USA: Yes I Did It, But...

jduckhunter

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Namibia, Zimbabwe, USA (PA ,WY,TX,MT,AK,NJ,DE,VA,WV,SD,MA,NC,FL,MD,CA) Canada (QC,NF,ON,NT,NWT,BC), New Zealand
I went deer hunting with my Ruger Ranch rifle chambered in 300 BLK. I was using Hornady 208 grain Amax bullets, loaded to some where between 1000 and 1100 FPS (subsonic). I was hunting close to home and in a woodlot surrounded by houses, my rifle has a suppressor on it and with the subsonic loads the neighbors don't even know that I'm shooting. Not everyone in the hood shares my views on hunting so it's nice to keep things quiet. Any way, I knew that any shot that I would get would be a close one, the wood lot is very over grown and quite thick, so I wasn't concerned about a long range rifle. I wasn't hunting for more then two minutes when a buck steps into the trail ahead of me, he stops for a second, takes a quick look at me and turns to head on down the trail. I recovered from the shock of having him just appear like that out of nowhere and got off a shot just as he was quartering away and slightly downhill. To my surprise he went down with the shot and never got back up, I was a bit stunned. It wasn't the perfect shot for the setup I was using, but there he was down for the count. I couldn't wait to get the hide off of him to see what my bullet had done. Turns out that I got extremely lucky, the bullet entered his left side just behind the shoulder and about 1/3 of the way up his side. It just nicked a rib on the way in and turned very sharply upward just touched the bottom of his spine then turned again and smacked into the center of his right shoulder, but lacked the power to penetrate the bone. If that bullet wouldn't have hit his spine and paralyzed him I would have had a devil of a time trailing him in that thick cover. The entrance hole was very small, I think I only hit one lung and there was no exit hole, so no blood trail and I'm sure he would have gone quite a way before expiring. I was very lucky this time.
I've read a lot of pros and cons on the topic of hunting with subsonic rounds and I just had to find out for myself how well they worked. Now I know and I probably won't be using them again any time soon, at least not for deer hunting.
I've included a picture of the deer so that you can see why I was so shocked when I first saw him, I wasn't expecting to see anything like that, I've shot a lot of deer but this one got to me for a second. I've also included a picture of the recovered bullet, keep in mind that it passed almost through a mature deer at 43 yards, as you can see there is very little expansion, and the fact that it didn't exit I guess is what bothers me the most. So yes I did it, I hunted with subsonic bullets and yes I got a nice deer, but would I recommend that anyone else uses them for deer hunting, that's a big NO.
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Man that's a great buck! Better to be lucky then good. Wish it had worked better, I have been interested in getting a 308 and suppressing it and was wondering how it work. Now sure if the 308 would perform better then the 300blk but as you mentioned the problem is probably speed.
 
I'm jealous that you can use a suppressor. Totally illegal here. :(
Can't think of a better tool for not disturbing the anti neighbours.

Congrats on your success.
Interesting bullet path..
Might have to restrict yourself to broadside heart shots.
 
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Man that's a great buck! Better to be lucky then good. Wish it had worked better, I have been interested in getting a 308 and suppressing it and was wondering how it work. Now sure if the 308 would perform better then the 300blk but as you mentioned the problem is probably speed.
Velocity is definitely the problem or lack of it I should say. The suppressor works great on my 30-06, takes that big boom out of the equation, but you still have the crack from the bullet breaking the sound barrier
 
I'm jealous that you can use a suppressor. Totally illegal here. :(
Can't think of a better tool for not disturbing the anti neighbours.

Congrats on your success.
Interesting bullet path..
Might have to restrict yourself to broadside heart shots.
Sorry you can't use them, they are great for not taking your hearing also. I think that the bullet probably tumbled it's way through that deer. Just not enough velocity to stabilize it very well.
 
I am glad you were able to get the deer.
Just another proof of what I tell people that, that cartridge is a poor choice for hunting. Also A-Max bullets were designed for target shooting not hunting.
Live and learn I guess
 
Congrats and I'm glad it worked out. I haven't been impressed with 300 blk. I really thought I wanted one until a client brought one for pig hunting. It was suppressed as well and was in a M4 pattern rifle. I played with it and then we took it hunting. Client did kill 1 pig with it but.... he ear holed it. That was the only pig that was shot that actually died. Several more were hit but none recovered. After that I decided the 300 blk wasn't all it's cracked up to be. I've been thinking of building an AR pattern 50 Beowulf.
 
Great report and interesting details. Thanks!
 
