300 black out bolt gun

Brenton

Newbie
Whats up guys, so I'm thinking about picking up one of those Ruger american ranch rifles chambered in 300 black out. Mainly for an all around rifle to hunt everything from coyotes and up. How well do you guys think it would work against bigger game? I don't really care about "range" cause iv seen them shot out to 1000+. I care more about ballistics and the damage it might do on something like an elk.
 

MrMurphy

Regular Member
I'm no ballistician. I've seen photos of .300 BLK being used to absolutely destroy hogs and coyotes with no issue. But I'd say it's very, very light for elk except at shorter ranges. A coworker, who when he's not hunting bad guys is a professional hunting guide, doesn't allow any of his customers to use less than .30-06 on elk, preferably heavier.

Not necessarily because elk are bulletproof, but he's seen guys make bad shots or bullets just not perform and he's not willing to risk losing the animal on an iffy shot. Anything up to non-Iowa-huge deer, it's probably going to do fine, but an elk is a big damned animal at any range. I know people who've gotten the job done with a .44 (close range) and various other rounds at intermediate distances (200m). I just don't think i'd personally use the .300 for that. I know Mark LaRue dropped an elk at 400m with a 6.5 Grendel (and a couple .308s a few years later) but that was with laser ranging, perfect shot placement and perfect bullet performance. I used my 7x57mm Mauser, a century old, to drop a red deer (250-300lb) with a single hit at about 65m, the standard softpoint more or less vaporized the deer (both lungs and a spinal hit with 1 shot) and it was DRT. That's a 173 grain round, fat and medium velocity. It'd probably "do" on elk (the 7mm has killed just about everything in Africa of similar size) but I don't know how well the .300 bullets are constructed ie would they blow up on impact or hold together and get the penetration really needed.
 

Chris Taylor

Random Factor of the K Power
A) There's a big difference between shooting steel at 1k, and shooting something with brown eyes and a mother that loved it. It's not a 1k cartridge by any stretch.

2) the 300blk is realistically just under or on par with the venerable 30-30 as far as ballistic performance. If a 30-30 is too light, the 300blk is too. Personally, I'd limit it to 150-200M on CXP2 game (medium whitetails, pigs, etc.), and would be hesitant on anything much bigger.

III) I like the 300blk. It's a great cartridge within it's niche, but it's not das überwünderkiller that some make it out to be.

d) Personally, I'd be looking at a heavier cartridge for elk. 308/30-06/7RM/300WM/35Whelen/etc. It's not that other cartridges won't kill them, we owe it to the animals and ourselves to do it as humanely as possible.
 

McKenna

Newbie
Need to ask Buck if he's smoke checked an Elk w/ a 300blk yet...

As stated already, 300blk is plenty for medium size game but way too light for Wapiti. If you want a all around rifle go with .308/30-06 at the bare minimum. The 30-06 is probably a little more utilitarian in nature and you can smoke check anything up to Bison & Moose if you choose to do so. I am a bolt gun whore and have rifles that are set up for hunting specific game but that is just me. I run a gambit of .270Win/Wby & 6.5 calibers for deer/goats/hogs & 25/7STW, 06', 338Win for Elk.
 

Brenton

Newbie
A) There's a big difference between shooting steel at 1k, and shooting something with brown eyes and a mother that loved it. It's not a 1k cartridge by any stretch.

2) the 300blk is realistically just under or on par with the venerable 30-30 as far as ballistic performance. If a 30-30 is too light, the 300blk is too. Personally, I'd limit it to 150-200M on CXP2 game (medium whitetails, pigs, etc.), and would be hesitant on anything much bigger.

III) I like the 300blk. It's a great cartridge within it's niche, but it's not das überwünderkiller that some make it out to be.

d) Personally, I'd be looking at a heavier cartridge for elk. 308/30-06/7RM/300WM/35Whelen/etc. It's not that other cartridges won't kill them, we owe it to the animals and ourselves to do it as humanely as possible.
I wasn't saying id ever shoot it at an animal at 1k I was just saying I know they can reach out that far. Personally id never really want to shot an animal past maybe 400m mainly due to wanting to get perfect shot placement. I wouldn't want to fuck up and make the animal suffer. Thanks for the input.
 

Longeye

Established
I wasn't saying id ever shoot it at an animal at 1k I was just saying I know they can reach out that far. Personally id never really want to shot an animal past maybe 400m mainly due to wanting to get perfect shot placement. I wouldn't want to fuck up and make the animal suffer. Thanks for the input.
Even 400 M is stretching the hell out of the 300 BLK. Consider 200 M max for deer size game and less than 100 for elk size game. For elk, use the 300 BLK in the same way you would a bow and arrow. Get close, then get closer, then get closer yet. When you have elk slobber on your knees, you're close enough. Even with perfect shot placement, there is still a threshold where power matters.
 
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