I'm entertaining buying a 6.8 upper for deer hunting while prices are stable now.

Any suggestions on brand, vendor, and features to look for?
Throw in any experience using it for deer and factory loads to try. This may be my wife's deer gun if she doesn't like my 35 rem.

Prefer a 20 inch barrel over a 16 inch if possible.

Thanks in advance guys.

HD

White Oak Armament.

Iron Works Tactical

Hornady Custom 120 grain SST. Only $17.75/box online. They are advertised at 2460 from a 16in bbl, but often beat that in 16 and beat it by a fair margin in longer tubes. I'd expect near 2600 in a 20in bbl.

Dumb question...

I think there was a 6.8 SPC when first released then a 6.8 SPC2 was a chamber tweak.

Any truth to that?
Any upper I would buy would be 6.8 SPC 2 then?


(I'll look suggestions when I get home. My work internet filter blocks gun stuff...)

BISON ARMORY. BEN IS AWSOME AND THE FULCRUM BARRELS ARE NAILS. Ben has built me 4, 6.8 spec II and all shot in the 1/2" for 3 shots range for accuracy. Small shop with owner being hands on. customer service is great.

Yes when it first came out they made it in SPC then they start making the spc2 and yes more than likely any that you buy today would be the spc2 chamber. When the round was designed it was designed to be ran in a 16 inch barrel I went with an 18 for the little extra velocity but would not be nose heavy like a 20".

Yes - but don't be surprised if it's not marked "2". Pretty common to be labeled just 6.8 SPC.

Without a custom build, I like the RRA uppers, had/have several with no issues. They are generally easy to build on if you decide to swap out parts.

Some manufacturers mark them as 6.8x43 I think they have the improved lead/throat. At least mine do.

I had a Wilson Combat and it was extremely accurate. I shot several pigs with it and even had a 1 Bullet 2 pigs a couple of times. Another one I should have kept

I have a 16.5" AR and a 18.5" Ruger Ranch. The extra 2" gives me about 75-100 fps.

Mine's a 16" RRA and have no problems.

I wouldn't own a 6.8SPC with a barrel longer than 18". After that it's diminishing returns. There seems to be a lot of issues being reported on 68forums.com with rifle length tubes. Apparently the balance of springs and buffer weight starts to get tempermental with a rifle length system.

I have a Yankie Hill 6.8 upper 20" barrel that I am very pleased with. I like the 20" barrel best

I had a Stag 7H, which is a 20" bbl and it was a fantastic shooter, one I truly regret trading away.

I shot a bunch of hogs with this rifle.

This is true I tested thousands of rounds of 6.8 and anything longer that 18 is a PITA.

I still say the op would be on top if he goes bison. But that only comes from having shot noveski,POF, LWRCI, rock river, stag, LMT, and a load of other 6.8 just saying.

16 inch is good for the 6.8, you should build it yourself.

That's a great option this one is 5.56 but it's mostly stuff from bison the fulcrum barrels are really nice.

Hard to beat a bat extensions.

I have 16", 18" and 20" barrel 6.8's and I dam sure don't see the 20" as a PITA, in fact I prefer the 20"

Im getting some good stuff out of this guys.

I have a preference for 20 inch mostly to get the noise farther away.

So should I research 300 blackout or 6.5 grendal?
I'm not planning on a supressor though

How does it shoot 85 grain etips. All the 20" + barrels I used needed a lighter buffer or the gas port opened to cycle lighter Bullets. Not to mention the extra two inches that are packed for no gain in velocity what's so ever. If the muzzle blast from a 16 or 18 Inch 6.8 is to over whelming you picked the wrong hobby.

OP most will recommend an 1/11 twist as well with three or four groves. I believe Bison offers a 1/7 as well for subsonics. My personal favorite is a 1/9 or 1/10 twist for the loading of the 130 grn Bergers. The ten twist is ok but at 850 to 900 I found the 130 hit the transonic line and take a crap(destabilize). If you never want to shoot bullets heaver that the Hornadys 120sst the 1/11 or 1/10 is by far the most versatile twist. Hope my rambling helped.

I don't shoot 85 grain etips nor would I want to. I have shot 95 grain bonded with no trouble

Exactly! The exit pressure is lower and are the decibels.

So your vast experience with the 20" has never lead you from the top to bottom of the bullet offerings. Sounds like your talking about something that you have no extensive experience with other than the one time you shoot that one gun/load.
Sight your one gun again in 20".

You can't wait to race you yap in over your head. I will say it slow anything over 18" is a waist of time. If you don't like the muzzle blast get a hider that shoves the blast that's so over powering away from you.

NEVER GET A 308 they have recoil and muzzle blast.

First thing you brought up 85 grain etips not me, I simply stated that I liked 20" barrels and did not find them to be a PITA. Simple statement, I do not like 16" barrels at all and I can tollorate 18. I don't care for etips, so they are a non issue to me and I could care less about how they operate for you. I have some 85 grain Barnes TSX that I have had no problem with.

Would you be assuming the OP will only shoot the bullets you like. I have had many,say ten + 20" guns at my disposal at any given time over the last ten years. The 20" can work fine if the stars align but they have been the most difficult to get bullets from 70 to 180 to cycle in. That's where 18" recommendations come from. It crack me up how quickly you pick a fight on a subject you have no experience or very limited experience at best,to some how try and sound like you know your chit (you don't by the way).

