In Part 1, it was determined that a public perception campaign would be launched that would pressure Ruger into changing the name of the Ruger American Rifle Ranch, to the Ruger American Ranch Rifle to suit my sensibilities. I have not heard from the Ruger people as yet, but I feel this populace movement is building, so… any day now.
Almost all of the bullets pictured above share two common attributes, they are designed for hunting application and they will expand to a useful degree at 300 Blackout supersonic velocities. The holdout in the line up is the Hornady AMP Jacket Match, a slippery 225 grain heavy weight that is intended for punching holes in targets, not for hunting. The latter was included so I could play around with a subsonic load and accuracy of a long, heavy bullet at a low rotational speed.
| Manufacturer | Type | Weight Grains |
Bullet Length “ |
B.C. | Maximum COL ” To Leade |
Maximum Practical COL “ |
| Barnes | TAC-TX FB | 110 | 1.175 | 0.289 | 2.420 | 2.250 |
| Hornady | SP | 130 | 0.938 | 0.295 | 2.147 | 2.060 |
| Berger | VDL Hunting | 168 | 1.273 | 0.473 | 2.345 | 2.235 |
| Combined Technology | Silvertip | 168 | 1.310 | 0.490 | 2.356 | 2.245 |
| Berger | VLD Hunting | 175 | 1.288 | 0.498 | 2.353 | 2.235 |
| Hornady Match | BTHP | 225 | 1.576 | 0.670 | 2.344 | 2.260 |
Each bullet was checked in the subject Ruger with a COL gauge. “Maximum COL ” to Leade” dimension represents the maximum each respective bullet could be seated out of a case before contacting the rifle’s rifling leade… the onramp to the rifling. “Maximum Practical COL ” ” is the prior dimension modified for proper safe seating depth and magazine clearance. Maximum cartridge length permitted by the rotary magazine is 2.265″.
A new day, a New Jersey and a new powder…
Some folks who email need a filter, if not a muzzle. The other day someone wrote to express dissatisfaction with the handloads that are free for anyone to access on the Real Guns site. He indicated many of the newest powders were not listed, then went on to rant about my parentage, my home state, my truck, and my dog. In reality, my parents were nice folks, Maine is a pretty place to live, I recently sold my truck in anticipation of buying another, and I don’t own a dog.
Just because something is new doesn’t mean it is better. In fact, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is as good as the product it is intended to replace. Sometimes the intention is to obsolete inventories of existing products to create new sales. Subsequently, we try new products and publish the data as articles rather than going back and redoing dedicated handload tables. Folks who read Real Guns routinely are well aware of this information.
H110 and Lil’ Gun powders are favorites for 300 Blackout handloads, but we added Hodgdon CFE BLK for evaluation. The handloads are based upon mainstream component manufacturer published data and worked up from there. None of these specific loads were pressure tested with strain or transducer equipment, but validated with a close eye on the usual cast of symptoms and indicators, mechanical and measured velocity.
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Warning: Bullet selections are specific, and loads are not valid with substitutions of different bullets of the same weight. Variations in bullet material and length will alter net case capacity, pressure and velocity results. Primer selection is specific and primer types are not interchangeable. These data represents maximum loads in our firearms and test equipment and may easily be excessive in other applications. All loads should be reduced by 3%, and developed following safe handloading practices as represented in established reloading manuals produced by component manufacturers. Presentation of these loads does not constitute a solicitation for their use, nor a recommendation.
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Analysis of results..
Handloading is not a haphazard endeavor, even when following mainstream published data. What is mainstream? Companies that run labs, live under the hammer of product liability and have a huge financial stake in the result of their published work. Even so, there is no controlling the variables that exist when an unassociated individual puts published data to work.
Initially, CCI BR-4 primers were selected, but rounds exhibited unreliable ignition. Cartridge dimensions were rechecked, as was primer strike indentation, but everything checked in spec. I switched to CCI 400 primers and the problem went away. My conclusion is… I don’t know. Could be a bad box of primers as some are old enough to have graduated college or it could be just hard primers but, again, indentations were sufficient for ignition.
