Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 6.8 Remington as a deer cartridge

I'm looking for advice on using the 6.8 Remington as a sub 300 yard deer caliber.
Acceptable or not. Maximum effective rake?
Thanks,
John

Very acceptable.

If you don't handload, try Hornady's 120SST(.400 BC) factory load. It's advertised MV is 2460fps from a 16" bbl, but most find it exceeds that by a fair margin. My 18" ARP does 2590fps AVG with the factory 120SST loads. I've tried quite a few powders and seem to max out around 2560 with 2200 for the top end with the 120SSTs as far as MV. The factory Hdy 120 can be found for $17.75/box as well, which is cheaper than component cost alone.

120 SST:


My current 308 load FWIW(165GK):

That's why I'm looking for. My old tired shoulder is no longer in love with the 30-06, especially when hunting whitetails.....
The grandkids would like it also.

It would work well for that.

The 6.8 SPC is an under rated Deer and Hog cartridge. It and the 6.5 Grendel are my 2 favorite AR15 cartridges.

If you load, Barnes developed the 95gr TTSX specifically to optimize performance in the 6.8 SPC. There's a thread with load reports over on 68forums.

The 6.8 works well on deer. My son used one last year and I was impressed with the performance.

I've been begging somebody to do one in a bolt gun again. In my opinion, it could be marketed successfully if the rifle was set up right. They need to make it appealing to youth hunters and females too. It's a cartridge that would work for everyone with pounding the shoulder.

No long range rig, but more than enough for deer and pigs at moderate ranges.

Howa now makes a mini bolt action 6.5 Grendel that looks pretty cool.....

+1 on 6.8 for deer . I have 2 of them both ARs I had intentions of handloading but tried XM68 from PSA . Its a 90 gr Gold Dot and works really well on deer size game . My farthest shot was a doe at about 300 yds . Complete broadside penetration at that range , only about an 85 lb deer though.

BTW Ruger and Remington i believe both made bolt guns but good luck finding one without paying an arm and leg.

I've got an Encore barrel spotted......

What's it offer that the 6.5 Creedmoor or the 243 Win does not?

.243 or .250 savage killing power with even less recoil. Other rounds drift less in the wind however. When my son was still in diapers I got him a Hawkeye compact so chambered. It's been pure death on turkeys hogs and deer. He's deadly out to 200 with the 4x scope, and likely further if I let him shoot further.

Less recoil. That can be big for younger shooters or females.

It loses in drift and drop to both, but most younger shooters don't go much beyond 100 yards anyway.

the 6.8 is a great deer and hog round

Shooting from my stand the farthest shot is 125 yards. If I leave the stand I'll take no shot past 300 yards due to skill level. So it sounds as though the 6.8 will be one sweet little round.

The 6.8 is a capable short range hunting round and and it makes some sense as an alternate choice in an AR...but then so is a 300 BLK. The 223 gets the job done as well.

In a bolt rifle it's no better, or even as good as a 308 with a box of reduced recoil loads.

A 6.5 Creedmore is the big winner with factory loads and still gentle recoil.

If you reload...then the choice of any and all is yours.

Currently I've got the soft shooting 6.5x55 in a Howa for my hunting. It's still a tad much for the kids. I thought the 6.8 would be a good in between round. They could go from a 223, to a 6.8, and then on to the Swede.
You know you're addicted when you start using the grandkids as an excuse for buying another gun...... On second thought, who says you need an excuse???

Nothing wrong with your train of thought at all. Another that would fill the same niche would be the Howa 6.5 Grendel that SAS posted today from Whitakers.

The Remington was set up with the early chamber, and can't safetly use contemporary loads. There was an evolution to SPC II chambering, with a slower twist and I think a little more freebore, and it allows the cartridges to be loaded a little hotter and get more velocity out of a given load. I know, twist isn't supposed to effect velocity, but it's been tested plenty in this case.

The bottom line is, the M700 is a dog that doesn't deliver what the cartridge is capable of. Don't waste your time.

The SPC is a great cartridge, but it's best for optimizing the performance of the AR. Once you go to a standard short action, any .308-based cartridge makes more sense.

I also like the idea of the Howa Mini. If they ever get off their arses and make it in 7.62x39, I might have to pick me up one.