Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Now after so many years what are your mature thoughts on the 6.8?

A new kid on the block was exciting when it came out. Now that the dust has cleared and the shiny is off the new; what are your thoughts now? I know some of y'all have owned several or at least doted on one.

With newer premium bonded bullets and premium this and that bullets for the 5.56 do you regret going down the 6.8 road? Magazine prices and extra added recoil seem to be the only real draw backs. From what is available and being sold and on the shelf you would think this newfangled 30 caliber was taking the AR-15 world by storm, leaving the ugly old obsolete 6.8 in the dust of yesteryear and grandpa's model T.

Typically my mind set says 22lr, then 223, then .270 Win/308, then a .338 Magnum. As far as whats "needed".

my mature thoughts.

To me the 16 inch barreled 5.56 is a very versatile gun, so next on my list is a second free floated LW 223. The 5.56 with a 62 TSX is more than adequate for any WT deer I will ever encounter, yet still shoots those now "somewhat" less expensive 55 grain practice bullets, wonderful cartridge.

I tried the 300BO in a pistol, it was not practical at $30/20 for Barnes 110 grain Vor-TX cartridges to give you only about 30 carbine performance. It is simply over hyped for hunting and really was intended for a specific application. Even the practice ammo for it was expensive and first time I saw a cartridge lose a primer to go under the trigger locking it up, no thanks. (Anyone want an almost brand new Eotech XPS2-0 for $450 shipped?)

The 6.8 seems to be a 250 savage in an AR15 platform. As I am just an old broken down (mature) dude that does not want to jump out of trees onto live hogs with a hunting knife and thus to me sitting in a ground blind in the dark at 50 yards from a hog feeder I find that the butt pucker factor is variable like the wind sometimes. So to me it depends on if your sitting there with an 11.5 pound SR762/red light combo resting in the Bog Pod tripod loaded with 150 grain WW "hog hammer" bullets or the 8 pound DD 5.56 loaded with 62 grain TSX bullets and red light. The 300BO pistol never made it that far, again primarily the butt pucker thing regards large animals in the dark, adequate penetration, and inability to make as good a hits with it, etc.

big mature thought..the pucker factor involved with crawling around on the ground looking for blood in the dark by yourself with a flashlight and a less than dead hog?? another mature thought, deer at a minute before last legal light, the 223 small blood trail, I will take only a neck shot, something to also consider.

The 6.8 OTOH looks very promising, and looks very doable in a sub 9 pound full up rifle.

I am considering it for two reasons. 1. Driving a 110 grain TSX a bit deeper into an animal than I can drive a 70 or 62 grain TSX and 2. it might make a bigger blood trail on a deer with an 85 TSX.