It Was Love At First Shot
By: Nathan Mitchell
The 8.6 Blk Out
So, I’m sure you will be able to tell but, I’m in love with this round. In order to explain why I must explain how bullets work and maybe physics. So, we all know from paying attention in their learning institutes, F=MA force = mass x acceleration. When it comes to bullets that is how we think about it. How fast the bullet is going & what the bullet weighs, should equal energy on target right? Totally valid but it’s missing one aspect of what bullets do. They spin. When a bullet hits a target, it must stop in two ways. It must stop going forward and it must stop spinning. Both should be included in the calculation for energy on target. The spin isn’t something that just helps stabilize the bullet, it also adds to the energy on target.
Overview Ish
Knowledge is power and you just got all the power. So now to how that translates to the 8.6 blackout round. It’s being dubbed as the 300 blk outs big brother. This is true for many reasons, but the best is because it was designed by the same guys who created the 300 blackout. The soul of the cartridges is its .338 projectiles out of a 308 casing. Its primary function is to be subsonic and suppressed, out of a short barrel just like the 300 blk out but bigger.
The Spin
Here’s where it gets interesting. It’s designed to be shot out of a 1:3 twist. Which is extremely fast. The reason for the fast twist, other than because they can, is to stabilize the heavier bullet in a shorter barrel. This creates an absurd amount of energy on target because that bullet is spinning insanely fast. Being designed for subsonic and being out of a short barrel there is a cap on how fast that bullet can move so the only way to still have major damage points is to spin it super-fast. This creates a massive wound cavity. I believe the gel test shows a tripling of the size in the wound cavity.
Testing In The Wild
Alright I’m sure you all are wondering what you would use this round for. I hate this question by the way. So, the proving ground for this round was in Africa, against large game. I believe they took down a cape buffalo in one shot. There is also a lot of military testing happening with this round. The question of distance. Out of a 16in barrel using supers I would say spin drift becomes an issue after 400 yards. It’s a 500-yard cartridge for sure. I would get the subs out further than 300 yards. Most of y’all can’t ethically shoot at game that far anyways.
Conclusion
Just like the 300 blk out, if you are shooting this thing subsonic and suppressed then you can’t beat how quiet it is. It makes for a great hunting round. It also makes a great home defense round since you can throw a big rock at an intruder with less noise and less fear of wall penetration. So, we have one of these bad boys in the Pipe Hitter line with the 12in and 16in barrel lengths. Now go buy one.
