Last updated August 19th 2026 · By Nick Hall, 300 Blackout shooter who has run every rifle on this list with subsonic and supersonic loads
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New for 2026: Smith & Wesson has chambered the M&P15 AXE in 300 Blackout, an 8-inch suppressor host with a 1:7.5 twist barrel. See the specs and pricing.
What is .300 Blackout? It’s a .30 calibre bullet on a shortened 5.56 case, catalogued by SAAMI as 300 BLK and metrically as 7.62x35mm. Advanced Armament Corporation developed it with Remington Defense and SAAMI approved it on 17 January 2011. The whole point was .30 calibre performance out of an M4 without changing anything else: same bolt, same magazines, same 30 rounds in a 30-round mag. You swap the barrel and nothing more.
It behaves like two different cartridges depending on what you feed it. Supersonic loads of 110 to 135 grains are your hunting and range rounds. Subsonic loads of 190 to 220 grains stay under the speed of sound on purpose, and with a can on the front that is about as quiet as a centrefire rifle gets. Same rifle, same magazine, completely different gun.
Most Blackout guns are short because the powder burns up inside a short barrel, so you lose far less velocity than you would chopping a 5.56. A 16-inch rifle is therefore a deliberate choice: you want a normal long gun in your hands and you would rather skip the NFA paperwork. The nine below are the ones worth buying, and there’s a full breakdown of the cartridge further down if that’s what you came for.
How we tested: Every pick here is ranked against our testing methodology. Minimum round counts, accuracy and reliability protocols, the failures that disqualify a gun. Where we have not shot a specific variant ourselves, we say so in that section.
The Winners at a Glance
| Rifle | Config | Barrel | Street Price | Check Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEST OVERALL Ruger American Ranch Gen II |
Bolt action | 16.1″ | ~$593 | Lowest Price ↓ |
| BEST BUDGET Radical Firearms HBAR |
Rifle | 16″ | ~$444 | Lowest Price ↓ |
| BEST HUNTING AR Daniel Defense DDM4 Hunter |
Rifle | 16″ | End of run | Lowest Price ↓ |
| THE ORIGINAL Q Honey Badger |
Pistol / SBR | 7″ | ~$3,200 | Lowest Price ↓ |
| BEST CUSTOM Wilson Combat Protector |
Rifle | 16.25″ | ~$2,194 | Lowest Price ↓ |
| LIGHTWEIGHT POLYMER ATI Omni Hybrid Maxx |
Rifle | 16″ | ~$400 | Lowest Price ↓ |
| BUDGET SAFE BET PSA 300 Blackout |
Pistol / SBR | 8.5″ | ~$550 | Lowest Price ↓ |
| SOLID MID-RANGE Diamondback DB15 |
Rifle | 16″ | ~$662 | Lowest Price ↓ |
| MILITARY GRADE Sig MCX Spear LT |
Pistol / SBR | 9″ | ~$2,500 | Lowest Price ↓ |
Who a 300 Blackout Rifle Is Actually For
300 Blackout pistols and SBRs are everywhere. Rifle-length Blackout is much thinner on the ground, and the guns that do exist get overlooked because most of the noise online is about short barrels.
A 16 inch Blackout makes sense for a specific person: someone who wants a suppressor host that still shoulders like a normal rifle, and who would rather not file NFA paperwork to get there. If that is you, the list below is the short answer. If it is not, you probably want a pistol or an SBR instead.
The 300 Blackout cartridge was designed for a semi automatic Short Barreled Rifle and military applications, but it has a lot to offer in long rifle form too.
Fit a suppressor and run subsonic rounds or go supersonic and feel the benefit of all that extra power that can turn an AR-15 into a home defense champion and a serious hunting rifle for harvesting hogs, deer and other North American game.
But what is the best 300 Blackout rifle on sale in 2026?
Table of Contents
Why Rifle-Length 300 Blackout Matters
The 300 blackout cartridge was engineered to perform where 5.56mm NATO struggles: short barrels and suppressed shooting. The US Special Forces wanted a better round CQB that fit the same BCG and rifle magazines as the 5.56mm NATO. It also needed to play nicer with suppressors and offer better terminal performance in Close Quarters combat.
So, in essence, AAC 300 Blackout was built for short barrel rifles and pistols. The fact it also works in rifles is pretty much a happy accident, but it really does.