Hodgdon’s handloading resource Trail Boss data could not be used as presented for two reasons. The first is that the suggested powder charges do not come close to fitting into once fired brass. The second issue was that even slightly reduced loads resulted in supersonic velocity.
The 130 grain Lil’ Gun was assembled 0.040″ less than the Hornady manual recommended and started a full 1.5 grains below maximum, but still yielded a 300 fps increase over Hornady data at 2,400 fps. The load data on the table was reduced to bring velocity and pressure down to a more acceptable range.
Accuracy was excellent with the exception of the 225 grain match bullets at subsonic speed. Pushing it up a notch to 1,400 fps gave it enough rotation speed to stabilize.
A heavy, high BC bullet, launched at the same subsonic velocity as a light bullet, will retain energy and velocity longer than a light bullet of lower BC. So if your going to shoot subsonic, may as well work to the heaviest weight. The Sierra 220 grain MatchKing will replace the Hornady the next time I work with this cartridge. The Sierra is as slick in BC, but 0.100″ shorter which should improve subsonic stability.
We are an office divided…
On the left side of the office we have Bruno Mars’s “Just The Way You Are” coming from desk top speakers. On the right we have Creedence’s “Long As I Can See The Light” playing in my headphones. There are few things in life that are not subjective in opinion.
The last song for the day, and ironically a song that marked the end of Creedence, “Someday Never Comes”. If there was ever a 1960s/1970s flashback inducing band. And on to The Band and “The Weight”…
| Barnes 110 Grain TAC 236 Yards Point Blank +/- 3.0 Ordinate | |||||||
| Yards | 0 | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 | 300 |
| Velocity – fps | 2495 | 2350 | 2211 | 2077 | 1948 | 1823 | 1704 |
| Energy – ft.-lbs. | 1520 | 1349 | 1194 | 1053 | 926 | 812 | 709 |
| Momentum – lbs-sec | 1.21 | 1.14 | 1.08 | 1.01 | 0.95 | 0.89 | 0.83 |
| Path – in. | -1.5 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 2.5 | 0.2 | -4.5 | -11.8 |
Above, the Barnes 110 grain listed for defense or deer and hog hunting. Two hundred yards would be an easy reach, landing with the muzzle energy of a 44 Mag at the muzzle and it is certainly flat shooting enough for 300 yards.
Below, the Berger 168 Grain VLD Hunting isn’t quite as flat shooting as Barnes bullet, however, downrange retained energy is higher, as is momentum. Inside two hundred yards I’d guess bullet construction makes both as effective and both are very accurate.
| Berger 168 Grain VLD 203 Yards Point Blank +/- Ordinate | |||||||
| Yards | 0 | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 | 300 |
| Velocity – fps | 2000 | 1927 | 1855 | 1785 | 1716 | 1650 | 1586 |
| Energy – ft.-lbs. | 1492 | 1384 | 1283 | 1188 | 1099 | 1015 | 938 |
| Momentum – lbs-sec | 1.49 | 1.43 | 1.38 | 1.33 | 1.28 | 1.23 | 1.18 |
| Path – in. | -1.5 | 1.9 | 3.0 | 1.5 | -2.6 | -9.8 | -20.1 |
Why? Why? Why?
There was an engagement with a reader on Facebook who rhetorically questioned the need for the 300 Blackout. I didn’t have the heart to tell him it would be possible to eliminate all but a handful of cartridges from existence and after a proper period of mourning, two weeks tops, no one would notice the difference. The real question is, accepting that lots of folks enjoy shooting the 300 Blackout, are there real world application other than the collapse of government which, based on mainstream hysterical news, will also probably occur in the next two weeks. The answer is, “Sure”.
The Ruger American… Ranch Rifle weighs significantly under six pounds, produces impressive accuracy (“precision” if the NRA site supplies your definitions) and is inexpensive to shoot. It is an effective deer cartridge out to a couple hundred yards, it is an excellent cartridge for hogs and it is an excellent cartridge for larger varmints. For the handloader, there is all sorts of potential to extract. Finally, it is a terrific looking little rifle as an impressively low price.
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