300 Blackout is a cartridge that came on the market and found a unique home. While boutique cartridges can come and go 300 Blackout has had staying power. One of the reasons for the 300 blackouts success is it performs excellent both suppressed and supersonic.

For those guys who love the black rifle but want a heavier larger bullet in the 30 caliber family, the supersonic version is a big winner. For those of us in Michigan who can take deer with a rifle, a 300BLK will meet the DNR requirements. It also has been a proven beast in the hog hunting arena, where it is being used widely.

For those guys who are open to NFA items like SBR’s and Suppressors you can build a very quite hard hitting CQB or plinking rifle that is 1 or 2 stamp. Since I am poor after leaving my job to focus on 248Shooter and GAT Daily, my 300 Blackout is on a pistol with the Shockwave stabilizer brace we reviewed a few weeks back.

The big problem with a gun this versatile is switching from super to subsonic ammunition will move your zero. When looking at a gun that so commonly goes back and forth from one type of ammo to another it becomes bothersome to either adjust all calculations or re-zero constantly.

Eotech solved this problem when they created the dual zeroed XPS2-300 for the 300 Blackout caliber in both super and subsonic.

Specifications:

• Length: 3.8”
• Width: 2.1”
• Height: 2.5”
• Weight: 9.0 oz
• Water Resistant: Submersible to 10 ft.
• Mount: 1” Weaver or MIL-STD-1913 rail
• Power Source: One 123 lithium battery
• Battery Life: 600 continuous hours at nominal setting 12 at room temp.

Reticle:

The XPS2-300 offers a 2 dot system inside the well known Eotech ring and dot reticle pattern.

The top dot represents 50 yards at subsonic and 100 yards at supersonic

The second dot is 150 yards at subsonic and 300 yards at supersonic.

The 2 dot system does not support the bottom of ring 7 yard zero that many have come to enjoy from Eotech.

The holographic “dot” is not designed to be used with night vision, which will affect some hog hunters. It is highly adjustable in brightness however from a very faint dot for low light, dusk all the way up to extremely bright for use in full sun. I have used it both low light and full light and when properly set had no issues with losing the “dot.”

Technology

Eotech is one of those optics companies you either love or hate. There is few that sit in the middle. Part of that is due to the technology used. While Eotech and their competition use the term “dot” that is misleading.

Eotech is the only company that produces a laser induced hologram. Their competitors in the “red dot” market all use small red lights. The result is that a red light can only produce a dot. A laser can produce multiple dots, halo’s, lines numbers and so much more. Take a look at the XR500, FN303 or Biohazard reticles to get an idea of just how different a hologram is vs. a red light.

The holographic image is also easier for some users to use when shooting with both eyes open. The hologram visually appears on the target making a single focal plane for the eye, where a dot will be more like a front sight post, causing the eye to have to pick a focal point.

The flip side of this is holographic lasers take more energy to run requiring larger batteries that will burn out faster than LED solutions. If you look at the 600 hours, the XPS2-300 runs at vs. the 6000 hours a T2 can run. Leaving the XPS-2 on for a month in your safe or trunk would kill your battery vs. the advertised multiple years of the competition if it did not have an auto shut off feature. Eotech has built in 2 different auto shutoffs to the optic to prevent accidental drain. If you turn the optic on using the up arrow you will have 8 hours of use from the last time the adjustment arrows are touched. Using the down arrow the optic will shut off after 4 hours if adjustment inactivity.

The larger CR123 battery is easy to replace and for most of us is a very common battery. All of my lights run 123’s as does some of my lasers. So the 123 is a battery I keep in my range bag and even in a roll out kit already. It is also a good bit cheaper to replace than some of the “watch” batteries used by many optics.

Zero:

The more something can do for you often the more time you have to put into getting it right. One thing I learned from Travis Haley and Steve Fisher has been to confirm zero and not assume it. If you’re running a 36/300 zero like the marines or 50/250 like so many at classes, you better damn make sure your holes match up. Often you can tweak the further distance with less shift to the local if your grouping properly but a few changes to the closer range can result in bad long shots. This is usually the fault of an operator compensating for bad form vs. the physics of ammunition.

In like fashion if your running 2 distances for 2 types of bullets your going to pick the range and ammo option your most likely to use and confirm zero on the others. I’m no marksman by any stretch, and I don’t have access to a 300-yard range, so our testing was done at 50/100/150 sub and supersonic using ammunition from Detroit Bullet Works. Taking into account my limited capabilities as a shooter the optic did what it was supposed to at the various distances. Zeroing took a bit longer, but the delay was from the volume of shots not a difficulty with the optic.

Performance:

This review was done in conjunction with another review we have been working on. In truth the delay in the Eotech review was due to a series of issues with the Radical Firearms Upper we used for testing. We will talk about that in the full Radical Firearms review. Also, we did this review on a pistol 300 blackout build since that is what I had. It is a 10.5-inch barrel made from an inexpensive company that proved to have issues with some rather common sized 300 blackout rounds. As such the performance of the gun lacked in comparison to the actual optic. The greater problem was with the operator error since I am not a long distance expert tier-1 badass type.

50-100 yards is well within my comfort zone and range I shoot at and review at on a regular basis. The gun was spot on at those ranges once zeroed.

At 100-200 yard distances, I needed to use a 3 times magnifier. I noticed that the Hologram didn’t distort like a red dot often will under magnification. My understanding on this is because the laser projects the hologram out you’re not magnifying the dot as you would with an LED based red dot. The dot magnification is what causes the common distorted or sunburst effect.

Final Thoughts:

The 2 dot design is not unique to the 300BLK model though it is unique to Eotech. While it poses unique advantages for most shooters, the 2 dot system excels in calibers that run both super and subsonic variants.

The diagram on the top of the optic reminding those of us with short term memory issues the distances the gun is zeroed at based on the ammunition type is a nice added touch. Since this was a review optic and not a primary optic that I have been used to I found referencing the chart helped in the review. I could see though how it might be a distraction to those not used to the reticle.

I am likely going to buy this optic for use in my next 300 blackout build that will be getting a suppressor. The square shape of the Eotech has always been a favorite of mine, and the holographic image has been consistently one of the easiest sights to use when shooting both eyes open.

I turn my optics off when not in use and don’t find myself in situations that changing a battery would be life threatening. Even as a bump in the night gun I’m shooting at such short ranges that if the optic did go dead it would not be ideal but still a manageable issue. With the automatic shutoff feature the battery life is less of an issue than we have seen it made out to be. The trick is you simply change the battery before it goes dead.

The Eotech Model XPS2-300 retails for $549.00 but can be found cheaper from some retailers. Just be careful who you buy from. There is plenty of knock off companies that will be happy to rip you off. Stick to reputable retailers, stay away from Amazon and Ebay and you should be fine.

We prefer to use our site sponsor and local Michigan retailer Operation Parts for all Eotech items as well as after market mounts, lens covers, magnifiers and other accessories.