16 inch barrel blackout rifles offer:
• Improved velocity with supersonic rounds
• Better stability and increased accuracy at distance
• Simpler legal compliance compared to short barreled rifle setups
• Traditional long guns feel
• Excellent deer hunting performance
If you want one rifle to handle suppressed shooting and home defense without NFA paperwork, a rifle-length 300 blackout makes sense.
Twist Rate and Gas System Tuning
Most quality 300 blackout rifles use a 1:7 twist rate. That twist rate stabilizes heavier subsonic rounds effectively.
When running suppressed setups, an adjustable gas block or properly tuned gas system makes a difference. Direct impingement systems work well, but adjustable gas gives flexibility between subsonic and supersonic loads.
Longer barrel lengths reduce over-gassing issues common in short barrel builds.
Rifle builds are simply more forgiving. And the beauty of them is they can still take supersonic rounds and offer similar performance benefits at 300 yards while the subsonic rounds tend to drop off about 200. Of course supersonic rounds are louder, the clue is in the name. Either way, you get better performance than 5.56x45mm NATO more or less everywhere, and you get choices.
The 9 Best 300 Blackout Rifles
1. Ruger American Ranch Gen II 300 Blackout
- Caliber: 300 Blackout
- Barrel Length: 16.10 inch, spiral fluted, threaded 5/8-24
- Twist Rate: 1:7 RH
- Capacity: 10, AR-style magazine
- Weight: 6.2 lb
- MSRP: $769 (Ruger model 46959, the left-hand version; right-hand models share the specs)
Best Bolt-Action Hunter
Pros
- Reliable bolt action operation
- Excellent deer hunting capability
- Quiet suppressor shooting
Cons
- Slower follow-up shots
- Less modular than AR platforms
- Accuracy falls off at 300 yards
| Price | Performance | Weight | Reliability | Prestige |
| 5/5 | 2/5 | 5/5 | 4/5 | 2.5/5 |
Bolt action rifles give the AAC Blackout cartridge a different flavor and you can shoot with a suppressor, or go supersonic for white tail deer hunting, or hunting hogs.
This is the Generation II Ranch, which replaced the original American Ranch. You get a 16.1 inch spiral-fluted barrel in Cobalt Cerakote, a 5/8-24 thread already cut for a can, a 10 round AR-pattern magazine and a Picatinny base for your optic. Ruger lists it at 6.2 lb and $769, and the street price sits a long way under that.
It is a super lightweight rifle you can shoulder all day. The action is inherently simple and that means it is reliable.
Online reviews have noted this isn’t the most accurate rifle beyond 300 yards, but it makes up for its lack of long range target shooting prowess with its portability in the field.
AR-style rifles are popular, but these are a solution to a specific set of problems. Yes a 308 Winchester will do most of the same things and it is better catered for in terms of the wide selection.
But then, this is something different and AAC Blackout, especially with a suppressor, is just perfect for some hunting situations where 308 rifles feel a touch too much.
This also offers the best suppressed hunting set-up on a budget. Both the Ruger and the Savage Arms Savage Axis are both viable options if you’re looking for a cheap set-up with a can. Christensen Arms also offers a cut down bolt pistol
2. Radical Firearms HBAR
- Caliber: 300 Blackout
- Barrel Length: 16 inch
- Weight: 7.5lb
Low Budget Winner
Pros
- Supremely cheap and reliable
- Surprisingly soft recoil with subsonic loads
- Sturdy heavy barrel resists overheating
Cons
- Heavier than typical lightweight rifle builds
- Iron sights need upgrading right away
- Bolt carrier finish wears with extended use
| Price | Performance | Weight | Reliability | Prestige |
| 5/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 |
Radical Firearms makes insanely cheap AR-15s that don’t suck, at all. That’s basically the company MO and it has done it again with this very solid 300BLK semi automatic rifle for less than $500.
Do you want to dip a toe in the 300BLK water? Are you just looking for a beefier AR-15 for home defense, short range hunting and recreational shooting?
Then the Radical Firearms 300 Blackout semi auto rifle is all the gun you are likely to need. And it costs less than a replacement barrel for some of the pricier firearms here.
Its qualities go beyond the sticker price as well. The name literally means Heavy Barrel AR, and that beefy front end means it doesn’t overheat too quickly when you’re shooting strings, the weight helps deal with the recoil with heavier subsonic loads and it’s a surprisingly soft shooter.
