What fails faster than me trying not to eat Taco Bell when I’m trying to lose weight?
Completely new rounds.
Seriously, every year we get a new round that’s been declared the latest and greatest.
One round that hasn’t failed is the .300 BLK. In fact, it’s simply grown and grown in popularity.
Here’s what we have found for ammo that is in stock:
For more specific .300 Blackout ammo check out Palmetto State Armory and True Shot Gun Club.
For the most up-to-date ammo info for all other calibers…check out our Best Places to Buy Ammo Online article.
If you don’t have time for the details, here are our top picks for best .300 Blackout Ammo:
As the shooting industry was beginning to lean towards short rifles and suppressors – the .300 BLK just so happened to be designed for short-barreled rifles, equipped with suppressors.
It was one of those moments where everything collided just perfectly.
While initially designed for a military RFI (Rapid Fielding Initiative) the civilian market accepted it quickly.
.300 BLK functions perfectly in an AR-15 platform with hardly any changes, this makes it inexpensive to adopt and easy to test out.
So what about ammo?
If you have a .300 BLK you need to feed it, right? We’ve put together some of the best ammo on the market.
Given the fact this is such a versatile round, we’ve broken up our choices by end purpose.
THE QUICK LIST
Best .300 Blackout Ammo
1. Magtech First Defense
.300 BLK is slowly becoming a more affordable round. It may be nowhere near as cheap as .223 or 7.62×39, but the price has been dropping. (Or at least was before the ammo shortage.)
Now, if we avoid questionable reloads and want quality factory loads, we are led to Magtech First Defense.
I’ve always found this 123-grain FMJ ammo to be affordable, reliable, and easy shooting.
Supersonic ammunition flies forward at a blistering 2,230 feet per second, the ammo uses premium brass cases and high-quality FMJ projectiles.
This is very basic ammunition designed to function reliably and accurately for all your training needs, perfect to be bought in bulk.
When it comes to purely plinking, you can trust some lower-quality rounds, but in good conscience, I won’t suggest anything that might blow your gun up.
Magtech consistently makes quality ammunition — a solid choice for general fun gunning, tactical training, three gun, and more.
When the time comes to put lead downrange, regardless of the reasons, you’ll be hearing bangs and not clicks.
2. Sellier and Bellot
One of the best things about the .300 BLK round is the fact it’s superbly versatile. The rounds can range greatly in weight from light 90-grain supersonic loads to 220-grain subsonic baseball bats.
When it comes to a suppressor, slower is better. A subsonic round lacks that supersonic crack. Suppressors only stop the blast at the muzzle end of the gun — they do nothing for the supersonic crack.
A subsonic load through a suppressor is nice and quiet. Nowhere near movie quiet, but quiet enough to be hearing safe.
One solid subsonic load for the suppressor enthusiast is the Sellier and Bellot 200-grain FMJs.
These are on the lighter side of subsonic loads, so they move a little faster than the 220 grains, and this translates into a little extra energy.
The lighter loads are chugging along at only 1,060 feet per second.
Swap in a magazine full of supersonics and bam you got your long-range performance back at the sacrifice of getting a little louder.
3. Barnes Vor-Tx
I personally hunt with an AR-15 and don’t see an issue with it, but the .300 BLK has found its way into guns like the Ruger American Rifle.
It’s a great hunting cartridge and can be used both in a suppressed platform and a loud platform.
The only thing you need to consider when using .300 BLK to hunt with is that it offers a limited range…200 yards for supersonic ammo and 150 yards or less for subsonic ammo.
When it comes to hunting I’d stick with a supersonic cartridge. They fly further, hit harder, and are much more capable of quickly harvesting your game of choice.
There are a number of different hunting cartridges out there, but one that’s proven is from Barnes.
Barnes is a premium ammo, and it comes at a premium price, but the payoff is ethical hunting, and that makes it worth the extra cents.
4. Federal Premium Power-Shok .300 AAC Blackout 150 grain
Another decent hunting round to consider is Federal’s Power-Shok. This 150-grain soft point features a muzzle velocity of 1,900 fps.
In short, it packs the punch you need to bring your chosen game down.
This reliable round is consistent – which is everything when it comes to hunting.
You don’t want to guess whether your ammo is going to perform like you need it. Not to mention, we believe in ethical hunting around here, so we chose rounds we know will be both humane and effective.
Federal answers that call.
5. Fiocchi 125-Grain .300 BLK
A suppressed, short-barreled rifle is a mighty good home defense device. Even if you subtract the short-barreled part, a semi-automatic rifle is a helluva way to deal with things that go bump in the night.
For this, the Fiocchi load is perfect. This is a brass-cased premium round loaded with a projectile from Hornady.
The projectile is a Super Shock Tip projectile, reaching 2,200 feet per second. It’s designed to deliver controlled expansion at high velocities.
A lot of times, a company hypes their ammo a bit, what I like about the Fiocchi SST is that it actually has some solid reasons backing it up:
- SST projectile expands on contact and penetrates with near reckless abandon
- Hornady’s Interlock ring keeps the copper jacket and leads internals together, allowing for excellent weight retention and penetration without over-penetration
6. Hornady .300 BLK 125gr HP
The folks at Hornady have been in the ammunition game since the late 1940s, meaning they know a thing or two about what works and what doesn’t.
Hornady’s .300 BLK 125-grain HP offering brings a quality option for those looking for a defensive-style round.
Not to mention, even amid an ammo shortage, we’ve seen this on shelves more often than not.
The company equips its rounds with high-quality brass and primers, so you can expect to get a solid performer that won’t let you down.
These rounds bring a velocity of 2,175 fps with muzzle energy at 1,1313 foot-pounds.
Final Thoughts
The .300 BLK is a modern little cartridge that absolutely rules the 0-300-yard range. It’s potent, powerful, versatile, and popular enough to give you a wide selection of rifles to choose from.
You can do a lot with a .300 BLK rifle, and the task you choose is going to determine the ammo you need.
Let us know in the comments what your favorite .300 BLK ammo is and why! If you’re looking to build a .300 BLK rifle for yourself, take a look at our top picks for .300 BLK Uppers!
