Re: Savage walks away from the 300blk
Ironic, you would only see the versatility of a cartridge based on a platform that your nanny state prohibits you from owning in a severely neutered form. Owning an AR in California in .300 Blackout? Now THAT would be a waste of the Blackout's potential as far as I'm concerned.
I do feel for you all in California and other locales where AR's are considered persona non-grata and effectively banned. In Canada, where I live, AR's are restricted to 5 rd. capacity and for range use only. We can't hunt with them and our usage is extremely limited.
I would agree the Blackout would be well suited to a semi-auto rifle like an AR but don't share your opinion that the Blackout isn't a viable cartridge in a manual repeating or single-shot rifle. I don't see many people arguing that the .223 Rem. has no use beyond that of an AR or other semi-auto, do you?
If you know the cartridge, you'd know that it's ballistically similar to a .30-30 Winchester. I don't see anyone saying that a .30-30 Win is useless in a lever action or a single-shot Contender, Encore, Handi-Rifle, et al. Do you?
I would agree that a .308 Win. is largely more versatile in a rifle based platform, however, in a carbine or SBR I would believe it to be less than optimal, regardless of firearm type.
I've got a Weatherby Vanguard .300 Blackout with a 11.5" barrel that is light, compact, and is very quick to put into use by the very nature of its size and characteristics. I can hunt or target shoot with it without restrictions. In said rifle, the Blackout is optimal and gives me a great deal of flexibility in usage.
A .308 Win. or even a .223 Rem. for that matter, are very inefficient in a short carbine or SBR and don't allow you to have the versatility that the Blackout enjoys.
As for issues of accuracy claimed by Savage? I think it's BS on their part. To say their simple bolt action carbine couldn't be made accurate enough to pass the mustre? How ridiculous. There's lots of people running Savages in the .300 Blackout, .300 Whisper, .300/.221 ect, ect... that aren't claiming poor accuracy potential.
I think the .300 Blackout in a Savage was canned for a variety of legitimate issues that the company wouldn't want made public. I beleive their rifles weren't either well suited to the Blackout or it was a ituation of poor product planning on Savage's part.
I believe it's possible that Savage discovered that they couldn't make the Blackout feed well from its magazine system or had the common ejection issues that Savages are known to have in this cartridge. From a warranty standpoint, this would be a nightmare and having a bunch of problem rifles wouldn't exactly endear them to the public either, now would it?
My guess is Savage had made the decision to go with a 1:10" twist barrel in the .300 Blackout and then realized that they were going to be obsolete right out of the gate because THEY failed to realize that .300 Blackout buyers preferred the extra stability that a 1:8" or 1:7" twist barrel.
With Remington's subsequent announcement of a 16" SPS Tactical in .300 Blackout with a 1:7" twist barrel, they realized they weren't going to be competitive in the marketplace and that it would be cheaper to scrap the PC Carbine introduction in the Blackout than to go through with it and be stuck with dead inventory that wouldn't sell.