Now that weight can count against it in the field, and it’s a lump when you’re swinging it round corners for home defense. But at this price, I can live with that.
3. Daniel Defense DDM4 Hunter 300 Blackout
- Caliber: 300 Blackout
- Barrel Length: 16 inch, cold hammer forged, S2W profile, threaded 5/8×24
- Twist Rate: 1:8
- Gas System: carbine length, direct impingement
- Weight: 6.55 lb
- MSRP: $2,447
Best Hunting AR
Pros
- Ideal 1:7 twist rate performance
- Smooth suppressed shooting
- Industry leading build quality
Cons
- Man it’s expensive
- Slightly heavier than minimalist builds
| Price | Performance | Weight | Reliability | Prestige |
| 2/5 | 5/5 | 3/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 |
A word on availability before anything else. Daniel Defense has ended the run on the Hunter 300 Blackout, and as I write this its own site, Palmetto State Armory and Guns.com all show it out of stock. It is still the nicest 16 inch factory Blackout rifle anyone has built, so it stays on the list, but treat it as a gun you hunt for rather than one you order tonight.
It is expensive, and the economies of scale are nowhere near what they are in 5.56. Daniel Defense does still list 300 Blackout in short-barrel form, the 300S at 10.3 inches and the PDW at 7 inches, and the integrally suppressed ISR sits above both. Those are the ones you can actually buy new.
The Hunter runs a 1:8 twist, which is what you want for heavy subsonics. Anything slower struggles to stabilize a 220-grain bullet, and you see it on paper as keyholing long before you see it in the group size. Daniel Defense pairs it with a Geissele two-stage trigger from the factory, which is not something you normally get at this end of the rack.
In a 16 inch barrel the Hunter feels like a traditional long gun, not a compromise build. The carbine-length gas system runs clean, even when switching between subsonic and supersonic loads. The bolt carrier staking is solid. No slop. No weird wear patterns after extended shooting suppressed.
Compared to a similarly sized 5.56mm NATO rifle, recoil impulse is slower and more linear and these long guns make great hunting rifles because of the silence. For home defense, especially indoors with a suppressor, that is also a big time gain.
Add red dot sights, and weapon lights, and you’ve got a serious defense weapon that doesn’t feel overbuilt or gimmicky.
4. Q Honey Badger
- Barrel: 16 inch
- Weight: 7lb
The Original. Still the Best?
Pros
- Excellent suppressor shooting performance with heavy subsonics
- Lightweight, balanced feel for long-gun handling
- Reliable cycling across loads and barrel lengths
Cons
- It’s a unicorn status, almost impossible to find
- Premium pricing compared to common AR builds
- Limited aftermarket upgrade ecosystem available
| Price | Performance | Weight | Reliability | Prestige |
| 3.5/5 | 5/5 | 2.5/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 |
The Q Honey Badger was the original military special and it came as an SBR, but did you know they made a rifle with a 16″ barrel as well? You do now.
Now getting hold of a Q Honeybadger in this form is another thing entirely. We haven’t seen one on the open market for quite a while. So even if it is one of the best 300 Blackout rifles on sale, that last part is a very key phrase.
The Q Honey Badger was the first commercially available platform built around the AAC 300 BLK round, rather than a modified AR-15 designed for 5.56mm NATO. It came from a gun that first appeared in video games, but was designed for the US Special Forces as a Short Barrel Rifle.
Once the Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) version was sorted, the Q Honey Badger rifle followed with adjustable gas systems, sensational performance with a suppressor and the mystique of the brand and the video game connection.
Now the Q Honey Badger was never a massive commercial success. It took too long to arrive, the company was a mess behind the scenes and there were other issues. But weirdly the gun itself is an icon in its own way, way more famous than it should be with the sales numbers it achieved.
The Q Sugar Weasel and Fix bolt rifle followed in its footsteps, but the Honey Badger is the legend. And we deliberately broadened the live pricing cards to include pistols, because those are actually out there, and the rifles & pistols are equally as cool. And the pistol is an excellent close quarters combat tool for the home.
