In our last video I was kinda blown away by how hard the tiny 5.56 hit. This lead to me wanting to discover whether or not I was right about the 300 blackout being able to transfer more energy on impact than the 5.56.
In many states, you cannot hunt deer with 556 because it is a 22 caliber bullet deem too small. you must use at least 23 caliber. 300aac is 30 caliber, so it’s legal for hunting deer. That’s the reason. You need a deer rifle, but want an AR; wife is yapping because you have too many guns; get you a Blackout AR15. Pistol even. Add suppressor later.
100%. 300 BO is a great offensive tool, shooting out of a shorter barrel (more maneuverable weapon), subsonic has less recoil and when suppressed is pretty quite.
Sorry if i missed it but what length barrel was the BO? Looks below 10.5, id say 10.5 is the BO sweet spot. I just got a 8.5 barrel, b/c mines riding shotgun, and to throw in backpacks w/ the folding brace.
I noticed that the 5.56 was dimpling my AR550 steel. While the 300BO was making it swing more. That was an interesting result for me. Thanks for your observation! We're going to get to the bottom of all this!🤣🤣
@@johnpoole8321 i believe that was with 147 or 150 gr supers. thats what i usually shoot out of my 7.5" .300 bo. i have 110 vmax for HD, and I dont have any 220's, I dont have a can so have no use for them.
@@mtnbound2764 220 still fun without a can. Especially when I got them for .33 a rd. Wallyworld stopped selling AR rounds and put them on discount, yet they still sell 350 legend. Good for reloads also @ .35 lol
They're both excellent defensive calibers. The advantage of the .300 Blackout is shooting suppressed subsonic rounds. Much quieter than a suppressed 5.56.
I'll tell you I love 5.56, but.300 Blackout is so versatile! you can throw heavy bullets really fast, or heaver bullets subsonic and suppress them for quiet work while still having a gun that cycles (unlike subsonic 5.56)
Thats not the only advantage of 300 BLK...it also penetrates better and delivers more energy into target...both rounds pretty much suck outside of 300 yards. The only real benefit of 556 is that its cheaper to shoot. No offense meant here but that test didnt really prove anything....you likely just had better placement on 556 round....its a proven fact that blackout transfers more energy than 556. Nothing against 556 either...I own one just as I own a blackout. Cant beat the 556 for plinking at the range.
@@broot1375 for sure. I missed the front top can which explains the sole survivor situation. You can see it in the slo mo. I knew on paper that the 300 BO delivered a stronger punch so I expected these results but the punch of the 5.56 surprised me in the previous video, so I wanted to see whether or not the 300 BO also delivered IRL which of course it did. 2 more ways that the 5.56 beats the 300 Black Out is that it is lighter making it easier to carry more of it and it is more prevalent so you are more likely to find it in an apocalyptic scenario. I love em both equally after this experiment.
300 blackout is a much more versatile round, from heavy grain subsonic suppressed for home defense to light grain supersonic with many choices are great for hunting or long range shooting with the same rifle.
add to that the modularity of the AR platform. So you can go from a short barreled upper for home defense to a long barreled upper for hunting or long range shooting in 15 seconds with the same rifle! 300 BO is a beautiful thing!! 5.56 will always have a special place in my heart. there is just something about that cute little bullet moving so fast!!
