You will be happy to know this bullet is available commercially for hunting/self-protection as the 300 BLK Tipped Hunting. It sounds like a simple task, but it was one beyond the reach of the rest of the industry in this case. They have the engineers to design and test, and the manufacturing capacity to produce what they design. SIG’s solution to the complicated problem of producing an expanding subsonic bullet that feeds reliably out of 5.56x45mm magazines shows just how much depth they bring to the ammunition production game. This was a much more expensive option, but it allowed SIG to make what the Special Operations community needed, not what SIG felt like producing. Where others were using monolithic bullets and high-speed lathes, SIG opted for the more machinery-intense option of forming dies and bullet assembly machines. Once SIG figured out the polymer tip and stepped ogive, they still had to make the projectile. A look at SIG Sauer’s subsonic 300 BLK load’s performance in calibrated 10% ballistic gelatin, note the expansion and deep penetration. This greatly increases column height of loaded rounds and makes it hard for the feed lips to hold rounds in place. Instead of stacking parallel, the rounds lay diagonally across each other. The ribs push the bullet noses towards the centerline causing the rounds to sit crookedly once loaded. These designs have a diameter that is too large to fit in a 5.56mm magazine without touching the ribs that run along the sides. The purpose of the two-stage ogive is to allow the ribs in the magazine enough room to support the bullet orientation instead of interfere with it. The heavy and super-stable bullets just drilled right into ballistic gel with no expansion or fragmentation, and very poor terminal effects. The hope was that if terminal performance expectations were kept low enough, the 220 grain-ish bullets might deliver. There was some hope though that it wasn’t so stable that it couldn’t tumble and perhaps break apart. 30-cal match bullets designed for magnum rifle velocities with correspondingly thick jackets, to fragment. However, that fast of a twist rate also caused the slow bullet to have poor terminal effects because it was so stable, that it wouldn’t yaw, tumble and break apart on impact. Accuracy became acceptable at subsonic velocity when the heavy bullets had the stabilization that the 1-7 inch twist provided. So, additional twist is needed to compensate for that.īy the time enough testing data came in on barrel twist rates, the Special Operations guys decided a 1-7 inch twist was necessary to stabilize the subsonic heavies the way they liked. The barrels also tend to be very short, to limit velocity to subsonic levels. Subsonic bullets from the 300 BLK are long and very heavy, so they require a very fast twist in the barrel. Hearing protection complicates communication between teammates. It has the added benefit of being hearing safe, even inside a small room, where anything supersonic would require hearing protection. Good terminal performance at subsonic velocity allows soldiers to shoot suppressed with almost no signature. The one problem that had everybody stumped was how to get a bullet to expand at subsonic velocity. SIG’s highly unusual 300 BLK V-Crown bullet features a polymer tip to initiate expansion, a two-stage ogive to aid feeding and reliable expansion at subsonic velocities. With its larger projectile and ability to function reliably at both supersonic and subsonic velocities, the 300 BLK appeared to be just what the doctor ordered. The shooting industry worked closely with the Special Operation community to produce it. This cartridge has its roots in the Special Operations community where the need exists for a cartridge that feeds reliably out of AR-15-pattern magazines, uses the same bolt and magazine, and offers improved lethality over the 5.56x45mm. Many are familiar with the rise of the 300 AAC Blackout. SIG Sauer’s ammo division has an impressive staff that has already demonstrated their ability to find solutions where others have failed. Who runs the show, the experience of the people involved, funding and engineering prowess are all critical aspects that will absolutely affect the ammunition’s large-scale performance. To fully understand what separates one brand of ammunition from another, you have to take a look at the company that makes it. Also, performance out of one firearm in a single, or even a handful of experiences, is far from a good indicator of performance on a broader scale. Ammo often gets classified as “good”, or not, based on how it shoots out of a rifle or pistol, with very little thought or discussion about what it takes to create that ammo in the first place. Ammunition is one of the most misunderstood categories in the firearms industry.
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