A few weeks ago, Freedom Munitions sent me some of their 208 grain A-Max remanufactured subsonic .300 blackout ammo to test.
I’m been a HUGE fan of .300 blk and have been shooting it for the last 3 years.
A lot of people don’t understand the allure of the .300 blk, and some think it’s ridiculous. That’s fine, but let me SHOW you why I like the 208 grain subsonic from Freedom so much and then I’ll give you some quick background on the bullet and tell you some of the top reasons why I shoot it.
Here’s a quick 3 minute video where I demonstrate the accuracy, high speed controllability, and penetration of the round.
The .300 blk round was designed as a replacement for the suppressed MP5 for building clearing operations that would be hearing safe to use while clearing a building and allow operators to immediately engage short to medium range targets in the outdoors by simply changing from a mag loaded with subsonic ammo to a mag loaded with full power ammo. This does not require any changes or modifications to the gun. This is why it’s so different from the MP5/7 and M4.
Ballistically, the way that I think of subsonic .300 blk vs. full power .300 blk is that the subsonic has ballistics similar to a .45ACP and the full power has ballistics similar to an AK-47 (7.62×39). It’s not a magic bullet…it’s a bullet with a specific set of purposes. The subsonic version is hearing safe and the full power version has solid terminal ballistics out past 300 yards (16.7% more energy than a 7.62×39 at 300 yards).
.300 blk uses, essentially a .223 or 5.56 case that has been resized to hold a bullet that is .30 inches in diameter (think .308, 30-30, 30-06, 7.62×39, .300 win mag, etc.) instead of .22 inches in diameter (think .22, .223, 5.56, etc.)
Instead of pushing a 55 grain to 77 grain bullet, like you would with a 5.56, a .300 blk will push a 110-220 grain bullet.
This becomes an advantage when you want to shoot suppressed, without hearing protection. Since the speed of sound is fixed, the goal is to push as heavy of a projectile out of the barrel as possible (within reason) to thump the target with as much force as possible.
But not all 300 blackout ammo—especially subsonic—is created equally.
For the first couple of years after the 300 blackout came out, subsonic ammunition was ALMOST as hard to find as pink unicorn snot and I bought and shot whatever I could find. When you pay for subsonic ammo, you want it to be subsonic and not have so high of a muzzle velocity that it breaks the sound barrier.
Unfortunately, many manufacturers knew that they could throw crap in a box, slap a 300 blackout subsonic label on it, and get upwards of $1.30-$2 per round for it.
What I found with many brands (including big name brands) was that 2-8 rounds per box of 20 would randomly break the sound barrier. This isn’t just a noise issue…it’s an issue of inconsistency. If you aren’t pushing rounds out of your barrel at close to the same speed every time, you can’t accurately sight in or trust your gun to put rounds where you want them to go.
My experience after 400+ rounds of Freedom Munitions 208gr A-Max is that none have cracked the sound barrier. That’s a big deal…both for trusting your gun to be the volume you expect when you pull the trigger AND because it’s more proof that the powder loads are consistent.
I like the .300 blk for a few reasons…namely:
- 2.Again with subsonic, I can do varmint control around the house in the late evening and early morning without waking anyone in the house or bothering neighbors. Our neighbors aren’t THAT close, but still don’t want to hear rounds going off as they’re going to sleep or waking up.
- 3.Since the .300 blk subsonic has the ballistics of a .45ACP, I can use it in ranges and shoot houses that don’t allow 5.56 or bigger ammo.
- 4.Since the .300 blk is made from .223 brass, it fits in 5.56 AR magazines. A 30 round 5.56 magazine will hold 30 rounds of .300 blk and putting .300 blk into a 5.56 magazine won’t cause any surprise malfunctions.
Let’s get into the performance of the Freedom Munitions 208 gr. Subsonic A-Max and let me start by dispelling a misconception that you might have. The fancy red tip doesn’t mean that the bullet is going to necessarily explode or have “devastating” expansion on impact.
Rifle bullets don’t expand well at slow speeds. Most 30 caliber bullets are made to leave the muzzle at speeds up to 3000 feet per second. That means they have to hold together well. The downside of this is that there are VERY few bullets that are designed to expand at subsonic speeds of 1100 feet per second or less.
The A-Max LOOKS like an expanding hollow point with a polymer tip. It does expand when it hits fluids at 2,000 feet per second or more, but at subsonic speeds, the main purposes of the A-Max polymer tip are resistance to nicking & deformation during chambering and pushing the center of mass further back on the bullet to improve ballistic coefficient and flight characteristics.
The penetration of the bullet was actually one of the most surprising things that I found in my testing. It punches through the first 8-10” of water jugs like an arrow…a testament to the aerodynamics of the bullet…before yawing/tumbling and cutting a bigger wound channel.
I found the exact same performance on coyote. It punches a clean, small hole straight through the broadside of coyote. In my limited experience, I found that tiny coyote ribs did little to impact the bullet. The subsonic A-Max hardly a “devastating” round, but it will quietly put lead EXACTLY where you want it to go. If your bullet placement is good, it’s very effective at QUIET varmint/small predator control at close range. I would assume, but don’t know, that the round would be comparable to a .45ACP when it hits the bones of larger predators—creating shrapnel and additional wound channels. This is not a bad thing on small game…simply view your target 3 dimensionally and put your sights on the organ(s) you want to hit and send it.
I had a chance to go through all of the Freedom Munitions Idaho manufacturing facilities a few weeks ago with Jansen Jones…professional 3-gun shooter and VP of Marketing and the facilities were amazing and larger than I had imagined. They’ve grown over the last few years from ~40 employees to ~80 employees to 400+ employees, and their facilities have grown at a similar pace. Rounds are machine inspected as well as hand inspected multiple times and there is a passion and love at the company that is tangible.
When you’re cranking out millions of units of anything, mistakes happen. They’re running at a furious pace trying to meet demand and between that and the rate at which they’ve been growing, they have had some mistakes. What I appreciate is how they have handled those mistakes.
On the wall, in one of the warehouses where they do the final hands-on inspections and packaging, there is a “wall of shame” showing past mistakes. 1. There aren’t many of them. 2. They don’t hide their mistakes 3. They fix problems when they happen, including the rare proactive recall of individual lots of ammo. When I talked face to face with people from the company about mistakes, I could instantly see PAIN on their faces. Their product isn’t just bullets…it’s an expression of who they are and they take a lot of pride in it.
For more on the 208 gr 300 AAC Blackout subsonic from Freedom, go >HERE< I checked yesterday and they have about 30,000 rounds in stock. If you don’t shoot 300 blackout, you should still click through because they offer daily deals ranging from 5-20% off, free shipping, and more.
As I was showing this video to people, one thing I kept getting asked was what kind of steel target I was using with the resetting IPSC A-Zone. It’s from www.Range-Systems.com & INRangeSupplies.com, it’s RIFLE rated, and here’s some quick info on it: http://www.inrangesupplies.com/index.php/steel-targets-1/lok-tite/ipsc-flag-target-self-resetting-flag.html. I’ll be showing more of what it can do in the next couple of weeks.
With all of the gear shown and examples, this article may very well bring up more questions than it answers. If that’s the case, let me know by commenting/asking below. Like the 300 Blackout? Hate it? Sound off by commenting below.
