The 300 BLK Bolt Action Project

[Netpackrat]

Or they were not able to get it working or grouping as well as they wanted. I read some time ago that Savage worked on prototypes of their rifles in BLK, but they never put them into production because they were not able to achieve their usual accuracy standards with subsonic ammo. From what I've seen and read, it's difficult to get subs to group well, period. My AR in 300 easily shoots 1-1/4 MOA with factory supersonic ammo that it likes, but subs (factory) give fist size groups at 100, at best.

[HTRN]

I think part of the problem is twist rate, for some reason, subsonic rounds like an even higher twist rate than what conventional thinking suggestd for the same bullet at supersonic velocities. Case in point, lehighs subsonic 150 grain bullet has a reommended twist rate of 1-10", compare that to a typical palma bullet (155grn) where the usual recommended twist rate is 1-13".

[slowpoke]

The Ruger twists 1:7.
I may have to wait for the ruger sale last time they were $350ish.

[Netpackrat]

Yeah, from what I gather twist is a big factor... The 300 Blackout specification as submitted to SAAMI called for a 1 in 8" twist, which has since been found to be marginal for subs of over 220 grains. 1 in 7" is becoming the new standard these days regardless of what SAAMI says. There's at least one guy on 300blktalk who is running a 1 in 6" twist. Velocity seems to matter a lot. A heavy bullet that may be okay out of a 1 in 10" twist at 2000+ FPS is probably not going to stabilize at half that speed. Apparently Remington sold a bunch of heavy barreled 300 bolt guns that were marked 1 in 7 but were actually 1 in 10, so they had to replace the barrels under warranty.

There was also some talk on the BLK forum about how subs basically amplify every little inconsistency in your loading, so that little details like case prep and consistent charges, etc. become significant at much shorter ranges than you would normally expect to need to worry about those things. That makes some sense given that if your powder charge is half the size as normal, then any variation just became twice as (or more) significant.

[Netpackrat]

Found a buyer locally for the PTG bottom metal and magazine, and ordered up the factory mag parts and bottom metal. It arrived today and I put the rifle together again. It seems to feed just fine now, using all factory parts. There is a nasty gap at the front of the floorplate where I dremeled out the magwell to fit the PTG setup, which doesn't seem to affect function. I think at some point I may chuck the plastic stock and spring for the Bell and Carlson unit with the integral aluminum bedding block.

[Netpackrat]

The barrels for these are showing back in stock at AAC again, for the same $150 each that I paid.

http://www.advanced-armament.com/Rem-70 ... p_464.html

[Netpackrat]

Going to order a better stock for this from Bell and Carlson; having trouble deciding on a finish. I've been going all "squirrel" between about 3 different alternatives. I don't really expect anyone here to be able to help much, but maybe putting my thoughts down and getting feedback will help me to decide. First, these are the finish choices that B&C offers:

http://www.stocks-rifle.com/bcstkfin.htm

Option 1 is their stock in plain black. This has a lot of appeal because I know it will go well with the current dark matte finish of the gun and scope, and it will bring out the accent of the nickel plated trigger and safety. There is something to be said about an all black 300 Blackout rifle; this was my original plan all along. Pros are that it's easy and looks good, and everything will be consistent to include a matte black leather sling, and also both of my rifle cans are matte black. And it's easy. Downside is I already have a bunch of black rifles. Not sure if that is actually a downside or not.

Option 2 is snow camo. If I choose this, I would also want to go full camo on the rest of the rifle including the scope and accessories (would need to have a snow camo suppressor cover made, since I am not painting one of my cans white). I think it would look cool, and given I live in a place with long winters and I own a set of snow camo overalls/coat/etc, it wouldn't be entirely stupid. Plus the big bears mostly den up during the winter, so carrying a bolt action in Blackout would be less suicidal during those months. Downsides are the lameness of having a rifle that's really only meant for seasonal use, especially during the season when I shoot the least. Plus the whole pain in the ass of having the whole thing done or trying to do it myself; I have toyed with having rifles done up in snow camo on several occasions previously, and I always decide against it for those two reasons. I almost ordered the snow camo stock this afternoon, even told my brother that's what I was going to do, and then had second thoughts again. Maybe I should do up an AK in snow camo at some point just to get it out of my system.

Option 3 is the OD Green/black spiderweb combo. If I choose this I will leave the rest of the rifle and accessories matte black. I think it would look cool, but it's a distant third to all black or snow camo. The main reason I am considering it is it is the only other color out of B&C's options that I actually like.

Anyway I just thought I would throw this out there for thought. I normally don't get too caught up in worrying about color choice in a rifle (hence why my rifles are all either black, or blued with wood), but I don't want to pick something and later on decide that I hate it. I guess if I later decide that I want camo it doesn't matter so much since I can just paint it and it will be easier to just re-do the whole thing than try to match the existing finish (maybe I just finally talked myself out of the snow camo).

[Cobar]

Sounds to me like you should go with black and if, down the road, you want something else do it up the way you want. That way you don't feel stuck with what you picked if you really want something different. Plus it would look good black with the nickel accents.

[Netpackrat]

Sounds to me like you should go with black and if, down the road, you want something else do it up the way you want. That way you don't feel stuck with what you picked if you really want something different. Plus it would look good black with the nickel accents.

I think you may be right. I will probably be less likely to hate myself getting the black stock out of any of the options, and it can be refinished later if I decide to go for it. Guy on another group where I asked the same question said that some of his rifles he actually has summer and winter furniture, rezeroes twice a year when changing stocks, and does the rest of the camo job with tape, etc.

Realistically if I ever find myself in a circumstance where camouflage of a rifle is important, the Krylon is going to come out anyway.

[Cobar]

Yeah, the black sounded best for practicality. It didn't really sound like you were building up a rifle just for fun and going for some special look just because.