As far as I known any .223 action will work. Serengeti Rifles has made a 6.8 (or is making, can't remember which) in the Daly Mini-Mauser action, which makes into a VERY light little rifle.
I just shot a similar Serengeti rifle in .20 Vargtarg (the .221 Fireball necked down to .20) that shot extremely well, and weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces with a 4.5-14x VXIII.
A moderate ranges the 6.8 will do about what the .257 will.
There was an article in the not very good magazine RIFLE SHOOTER (alos really poorly named) regarding this, and the person used a CZ527 in 7.62x39 caliber, as the boltface was supposed to be right, and there were no mods needed to the magazine - in 7.62x39 caliber.
I want to do something similair, but buy one of the 223 Fullsotck/mannlicher guns, and then rebarrel to matching contour and just install a new mag. Will likely have to open boltface slightly. result would be a modern-day 6.5 mannlicher carbine, eh?
This is still about 2-3 years away, and by then, i will know how successful this cartridge will (or won't) be
Psalm 19:14-May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. _ Humble servant of Jesus Christ. Living His plan and praying to show it in name, word, body, and light.
question of confirmation, are the 223 and 7.62x39 the same measurement across the case head? I have a mini-mauser mark x in 7.62x39 that may work if the dimensions are the same. I do like the prospects of the 6.8 spc, low recoil, effective on deer size game and reasonable range and using good ole 270 bullets.
The 6.8x43mm was based on the .30 Remington, a rimless version of the .30-30 for the Remington Model 8 semiautomatic hunting rifle designed by John Browning.
Boltface Dia: .4255. Brass should be now available from Midway. Remington runs hot and cold on this project, but Hornady has picked it up. Remington is supposed to bring out a Model 7 in 6.8x43mm.
Jim Brockman is also building 6.5 Grendel rifles on the Chay Zed plaform.
I suspect he has a 6.8 MM SPC in the works, but I haven't discussed that project with him. Those small bore CZs have a lot of virtues, although some folks are put off by the protruding magazine.
jim
LCDR Jim Dodd, USN (Ret.) "If you're too busy to hunt, you're too busy."
We have our 6.8 TigerCat shooting well now, if not great. The rework to get a 6.8mm into an feeding in the MiniMauser should be be called "major". Some pics attached. Basically, the magazine well is too narrow for this cartridge (as shipped in .223). A 7.62x39 might be better, but then there is the issue of the bolt face, which would be too large. (.445 vx. .421)
So machine out the well. Remanufacture the mag box, widen the mag frame, divot the follower, reshape the feed ramp and limit cartridges to 2.250 OAL and it will hold five down and feed just fine, thank you very much.
Next big issue: bullets. Everything on the market is too heavy and too long. We can get 2700fps with a Hornady 100gr SP, but just. The case is small and anything that intrudes into the powder room is undesirable. A bigger action would allow seating out, but the point was to make a TigerCat, a 5+lb trim handy rifle. We're going to look at doing this in a Sako 75-1, but not tomorrow.
Best Powders: RL10X, TAC, N530.
The needed bullet: an 80gr GS Custom would be super if it could be seated in to 2.25 without falling into the case. I bet we could push 2950 with that one. As it is, we're taking 110gr TSX and milling the boattail off 5 at a time to get a .950 long 94gr bullet that will go about 2775fps (very warm load). These actually shoot, which surprised the heck out of me.
2775fps with the modified bullet (BC measured at .291) will be out of gas at 300yd. TSX needs 1900fps at impact for expansion and the full size bullet is all done at 220yd.
Our TigerCat is a twin of the .20 Vartarg JB mentioned, weighs in at 6lb-10oz with a Leupold 6x42 FXIII and rings. We keep the weight down with a 22" M70 style FW contoured barrel proportional to the action.
Sorta in the face question? If you're gonna build a 6.8, i.e. .277 on a short action sucks, why not go with the 270 Redding (7mm-08 necked down or 260 rem necked up). Seems to me that the 270 redding will eat up the 6.8, or am I missing the point that being sensible don't really matter.
Beware of thieves, scammers and dishonest members on the "Fire" classifieds. Ya there is a thief here too. Whatever!!
The point of the 6.8x43 is that the cartridges will feed through a 5.56 NATO magazine well. You can rechamber an AR-15, M-16, SAW, AUG, or Enfield 85 for it.
I am working on a different cartridge, using a Ruger Mini-14 as my basis. I tried to use Encore for a development platform but they did not want the liability issues of chambering barrels for experimental cartridges.
The 223 action may work but it needs the bolt face opened. The 6.8 round is based on the old .30 rem case. Kind of a bastard size slightly smaller than the .308 but bigger than the .223. The 7.62X39 is different yet. I have one around here somewhere and if I can find it will measure and post.
