Blaser r8 barrel in 300 aac blackout - options and opinions wanted

[Daisy]

Unless you have neighbors.

If I lit off a mag full of 308 Winchester from my AR-10 at a group of fleeing hogs at midnight, my neighbors 800yards away might not call the Cops, but It's a safe bet they'll want to have a conversation about it the next day!

Subsonic and suppressed at midnight is just being polite.

I hear you. I have a subsonic load too for similar situations.

If most of your hunting is from your porch you probably need to get out more at night. Not exactly what I would call hunting.

 

[Daisy]

Thx guys.
I didn't think about the impact noise alerting them. That kind of kills the whole vision I had of this.

Maybe I'll just put a different gas plug and the tbac on the FAL for pig duty.

I have killed many doubles with coyote and triples with hogs using suppressed supersonic loads.

No disrespect for anyone here but this ain’t your best place for this info. I night hunt about 50 days a year and I know lots of guys that do more. Go get some good info somewhere else imo.

Lots of people talking about hogs and not coyotes. My group has killed 100 over last 2 years. A 300bo or 308 or anything subsonic will leave you sorely disappointed. With subs you’ll drop about 1 out of 5 hogs. The rest will run off. You will miss most coyote and won’t be able to shoot over 100 yards.

 

[BeeMaa]

I save subsonic for home defense loads to save my ears. Combined with a suppressor, it’s incredibly quiet. Everything has a specific job. I’ve not run into a good reason (yet) to use subsonic for hunting.

 

[skydiver386]

I hear you. I have a subsonic load too for similar situations.

If most of your hunting is from your porch you probably need to get out more at night. Not exactly what I would call hunting.

My property has no buildings except a Sea-Land and a shed where I store my tractors. It's my rural hunting land along what is called the Nature Coast of Florida. 30-100 acres is as big a piece of land as you'll find, except for some of the cattle ranches. I still have neighbors within 600 yards in every direction, and I'm in one of the least populated areas in the State of Florida.

Sunday afternoon it's like the 4th of July with everyone out shooting after Church. Nobody bats an eye at all the gunfire during the daylight hours, but gunfire after dark is suspicious because there is a State Wildlife Area a few miles away and poachers are a problem. There is a QDMA area not a mile north of my place, and poachers have been caught spotlighting Deer every year since I've owned the property.

This is just the way it is east of the Mississippi. In the Western States, like where I used to live north of Yuma, Arizona, a belt fed M240B machine gun wouldn't bother anyone in the middle of the desert ️.

Subsonic ammunition and suppressors used at short ranges don't wake up anyone. If I'm on a property where ranges can be longer, say a cattle pasture where I have permission to hunt, I'll use supersonic ammo, but still use a suppressor.

Each ammo type and each firearm type has its own purpose depending on how populated the area is.

 

[Daisy]

Up

My property has no buildings except a Sea-Land and a shed where I store my tractors. It's my rural hunting land along what is called the Nature Coast of Florida. 30-100 acres is as big a piece of land as you'll find, except for some of the cattle ranches. I still have neighbors within 600 yards in every direction, and I'm in one of the least populated areas in the State of Florida.

Sunday afternoon it's like the 4th of July with everyone out shooting after Church. Nobody bats an eye at all the gunfire during the daylight hours, but gunfire after dark is suspicious because there is a State Wildlife Area a few miles away and poachers are a problem. There is a QDMA area not a mile north of my place, and poachers have been caught spotlighting Deer every year since I've owned the property.

This is just the way it is east of the Mississippi. In the Western States, like where I used to live north of Yuma, Arizona, a belt fed M240B machine gun wouldn't bother anyone in the middle of the desert ️.

Subsonic ammunition and suppressors used at short ranges don't wake up anyone. If I'm on a property where ranges can be longer, say a cattle pasture where I have permission to hunt, I'll use supersonic ammo, but still use a suppressor.

Each ammo type and each firearm type has its own purpose depending on how populated the area is.
View attachment 727043

Suppressed is only way to go for this type of hunting. I honestly don’t know a person that doesn’t hunt at night suppressed.

I am in Alabama my man. I’ve hunted all over the state with suppressed rounds and never had a complaint.

As I said I do have a subsonic load that gets used once or twice a year in suburban areas. Shots are less than 100. I did hit a jackrabbit at 140 yards one time, best shot I’ve ever had!

Agree that there are different setups for different things. This OP was about getting into predator and hog shooting….his first rifle should be flat and fast IMO.

If I was setting up a hog specific gun I would think of the 338 arc. It has heavies 50% heavier than a 300bo. It’s being supported by Hornady with cheap factory subsonic offerings. And it has a 175gr supersonic ammo factory you can use on hogs when you are tired of the poor performance of subs. Ha.

If I had to get one gun or barrel for both coyotes and hogs I would probably get a 6creedmoor. Could use 103eldx on hogs and 80gr eldvt on yotes.

 

[farmer_john]

Blaser doesn't offer a r8 barrel in the caliber. Looking for a barrel for night hunting pigs and coyotes over green light.

Any available options and experiences?

Just reload your 308 with a light load.
Only diff in 308 and 300blk is case size. A decent reloading setup is prolly cheaper than a new blaser barrel abd saves $$$ in the long run

 

[Red Leg]

Up

Suppressed is only way to go for this type of hunting. I honestly don’t know a person that doesn’t hunt at night suppressed.

I am in Alabama my man. I’ve hunted all over the state with suppressed rounds and never had a complaint.

As I said I do have a subsonic load that gets used once or twice a year in suburban areas. Shots are less than 100. I did hit a jackrabbit at 140 yards one time, best shot I’ve ever had!

