300 Blackout Upper

[bmanis]

I am ready to get into the AR world and need an upper for a lower that I have had in the safe for a while. I know this is not the best time and I should have done this over a year ago. It seems all of the shelves are empty. I have a few questions.

Where can I get one?

What should I expect to pay for the complete upper with BCG and charging handle?

What barrel twist would be best for cast?

Also, any suggestions on a good .22lr upper would be nice too.

Thanks in advance.

Bmanis

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

Consider: buying an LAR OPS-4 complete upper ($325 retail), and just having a 1:8 twist barrel fit to it.
I had mine fit last summer at Delta Company, but they are victims of their own success these days.

Make sure you have the reamer that is throated for the 311247 if that is what you plan to shoot.

Rich

[RU shooter]

I am ready to get into the AR world and need an upper for a lower that I have had in the safe for a while. I know this is not the best time and I should have done this over a year ago. It seems all of the shelves are empty. I have a few questions.

Where can I get one?

What should I expect to pay for the complete upper with BCG and charging handle?

What barrel twist would be best for cast?

Also, any suggestions on a good .22lr upper would be nice too.

Thanks in advance.

Bmanis

Dont know who has them in stock these days but maybe cheaper to just build one just the way you want it , plain flat top Uppers are cheap enough and you can use the BCG and CH from your existing upper just need a barrel,upper ,tube and gas block . The route I went with mine for cast shooting is a 20" ,12 twist barrel with carbine length gas system since I dont want/need the subsonic stuff.

[Crawdaddy]

I bought my upper a couple of months back off of gunbroker.com. I paid $595 for it. My experience with cast was not good. It always short cycled. I checked the gas port for alignment and it was ok.

It made a great single shot, but I don't want an AR single shot.

You won't regret buying one. I was afraid it would be a lack luster round untill I shot a coyote with it. It went through the entire length of him. He did a back flip and never even kicked.

[Moonie]

Now that's odd, all of the uppers I load cast for work fine, 5.56, 6.8 and 2 300 BLK's. What caliber and load specifics were you loading for?

[Crawdaddy]

I loaded 170 gr lead working a load up to 15.5 grs of H110 until it demostrated signs of pressure. 300 AAC blackout was the caliber. (short cycle)

I also loaded 5.56 with 55 gr lead working up to 20.4 grs of 4198. Wouldnt cycle my mini 14 or AR 15. (short cycle)

Would love to know your loads so I can try them.

I will add that I cannot get heavier jacketed bullets ( factory and handloads) to cycle reliably in the 300 BLK either. I thought perhaps I had an alignment issue on the gas port but double checked and it was fine. Brand new upper. I put about three hundred rounds thru it and it got better, but still not reliable. (150 grn j-word bullets from The Right to Bear Ammo and my own handloads)

[L1A1Rocker]

Palmetto State Armory has some good deals on 300BLK upppers and kits. They use FN chrome lined barrels.

[Moonie]

I loaded 170 gr lead working a load up to 15.5 grs of H110 until it demostrated signs of pressure. 300 AAC blackout was the caliber. (short cycle)

I also loaded 5.56 with 55 gr lead working up to 20.4 grs of 4198. Wouldnt cycle my mini 14 or AR 15. (short cycle)

Would love to know your loads so I can try them.

I will add that I cannot get heavier jacketed bullets ( factory and handloads) to cycle reliably in the 300 BLK either. I thought perhaps I had an alignment issue on the gas port but double checked and it was fine. Brand new upper. I put about three hundred rounds thru it and it got better, but still not reliable. (150 grn j-word bullets from The Right to Bear Ammo and my own handloads)

I don't have access to my load data at the moment but I'm positive my H110 170gr load was a bit higher than that. With the 245/247gr I've used h110 but had cycling issues in my upper but not my sons. With my upper and 170gr/h110 load ejection was 3:30 (and I enjoyed bouncing more than one off the bridge of middle sons nose, silly Marine should have moved) and quite snappy. My current 245/247 load is just enough H4895 to get to 1050fps and it cycles and locks back in both uppers.

Might check your gas key to make sure it is tight and staked. Who made the barrel? Could be an issue with the gas port being to small.

Our 5.56 load is the NOE 60gr with 16gr of h4895 and cycles perfectly. H4895 is a great gas gun powder as it produces good gas volume to run them.

[Crawdaddy]

GAs key is tight and staked. Dont know about port size. Thanks for the feedback.

[scb]

I haven't had any problem with mine but it does have an adjustable pistol length gas system.

[Glenn R. Latham]

Dont know who has them in stock these days but maybe cheaper to just build one just the way you want it , plain flat top Uppers are cheap enough and you can use the BCG and CH from your existing upper just need a barrel,upper ,tube and gas block . The route I went with mine for cast shooting is a 20" ,12 twist barrel with carbine length gas system since I dont want/need the subsonic stuff.

RU, where did you get your 12 twist barrel? Hard to find other than 8 twist.
Glenn

[Glenn R. Latham]

Nevermind RU, found it on another thread - Ron Williams on AR15.com.
Glenn

[RugerFan]

Might check your gas key to make sure it is tight and staked. Who made the barrel? Could be an issue with the gas port being to small.

I agree. Some SI Defense barrels had too small of a gas port. People were drilling them out to 0.125" on .300 BLK barrels to get good functioning.

[RU shooter]

RU, where did you get your 12 twist barrel? Hard to find other than 8 twist.
Glenn

Here it is Ron Williams, ron458will@verizon.net
RMW Xtreme
328 45th St. Ct. West
Palmetto, FL 34221
07FFL/02 SOT
941.729.2451

[sparky45]

Now that's odd, all of the uppers I load cast for work fine, 5.56, 6.8 and 2 300 BLK's. What caliber and load specifics were you loading for?

What boolit do you use? I used a Lyman 311291 without any success and have ordered a 311414 to try. Also thought a 311365 would make a good round. I got my 300 BlackOut from MidwayUSA, its a CMMG.

[RU shooter]

I haven't had any problem with mine but it does have an adjustable pistol length gas system.

scb, did you fabricate that block yourself ? if not who made it?

[scb]

scb, did you fabricate that block yourself ? if not who made it?

It's an SSK built barrel. About 10 year old 300 Whisper.

[Crawdaddy]

I think I will pull mine this week and measure the opening. I'll try drilling out to .125.

Mine is a DPMS upper.

[ckcadavona]

DS Arms has bee saying 4-6 weeks on their uppers for the past 4-6 weeks so if you're not in a hurry I think its a good value.

http://www.dsarms.com/DSA-ZM4-Forged...o/ZM4CBU300SS/

http://www.dsarms.com/DSA-ZM4-Forged...nfo/ZM4CBU300/

+1 on the FN stuff from Palmetto State Armory

[Moonie]

What boolit do you use? I used a Lyman 311291 without any success and have ordered a 311414 to try. Also thought a 311365 would make a good round. I got my 300 BlackOut from MidwayUSA, its a CMMG.

I use 2 boolits for my 300 upper, a 170 Lee and an Accurate Molds 245C, they both shoot great.