Barnes is busy creating some new projectiles for the 300 AAC Blackout, specifically for the hunting crowd. They already have a 110 grain version that I use and love, but they’re in the process of creating a 120 grain version as well. There’s also rumors (well, not really rumors since I’m holding one) that there’s a subsonic 300 BLK round on the way that will fully expand upon impact, unlike the previous iterations. And what better way to test them than by taking down a black bear in New Mexico! Who said that 300 BLK isn’t good enough for big game, anyway? Make the jump for the blurb from AAC’s blog as well as the bear in all its glory . . .
American Hunter Assistant Editor Jon Draper recently set out to test a new Barnes bullet designed for the AAC .300 Blackout. His target? Black bear located at the Jicarilla Apache Nation near Dulce, N.M. Keep your eyes peeled for this new 120-grain bullet in this caliber, which should be available early 2014. In the meantime, check out the photo gallery to see how Draper dropped the hammer on some big old bruins.
I’ll have mine with me in a few weeks for a coastal black bear hunt.
Very tasty up here after they’ve been gorging on blackberries.
All you need now is a steady supply of 300 AAC Blackout ammo. Seems to be the hardest ammo to get.
I couldn’t believe it but my local WalMart actually has 3-4 boxes of 300 Black. not to mention a buttload of 5.56, including 62gr green tip. Is the ammo shortage over??!!????!?
I’m surprised. Walmart Corporate has said they will no longer carry any Pistol ammo or any cartridge that’s chambered for the AR-15. I suspect maybe it was an old order placed before the decision that finally came in.
They have the polymer tipped hunting rounds on gunbot for like $1.30 a round so I’ve been slowly building up my stock of those, but long term I have a reloading setup for it. Some cheap 147gr .308 pulls, couple grains of H110, cut down 5.56 brass and the same small primers and I’m good to go for practice ammo.
Nice bear, I was hell bent on purchasing a springer m1a for a semi auto deer rifle, but awfully tempting to build a 300 black for deer.
Where is all the ammo?
I love 300 Blackout but the ammo situation is crazy. I’ve finally gathered everything I need to reload both sub and supersonic and plan to load a ton of it this winter.
good thing he brought an assualt weapon, Dulce is crawling with reptilian nwo goons and underground bases
I’m not sure I see the appeal of shooting a bear. Sure, the rug would be awesome, but unless they are a pest… why?
Population control, improve the economy, they taste good… Bear is slightly tough almost like liver but not too strong of a flavor.
Agreed. Hunters essentially pay the government for the privilege of undertaking the roll of keeping populations in check.
We have a number of ‘nuisance bears’ up here, but I have some concerns on the meat quality of an animal prone to dumpster diving.
If I ever shot one, it would be because it was threatening somebody I love. Then, I wouldn’t consider eating a dumpster diver. I’d probably just drag it deeper into the woods and leave it there for the coyotes…unless the skin was exceptional in quality….which is not probable.
If you have concerns with a dumpster diving bear, you’ll never touch crab or lobster again knowing how they get so big!
Lobster or crab? They’re just big giant bugs. I don’t eat bugs.
Predator meat has an oddity about it. And Yes, I know how lobster get so big. But by those standards, the whole of the sea is a giant, used toilet bowl for fish.
The roasts are good. ground up with pork fat added, it makes great summer sausages.
Also, being an apex predator, they can take out sheep like a plague.
They’re becoming a pest in a lot of places. Their population has exploded thanks to conservAtion and fewer hunters. My old man lives in Carter County KY and you can see them in broad daylight alongside interstate 64. A collision with a deer is bad enough.
We just got back a couple of weeks ago from a trip down to a cabin in the Smokies and have never seen so many black bears. They were all over the place rampaging dumpsters and breaking into cars.
A suppressed .22 in the hands of an expert will bring down a black bear. The bullet will self-destruct leaving no possibility of ballistic matching back to the gun. If liberal laws cause a bear population explosion, clean out the black bears yourself.
Adub,
I didn’t always see it this way, but I believe that there is nothing wrong with hunting truly for the sport of it. It brings me into contact with nature, hones my critical thinking skills and sharpens my powers of observation. In short, it makes me a better human.
Like it or not, I’ve got to shove roughly 2000 calories per day into my pie hole I’d prefer that it came from an animal that had a decent life and a fighting chance. Not that farm life is always bad but I’d rather be the bear pictured above than your average steer any day. (Say nothing of vegetables–they can’t even run away!) Also, that bear was going to die some day; if it were me I’d prefer the bullet to starvation induced by old age, or a coyote picking at me when I was alive but too old to fight back.
