I skimmed through all the posts.. Sorry if someone already answered..

My American eagle x39 ammo all measure .310"

Most eu/ Russian/ etc. use a .310-.311 bore. My ak is .310 bore. I also have 2 ar15s that shoot 7.62x39 (BA barrel is .310, faxon barrel is .308/.310 hybrid barrel).

I say you have a .310". Since it's a molot. I measured all of mines with calipers and contacted manufacturer. And my answer was right on the mark.

I also shoot fiocchi 7.62x39 brass ammo and they are .309" and shoot decently ok.

I also spoke with ddi and Winchester and they both said I can shoot .312" bullets and be fine. I read many many MANY threads on reloading and most people shoot bullets that are no more than .003" larger than their bore and are fine. Of course I never tried cause no one has the pdx1 or razorback ammo on this island for me to try. Lol

Good luck!

I say you have a .310". Since it's a molot. I measured all of mines with calipers and contacted manufacturer. And my answer was right on the mark.

Makes sense. I've had good success with the .308 bullets but might get better results with .310. OTOH, there's many more options available for .308. Hornady has only two .310 listed and Sierra has none. If I get the .308 bullets, I can also use them in my 300 BLK.

Yea sir, .308 should shoot fine still. Maybe not sub moa but hey it's an ak variant. Minute of man is all ya need lol. I saw hornady x39 bullets on sale on brownells a week ago or so..

Good luck bro

WGS gave me a deal on Hornady 300 brass because the price dropped significantly. I guess that's what happens when we start buying something regularly.

How much was it? I cut down all my 223/556 since I have a ton of it given to me free by a friend. I also purchased a 300, 223-556 jig/mini cut off saw for the jig from a friend on the cheep. Requires more work with depriming and swaging but I find it fun to do nonetheless.

I think it was $29 for 50 in a nice Hornady box.

How much was it? I cut down all my 223/556 since I have a ton of it given to me free by a friend. I also purchased a 300, 223-556 jig/mini cut off saw for the jig from a friend on the cheep. Requires more work with depriming and swaging but I find it fun to do nonetheless.

I think it was $29 for 50 in a nice Hornady box.

Yikes lol.. for only 50?!. nah, support Sweet Joe and Henry, great guys!

The 300 BLK cartridge case is very small. I am sure you noticed LOL Becuase of that you have to use magnum pistol powders in order to obtain the pressures necessary to get the velocities needed. So none of your rifle powders will work. Your rifle powders don't burn fast enough. All of the powders Mac mentioned are great powders. I use H110 and W296 with excellent results.

Have you decided if you are going to load subsonic or supersonic or both? I found I get better accuracy and better reliability with supersonic loads. If you are going to load supersonic I can recommend Sierra 125gr and 135gr bullets as well as Speer 130gr Hot Cor bullets.

I bought a bottle of W296 at SEC. Follow up question, what's more important, consistent bullet length or bullet weight or both equal? I'm starting to measure each bullet using my caliper and scale.

I bought a bottle of W296 at SEC. Follow up question, what's more important, consistent bullet length or bullet weight or both equal? I'm starting to measure each bullet using my caliper and scale.

I have not tried to weigh bullets or measure bullet length with my 300 BLK load data. I have only experimented with playing with cartridge overall length (COL). I found with the rifle I have and the jacketed bullets I have tried that I have not been able to hit the lands and grooves of the chamber as either the bullet was not long enough to touch the lands and grooves without becoming not concentric. Or I ran into the limiting factor of the magazine limiting COL. I did try some lead bullets in my 300 BLK with disappointing results. I did hit the lands and grooves in the chamber with one of the bullets I tried. I just back it down .01" or .02" from where I was touching the lands and grooves. I found little difference in accuracy either way. Don't get me wrong, it did make a very slight difference. Just in very small increments. Sometimes not measurable.

I found in all of my reloading of all cartridge types that the bullet itself has more to do with accuracy and small groups than either grouping by weight and/or bullet length or changing COL. For instance with 62-65 grain bullets in my 5.56 AR I saw 2" groups at 100 yards with Hornady bulk bullets. I saw 1" groups with Sierra 63 grain varmint and 65 grain hunting bullets, Hornady 68 grain match and Nosler 69 grain match. I saw 0.75" with 69 grain Sierra match kings. Then my groups went down to one ragged hole using 64 grain varmint Berger Bullets. All using Federal cases, Varget as my powder and Federal primers. Don't remember if they were the regular or match primers. All cartridge lengths were 2.26" limited by the magazine. As you can see the bullet itself made the biggest difference. Once you find the right bullet and powder combo for your rifle you can fine tune the cartridge by playing with the powder weights, COL and weighing and grouping bullets.

