300 BO in a 223

pyscodog

Active member
Interesting read on the Accurate shooter site(daily bulletin) about a guy that shot a Black Out round in a 223/.556 rifle. Made a mess! My first thoughts were how do you get a 30 cal round in a 223? When you see the picture of the 300 BO next to the 223 its pretty obvious how it happened.
 
That's the downside of compatibility. Same BCG, same magazine, blah, blah, BOOM

I'll probably end up with a .300BO one of these days just for the suppressed fun and to keep next to the bed. But that won't happen for another 15 years when all the kids have gotten the boot.
 
Originally Posted By: pyscodogInteresting read on the Accurate shooter site(daily bulletin) about a guy that shot a Black Out round in a 223/.556 rifle. Made a mess! My first thoughts were how do you get a 30 cal round in a 223? When you see the picture of the 300 BO next to the 223 its pretty obvious how it happened.

its also a very limited bullet selection that it can happen in, unless you have poor neck tension and get a bullet setback incident, or you have someone pounding away at the forward assist to get it there. IIRC The nosler 110 varmageddon is one of the bullets susceptible to this, and i believe the speer 125 pro hunter spitzer as well.

for the most part, the majority of loading's at their standard OAL would not fully chamber - so barring you're jamming the FA repeatedly (which unless you're in a firefight for your life should be a reason to stop and re-assess why your gun wont go into battery after the first tap) or that youve got reloads with incorrect neck tension - its not likely to happen - an AR bolt will simply not go into battery when the Ogive of the bullet indexes in the shoulder of the 223/5.56 chamber.

likewise most factory ammo has a cannelure to help prevent bullet setback at chambering to help prevent this very thing. The Hornady 110gr vmax is a perfect example of this... bullets for factory loaded 300blk ammunition have a cannelure added to them - hornady does this specifically for the 300 blackout - while the standard reloading component (just the bullet) is produced without a cannelure.


the 300 blackout isnt the only cartridge that is susceptible to having another round loaded totally unsafely if a shooter is not paying attention, but as noted its easier than most, under the right circumstances, because of the design and the 223 being the parent cartridge.


its just something that we as shooters need to be fully conscious of, and standard safety rules of 'one caliber out at a time' should be followed.

because simply put - 100% of the time a 300 blk gets fired in a 223 its always operator error.
 
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