5. Wilson Combat Protector Carbine
- Barrel: 16
- Weight: 6.1lb
Best Custom Rifle
| Price | Performance | Weight | Reliability | Prestige |
| 3.5/5 | 5/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 5/5 |
Wilson Combat makes some of the best guns in the world, from 45 ACP 1911 pistols through to these AR-15s and the bigger AR-10,
They are all, essentially, the best of breed and are the only gun you’ll ever need to buy in that caliber for hunting, recreational shooting, home defense, everything really.
As well as a mid-length gas system and low profile gas block, the Wilson Combat features a free float handguard, MLOK rail, a Bravo Company Manufacturing pistol grip and Wilson Rogers Super Stock 6-position collapsible stock.
You also get a Nitride coated BCG, a match grade two stage trigger and lots more performance features on this high price, high spec Wilson Combat semi auto rifle.
It will go toe to toe with anything you can come up with. So if you can stomach the price, just get this and be happy.
6. American Tactical Omni Hybrid Maxx 300 Blackout
- Barrel: 16 inch
- Weight: 5.5lb
Super lightweight polymer rifle
| Price | Performance | Weight | Reliability | Prestige |
| 5/5 | 3/5 | 5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
The American Tactical Omni Hybrid Maxx put polymer receivers moulded onto a metal frame into the cheap AR-15 sector and undercut everybody. The 16 inch Blackout rifle is the one to look at, and at the time of writing it is the cheapest complete rifle on this whole list.
Now the result was a cheap rifle, a lightweight rifle and a true contender for the best AR-15 under $500. The American Tactical can easily handle the power upgrade, too, and this 300 Blackout AR-15 rifle has the potential to be a star here as well.
You get an M4 adjustable stock, free floating handguard and A2 muzzle device on this Blackout rifle. Also, the American Tactical comes in matte black, Flat Dark Earth and other color combos.
American Tactical has thrown a serious cat among the pigeons with this polymer AR-15. You have to spend orders of magnitude more to get 300 Blackout semi auto rifles made from metal. They often come with carbon fiber barrels and other clever solutions, but plastic receivers are a cheaper solution.
Gun reviews show this is a reliable, accurate and dependable rifle for basic shooting, although you might want to invest a little more for advanced target shooting. As hunting rifles, for short range work, these make a lot of sense. Get red dot sights up top and this is a lightweight and powerful hunting rig, especially with a suppressor.
There are pros and cons, but the pros far outweigh the cons in our humble opinion and for hunters, this lightweight rifle on their shoulder makes a long walk a lot shorter.
7. Palmetto State Armory 300 Blackout AR-15
- Barrel: 16 inch
- Weight: 5.5lb
Best Budget Manufacturer, the Safe Bet.
| Price | Performance | Weight | Reliability | Prestige |
| 4.5/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 |
Palmetto State Armory is another budget friendly manufacturer that stars in our cheap AR-15s posts, and pretty much all the other cheap firearms posts. One thing to flag before you get excited: PSA builds a 16 inch Blackout rifle, but the stock our dealers are showing right now is all pistol-length, 7.5 to 10.5 inches. The card below reflects that.
So it’s no surprise to find Palmetto State here with another low budget semi auto rifle. Performance features include a heavy barrel, 13.5 inch M-LOK handguard and hard coat anodized receivers on this 300 Blackout flat top, optics ready rifle.
A shot peened Carpenter 158 Steel bolt and a staked and hardened gas key are all part of the PSA 300 Blackout package. Together with a MAGPUL MOE stock and a 30 round Magpul PMAG magazine.
This Palmetto State is a low price, high spec gun with a heavy barrel that should stand the test of time. And if you want to upgrade upper parts, furniture, anything really, PSA has one of the biggest parts & accessories selections in the firearms industry.
Order matte black or Flat Dark Earth semi auto rifles and enjoy it, because you’ll have one of the best semi automatic rifles on this list and a lot of money still in your pocket.
8. Diamondback Firearms DB15
- Barrel: 16 inch
- Weight: 5.5lb
Decent Inexpensive and Solid Rifle
| Price | Performance | Weight | Reliability | Prestige |
| 3/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 |
Diamondback Firearms is one of our favorite mid-tier and budget semi automatic rifle brands.
Optics for a 300 Blackout Build
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300 blackout Ammo on Sale
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This Diamondback Firearms DB15 semi auto rifle is a great price and has the spec to mix it with anything short of the high end custom rifles for sale.
It’s a classic AR with a mid-length gas system that does everything right for this price range.
