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What is needed to make .300 blackout from .223?

sasquatch98226

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Dec 6, 2007
293
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So if I want to trim and make my own .300 blackout rounds, instead of buying them, what parts and processes do I need to have/do?

Thanks
 
Re: What is needed to make .300 blackout from .223?

Mini Chop saw from Harbor Freight, set of dies and a regular trimmer to clean em up after running through the sizer. Forester makes a trimmer for a drill press that is handy for making lots of brass fast from 223.
 
Re: What is needed to make .300 blackout from .223?

when i do it it goes like this

-remove ball\expander from sizing die
-run all brass through die making a second shoulder
-cut off brass with drill press that has a cut off wheel mounted horozontally
-put expander ball back in die and run brass through again
-trim , de bur , load

i take the expander out in the beginning because it makes less effort on the press handle and why size brass you are going to cut off in the next step?

so far i have done 500 cases this way and i have not burned out the cut off wheel yet. another thousand 556's showed up so i will be busy
 
Re: What is needed to make .300 blackout from .223?

+1 for the mini chop saw.

I have used a small tubing cutter after pushing the shoulder back but it's a slow process.

Don't go down that path unless you just want to test a few cases before going into mass production.

If you have a whisper that has a tight chamber, some brass can be too thick that far down.

Some brass that has given me trouble.
PMP
nny
Amerc
Frontier
IAI

Your milage may vary...
 
Re: What is needed to make .300 blackout from .223?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: dead-bird</div><div class="ubbcode-body">+1 for the mini chop saw.

I have used a small tubing cutter after pushing the shoulder back but it's a slow process.

Don't go down that path unless you just want to test a few cases before going into mass production.

If you have a whisper that has a tight chamber, some brass can be too thick that far down.

Some brass that has given me trouble.
PMP
nny
Amerc
Frontier
IAI

Your milage may vary... </div></div>

I throw Amerc in the recycle bucket no matter caliber.
 
Re: What is needed to make .300 blackout from .223?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Kentucky Jelly</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
I throw Amerc in the recycle bucket no matter caliber. </div></div>

Good advice. I won't even keep Amerc 45 brass.
 
Re: What is needed to make .300 blackout from .223?

Watch your neck wall thickness. It should be about .015" or less. You might need an inside neck reamer (I use a Forester .304" special order) which gives a nice grip on a .308 bullet.

J. D. Jones strongly recommends sizing up from .221 Fireball as the brass is more uniform especially over military. Having tried both, I determined that my accuracy problems stemmed mainly from variations in overall length of the supposedly match grade bullets which resulted in great variations in overall length. Separating and sorting bullets by length seems to have improved accuracy in both types of formed brass.
 
Re: What is needed to make .300 blackout from .223?

the main difference between whisper and blackout is the throat area is longer and wider as it was designed to convert 223 or 5.56 brass with no turning or reaming.

also i have shot whisper ammunition in my blackout and was told it is a no no to shoot blackout in a whisper because high pressure situations can arrise.

i have had very good luck with brass sorting by headstamp before cutting down. and using a variety of bullets doing ladders at two hundred yards.

best load so far is with 185 berger hunting vld with lake city 08 headstamp and 1680 powder it prints .507 average at 100 and just under 1" at 200 so i am pretty happy with that.

from what i have read jd jones had little if anything to do with the standardization of the blackout. it seemed before teh lackout there was no real standard to the whisper and there were different reamer specs all over the place.
 
Re: What is needed to make .300 blackout from .223?

Having gone down the same path unless you have a lot of free time on your hands your better of buying the brass.
 
Re: What is needed to make .300 blackout from .223?

I've done it this way, only using the HF mini-chop saw instead of the drill press.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: matthias</div><div class="ubbcode-body">when i do it it goes like this

-remove ball\expander from sizing die
-run all brass through die making a second shoulder
-cut off brass with drill press that has a cut off wheel mounted horozontally
-put expander ball back in die and run brass through again
-trim , de bur , load

i take the expander out in the beginning because it makes less effort on the press handle and why size brass you are going to cut off in the next step?

so far i have done 500 cases this way and i have not burned out the cut off wheel yet. another thousand 556's showed up so i will be busy </div></div>

I also agree with this:

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Having gone down the same path unless you have a lot of free time on your hands your better of buying the brass.</div></div>

It is a very tedious process, and I'm not a lazy person, but damn. It takes a long time and it is so much easier to just buy 1000 pieces of converted LC brass.
-Dan