Thoughts on this as a hunting round??
Not for me. My brother in law, who is ex-army, and a military (AR style) gun freak is building one. He has been hounding me for a while to take him hunting. I invited him and my nephew to go later this year. Well, actually I invited my nephew and he somehow is coming too..
Anyway he is in the process of building an AR in this caliber(6.8). I will admit I know nothing about these military calibers. I looked at the ballistics briefly and it does not seem that impressive to me. Also he said the gun is going to have an 18" barrel. Doesn't seem to me he is going to get much velocity out of that short of a barrel. He said that caliber was designed to be shot in 18" barrels
Thoughts?
Here are some of the specs he sent me. It may as well be written in Greek to me
Im building an AR platorm for hunting. 18" Bison Recon SS SPCII Chamber barrel w/ 1-11 twist & M4 feed ramps. YHM Low Profile gas bloc, DPMS free float tube, YHM 5C2 comp/brake, AR15 carrier w/Stag 6.8 bolt, Rock River 30mm one piece scope mount with 1" GGG inserts, Redfield 3X9 Revolution scope. I need to get a lower and may et it hydro printed in the A-TACS pattern or rattle can it. Gonna replace the bolt, carrier, & scope eventually.
Nacho, please jump in, not sure of your knowledge on the MM rounds... I will have to do my homework alittle bit more on the 6.8 before I can give an opinion. One of my "Gun Mentors" has a 6.8 in an AR (he's an AR, AK, SKS nut) and is into the European Rounds/MM rounds for hunting. I will need to pick his brain before I can give you an opinion on the 6.8.
Here's an article (not sure how old it is) on the 6.8mm Remington SPC round, which I assume is what is being referred to. Looks like a .270 cal bullet in a .30 cal brass shortened to fit the Ar-15 mags.
Don't know what necessary barrel length is for optimum performance, but the article has this to say about the round's performance:
Remington began to develop the 6.8x43 back in 2002 and is officially introducing it this year as the 6.8mm Rem SPC. As this is written, the cartridge has not been released to the public, but I can tell you that it provides one MOA accuracy out to more than 600 meters. It has a flight path almost identical to that of the .308 Winchester, less chamber pressure than the .223 and fits into the M16 magazine envelope. Tests in 10 percent ballistic gelatin show incapacitation as good or better than the .308.
I do know the 6.8mm was tested at one point by the US Government as the replacement of the 5.56/.223 Cal, M-16 and 7.62x51/.308 Cal, M-60 and they decided to stay with the 5.56/.223 cal and came out with the SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) in 5.56/.223 cal so the rounds could be used in both the SAW and M-16. One ammo on the battle field makes logistics much easier and the weight factor of carrying ammo was also a big concern. I beleive they did away with the M-60 and 7.62x51/.308 cal about 10 years ago in a crew served weapon (light machine gun), I should know exactly but forget, I was on active duty from 1987-2008. I will find out more details on the 6.8MM