Terminal ballistics is fascinating, and understanding what high velocity projectiles do upon impact with various mediums requires a rudimentary understanding of basic physics concepts. Most people misunderstand energy as how powerful a cartridge or given load is, but this isn't necessarily true. Energy is separate from power. Energy in physics is the potential to do work, with work generally being defined a moving something or changing its condition. In the US, we measure energy in foot pounds. A foot pound of energy is the amount of energy it takes to move one pound one foot. Elsewhere, energy is measured in Joules. A Joule is about .74 foot pound. Power is the rate at which work is done. So moving one pound one foot in one minute takes the same amount of energy as moving one pound one foot in one second, but the faster time period will obviously require more power. We typically see power expressed in Watts. A Watt is a Joule of work done per second, and to derive our power output, we literally just divide energy in Joules by the time in seconds. Additionally, we should explore force and sectional density. Force is a push or a pull on an object of mass that causes it to change velocity or direction. It is given multiplying mass by acceleration, and is typically express in Newtons, with one Newton force equal to the amount of force required to accelerate one kilogram at the rate of on meter per second squared in the direction of the applied force. Sectional density is the numerical representation of the bullet's mass to its diameter. Sectional density is important because it shows how much force is applied for a given surface area and how much momentum a bullet has in line with its center of mass, and therefore, has a direct relation to the conservation of momentum and the projectile's penetration. Finally, we should discuss momentum and frontal area. Momentum is the quantity of motion of an object, and is equal to its mass times its velocity. The more mass and/or velocity a projectile has, the higher its momentum is, and the harder it is to stop. And frontal area is the exposed area of a projectile. Since a projectile is almost always going to impact with its frontal area as a circle, the frontal area of a bullet can be computed as pi multiplied by the radius squared. So a .224 caliber projectile has a radius of .112, which multiplied by pi, 3.14, gives us a frontal area of .352 square inches. A .308 caliber projectile has a radius of .154, multiplied by pi gives us .484 sq in. So the 5.56 only has 73% of the .300 Blackout's frontal area. So what we see here is that a bullet's power is directly related to how fast it transfers energy into the target. Given two rounds with similar energy, the one that transfers its energy the fastest will be the most powerful. In some case, a round with less energy will be more powerful than a round with more energy simply because it transfers its energy much faster. How fast a bullet transfers its energy is primarily a matter of impact velocity but is also affected by its construction, momentum and sectional density, and frontal area. So if you have a .224 caliber 60 gr Hornady Vmax exiting a 16 inch barrel at 2960 fps, you have 1167 foot pounds of energy at 25 ft/lbs per sec of momentum. If you have a .308 caliber 110 gr Vmax exiting a 10 inch barrel at 2100 fps, you have 1076 foot pounds of energy at 33 ft/lbs per sec of momentum. The bullet construction is similar. The .300 Blackout has an advantage in frontal area, but this advantage is unlikely to be able to make up for its significantly lower impact velocity, since bullets expand in proportion to their velocity. The 5.56 has more energy but more importantly, it dumps its energy faster. The .300 Blackout has more momentum, but the 5.56 has a higher sectional density, .171 vs .166 for the 110 gr Vmax. This means that the .300 Blackout might be perceived to have more "thump," but the 5.56 has more force and momentum for its given frontal area, and is therefore likely to penetrate farther. I want to see an experiment with high speed cameras where projectiles are shot over a chronograph into calibrated gelatin placed in front of a grid so that we can see extreme slow motion impacts and count the number of frames, and therefore the time, it takes a bullet to come to rest. Knowing the mass of the projectile and its impact velocity would allow us to calculate energy in Joules. And knowing the amount of time it takes the bullet to come to rest would allow us to calculate Watts, and actually derive the quantity of power a given bullet as. We could compare the 5.56, the .300 Blackout, and the .50 Action Express, all of which should have more or less similar energy, but potentially vastly different power.
I am honored that you chose my video to exhibit your extensive knowledge of physics! I will see what I can do to create the expirment you suggested. I would appreciate your analysis of the findings.
I would suggest that you revise your data on the velocity of the 60 grain v-max coming out of a 16” barrel. I haven’t checked, but I’m not sure a velocity in the 2900 fps range is realistic. I could be wrong, but it would be a happy mistake.
@@ringingiron At .223 Rem pressures, sure. But the 5.56 is perfectly capable of pushing a 60 gr bullet at 2960 fps. I've chrono'd M855 at just under 3000 fps from my Colt 6960.
How good is the stopping power of 5.56 with a torso shot? I’ve heard different stories from veterans and some say it took several shots and others say 1 shot from a distance killed them instantly
I think it comes down to the will of the opponent. I've seen video of people who will continue to fight for half a minute after being shot directly in the heart! Others will drop instantly. Crazy stuff...
I am not aware of a powder that can be used interchangeably between these two cartridges. The 300BO requires a faster powder. I see where you are going with it. I will do some research and see what I can find.
Oh sure. They are from Terminal Precision (a local boutiquey ammo manufacturer) 125gr. For the 300BO 55gr for the 5.56.The 5.56 is moving at 3150 fps and the 300 BO is at 1980 fps.
I'd say more Edwin than Mike! lol. That being said I prefer when Garand Thumb does these types of videos than when he is discussing at length some gun that I will never own. Thanks for watching.