Consider the Diamondback DB15 and if the gun deals are right, buy a gun online today. You’ll never regret it at this price point.
9. Sig Sauer MCX Spear LT 300 Blackout
- Barrel: 9 inch, pistol or SBR configuration
- Weight: 6.1 lb
Military Grade Patrol Rifle
| Price | Performance | Weight | Reliability | Prestige |
| 1/5 | 5/5 | 3/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 |
Sig retired the MCX Virtus and replaced it with the MCX Spear LT in 2022. The Spear LT keeps the short-stroke gas piston, which is the part that matters, but it takes standard AR trigger packs, drops close to a pound, and adds a better folding stock. In 300 Blackout Sig builds it short, and the one our dealers stock is the 9 inch braced version.
A piston gun costs more and weighs a little more than a direct impingement AR, and on 5.56 that trade is arguable. Suppressed, on subsonic 300 Blackout, it is not. You keep far more of the gas out of your face, and that is the whole reason to own this cartridge.
You can get a 300 Blackout Flat Dark Earth FDE or matte black rifle and everything from the collapsible stock to the pistol grip are high quality.
Honorable Mentions
Alex Pro Firearms, Windham Weaponry, Bravo Company Manufacturing and plenty of others could have made the list. The IWI Tavor X95 bullpup rifle also comes in 300 Blackout.
And on another day they would have, but we have to make choices, so there’s no space for Windham Weaponry, Bravo Company Manufacturing or Alex Pro Firearms this time round.
When you buy a gun online, look out for these rifles though. if the gun deals are good, they’re both decent AR’s with a mid length gas system.
CMMG Resolute Mk4: the current 16 inch premium option
Worth calling out separately, because the Daniel Defense Hunter above is end of line and this is the rifle that fills the same slot. The Resolute Mk4 is a genuine 16.1 inch carbine in 300 Blackout, 30+1, 32.5 inches overall, and unlike the Hunter you can actually buy one today from several dealers.
CMMG builds it with their ZEROED parts as standard, which means a drop-in trigger, ambidextrous safety, charging handle and magazine catch rather than mil-spec bin parts you’ll want to replace. The RIPSTOCK adjusts without tools and the EML handguard drops the full-length top rail to save weight while keeping M-LOK at three, six, nine and twelve o’clock. It carries CMMG’s lifetime quality guarantee.
Street price runs around $1,350 to $1,525, so it sits between the PSA and the Wilson Combat. CMMG doesn’t publish a weight for it, which is mildly annoying when you’re comparing on paper, and it turns up at fewer dealers than a Ruger or a PSA. Neither is a reason to skip it if you want a current, well-specced rifle-length Blackout.
Build a 300BLK Rifle
You could easily build a decent 300BLK rifle with parts from an Aero Precision M4e1 receiver and Palmetto State Armory add-ons, before you get started at Primary Arms, Brownells and other top parts suppliers.
There are honestly a lot of choices, because most of these parts come straight off an AR-15 5.56mm NATO. So you can easily build a blackout gun, or just modify what you have with a new barrel.
What .300 Blackout Actually Is
Plenty of people land here without shopping for a rifle at all. They just want to know what the cartridge is and whether it is worth the money. Here is the short version.
.300 AAC Blackout is a .30 calibre bullet on a shortened 5.56 case. SAAMI shortens the name to 300 BLK, the metric designation is 7.62x35mm, and Advanced Armament Corporation developed it with Remington Defense. SAAMI approved it on January 17th 2011, so it is not the new kid any more.
The brief came from a military customer who wanted .30 calibre bullets out of an M4 without giving anything up. No new bolt. No new magazines. No drop in magazine capacity. You change the barrel and nothing else, and a 30 round magazine still holds 30 rounds of it. That is the whole trick, and it is why the cartridge spread as fast as it did.
Subsonic and supersonic are almost two different guns
Supersonic loads sit around 110 to 125 grains and behave like a rifle round. A 125 grain supersonic leaves a 16 inch barrel at roughly 2,215 fps. That is your hunting and general range load.
Subsonic loads run 190 to 220 grains in most factory offerings and stay under the speed of sound deliberately. Hornady’s 190 grain Sub-X leaves a 16 inch barrel at 1,050 fps. Put a can on the front and subsonic Blackout is about as quiet as a centrefire rifle gets.