I am all about shooting nuisance animals: I’ll set up on a hill with a 22-250 (or stronger) and turn prairie dog towns into ghost towns (they explode better than anything, check youtube). But I think of bears in the same vein as birds of prey, and I don’t shoot them either. I guess I don’t see exotic animals as any harder to shoot than deer- shooting a stationary target is always easy.
If black bears were as numerous as prairie dogs, it might be necessary to thin them out a bit. But seeing as they are not that numerous, I’ll reserve my bear shooting for truly nuisance or life threatening bears and instead blow up some prairie dogs, Boat-tailed Grackles, European Starlings and those noisy, pesky English Sparrows. Oh…and there’s nothing as fun as night hunting rats with a NV equipped air rifle.
Sort of F’d up to have the bear hold out the object of it’s demise in it’s own paw….. But it’s also funny!
Doubt it bothered the bear. Big bear, had probably procreated multiple times. His job was done
Cant you just use 7.62×39?
It is supposed to be equal if not more powerful.
You may want to use a handload with a quality expanding bullet. I’ve heard of larger game taken with ak in Africa.
yeah you can, it has killed plenty of small game including bear in the US. within 300 yards, 7.62×39 will single-shot drop just about any game animal in the continental US.
AAC is the rage for AR guys because it uses a standard 5.56 lower, mags, and is easily suppressed.
otherwise it does basically the same thing as 7.62×39.
300 metres?
That is more what I expected from the humble 7.62×39 (I know it can kill a man at that distance but kill an animal ethically).
at 300yd, 7.62×39 is still going to deliver enough energy to humanely kill just about any big game in the US.
the question is whether or not your rifle and load is up to it. obviously 300yd is not a shot to make with an iron-sighted SKS and steel-cased bulk Russian ammo.
I would feel confident taking a 300yd shot at an animal with a quality 7.62×39 bolt-action or AK/AR, good commercial or handloaded ammo, and an optic with appropriate BDC features. however that is the absolute maximum range I would be willing to take with that combination.
I have better guns for long-range hunting, but don’t underestimate the 7.62×39 when all the right chips are put into play.
the same applies to .300 BLK
So glad to see that the 300 BLACKOUT is lethal to big game. Had my doubts considering how little powder is behind that huge bullet. Now I can start shopping for a decent 300 upper. And suggestions?
I know we covered this before but is a .300 Blackout and a .300 Whisper interchangeable like .223 is to 5.56 (meaning you can’t go both ways?)
300blk chamber can shoot 300 Whisper, but 300 Whisper chamber can’t shoot 300blk. 300blk is the SAAMI standardized cartridge.
Like 5.56 a blackout can shoot both, but Like 223 some rifles designed for whisper are not built to shoot the blackout due to higher pressure
I may still get a 300 AAC upper, but its hard to justify given that my 6.8 has more power, factory ammo is easier to find and cheaper, and I can’t get a silencer in Kommiefornia.
So, what the hell are you still doing in “Kommiefornia”? You need to take your expertise, your guns and your money and come join the Texas Militia.
While I feel for our brothers trapped behind enemy lines, some can leave and some can’t for one reason or another.
So what are those trapped ones going to do? Wait until Kommiefornia invites Raul Castro to speak at USC?
Texas is awesome, but I do also value my marriage. I have an exit strategy for WI, which will hopefully continue to respect the 2A. Regardless, I contribute to pro-gun causes across the nation. I hope y’all do the same, and enjoy your freedom.
What is your exit strategy where in WI do you intend to go?
Just curious I too m from Wisconsin and wish to return.
Mobile doesn’t let me respond to Mitchel.
Simply put, I don’t know what our trapped brothers can do, besides keeping up the good fight.
Shooting prairie dogs is wanton destruction compared to killing bear. You are just stimulating their capability to produce larger litters while doing nothing significant to control population. Meanwhile creating huge suffering. All those dogs get reared, and educated, etc… You blow them up and for nothing. Not that I am actually against it. And sure, with enough shooters, they will thin out.
On the other hand to hunt bear legally around here is to eat them. You can trophy hunt, or control hunt, or rug hunt, or whatever, but if you aren’t eating them, you are breaking the law. At the same time one is controlling populations, beating them back into the bush so they know their place, securing a good rug, as well as the food. Cool animals, but at least there is a purpose.
Well, I can tell you have no real world experience. The reason prairie dogs are targeted is because they dig those holes all over the pasture…where expensive livestock grazes. Farmers and ranchers have to shoot the cow or horse that steps in one of those holes and breaks it’s leg. Shooting prairie dogs is not pointless or wanton…you collectivist idiot.
I guess I’ll have to restock my defensive rounds. What I have now supposedly doesn’t expand very well (Sierra 220 gr). If Barnes can make a subsonic round that actually expands as advertised, I’d rather have that.
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