I just dusted off my old upper. And, found some of my old hand loads. I know it’s not the best in the long range category. What are your thoughts on this caliber?
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Hunting & Fishing No love for the 6.8 SPC for hunting?
- Thread starter Raffica762
- Start date
I ran one for a little while but then replaced it with the 6.5 Grendel. Easy to build, easy to get ammo or load for, and better bullet selection than the 6.8 SPC.
For what it's worth, the 6.8 SPC is a great hunting round for medium to light game inside a few hundred yards.
For what it's worth, the 6.8 SPC is a great hunting round for medium to light game inside a few hundred yards.
If I still hunted deer with an ar it would be one of my top picks for sure. And if I was getting someone else into hunting, it would be an easy round to start them off with.
My primary pig gun is a 12.5” 6.8. It runs like a top! Gold dots work great.
In a small frame AR I would never consider using anything except a .204 for varmints or .223 or 5.56 for larger game. Both simply work, are cheap to shoot, accurate and work well to on game to 600 meters with uniform excellence. Both utilize standard BCG's and mags. No need for anything else.
I realize you’re probably talking about longer barreled rifles, but better be careful making that sort of recommendation without clarification. Newbies are going to think they can take their 5.56 AR pistols out and kill deer (or larger animals) at 600 yards without repercussions. Shooting steal at 500 yards with my 10.5” SBR 5.56 speaks volumes about the energy or lack there of. By comparison, the 6.8 is easily the better option, short barreled or not.
You are correct. I really like my 11.5" uppers in 5.56 but they don't kill well on deer or hogs at any range. Sad but true. I tried my standard 77 SMK load, lighter bullets, softer bullets etc. NOTHING WAS EFFECTIVE. Now I just keep them around for HD and fortunately have not needed them.
I have no issues with the 18" barrels at 600 meters. It simply works. Even where the velocity slows to what a SBR is at the muzzle. My theory is that the rotational velocity remains high enough to open the bullet up at ranges where forward velocity has fallen off.
The fact is the 5.56 in an 18" barrel works for me. Even the 16" barrel seems a bit less effective. The shorter barrels also are much louder even suppressed. YMMV.
I have no issues with the 18" barrels at 600 meters. It simply works. Even where the velocity slows to what a SBR is at the muzzle. My theory is that the rotational velocity remains high enough to open the bullet up at ranges where forward velocity has fallen off.
The fact is the 5.56 in an 18" barrel works for me. Even the 16" barrel seems a bit less effective. The shorter barrels also are much louder even suppressed. YMMV.
I haven’t used my 6.8in a few years. It definitely packs more punch than a 223/5.56. I’d like to use it again but my daughter claimed the scope off of it as hers. Maybe next year.
Thank you guys I forgot how much I really liked this round..this was so the tits 10 to 12 years ago
I had a 12.5” SBR upper in 6.8 and slated many, many hogs with it. It’s no slouch of a cartridge for killing animals in a short barreled AR.
Yeah I’m starting to want to shoot this upper again..might put some glass on it and take into the woods this fall
I've tagged out on whitetail for several years and killed a lot of pigs with 6.8spc and 95gr ttsx. Nothing long range, inside and a couple hundred yards.
Built one a few years ago, I just got another barrel for a new build. Plan on doing an SBR in the near future. No it's not a long range caliber but it has some authority for normal hunting ranges and more then adequate for large game like pig, deer and antelope.
At shorter ranges the spc does kick the 556’s ass and, this rd was made for shorter bbls so that’s a plus
My go to load is the 120sst in a 20" ARP barrel with AR-COMP at 2730fps that flat out kills hogs but has a bit of fragmentation given the bullet design for whitetail use so I usually use the 85 grain TSX for that which can be fairly easily pushed to 3000 fps with Rl-7 with good accuracy.
I’ve taken deer out to a little over 200 yards with 85gr Nosler E-Tips and the performance was great for my 16” Wilson Combat barrel. If I was to do this over I’d build a 20” and max out on velocity and hunt from my blind. I don’t carry my 16” in the woods , only from my blind because the aluminum FF tube is cold during rifle season and hard on the hands.
I've got 5 deer in the freezer already thanks to 6.8 SPC. All of them DRT with shoulder shots, taken with XM68GD ammo going just shy of 3000fps from an 18" ARP barrel. Gun is an absolute laser beam, I can't seem to shoot worse than 0.5 MOA with it and I'm no super expert.
Absolutely fantastic setup. There's plenty of love for 6.8 SPC out there. Plenty.
-Stooxie
Absolutely fantastic setup. There's plenty of love for 6.8 SPC out there. Plenty.
-Stooxie
I think I could push the 120sst to 2800 or more in the 20" ARP barrel but that is were it seemed to be happy with AR-COMP and hovered around the .625" accuracy mark so no need to go more. Dead is dead and it is hard on pigs so why go more.
I had a handguard like that, wrapped it in paracord and that made it much better in the cold. Also helped with the annoying ring when I bumped it against something hard.
Hornady 120sst out of 11.5 bison armory barrel is dead on for me. Kills hogs for days and deer if I need to.
When I head to the farm my bolt action and SBR 6.8 come with me
When I head to the farm my bolt action and SBR 6.8 come with me
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