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news

ArmaLite 300 BLK Rifle

In keeping with the 2012 SHOT Show trend, I’ll be looking at ArmaLite’s offering in the newer .300 BLK chambering. I got a chance to handle their new rifle at their booth, and I learned a few things along the way. Before getting into the details of the ArmaLite .300 BLK rifle, I thought it would be interesting to share a little history on the AR rifle platform that has become so popular.

Armalite 300 BLK Rifle

AR-15 History

ArmaLite was a subdivision of the Fairchild Engine & Airplane Corporation back in the 1950’s. The founder was Lockheed corporate counsel George Sullivan, and the company’s first rifle designs were meant to be “light” survival rifles for downed pilots.

Categories
Rifles

CMMG .300 BLK Rifles

CMMG AR15 300BLKI may be the last person to have heard, but CMMG is making AR-style rifles chambered for the .300 BLK cartridge.  (As it turns out, I was not.  I got an e-mail from a guy who had been stranded in the arctic for the past six months who had not heard about these rifles either.)

Essentially, there are four variants of the M300 Blackout rifle.  All four of the carbines have 16″ barrels with 1:8 twist and a six position M-4 style buttstock.  Two of the models have a flat top receiver, no sights and a mid-length quad-rail.

The other two CMMG M300 versions have the flat top receiver, A2 front sight, Magpul rear BUIS and the standard carbine length handguard (no rails).

Categories
Ammunition

300 BLK Ammo from PNW Arms

300 BLK AmmoIt seems that more and more people are making ammunition, guns and uppers for the 300 BLK (aka 300 BLACKOUT) cartridge.  The latest that I have found (via the AAC Blog) are the loads from PNW Arms.

PNW Arms manufactures high quality ammunition for handguns, subguns and rifles.  They are currently offering three loadings in 300 BLK:  a hunting load, a match cartridge and a subsonic round.

The hunting load uses a Nosler 125 grain ballistic tip bullet with a muzzle velocity of 2200 fps.  That works out to be about 1343 ft-lbs of energy.  Pricing on this 300 BLK load is $22.99 for a box/20.

Categories
Rifles

Smith & Wesson M&P15 in 300 Whisper, 300 BLACKOUT

The Smith & Wesson M&P15 in 300 Whisper was an interesting rifle released in 2011. At a time when many manufacturers were embracing the 300 BLK cartridge, S&W went with the 300 Whisper.

As it turns out, it was a good choice, but one that doesn’t appear to have been financially successful.

Let’s jump into what the M&P 300 Whisper rifle was all about.