Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Thinking about a 6.8 SPC upper,what do I need to know?

Thinking about getting one for my Colt 6720. It would be something for close range deer hunting. Is there a best,and what do I need to know about them?

Get a Wilson barrel when they have their next sale. Out of three, all have shot MOA or better.

There are other good barrels - White Oak, Daniels Defense, etc that will perform as well, I just have more Wilsons.

Remington green/white boxed ammo is usually pretty cheap, pretty dirty, and hasn’t grouped for me.
S&B Ammo doesn’t group well for me, YMMV.

Hornady has been my constant performer OTC in 110-120 grain.

I usually run an 18 barrel mid-length, and have one rifle length.

Haven’t connected with the deer,yet. They were on the wrong side of the fence, so can’t comment the knockdown.

RE what they do to deer, I've a 6/6.8. It kills fine. Can't tell any difference between it and a 223, so the full on 6.8 will do just fine.

Beyond that no comment.

If it was I my first and last contact would be Ben Tripplet at bison Arms. They use bat extension match barrels and stand behind their stuff very well.
The fulcrum barrels are as good as anything out.

I have 3 of them
1st one I bought from Iron works tactical
Two.More I built

All have ARP Barrels
All shoot less than an inch at a Hundred Yards with Hornady 120 SST Factory loads.

Kills Deer just fine,little recoil.

Last ammo I bought was from PSA, xm68gd. 90 grain bonded Bullet At about 2800 FPS out of a 16 inch barrel !!
Bought for 7.99 a box of 20,If you end up getting one get on the notify list from PSA.Once they notify you act immediately as they go FAST

I realized I don't need three 6.8 rifles so I have listed the one I bought from Iron Works Tactical in the classifieds.

I have only one with a wilson combat barrel, its OK but mine has not been spectacular., 1-2 inch groups with everything I have shot in it. I used a stag bolt, a bravo company KMR handguard and a upper receiver AH64 guy sold me. I hunt with the gun regularly, its main attribute is that it make a bigger exit hole than a 223 and bigger blood trail.

My daughter used one for a few years, 20” ARP barrel. Shoots at least MOA and some loads better. We hunted with handloaded Barnes 95gr TTSX bullets and the factory federal XM68GD a 90 gr Speer gold dot bullet. Both loads have worked outstanding on Texas deer and hogs. Go check out the 6.8 forum, you’ll get tons of info and pics.

another good place to deal with for 6.8 barrels is AR15 performance. There is a TON of info at 68forums.com

When he's open, taking orders & has stock..........which doesn't seem to be very often.

MM

Predator masters have the 6.8 covered.

kwg

Are you buying a complete upper or assembling yourself?
If building your own, there have already been some great suggestions regarding barrel brands. I have used ARP for my own 6.8s in the past with satisfactory results.

I would focus more on what options you want and go from there. What is your target weight, barrel length preference, etc. Almost every brand of AR made today is capable of shooting 2MOA or less. Most are capable of 1MOA or better. You state your needs are for close range deer. What we consider close range varies, but even a rifle that only shoots 2MOA is fine for deer out to 300 yards, which is within the window the 6.8 performs best at.

Check with Harrison at ARP. The knowledge you get from him in addition to the barrel will be excellent.

Go with a ARP (AR Performance) barrel. Great barrels, great price and as mentioned above mine shoot sub MOA with factory Hornady 120gr SST loads. The SST performs well on deer.

ARP 16”, Scout profile (5R). Factory 120gr Hornady SST. Can’t recall if it was 267 yards or 276 yards. Either way it was a bang! Flop!







Factory Hornady 120gr SST (200 yards).



Factory SSA 110gr Accubond (200 yards).

Nice rifle Smack 😁

Blackstone Arms in Texas builds custom uppers that are a better grade than PSA or Stag. He squares the receivers and beds the barrels, test fires every upper. Very experienced with the 6.8. He uses ARP barrels and Viking rails.

You may be exaggerating a little, closes at 5pm eastern time. The barrels sell out quick. It is a small shop and a limited amount of product is added to the site every day to keep from having long shipping delays.

Every time I visit his site he is sold out

I don't know about their recent offerings, but I can also vouch for them. I have an easy half dozen + great deer rifles, but that Bison 6.8 upper on my Rock River lower comes out of the safe each fall, and's been gittin' 'er done for 6-7 years. Great accuracy, easy to carry, All aluminum and stainless so easy care until the end of the season. Bison.

How about 6.5 Grendel? Debating between the two for a deer/hog hunting setup. Seems more follks are building the 6.8, but the Grendel is a little cheaper to shoot. Looking for a lightweight upper that wont cost a grand.

You saying a Grendel is cheap to build and shoot than a 6.8 spa? I"d never have thought I"d see that day.

OTOH a lot of whats up, is what do you have and what do you want? I have a 6.8 necked to 6. So I'd go Grendel anyway but it was always going to be a higher dollar build and ammo.