Gel Testing on Newish 300 BLK Loads

[JB2000]

I've been thinking about going the AR pistol route and was looking at 300 BLK. I have seen comments that muzzle blast is not as severe as 5.56 out of the shorter barrels. The most recent gel testing I have seen is a few years old and all of the loadings exhibited penetration of greater than 18".

There a couple of Hornady offerings I haven't seen any data for, 110 gr. GMX and 135 gr. Flex Tip. From an HD scenario, and tested against the FBI protocols, does anyone have any data on these? Any other options out there - aside from the Barnes black tip?

Thanks for your help!

[MisterHelix]

The hornady 110 v-max and nosler 110 Varmegeddons are decent projectiles for the 300blk. The v-max gel data shows about 12" of total penetration with a respectable stretch cavity from 2-9" in. I've loaded and shot thousands of the 110 nosler, but haven't seen any gel tests on it.

Other projectiles that I have used are the Hornady 125 sst and Nosler 125 BT, both of which put deer down. I lost one using the vaunted Barnes 110, so..I dunno.

My favorite 300blk projectiles (for hand loading) are the Lehigh Defense 115 copper CC. I believe Lehigh has gel data on their site. It does have a penetrating solid base that goes 24" or so through gel, with the "petals" penetrating 10-12", so probably not the best choice if you're concerned with over penetration.

The Speer 125 TNT is an affordable projo with lots of anecdotal reports about good terminal performance. I don't think there is any factory ammo loaded with this projectile.

[JB2000]

Thanks for sharing your experiences MisterHelix. It looks like there will only be more choices in 300 BLK going forward which will only add to its versatility.