. They will go thru a lot and not expand at all which if placed properly would put a very small hole in the heart or lungs, but other than that will not cause much damage. Now if your shot is off a little with a bullet with enough velocity behind it, it will cause so much trauma that it has a much better chance of being fatal versus a slower one that doesn't hit the vitals. Look at some gel tests on youtube.
Now with all this in mind, I plugged some numbers into my shooting calculator and came up with this...
At 200 yds, with a 110gr hornady v-max, the retained velocity would be 1788 and the retained energy would be 781. Take that for what its worth.
I would love to hear of some real world experience though so I'll be staying tuned to this one.

the 800 ftlbs is a made up number that means nothing in reality. I have effectively and efficiently dropped deer with lung shots with less then 400ft lbs of energy. Please don't think I am insulting you, but I bought into the whole ft lbs of energy thing for a while till I actually started studding ballistics and damage in flesh.

It is shot placement first

bullet design second.

Look at the subsonic hunting primer on the top of the hunting section.

if using a improperly designed bullet then yes you are hampering yourself. a properly designed expanding subsonic can do a lot of damage. more effective in my opinion then a badly designed supersonic load. additionally a properly designed super sonic is better then a 208gr amax sub that will not expand and most likely drill a 30 cal hole straight thru.

A subsonic may tumble in flesh, but is not, in my opinion reliable enough for me to count on without lots and lots of consistent testing.

[ncbowhnter]

You can research this for days but from what little I've read, the lowest recommended ft-lbs of kinetic energy is 800 for deer. Other articles advise to forget kinetic energy and look at the velocity and recommend that the bullet still have around 2000fps for impact. That way the bullet will have enough velocity to expand and cause the trauma damage, not just simply the bullet passing thru. I have observed this with subsonic rounds. They will go thru a lot and not expand at all which if placed properly would put a very small hole in the heart or lungs, but other than that will not cause much damage. Now if your shot is off a little with a bullet with enough velocity behind it, it will cause so much trauma that it has a much better chance of being fatal versus a slower one that doesn't hit the vitals. Look at some gel tests on youtube.
Now with all this in mind, I plugged some numbers into my shooting calculator and came up with this...
At 200 yds, with a 110gr hornady v-max, the retained velocity would be 1788 and the retained energy would be 781. Take that for what its worth.
I would love to hear of some real world experience though so I'll be staying tuned to this one.

the 800 ftlbs is a made up number that means nothing in reality. I have effectively and efficiently dropped deer with lung shots with less then 400ft lbs of energy. Please don't think I am insulting you, but I bought into the whole ft lbs of energy thing for a while till I actually started studding ballistics and damage in flesh.

It is shot placement first

bullet design second.

Look at the subsonic hunting primer on the top of the hunting section.

if using a improperly designed bullet then yes you are hampering yourself. a properly designed expanding subsonic can do a lot of damage. more effective in my opinion then a badly designed supersonic load. additionally a properly designed super sonic is better then a 208gr amax sub that will not expand and most likely drill a 30 cal hole straight thru.

A subsonic may tumble in flesh, but is not, in my opinion reliable enough for me to count on without lots and lots of consistent testing.

Definitely no insult taken. I'm here to learn as much as I can. I don't have any factual basis for what I posted other than what I read. Thats why I stated from what I have read.
I completely agree on shot placement. If a bullet goes thru the heart or lungs then the velocity and ft-lbs don't mean crap. You have a dead animal.
I was just commenting on the trauma aspect of it just in case a much slower bullet misses the vitals. I undertand that certain subs can be effective at expansion but they lack the trauma and with the weight of a sub round you are looking at around a 30" drop from 100 to 200 yds.

[ncbowhnter]

You can research this for days but from what little I've read, the lowest recommended ft-lbs of kinetic energy is 800 for deer. Other articles advise to forget kinetic energy and look at the velocity and recommend that the bullet still have around 2000fps for impact. That way the bullet will have enough velocity to expand and cause the trauma damage, not just simply the bullet passing thru. I have observed this with subsonic rounds. They will go thru a lot and not expand at all which if placed properly would put a very small hole in the heart or lungs, but other than that will not cause much damage. Now if your shot is off a little with a bullet with enough velocity behind it, it will cause so much trauma that it has a much better chance of being fatal versus a slower one that doesn't hit the vitals. Look at some gel tests on youtube.
Now with all this in mind, I plugged some numbers into my shooting calculator and came up with this...
At 200 yds, with a 110gr hornady v-max, the retained velocity would be 1788 and the retained energy would be 781. Take that for what its worth.
I would love to hear of some real world experience though so I'll be staying tuned to this one.

the 800 ftlbs is a made up number that means nothing in reality. I have effectively and efficiently dropped deer with lung shots with less then 400ft lbs of energy. Please don't think I am insulting you, but I bought into the whole ft lbs of energy thing for a while till I actually started studding ballistics and damage in flesh.

It is shot placement first

bullet design second.

Look at the subsonic hunting primer on the top of the hunting section.

if using a improperly designed bullet then yes you are hampering yourself. a properly designed expanding subsonic can do a lot of damage. more effective in my opinion then a badly designed supersonic load. additionally a properly designed super sonic is better then a 208gr amax sub that will not expand and most likely drill a 30 cal hole straight thru.

A subsonic may tumble in flesh, but is not, in my opinion reliable enough for me to count on without lots and lots of consistent testing.

Definitely no insult taken. I'm here to learn as much as I can. I don't have any factual basis for what I posted other than what I read. Thats why I stated from what I have read.
I completely agree on shot placement. If a bullet goes thru the heart or lungs then the velocity and ft-lbs don't mean crap. You have a dead animal.
I was just commenting on the trauma aspect of it just in case a much slower bullet misses the vitals. I undertand that certain subs can be effective at expansion but they lack the trauma and with the weight of a sub round you are looking at around a 30" drop from 100 to 200 yds.

I guess the best way for me to describe it would be....
Take an empty balloon that needs to be blown up. Pretend the balloon is inside the animals chest. Now imagine the subsonic round going much slower so the amount of air quickly forced into the balloon would be much smaller. Even if the bullet expands or fragments, you still don't have much trauma.
Now imagine the faster round being a much larger amount of air forced into the balloon in the same amount of time. The balloon would be much larger.
That is the trauma I am trying to describe if that makes sense. You can clearly see it with gel tests.
Am I wrong?
And with all that being said, with proper shot placement, all this doesn't ever matter

[ThreeHundredTraveler]

I will be using Varmageddon loaded up to as fast as they will go with some accuracy. Most likely before most of you were born I learned to handload from an older gentleman. I had a .308 Winchester. He was a 30-06 fan. He gave me the best deer load advice I ever got. A Herter's 170 grain round nose specifically made for tubular magazine use, loaded to 3000 feet per second. Here is what I learned using that bullet at about 2800 feet per second. It entered the deer and did not come out at all. When you slit open the belly all the soft tissue inside was liquified. Only liquid and small chunks ran out the slit. Call it trauma, back in those days it was called hydraulic shock. And when that bullet hit it knocked the deer sideways and over. I had one jump up and take one jump then crumble. The others did not even tremble where they landed.

So my favorite load will be whatever goes in but does not come out. I don't want one bit of "energy" or whatever else you would like to call it, lost outside that animal.

Some will argue about not having an exit wound and a blood trail. I won't need a blood trail, cuz that sucker ain't moving.

I have never shot a deer at anything like 200 yards. Better to wait for a dumber one to wander close.