Generally speaking the better quality bullets you use the better consistency in length and weight. So if you use let's say Sierra Match Kings in 125gr or 135gr you should probaly spend more time testing powder weights than measuring length and weight of each bullet as this will show you greater differences than bullet length and weight differences (assuming very small inconsistencies). The W296 you bought is in the sweet spot in burn speed for 125-130gr bullets. Every rifle is different and will have a preference for a particular bullet. When you find that bullet then you can do the fine tuning doing the length and weight groupings.

I hope this helps you.

I've had great results so far with 1680 and the Hornady 130 gn bullets, so I've started playing around with weight and length but was wondering which was more important.

Generally speaking the better quality bullets you use the better consistency in length and weight. So if you use let's say Sierra Match Kings in 125gr or 135gr you should probaly spend more time testing powder weights than measuring length and weight of each bullet as this will show you greater differences than bullet length and weight differences (assuming very small inconsistencies). The W296 you bought is in the sweet spot in burn speed for 125-130gr bullets. Every rifle is different and will have a preference for a particular bullet. When you find that bullet then you can do the fine tuning doing the length and weight groupings.
I hope this helps you.

I've had great results so far with 1680 and the Hornady 130 gn bullets, so I've started playing around with weight and length but was wondering which was more important.

Like I said, you'll see very little if any differences assuming minimal inconsistencies with either weight or length grouping. It is literally impossible to tell you which one would cause more of a difference in consistency without very strict testing using strict testing procedures. Each one will cause very different physical characteristics in the cartridge itself.

Various length bullets seated to the exact same COL will change the pressure curve in each cartridge assuming each case has exactly the same volume. The different length bullets will change the capacity of the cartridge. Longer will decrease capacity or compress the powder more and cause higher pressures and shorter bullets will increase the capacity and lower the pressure. Just remember assuming all other variables are the same the difference in results will be very slight.

Various weight bullets will hit at slightly different points of impact. Again, assuming all other variables are the same then the differences will be very slight.

Until you perform your own strict testing to see which one causes a greater difference in your reloads with your particular bullet, powder, cartridge case capacity, it is impossible to answer your question.

Got it. I'm thinking that weight would be more important than length but like you said, gotta test it.

Until you perform your own strict testing to see which one causes a greater difference in your reloads with your particular bullet, powder, cartridge case capacity, it is impossible to answer your question.

I'm  new to reloading and gearing up for 300 BO. Hope someone can assist with a few questions

1) Cases: can 223 / 5.56 brass randomly picked from the range be trimmed to 300BO and be reused ( have plenty ) provided they pass thickness check
2) 110 V-MAX & CFE BLK. Chart for the CFE BLK calls for CCI-450 (SR Magnum Primer) and Remington brass. Is it possible to use WSR primers (have 1000 ea) and any type of brass or should I get CCI 450 and Remington brass as recommended. Will this change affect the load (GR). How ?

Any kind of input will be much appreciated !
Thanks !


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I'm  new to reloading and gearing up for 300 BO. Hope someone can assist with a few questions

1) Cases: can 223 / 5.56 brass randomly picked from the range be trimmed to 300BO and be reused ( have plenty ) provided they pass thickness check

i assume you are talking about this list of thicknesses?
http://www.300blktalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=88599

we use FC, LC, WCC, R-P only (makes it easier to remember which ones to discard/save by having a short list)

the worst ever are PMC
these got stuck so hard in the chamber they needed to be bayoneted out

we also use a sheridan case gauge to measure each case

Welcome to the forum.

I bought my brass from Kaleo Arms (www.kaleoarms.com). At the Gun Show, I bought 100 processed cases for $12. I haven't read anything about checking thickness. I do use my Lyman gauge. In my experience, the 300BLK is very soft on the brass (unlike my AK) and doesn't need trimming after firing.

I use CCI and Federal match primers. The best place to get them is at SEC. I've used A1680 which is the best powder for 300BLK. I've also used Win296 and Lil Gun. So far, I've used CFEBLK in my AK but will save it for 300BLK next.

I'm using a box of Hornady SST bullets with W296, hopefully at the range tomorrow. After that, I have boxes of Vmax .310 bullets that I'll resize to .308. Eventually, I'll use my box of Hornady match 225 gn that I'll try subsonic.