Nice Buck. Congrats!
 
Congrats on a nice buck!
 
Don't get me wrong I still think that the 300 BLK is a good caliber, just not for deer hunting loaded with subsonic rounds.
 
Nice buck, I would not have chosen that cartridge but the proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say. Accidents do happen.
 
I agree with your conclusion. I have several suppressors but from now on I am just using regular ammo. I can fire 3-4 times from a deer blind before they really know what's going on. I live on and own a ranch so I have to do lots of culling. So therefore whitetail don't excite me it's just work hence the reason I have to slip off to Africa as often as possible!
Regards,
Philip
 
handy freezer filler , jd
like the sound of the silencer and downloaded ammo .
we would be drawn and quartered over here ,foe even thinking about a set up like that
most places we hunt are surrounded by anti hunting persons n.......
if we were allowed to use firearms that can quietened down we could save ourselves , lots of bush debates
like your tactics, bloke
 
I don't think the issue of hunting with subsonic ammo was the problem. In my opinion (take it with a grain of salt), the AMAX was the wrong bullet to use. spire tipped bullets tend to wander as soon as the enter tissue if they don't expand. I looked at the .300BLK when I was buying my Ranch rifle, but I went with the .556 version because I wanted to shoot woodchucks at 300 yards. if I had gone with the Blackout, I would have loaded a 200 grain cast bullet with a Gas check and a decent meplat. A flat nose bullet will more often than not penetrate in a staight line at subsonic speeds. Sure they act like a solid but if an Elephant can be killed by putting a .375 solid though the heart, a deer should be just as dead with a bullet only 1/8" smaller. I wouldn't imagine they would make it more than 100 yards if properly hit.

Great venison though! Any hunt you can walk home with the animal on is a success in my book! Try looking at round nose or flat nosed .30 cal. bullets. They will push through more in a straight line!
 
Nice buck @jduckhunter and thank you for sharing your experience. Glad things worked out like they did. Some days chicken, some days feathers :)
A subsonic 30 cal certainly doesn't leave any room for error. As has already been mentioned, choice of bullet is critical and still not a guarantee even with a well placed shot. For that reason I agree with your conclusion. Not a great choice for deer size game.
Having said that, my hunting partner took a Ruger American in .300 BLK to Africa and used it very succesfully to take Bushbuck, Steenbok, Duiker and Blesbuck. All one shot kills and no lost game. Bullets exited the Duiker and Steenbok but did not exit Bushbuck and Blesbuck. Bushbuck was a frontal shot, Blesbuck broadside. He was using 200 gr Accura bullets which are a copper plated lead bullet that mushroom easily at subsonic velocities. This bullet was designed specifically for use on game at subsonic velocity.
Here's a link to the bullet
https://accuraoutdoors.com/product-category/plated-bullets/300-blackout-bullets/

Blesbuck heart and 200 gr Accura bullet
S1020019.jpg


I would use this combo on stuff up to Blesbuck size game. Bigger stuff and thicker skinned game I'd go with something like a 150 gr supersonic. The challenge being different point of impact between subs and supers.
Enjoy those tasty tenderloins! (y)
 
Nice buck @jduckhunter and thank you for sharing your experience. Glad things worked out like they did. Some days chicken, some days feathers :)
A subsonic 30 cal certainly doesn't leave any room for error. As has already been mentioned, choice of bullet is critical and still not a guarantee even with a well placed shot. For that reason I agree with your conclusion. Not a great choice for deer size game.
Having said that, my hunting partner took a Ruger American in .300 BLK to Africa and used it very succesfully to take Bushbuck, Steenbok, Duiker and Blesbuck. All one shot kills and no lost game. Bullets exited the Duiker and Steenbok but did not exit Bushbuck and Blesbuck. Bushbuck was a frontal shot, Blesbuck broadside. He was using 200 gr Accura bullets which are a copper plated lead bullet that mushroom easily at subsonic velocities. This bullet was designed specifically for use on game at subsonic velocity.
Here's a link to the bullet
https://accuraoutdoors.com/product-category/plated-bullets/300-blackout-bullets/

Blesbuck heart and 200 gr Accura bullet
View attachment 180589

I would use this combo on stuff up to Blesbuck size game. Bigger stuff and thicker skinned game I'd go with something like a 150 gr supersonic. The challenge being different point of impact between subs and supers.
Enjoy those tasty tenderloins! (y)
Thank You IdaRam I'm always looking for something better.
 
Very nice buck indeed! I would think some thing like a Core-Lokt bullet would work nice.
 

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