Hi! I'm not following your meaning. Are you referring to powders for hand loads, or are you talking about the black hills ammo? If the ammo then I agree that stuff is pretty awesome even out of a short barrel!! I suspect your comment was in reference to the idea that 223/5.56 has to be shot out of a longer barrel to allow time for all of the powder to burn. I'm not sure if anyone is loading 5.56 with a powder that is able to burn off completely in a short barrel like 300 BO.
Yes. I also could have gotten further away and further left or further right. This was done in an extremally wide open environment, where the possibilities would have been virtually endless... of course changing distance does have an effect on velocity as the bullet begins to decelerate immediately upon exit of the muzzle. As this was a demonstration to illustrate near maximum velocity which translates to energy I chose a distance that was very near the muzzle while remaining far enough away to hopefully avoid becoming coming completely drenched by syrupy colored water!! I also have a video that shows expansion of different bullets from 620 yards in ballistics gel. We choose a distance to "test" from based on what the objective of the "test" or demonstration is.Thank you for watching. I appreciate it!!
Force = Mass x Acceleration By that account it is easier and more efficient to first increase velocity before increasing mass. A smaller round also has less frontal profile making it less susceptible to aerodynamic drag.
You should compare rifle to rifle, not rifle to pistol, since though both calibers can reach satisfsctory velocities from less than full length, the 556 is significantly handicapped by a shorter bbl. the 300 less so, but nonetheless it will comtinue to accelerate and take advantage of a 16-20 inch bbl. i would conpletely discount the single remaining can in any of these type of demonstrations because its more likely the kinetic impact is bursting cans not the bullet or its fragmemts. therefore its possible in any given example one or two cans were thrown clear. ballistic gel or even clay ars much better test mediums. another thing to consider from a kill rather than target situation, is that the 556/223 relies heavily on tumble to inflict damage, as you stated its a fast small bullet, if it fails to tumble it essentially "ice picks" leaving nothing more than a 22 caliber hole, often not even disabling a human being (actual lessons learned in vietnam and the middle east) it takes 8-10inches for the 223/556 to tumble in a body, therefore a frontal shot is most likely to pass through unless it hits bone. the 300 being 2x heavier and 1/3 larger will deliver more energy on the body, all else being equal.
We are in Torrance County New Mexico. I'm pretty sure when I reviewed the slow motion footage I saw the single surviving can fly up and forward as if the shot hit just below it and the cans below and behind it propelled it out of the way as they were reacting the the energy transfer. Thanks for watching!
@@theaveragearmedcitizen9821 what a coincidence! thoroughly enjoyed your presentation! look forward to maybe some clay other mediums. envious of your location with its wide open spaces, bit not the heat, though im in the humidity soaked mid atlantic region, so other than extreme days you migght be better off 😀
@@hanktorrance6855 thank you! We do get pretty hot in this high desert. If you can find shade it makes a huge difference somehow. Places like Phoenix are hot whether you are in the shade or not so it is nice to be able to catch a break that way. Then of course freezing cold in the winter hahaha! We shoot ballistic gel also just depending on what the goal of the demonstration is. I have been considering clay as well. I'm not a fan of mediums that are not reusable, but I did like the effect of the hominy. I appreciate the support!
@@theaveragearmedcitizen9821 essentially the equivalent of a 7.62x39 load. Would be interesting to see 110 gr. and 190 or 240 gr. Loads perform. If you can, add a gel block to the testing medium.
Eh you know we actually have a quantify this exact thing? Ya it's measured in foot pounds or jouls, its not perfect but it's infinitely better than just guessing. Knock down power will depend precisely on this factor and virtually nothing else, the military considers anything 60+ foot pounds as having the potential to cause a debilitating injury. So what about 5 56 and 300 blackout? Well as it turns out they are actually pretty much exactly the same because you can load super sonic 300 blackout. They both cap 1350-1400 foot pounds.
That is true. In this exact sample we are looking at 160 ft lbs difference. The 5.56 is 1063 ft lbs and the 300BO 1223 ft lbs. So the question becomes what does that look like? I could just write on the screen 5.56 1063 and 300BO 1223. But that doesn't look like anything. Shooting a reactive target such as a 12 pack of sodas makes the energy transfer quantifiably different visually. I used my AR-10 chambered in .308 win. In my most recent video. That was considerably more reactive at 2800 ft lbs! Thank you for watching and commenting!