Agree that there are different setups for different things. This OP was about getting into predator and hog shooting….his first rifle should be flat and fast IMO.

If I was setting up a hog specific gun I would think of the 338 arc. It has heavies 50% heavier than a 300bo. It’s being supported by Hornady with cheap factory subsonic offerings. And it has a 175gr supersonic ammo factory you can use on hogs when you are tired of the poor performance of subs. Ha.

If I had to get one gun or barrel for both coyotes and hogs I would probably get a 6creedmoor. Could use 103eldx on hogs and 80gr eldvt on yotes.

I agree, my night rifles are suppressed. Here, I use them primarily to keep pigs out of the pecans. But, I don't use subtonics. If I would not shoot an animal under other conditions with a round with such an awful trajectory and terminal ballistics, then why do so at night. The difference between firing an unsuppressed rifle and suppressed one around pigs at night is pretty dramatic without going subsonic. More importantly, with quality thermal optics, I can drop that second pig at 150 yards if required.

I have also switched to a suppressed rifle (6.5 x 55) as my daylight deer rifle on our property here. I shot a little eight pointer in the river bottom day before yesterday morning. Noise was negligible, and the impact on the area herd was even less so. In previous years, shooting a deer caused them to disappear for a couple of weeks. This morning I was watching a buck chasing a doe from the patio at 0700.

I do not have much use for a suppressor in spot and stalk situations. There I want an easily maneuverable firearm and the ability to take full advantage of the particular chambering's full capabilities.

 

[Daisy]

I agree, my night rifles are suppressed. Here, I use them primarily to keep pigs out of the pecans. But, I don't use subtonics. If I would not shoot an animal under other conditions with a round with such an awful trajectory and terminal ballistics, then why do so at night. The difference between firing an unsuppressed rifle and suppressed one around pigs at night is pretty dramatic without going subsonic. More importantly, with quality thermal optics, I can drop that second pig at 150 yards if required.

I have also switched to a suppressed rifle (6.5 x 55) as my daylight deer rifle on our property here. I shot a little eight pointer in the river bottom day before yesterday morning. Noise was negligible, and the impact on the area herd was even less so. In previous years, shooting a deer caused them to disappear for a couple of weeks. This morning I was watching a buck chasing a doe from the patio at 0700.

I do not have much use for a suppressor in spot and stalk situations. There I want an easily maneuverable firearm and the ability to take full advantage of the particular chambering's full capabilities.

View attachment 727562

That’s a great setup. Similar to my 6.5 PRC I have setup for same thing.

 

[Red Leg]

That’s a great setup. Similar to my 6.5 PRC I have setup for same thing.

Only thing I am changing is the scope. Most of my shots are 250-280 yards across our pasture to the tree line bordering the river. Deer in dark shadow at first and last light. Just purchased a Leica Ampulus 6 2.5x15 with the 56mm objective. It is Leica's entry level model of their higher end scopes - seems to be a real bargain. Awaiting the custom 6.5x55 turret to install and sight it in. Won't be a good choice for spot and stalk, but ideal for this particular requirement set.

 

[Daisy]

Only thing I am changing is the scope. Most of my shots are 250-280 yards across our pasture to the tree line bordering the river. Deer in dark shadow at first and last light. Just purchased a Leica Ampulus 6 2.5x15 with the 56mm objective. It is Leica's entry level model of their higher end scopes - seems to be a real bargain. Awaiting the custom 6.5x55 turret to install and sight it in. Won't be a good choice for spot and stalk, but ideal for this particular requirement set.

That sounds perfect. I have a Steiner h6xi 3-18x50 and it does well at dusk. Cant imagine a leica with 56mm won’t be great.

Agree on spot and stalk. Running 2-12x42 on stalking rifle. I was big on lpvo but the 42mm bell on that h6xi lets a ton of light in and the 2x is plenty low for close shots. Phillip Glass video changed my mind on closer shots on all but my 416 (Steiner 1-5). My 375 now runs a 2-12x42 too.

 

[Daisy]

I run a 100gr eldvt at 3400 with my thermal and that 6.5prc for nights. To say it dominates coyotes is an understatement.

 

[Northview902]

Primary Contender: 6mm ARC is arguably the perfect modern cartridge for your stated purpose. It was designed for exactly this performance envelope: high BC bullets from a small case, with low recoil and excellent terminal performance on coyote and pig-sized game out to 300+ yards.

 

[JoninCO]

I'll pile on the bandwagon and say 300BO isn't a great choice...just use a bigger cartridge if you're using a bigger gun.

I was around when AAC developed the cartridge for a military requirement, and that requirement as improved lethality over the MP5-SD in a similar sized platform that had a common manual of arms and accessory compatibility to the primary assault rifle (an HK416 at the time...so an AR). It's fine for that, great replacement for an SMG. The lethality, even with highly specialized projos (that are $3+ a projectile) isn't outstanding, but compared to 9mm HST it was an improvement. I've tried them on hogs, both supers and subs (110gr TSX and 220gr TSX, 208gr Hornady, weird Lehigh stuff) and have never been impressed. I always dug the projos out, and it never took very long to find them because they didn't go far. The Hornady in particular expanded way too rapidly, penetration was hot garbage. Nice big flower with about 2" of penetration...not very useful.

If you are dead set on "quiet", make the most out of the gun and do 375 Raptor or 8.6 Blackout .338 Arc may be a good option too, but with the Blaser you're going to have to consider internal magazine availability and I don't think they do one for that case diameter, although I didn't dig too much. I shoot a lot of pigs every year, and I do it with supersonic cartridges exclusively with the exception of a suppressed .45-70 on occasion.