Sabots in 300 Blackout...has anyone tried them?

[AR_George]

Lil Gun seems to work great for the heavier bullets beyond 140g, once I switched to that from H110, I had zero issues.

What specific issues did you have? And did you try different primers, varying the load density, different bullets, crimping, etc.?

But no way in hell I'm cramming 22g of it in for any bullet of any size. Some people like to blow shit up in their face, not me.

I agree that 22 grains seems to be pushing the envelope a little bit, but with a careful, methodical workup, I don't see any unique danger here vis-a-vis other calibers. What makes you think that 22 grains of Lil Gun behind a 123 grain bullet would necessarily "blow up in [your] face"?

The sabot issue to me has several issues and looks like the good idea machine has spun out of control and gone full retard. I see tons of potential issues with accuracy, bullet/sabot set back into the case, broken sabots with squib potential, feed issues, etc. No thanks. Just shoot another caliber if velocity is such a big deal.

But there are "potential issues" with almost everything, aren't there? Unfortunately, it seems the only way to separate the actual issues from the "potential" ones is to do some experimenting.

As I see it, if sabots were so utterly problematic, I have to wonder why are people apparently still selling them (and other people impliedly buying them)? When I Google it I see some complaints about accuracy problems, but I don't see the other issues mentioned.

And as far as the accuracy issue is concerned, I think you have to take at least some of the complaints with a grain of salt. Generally speaking, lots of people seem to buy an apple and then complain that it's not an orange. If you buy the sabots expecting out-of-the-box sub moa accuracy, but you get 3" groups at 50 yards, you're probably going to complain about it.

When I bought my barrel - which has a "carbine length" gas system - I resigned myself to the apparent fact that it probably wouldn't reliably cycle subsonic loads, simply based on all the complaints I saw beforehand. Yet when I actually tried it, I had no problems.

Apparently many of the people having these cycling problems simply don't have the gas block properly aligned with the gas port in the barrel. And I can see how it happens: Since the gas port in the barrel of a 300 BO is necessarily bigger than that of a 5.56 barrel, the alignment of the gas block is more critical (for the same size port in the block).

And when I put my upper together, I almost did it myself, as I was at first just going to put the gas block flush up against the locating shoulder. But then I thought, no, even though it looks close, I better try to measure things first. And it's a good thing I did, because the hole in the gas port was about 0.275" from the edge of the block, while the 0.125" diameter gas port in the barrel was 0.295" in front of the shoulder. I ended up using a 0.020"feeler gauge to get the axial location correct.

So the moral of the story is that one of the things I've learned about researching something on the internet is that you often cannot take many peoples' anecdotal accounts of problems too seriously.

[Yellowfin]

How ironic a question. .300 Blackout in .22 diameter is its original design, the .221 fireball. Don't sabot it, just get a .221 upper and use it the way it was intended.

[AR_George]

As I see it, it would only be "ironic" if the other various advantages of the 300 Blackout didn't exist; i.e., 1500+ ft-lbs out of a 16" barrel for the 300 Blaackout vs 1100 ft-lbs out of a 24" barrel for the 221 Fireball; very wide selection of bullet weights and types available, including steel tipped, bonded core, AP, etc.; flexibility to shoot 22 caliber bullets using a sabot; and ability to shoot both subsonic and supersonic ammo.