@@theaveragearmedcitizen9821 that is extremely low for 5.56, military green tips are 1370-1400 and do have a slight edge over 300 blackout because it's a smaller case and a heavy bullet and you're already at 90-100 % case capacity so can't add more powder. You can get 300 blackout up past 1400 staying within published load data , so maximum energy you can achieve is about the same for 300 blackout and 556.
@@whatsmolly5741 in my experience so far I have not seen 5.56 deliver more energy that 300 blackout. Sorta like I said earlier real world vs on paper will often produce different results. Physics is physics but if environmental factors are not accounted for you can end up with results different than expected based on what the calculations project.
@@theaveragearmedcitizen9821 ya this is more like middle school physics, there is only 2 factors and that's speed and weight. Kinetic energy equals one-half the mass of an object times the square of its velocity. This is of course just potential energy, if the 55 grain fmj 5.56 goes through it isn't doing a good job transferring it. Though in real world application the guy you shot isn't going to know the difference when he's leaking from 2 holes, at those speeds hydrostatic shock will be doing most of the tissue damage anyway. You have to realize that m855 and m193 projectiles the military uses are inherently non expanding but literally all bullets made for 300 blackout are expanding. There is plenty of expanding bullets for 556 and if you take something made for self defense like federal hst I promise you it's going to look alot more like the 300 blackout. This is why quantifying it is a good idea even if you still make the video shooting stuff.... There's a really cool website called ballistics 101 that has a comprehensive list of commercially available ammo for most calibers and their energies.
with 12 individual soda cans, you're relying on the pressure from the carbonation and your aim to achieve results. The larger question - or more accurate - that I think you're looking for is not which one hits harder, but rather which caliber and projectile will transfer/dump it's energy into a target. For example, you punch a smaller 5.56 FMJ round through a stack of cardboard and it'll do very little outside of a small hole and even though it's hauling ass, very little energy will transfer vs. a HP projectile going into a 5 gallon jug of water. Bullet composition, expansion, weight and speed all come into play, along with that said projectiles impact.
good point. for this video, we used FMJ in both bullets. With components being scarce right now we just kinda' use whatever we can get our hands-on. That gives me another video idea. It might be interesting to see the energy transfer between a 5.56 HP vs a 5.56 FMJ. Traditionally, a hollow point transfers energy very well because it expands causing better frictional drag in addition to the front becoming blunted rather than pointed, (I Believe that is what is happening) but with that tiny .22 caliber round yawing so violently it may give a hollow point a run for its money. of course a tiny .22 caliber round moving so quickly and expanding may deliver more energy on target too. might be interesting to see...Thanks for the comment and for getting the gears turning!
I don't understand why people are making rifles with longer barrels and shooting 300 blackout to 1000 yards. There are better 30 cals for that, but 'merica so do it because you can I guess.
That is a great idea! The difference between those two cartridges on paper are pretty equal to the difference between 5.56 and 300BO on paper. Would be interesting to see how they act in the real world.
@@theaveragearmedcitizen9821 The 5.56X45mm Shoots flatter too. Ammo is more readily available because it is a NATO standard caliber for now. I've herd them taking about switching to the 6.8 SPC. Special Purpose Cartridge.
@@swatterbirdwatts6680 they are starting to put 300 bo on the shelves now, but 5.56 is definitely more prevalent now. In an apocalyptic scenario 5.56 will be everywhere which can't be said about BO. I am glad to have both though especially for the length of barrel and energy on target of the BO.
@@theaveragearmedcitizen9821 I've been competing in the shooting category since I was 7 . My father managed a shooting club. Now I'm 50. So I've seen and learned as much as possible. We both know the 300 blackout was designed for a specific application. Shooting subsonic through a suppressor. I was never into new fancy cartridges. Dad thought me stick with the older ones because a lot of new cartridges never caught on and fell to the wayside. I'm happy to have made the right decision. Nothing against the 300 blackout, but it's not been around as long as several other 30 cartridges have. Mainly .308,30-06 and 300 win mag. But it was definitely designed for the application I mentioned above. Thanks for responding. 300 BO and 7.62X39 are real close in performance. Again I would have chosen 7.62X39 for reasons I mentioned above. But the 300BO doesn't need a magazine that looks like a banana. Thanks again.
