[Aaron caught up with Olympic Arms at the 2012 SHOT Show and took a look at their new K16 300 SST chambered for the 300 BLK cartridge.]
By now most readers will realize that there has been an explosion in rifle offerings in .300 Blackout (BLK). The .300 Blackout cartridge came about to fulfill the desires of shooters who wanted to shoot .30 caliber bullets, but didn’t want to lose the capacity and weight advantages of shooting traditional 5.56mm AR-15’s.
The .300 BLK is a very unique .30 caliber cartridge. Instead of bulking up the casing and powder weights to accommodate the .30 caliber bullet, the .300 BLK starts with the same 5.56mm casing that is the standard for AR-15 platforms. From there the casing is necked up, or expanded out at the neck, to accept the .30 caliber bullet. The rest of the casing is the same as the 5.56mm casing along with powder weights. The end result is a .30 caliber bullet fired from basically the same casing as the traditional 5.56mm cartridge.