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

But a .223 would have way over-penetrated...

my thoughts having both and killing deer with both rounds

.223 and the 70 grn tsx on deer
by far the best deer bullet I have loaded in the .223 BUT it still has its draw backs.
with exit holes the size of a dime sometimes blood trails are marginal. a big percentage of the time they are drt but when its getting dark and its thick tracking a sparse blood trail is no fun.

6.8 and 110 accubond or pro hunter
good blood trails due to larger exit wounds and again most are drt

I enjoy both rounds but when I hit the deer woods the .223 stays in the safe these days..

either will get it done..

if blood trails are an issue at dark, then you need to make a CNS shot.

Pretty simple really.

ANY round they can run on. And ANY round they can bleed or not bleed as in a good blood trail.

I've likely been in on as many or more deer shot than most folks. We used to have to take almost 300 deer a season on a place I guided, and then hunting with up to 10 others during gun season, same in bow, those numbers were up to 50-90 deer a year too.

Nothing is guaranteed.

The only reason not to shoot small rounds is if you cannot afford to pass up a particular shot.

The 6.8 ain't enough more than the 223 to fill those shoes ever.

BUT shoot what makes ya happy for sure!

Every time we take a group of guys carrying 5.56s hog hunting by the end of the weekend they are ready to buy a 6.8. Lots of guys around Spring Texas have made the switch.
The 300 was a kind of quiet toy for about 6 months but worthless as far as hunting goes. Sold it and put the money on a clip on thermal for the 6.8.

I'd venture a guess that those with poor performance with the 223 also used a poor bullet. Load up a 62 TSX and watch stuff die.

But then again I've used 55 NBT's, 77 SMK's and never wanted more...

But I have a buddy that finally fell in love with his 6.8 so I'm sure it's a great round.

peoples experience sure varies a lot....

I want to try one as I never have... OTOH my eyes tell me the 5.56 kills deer just fine.

Many of them were using TSXs in the 5.56, they had already heard it was the best penetrating bullet. A 5.56 may work fine when 1 hog is standing and you can take a good shot but when there are 12-20 all running after the first shot the 5.56 doesn't work so well when you take a Texas heart shot.

I'll give you that. The one time that happened to me I had to finish off a few but pigs died and that's the main goal.

Waste of time to me. A properly loaded .223 is like a Swiss Army Knife...