Thank you for watching! I hear you. It is good to have options. I have weapons chambered for tried and true cartridges like .308 win 300 WM 22lr 9mm .45 etc., but then I also have 10mm 300 PRC etc. Not ready for 30 super carry just yet!!
not unless they change the rules mid game (wouldn't be surprising). as of right now that is actually an arm brace. sometimes when I am so focused on hitting the target the armbrace kind of slides up and rests near my shoulder.
I spend a lot of time collecting data as a petro-chemical specialist and inventor. I don't want to do it when I'm shooting too! I thought it was fun and to me it showed a huge difference. More than I was expecting!
That’s a faulty “test” you shot the 300 out of a shorter barrel and therefore it hits with less energy. If you’re gonna do a test do it right or don’t do it at all.
Is it a faulty "test", or does it show that 300 Blackout was designed correctly in that it was made to deliver a lot of energy out of a shorter barrel which is important in today's evolution of urban combat vs fighting in jungles and beaches? It is easy to deduce that the 300 would deliver even more energy with a longer barrel (Depending on powder charge. If you expend all of the energy too soon then friction in the barrel will rob you of velocity thus reducing the energy delivered on target.). This"test" shows that 300 blackout delivers more energy out of a "standard" barrel length for 300 BO of 10.5 inches vs 5.56 in a "standard" 16 inch barrel. (5.56 was designed to be shot out of a 20" barrel but 16 has become the "standard". Perhaps if you wanted to know how much more energy then you could shoot them out of the same length barrel and measure the difference. Also keep in mind that this "test" shows only one 300 blackout cartridge. 300 blackout is so versatile that you could spend days testing sub sonic vs super sonic 300 BO in all sorts of different weights and charges. 5.56 does not handle variation well, so that would still lead to people questioning the validity. Had I done the "test" the way you seem to be suggesting, someone would have commented about the validity of that test too, which is why I'm assuming you didn't do that test. Why don't you do the test you want to see and post it so we can all benefit from your work. Thanks for watching.
Ok buddy since you wanna take it there, immo take it there then. First of all you’re “testing” if the 300 hits harder then the 556 this is the title of your video “5.56 Hits Hard!! Does 300 Blackout Hit Harder?” You’re contradicting yourself telling me that it’s “obvious” we can deduce the 300 hits harder and that it would be obvious if you used a longer barrel and that the round was made for the “evolution of todays combat” of urban warfare vs jungle etc etc. if it was so obvious you wouldn’t have done the test, and the powder charge would have to be supersonic since the 556 is supersonic unless the subsonic 300 hits harder then the supersonic 556. (Only time you use subsonic 556 is for a suppressor) so the RIGHT TEST would be to shoot BOTH rounds supersonic out of the same barrel length in order to ACCURATELY show the energy delivered by each one. Either both supersonic or both subsonic. Now according to you “This"test" shows that 300 blackout delivers more energy out of a "standard" barrel length for 300 BO of 10.5 inches vs 5.56 in a "standard" 16 inch barrel” but you’re wrong about that because the test showed what EVERYBODY already knew the 300 hits harder since it’s a heavier round remember? E=MC2 they teach you that in 2nd grade. Now another thing that “result” you got was a byproduct of the test itself so don’t act like you were specifically looking to prove that, that just happened to be the barrel length you had for the 300 and it just happened that it produced more energy then the 556 so stop fronting like you discovered something big. Another thing like I stated earlier regardless of how many variations the 300 blackout round has you just test sub and supersonic out of the SAME BARREL length that’s called an UNBIASED test. As far as someone “commenting” on the “validity” of the “test I wanted to see” it would of been more than obvious that his/her comment would hold no ground because in order for a this test to be done PROPERLY you need to shoot BOTH rounds either supersonic or subsonic out of the SAME BARREL LENGTH in order to measure the TRUE power behind each round even if the shorter barrel 300 hits harder than the 556 it’s STILL NOT a valid test so like I said before if you’re gonna do something do it right or don’t do it at all. And btw there’s no particular “test I want to see” I was just scrolling through RU-vid and idk how I ended up in this useless channel where the host can’t even do an unbiased test and gets mad and infuriated when a viewer calls him out on his MISTAKE.
I guess my response didn't post, so I'll try again. I'm not sure what part you're thinking is not accurate. Are you thinking that 300 blackout Does not deliver more energy on target than 5.56/223? Because it absolutely does. Not only do the numbers bear that out, but just shooting them. One right after another , you can tell for sure that there is a difference And that 300 blackout definitely hits harder. If you haven't tried it you should. Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment!