Same rifle, same magazine, completely different behaviour. You do not get that with 5.56, and it is the real argument for owning one.
What the numbers actually look like from a 16 inch barrel
Everyone quotes Blackout velocities off short barrels, which is not much use if you’re buying a rifle. These are Hornady’s own published figures, all measured from a 16 inch test barrel, so they line up with the guns on this page rather than a 9 inch pistol.
| Load | Muzzle | Muzzle energy |
|---|---|---|
| 110 gr V-MAX Hornady BLACK, supersonic | 2,375 fps | 1,378 ft-lb |
| 135 gr FTX Hornady Custom, supersonic | 2,085 fps | 1,303 ft-lb |
| 190 gr Sub-X Hornady Subsonic | 1,050 fps | 465 ft-lb |
Figures published by Hornady for items 80873, 80881 and 80877, all from a 16 inch test barrel. Your barrel will not match a test barrel exactly.
Two things jump out of that table. The supersonic loads carry roughly three times the muzzle energy of the subsonic, which is why nobody hunts deer with a 190 grain Sub-X. And the subsonic barely sheds any speed downrange, dropping under 100 fps across 200 yards, because it never had much to lose in the first place. That flatness is what makes it so consistent through a suppressor at close range.
Against 5.56 the trade is simple. Blackout throws a much heavier .30 calibre bullet noticeably slower, so it hits harder up close and sheds that advantage faster as the range opens up. That is why it is a close-range cartridge, and why nobody sells it as a 400-yard round.
Why nearly every .300 Blackout gun is short
Look at what is actually sitting on dealer shelves and a pattern jumps out. Daniel Defense chambers this cartridge at 7 and 10.3 inches. Sig builds its Blackout MCX at 9 inches. Palmetto State Armory’s Blackout stock runs 7.5 to 10.5 inches. Q’s Honey Badger is a 7 inch gun.
That is not a fashion. The powder charge burns up inside a short barrel, so chopping the barrel down costs you far less velocity than it would with 5.56. Stretch it out to 16 inches and you gain less than you would expect.
So a rifle-length Blackout is a deliberate choice rather than the default. You take it because you want a normal rifle in your hands and you would rather not do NFA paperwork. If you are happy to go the other way, our 300 Blackout pistol picks cover the short end.
Twist rate is the spec worth checking
A 220 grain bullet is long, and long bullets need spin to stay pointy end forward. 1:7 and 1:8 are what you want. Ruger’s Ranch Gen II is 1:7, the Daniel Defense Hunter is 1:8, and the new Smith & Wesson M&P15 AXE is 1:7.5. Go slower than that and heavy subsonics start keyholing, which you will see on paper long before you can explain it.
The mistake that wrecks rifles
This is the part worth reading twice. A .300 Blackout round will chamber in a 5.56 or .223 rifle, because the case dimensions are close enough to let it. It will not fire safely. SAAMI lists that combination as unsafe: the bullet has nowhere to go, pressure spikes, and the rifle can come apart in your hands.
It happens more than it should, and it nearly always happens the same way. A few Blackout rounds end up loose in a magazine, the magazine goes into a 5.56 upper, and that is that. Mark your Blackout magazines, keep the ammo in its own can, and glance at the headstamp when you load. It costs you five seconds.
What it costs to feed
Factory Blackout runs roughly $0.75 to $1.25 a round supersonic and $1.00 to $1.50 subsonic. Call it double 5.56, and that is the honest drawback of the cartridge. If you shoot real volume, budget for it or start reloading.
Against 7.62×39 the numbers are closer than people admit, and the AK round is cheaper. What it will not do is run in your existing AR magazines and lower, which is the entire point of Blackout. If that trade appeals, our best 7.62×39 rifles roundup covers that side. For the wider picture, the rifle caliber guide puts it against 5.56, .308 and 6.5 Creedmoor.
Where to Buy Ammo
When you’re looking for 300BLK ammo, rifle ammo, 9mm ammo, handgun ammo, shotgun ammo and more, you end up back at the same places.
Here are our favorites for 300BLK ammo, shotgun ammo, ammo storage and more. Read the terms & conditions for free shipping info, which can make a difference.
- Firearms Depot – Specialist ammo, ammo cans, bulk deals and more.
- Sportsmans Guide – Firearms ammunition, handgun ammo, ammo storage.
