While I was at the NRA Convention, a Tactical Rifleman viewer asked me what I thought of the 300BLK compared to the 5.56mm or 9mm. I had just spent some time visiting with some old buddies, many of whom are still active war fighters. Over lunch – you guessed it – we talked about 300BLK. I was told, by nameless friends, that certain SOF units were looking at certain 300 Blackout expanding ammo to replace their 9mm MP5SDs for “silent work.” While I can neither confirm or deny what different units are doing or why they are doing it, I can share some of my personal thoughts.
I like the 300BLK, compared to the 5.56mm round. It hits harder and is still capable of great performance when subsonic and suppressed. However, currently, as a battle round it is not as easily found as 5.56mm. Picture being in a gunfight, where you are the only guy there running a 300BLK. Everyone else is running 5.56mm. Now, you start running out of ammo; they can all share, but not you. That’s why some SF guys would actually run AKs when out patrolling with their indigenous counterparts. They then had one common round for everyone. So, lack of availability is an issue. Also, the 5.56mm is much more accurate at range.
All that aside, the 300 BLK is a great combat round, like the 7.62×39 AK round, out to about 300 meters. So, I hope more units do adopt it, as it will then be pushed into greater production. Until then, I’ll have fun hand-loading crazy subsonic loads and I’ll crush hogs with supersonic Controlled Chaos.
So, I lean towards the 300BLK; but back to our viewer’s question. Again, just our opinion (not SOCOM’s) but we just happened to have filmed this video a couple of weeks before the NRA Convention. So, we bumped it up on the calendar a few weeks for our asking viewer.
It shows the 300BLK with sexy Controlled Chaos ammo against standard 9mm ball. Not a “fair” test, right? Well, maybe not; but we were running the MP5SDs with 9mm ball and they are thinking about replacing the MP5SDs with a new gun as well as new ammo. No one said combat was fair.
Wait! I mentioned the 300BLK might replace the MP5SD, but we filmed the video with a Sig Sauer MPX? Yep. We were gonna film it with the MP-5 (T1G has several full-auto versions), but Pete Jones (Alan’s Arsenal) showed up with his sexy new MPX. Not being one to pass up shooting a new gun, I decided to use it in the video. The MPX is an awesome gun. If 9mm is your “round of choice,” and you’re trying to keep to just one caliber throughout your arsenal; then the Suppressed MPX is an excellent choice. It ran great the way Pete had it set up. All his guns run reliably, which is what really matters. For plinking, this gun was a gem and the 9mm ball is cheap.
That said, I’ll gladly take the 300BLK over 9mm for any gunfight. If you’re gonna hit someone, hit ’em hard.
Sergeant Major (Retired) Karl Erickson has more than 25 years Military Experience; 18 years of experience within Army Special Forces, conducting all aspects of Special Operations, to include training, execution and technical oversight at the detachment, company and combined joint task force level. SGM Erickson has earned numerous awards, to include three Bronze Stars and an Army Commendation Medal for Valor. His military schooling includes Ranger School, Military Free Fall Jumpmaster, Special Forces Medic, SFARTEATC and Special Forces Sniper, to name but a few. After retiring, SGM Erickson now serves as the Director of Special Projects, at Tier-1 Group, LLC, where he continues to train our military’s finest to prepare them for tomorrow’s threats.
All opinion articles are the opinion of the author and not necessarily of American Military News. If you are interested in submitting an Op-Ed, please email [email protected].
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