FOG HORN July 2020

Twobirds Flying Publications

SIG SAUER’S ELITE PERFORMANCE 300 BLK

Copyright 2020, Towbirds Flying Publications. All Rights Reserved.

 SIG SAUER’S ELITE PERFORMANCE 300 BLK
SIG SAUER’S ELITE
PERFORMANCE 300 BLK
By: Sal Palma
Just before America embarked on the COVID-19
journey, the folks at SIG SAUER were kind
enough to send me a sample of their new Elite
Performance 300 BLK, Match grade and FMJ.
And, here it is June of 2020 and I’m finally
getting some range time with facemask.
I want to establish from the beginning that I’m
not part of the reloading occult. You know who
you are? You’re like SAAB drivers. I do not live
to develop secret loads with extreme spreads of
12 fps and standard deviations of 5 fps at 72.7
°F., fired from barrels hand rolled by Aztec
maidens.
2020
I don’t want to maintain libraries and
computerized data bases or have a nervous
breakdown when DuPont changes the formula
of the powder you’ve been using. What I look
for is an off the shelf offering that feeds and
goes bang consistently while holding 1 MOA or
better and SIG SAUER’s 300 BLK met that
criterion in both its Match Grade and Full Metal
Jacket variants.
SIG SAUER has done an amazing job of what I’ll
describe as “tailored” ammunition. For
example, they’ve developed bullet geometries
for the subsonic 300 BLK that maximize
terminal ballistics for the heavy slow moving
round. They also developed a 300 BLK for SBRs
and pistol ARs that use a faster burning powder
to maintain usable velocities. Their standard
300 BLK is optimized for a 16” to 18” barrel.
For this review, I used two test platforms, a
Ruger American Ranch bolt action rifle and a
300 BLK AR both with 16” barrels. The Ruger
American Ranch rifle is a 1:7” R twist while the
AR had a 1:8” R twist. Range rules do not allow
the use of tripod mounted chronometers so I
used a MagnetoSpeed Sporter, which does not
provide the level of precision of my tripod
mounted unit, but it’s close enough.
I fired 10 round groups of Match Grade and FMJ
ammunition, through both platforms, with
excellent results
Series 2020-06-30_10_31_27 Shots: 10
Notes SIG SAUER 300 BLK Match Grade
Min 2285 Max 2338
Avg 2307 S-D 20.3
ES 53
Copyright 2020, Towbirds Flying Publications. All Rights Reserved.
 SIG SAUER’S ELITE PERFORMANCE 300 BLK
FIGURE I 10 ROUNDS SIG SAUER E LITE PERFORMANCE M ATCH
GRADE 300 BLK
The Match Grade 300 BLK 10 round group came
in at a hair below 1”
Next up was the SIG SAUER FMJ 300 BLK.
2020
conclusion about the ammunition, but why the
dissimilarity.
The only significant difference between the two
platforms was the barrel twist. The AR has a
1:8” while the Ruger has a 1:7”
I consulted with the 300 AAC intelligentsia and
there was unanimous consent that the 1:8”
twist is preferred even with the heavy 220 gr
subsonic loads. However, it’s almost certain
that the stringing is not a barrel twist issue. I
simply had a couple of rounds out of 10 that
were hotter than the average. So, how do these
two offerings differ?
Other than a slight variance in bullet geometry,
there is no quantifiable difference between the
Match Grade and FMJ ammunition; SIG loads
both to 2,200 fps from their test barrels.

Figure II 10 Rounds SIG SAUER Elite Performance FMJ 300

BLK

Here I experienced some stringing as fired from

the Ruger bolt gun. It chronographed at Avg. =
Both bullets are 125 gr; however if you look at
2277, ES=96 fps, SD= 40.3 fps
the bullet tips you’ll see that the Match Grade,
Interestingly, at my first
on the right, has a narrower tip than the FMJ
range session, the same
variant. I did not pull the bullets to see if there
ammunition when fired
were other relevant differences.
from the 300 BLK AR
I also looked at overall length and weight with
produced the following
the following results.
5 shot group, but I
wouldn’t jump to any

Copyright 2020, Twobirds Flying Publications, All Rights Reserved

 SIG SAUER’S ELITE PERFORMANCE 300 BLK
Both Match and FMJ rounds measured 2.21
inches in overall length. I didn’t expect to see
any variances between the two.
Figure III SIG SAUER Elite Performance Match Grade 300
BLK weight
Copyright 2020, Twobirds Flying Publications, All Rights Reserved
2020
Figure IV SIG SAUER Elite Performance FMJ 300 BLK
The FMJ variant was just a hair heavier by 0.01
ounces, which is more than likely insignificant
or scale tolerances.
In closing, with their 300 BLK line, SIG is playing
in a field crowded with competition several of
which are producing boutique loads, but SIG is
the only supplier that tailors their ammunition
to the intended use.
On visual inspection, the Company’s Match and
FMJ 300 Blk reflect superior quality; I’ll describe
it as pristine with spotless brass, primer seating
and bullets, all perfect.
If you’re looking for a 300 BLK load with
competition potential, the 300 BLK Match
Grade is your best bet. If you want to ding steel
at the range, you won’t find better fodder for
your AR platform than SIG’s FMJ 300 BLK.
-SP