- Palmetto State – Great deals, organize ammo by caliber and price low to high.
Don’t Forget the Sig MCX Rattler Blackout Pistol
The Sig MCX Rattler is a legend of a 300 Blackout AR pistol and if you love this caliber then you’re going to buy one sooner or later. Law Enforcement Agencies and military worldwide use them in full auto form.
You can buy this AR pistol without a brace, or do the full short barrel rifle paperwork and put a brace on your new Sig MCX Rattler 300 Blackout AR Pistol. Either way it’s the same pistol length gas system you’ve come to love.
The MCX line began as a suppressed 300 Blackout PDW built to a special operations requirement, and the Rattler is the shortest expression of that idea. The Spear LT further up this page is the current full-size sibling.
Get a price low to high from these dealers in black or Coyote Tan, not Flat Dark Earth…
Not sure which caliber is right for you? Our complete rifle caliber guide compares every major caliber, 5.56, .308, 6.5 Creedmoor, .300 Blackout, and more, with ballistic data, cost analysis, and use-case recommendations.
Related AR-15 Guides
- AR-15 Buyer’s Guide
- Best Online Gun Stores
- Buy Cheap Ammo Online
- Best 300 Blackout Pistols
- Rifle Caliber Guide
- Best AR-15s Under $1000
- AR-15 Optics Guide
- Best Websites to Buy AR-15s
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best 300 Blackout rifle?
The Ruger American Ranch Gen II is our overall pick, a 16.1 inch bolt rifle at around $593 that comes threaded for a suppressor. If you want an AR, the Radical Firearms HBAR is the budget answer at about $444 and the Wilson Combat Protector is the premium one. Daniel Defense's Hunter is the nicest factory 16 inch Blackout rifle, but Daniel Defense has ended the run on it.
Is 300 Blackout good for home defense?
Excellent. Subsonic 300 Blackout with a suppressor is one of the quietest effective home defense setups available. Supersonic 300 BLK with expanding bullets provides stopping power comparable to 7.62x39 in a compact package.
What barrel length is best for 300 Blackout?
The 300 Blackout was designed for short barrels. A 9-inch barrel delivers full powder burn with most loads. Barrels between 8 and 10.5 inches are optimal. Longer barrels offer minimal velocity gains for this cartridge.
Can you hunt deer with 300 Blackout?
Yes. Supersonic 300 Blackout with 110 to 125 grain expanding bullets is effective on deer inside 150 yards. Do not use subsonic loads for hunting as they lack sufficient energy for ethical kills.
Is 300 Blackout better than 5.56?
They serve different purposes. 300 BLK excels in short barrels and suppressed shooting. 5.56 has better range, flatter trajectory, and cheaper ammo. For home defense SBRs, 300 BLK wins. For all-around use, 5.56 wins.
How much does 300 Blackout ammo cost?
Supersonic 300 BLK runs about $0.75 to $1.25 per round. Subsonic costs $1.00 to $1.50 per round. This is roughly double the cost of 5.56 NATO, which is the main drawback of the caliber.
Does 300 Blackout use the same magazines as 5.56?
Yes. 300 Blackout uses standard AR-15 lower receivers and magazines. A 30-round 5.56 mag holds 30 rounds of 300 BLK. The barrel is the only part you have to change, which was the whole design brief.
Is 300 Blackout worth it without a suppressor?
It depends on your use case. Without a suppressor, 300 BLK is still excellent for short-barrel builds and close-range applications. But if you want cheap range ammo and longer range, 5.56 is the better choice.
Can you shoot 300 Blackout in a 5.56 rifle?
No, and this is the mistake that destroys rifles. A 300 Blackout round will chamber in a 5.56 or .223 barrel because the case dimensions are close enough to let it, but it cannot fire safely. SAAMI lists the combination as unsafe. The bullet has nowhere to go, pressure spikes, and the rifle can come apart. Mark your Blackout magazines and keep the ammo separate.
What twist rate do you need for 300 Blackout?
1:7 or 1:8. Heavy 220 grain subsonic bullets are long and need the spin to stabilise. Ruger's American Ranch Gen II is 1:7, the Daniel Defense Hunter is 1:8 and Smith & Wesson's M&P15 AXE is 1:7.5. Slower twist rates let heavy subsonics keyhole.
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