300 Blackout for Home Defense

80 Percent Arms | Jun 30th 2020

#Ammo
#Upper

The 300 BLK has picked up a lot of steam lately due to its impressive suppress-ability, ease to shoot, and close quarters effectiveness. Looking at those 3 characteristics, on paper it appears the 300 BLK would be an ideal home defense tool, but is this really the case? In my opinion; yes. Read on to find out why I think the 300 blackout has earned a place under your bed, in your closet, or hanging above your fireplace to defend your homestead.

Home Defense Pros

Considering the 300BLK is the caliber of choice for our special forces overseas in close quarters combat situations; it comes to no surprise that this would transition well over to a home defense weapon. Take a look at the positive characteristics below:

Compact

The .300 Blackout was developed by AAC to be extremely effective out of barrel around 8" in length. Compared to the average AR-15, this saves you 8" in maneuvering corners, and still saves you a couple inches, even with a suppressor attached. If you're trying to clear rooms in your house, deploy a weapon quickly from a backpack, or you need a compact weapon system for your truck, you can't beat a .300blk platform. While you can find 8" 5.56 barrels, the performance is dropping like a rock from a 10.3" or 11.5" barrel. Size matters, and when it comes to PDWs, the smaller the better.

Suppress-ability

Though this is a more advanced perk, it is a nice one to have. Shooting a firearm without ear protection is painful and extremely damaging to your hearing. Shooing a firearm inside with no ear protection is downright stupid. So if you find yourself in a situation where you need to discharge your firearm inside in order to protect yourself and your family; having a quiet shot mitigates trauma and adrenaline for yourself and your family. Reducing your risk of hearing damage is always a win, especially if you need to communicate with others in your household while shooting.

Recoil

Shooting a suppressed (or unsuppressed) 300BLK is honestly a pleasant experience. Allowing you rapid follow up shots, you aren’t worried about dislocating your shoulder like you may be on a 12GA pump shooting .00 buckshot. Likewise, this is a great option for women who want to have a long gun as a home defense weapon but find a shotgun a bit too much to handle. While you may have a bit more recoil than your standard 5.56mm, the difference is almost negligible, and at close range it certainly isn't enough to move you off target.

Ballistics

Plain and simple, if someone takes a .300BLK center-mass; they are going to stop moving. Hitting with a crushing 1,500 ft-lb of force inside of 10 yards, you have 30 rounds of freight train force at your disposal. Anyone on the receiving end of this nightmare is going to cease what they are doing instantly-and probably forever. Wanna run subsonic so you don't wake the kids up? You still have more energy on target than a .45, with a terminally superior bullet.

Home Defense Cons

Price

Price is really the biggest negative to owning a 300 BLK for home defense. I can go to any pawnshop, gun show, or sporting goods store and pick up a reliable 12GA pump for under $300. However, if I’m buying a trustworthy and quality AR chambered in 300Blk, I’m looking more at around $700- on the low end. Good subsonic ammo is also quite a bit more expensive than 12GA shells, and definitely harder to find.