Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 6.8 vs. 7.62x39 vs ???

Cant argue your last paragraph at all.

I'd still have no qualms on a buff... so thast not a maybe, thats a for sure no big deal to me. and I doubt it would stomp me because with a hornet, it'll be DRT

All in fun... I know it isn't always easy to get a brain shot on an animal when he is up close and personal, running full bore, head bobbin, nose up, mouth open yelling at ya. You gonna just side step at the last minute and stick the barrel in his ear?

I totaly agree but I'm still gonna give you guys fits... grin

One of my favorite books was Alaska Wolfman, the adventures of Frank Glaser, in it he opined that given a stronger bullet, the 220 swift would've been the best grizzly round he ever used. Always wondered about that...

They use AKs & FALs on elephant in Africa.
Saw a video once of elephant culling where the game mgr cruised up beside an elephant and poured a 3-4 round burst into it with his FAL. Same concept with the AK.

Ain't gonna get in a bad predicament.. plus whats the PH for anyway? And I probably won't be picking out the oldest baddest bull in the bunch, very well a young bull or cow on the fringe of the herd... like I said, you choose a light round, you have to learn to be picky... But then again I"ve had to kick a few pigs at times, and one javelina that took a few years of life off of me... blood all over my pants legs and boots.... my buddy said that scream did sound like a woman...

I enjoy these conversations, I always learn something.

Does anyone make decent 6.8 with a carbine length gas system and something lighter than an M4 barrel profile? I know Noveske makes a reasonably LW upper, but its midlength.

ARP may put the gas port in whatever configuration you like. He may recomend you do different but he'll prob do whatever you like.
Bison may as well.

Why carbine gas?

I had a Rock River 6.8spc. They use a light weight 16" barrel, carbine gas setup and SPCII chamber. Only thing I didn't like was the 1:10 twist, which is really not a big issue, just not what I wanted.

curious, what twist did you want?

I'm leaning towards getting the 6.8 now if I do the "deer mostly" upper. There is talk about twists and SPC and SPC2 chambers and I wonder what you guys recommend looking for? Maybe what brands or features should I avoid?

Basically, the SPC II chamber is an improved design over the original. It helps stabilize chamber pressures. The SPC II chamber with a 1/11 or slower twist is a common configuration. Most manufacturers that have given any thought to current trends in building a 6.8 rifle should be aware of the current optimized specs.

Study before you buy.


Noveske makes very high-end $tuff and he knows what he's doing. If he offers mid gas it's part of the engineered package. When you buy a Noveske you are buying all of his engineering design and high-end manufacturing experience as well. He's already figured it out, so basically, his stuff is good-to-go. Very pricey, but designed for top end performance.

Mid-gas is part of the 6.8 design parameters for a reason.

Longer gas allows for more dwell time, and runs smoother with less wear and tear on the brass, etc. In 223, it helps smooth out the recoil impulse with Nato spec or LR Match rounds with heavy bullets.

So, what's wrong with mid-gas?

I prefer mid-gas and I wouldn't run anything but mid gas on a 16"... 18" you can even run rifle gas but mid is ok.

TC

I bought a 1:11 WOA in 18".

You running the BR theory just enough twist by going 11? I"ve never found that overtwisting did any harm but I always like to hear thoughts. Carolyns team partner for many years ran a 9 twist in 223 to shoot 80 bergers on purpose... and Carolyn and I were running 6.5 twist that would shoot the 80s fine, but because we were after 90s... but found that the 6.5 twist just shot 80s really really super too for some reason.

Promise I"m not baiting, I just like to hear folks thoughts. The only reason I got on the faster twist bandwagon is that once you hit 600 yards, the faster twist almost always shot snugger groups than the slower twist.. up around say 300 and closer you couldn't see the difference.

Jeff

Yes I am sure the carbine gas is rougher on the brass, but it sure kicks it out of there, no problemo. I guess midgas must have bigger port? I kind of like the carbine length hand guards and a lighter rifle.

I like faster twists as well they seem to give more bullet options and I sort of suspect they help some with bullet expansion.

Anybody have one of those $525 Stag 5H uppers its 1-11 not sure which SPC though. For $525 including 1 magazine instead of investing $1100 in a Noveske upper to do about the same thing.

I agree you won't overspin an 85 gr .277 working at 1:10, but a lot of the data from those experimenting with the SPCII chamber early on, found that in combination with a 1:11 twist you could decrease pressure a touch and therefore load the 80-90 grain bullets a little hotter.

1:11 has become the standard with most manufacturers for the 6.8spc.

I don't pay a bit of attention to manufacturers, all they do is please the masses and most times the masses tend to be ignorant.

One plus is the ability to shoot heavier bullets as you come across them, but the 6.8 is not a longer range round so moot point.

I"ve read up on the twist vs pressure thing. Not sure I agree, but then again I'm not always right by far either. I overcome pressure via bullet coatings, barrel coatings and the correct powders. Take your pick.

I don't see how you can go wrong with an 11 really either and especailly if 85s are the ticket. I'm not a light bullet guy typically unless its the X series and then I'll go one lighter than I normally would.

Rost what do you think the difference in performance on game animals of say 300 pounds or less would be between a 70 grain TSX at 2800 FPS spinning with a 1-7 twist or an 85 grain TSX at 2700 FPS spinning at a 1-11 rate? This is where I bog down on wanting to go to the 6.8.

for that size animal, not a damn bit of difference at all. You'll never see it IMHO.

If I was uncomfortable with the 70 at that speed, I damn sure wouldn't dink up to a friggin 6.8, I'd take a jump at least to 308 for me personally.

Bottom line though, even the 308 leaves something on the table when you talk able to take any shot presented at any reasonable range.

And when you get below that demand, hell take what you want to play with and walk away from an iffy shot.

I"ve shot more than a few deer at angles with 223 and good bullets at distances out just a bit past 300, Never had an issue as long as you place the bullet correctly due to whatever angle presents.... Of course the last 100 or so pounds I'm really not fair to comment because it takes a hoss of a deer to hit 200 here, but I've shot a truckload of 200-250 pound pigs with the same round...

Thats been my stance on this thread the whole time, you are picking nits here.. its not like you are asking the 22 hornet vs teh 308. Or the 243 vs the 300 mag.... you are in the same ballpark all around. So the performance is going to be the same.
And for those that have to go on about bang flops... its all bullet placement. I can shoot you a load of deer with the 6.8 that run like heck shot through the lungs. I can shoot you a load of deer with the x39 that flop on the spot...still through the lungs.

Sounds very familiar... grin