Typical of what’s available on .300 BLK ammunition are the
offerings from Hornady and Black Hills. Hornady catalogs both a 208-gr. A-MAX sub-sonic loading (1,020 f.p.s./480 ft.-lbs.) and a 110-gr. V-MAX super-sonic load (2,375 f.p.s./1,377 ft.-lbs.). Black hills offers 220-gr. OTM sub-sonic at 1,000 f.p.s./488 ft.-lbs., as well as a 125-gr. OTM super-sonic running at 2,200 f.p.s./1,343 ft.-lbs. Both of these super-sonic loads will deposit over 1,000 ft.-lbs. of kinetic energy into a deer at 100 yards.
There are basically three ways to get yourself a .300 BLK for deer hunting. Buying a complete rifle is the easiest, but most expensive route. Purchasing a complete upper for use on an existing lower is just as easy and a bit less expensive, but still represents a significant investment. The least costly solution is to replace your existing 5.56 NATO barrel with a .300 BLK barrel. That’s what we chose to do, and following is a basic “how did it.”Our host rifle was a Daemon Defense (daemondefensellc.com) OPR-15 in their new “Green Mamba” Cerakote finish, and if you have doubts about your ability to swap out an AR barrel, rest assured—it’s not rocket science. With a viceand a few relatively inexpensive specialty tools,this is a task anyone who knows what a wrench and punch set look like can tackle.