OP get a good quality 18" (I suggest you call Ben at Bison) Fulcrum barrels rock and enjoy your bad azz rifle. Ps ask Ben what he recommends. Tell him Fred from the old SSA said hi.

Wouldn't be a bad idea to build an upper yourself. You can get premium parts and build it for cheaper than buying it. Vltor upper, noveske barrel, BCM charging handle and bcg with the handguard of your choosing. That's what I would recommend.

Mom not assuming anything, I simply stated my preference for barrel length, , your just being s dick as usual. You didn't bring anything into play until after I stated my barrel length preference..

I'm not your mom. Lol.

True to form

Hugs and kisses. From the dick

I tried the BO and sold it, and the 6.8 is still here. I am fixin to sell my 308 Ruger because it weights 11 pounds and this gun is 7.5 pounds. In the TSX type bullets the 85TSX seems like a harder bullet but it kills them fine, goes through shoulders no problemo. I switched to the 95grain TTSX this year but have no experience with it on deer yet. I do believe the harder bullets should be used on shoulders if possible, but the 120SST's shoot to the same POA so I will keep a box of them with me as well. If you get a 20 and put a 2 inch flash hider on it, going to be a pretty long gun. I use these muzzle protectors (flash hiders) to keep the crown good. Go stainless steel or nitrided barrels, my SS Wilson Combat is OK. For years I thought the 6.8 was a joke, but it is really a good cartridge, 250 savage class. You cannot find 1000 rounds of practice ammo for it, on the other hand a 10 shot deer rifle that weights 7.5 pounds with the scope is hard to find, and yes I have shot more than once at pigs, coyotes, and stuff. I would do the 6.8, build it yourself, and reload for the cartridge, you will not regret it.

The 6.8 is one of the guns I am going to keep, along with the OEM Colt and one of the DD guns... I have been thinning the herd so to speak buying a few pistols.

Fred,

I know you like Bison and they were good to you but my experience was terrible. The were very helpful until i ordered and they charged my card. Then they missed their deadline by 4 weeks and wouldn't answer their phones or return messages via email or their site. I had to shame them on the 6.8 forums to get a response. I finally canceled and went Precision Reflex. Just throwing it out there for the OP to consider.

My first 6.8 is a 16 stag upper mostly because I intend to use a suppressor on it and didn't want to have the added length on a 20 inch barrel.

If the suppressor wasn't in the picture I would have gone with an 18 or 20 inch barrel. 3 of my 5.56 AR's are 20 inch and I prefer them over the shorter barrels.

I get the noise abatement strategy with the 20 inch barrel, how much velocity is lost I believe depends a lot on the powder and bullet weight. Anyone have any idea what you lose from 20-16 with 90 to 115 grain bullets with H322? I am shooting benchmark in my 16.5 inch Wilson Combat SS barrel and the accuracy results are very good.

You will gain 20-25fps/inch regardless of the bullet weight. If you use an 85 gr bullet and 1680, 4198 or RE7 powder you will need to open the gas port to around .098". Many book loads only produce 45-48,000psi while factory Hornady produces very close to 54,000psi. If the barrel is ported to run Hornady full pressure ammo it will short stroke with light hand loads. If you run full pressure loads there will not be a problem.

OP here...

I only reload for certain rounds so I may not do it for the 6.8 (if I buy one)...

I assume the base velocity values are from 16 inch barrels and your figures add to it.


Also:
so off the shelf ammo and no ports - any issues there on a 20 inch barrel & function?

A gas operated firearm works off of pressure and pressure curve, I have had no issues with my 6.8 Yankee Hill upper with a 20" barrel with any factory load used in it.

Yes, 20s are usually 80-100fps faster than a 16".
Some ammo like Remington fmj(cheap) and Federal eagle do not produce 54,000psi. If the barrel is ported closely to run with Hornady they may short stroke with light loads but you can have the barrel ported to run with any ammo you want or ported a little large and then run an adjustable gas block. A #40 wire sized bit is .098" a 39 is .0995" that range should run all decent ammo with a standard carbine spring and buffer. If using an H2 or A5 setup you may need a larger port.
The port in the barrel controls everything. It really isn't a big deal to open the port to tune the gas to work with the load you plan to use.
Many don't really think about the whole process. They go to the range with cheap underpowered ammo to start and then get pissed when it doesn't cycle. They open the port to run with junk ammo then it is over-gassed when good ammo is used and it isn't accurate because the carrier starts moving while the bullet is in the bore. Tune the rifle to run with the ammo you plan to use.

Barry, Sorry the site ads here suck up the bandwidth and lock my comp on Firefox or IE. I don't come here much now.
Try a 3/32" .093 port first on the 7.62x40, avail at any hardware store. If that doesn't work you can step up to a #38-.101 if needed to run H110. I would run a standard weight buffer and spring not a H1 or H2.

Try Ublock Origin,It's free and I never see a popup here or on other sites where I used to get slammed with ads before I started using it.

Hersesy I say! Anyone knows you can just bolt together the cheapest collection of parts and barrel and get you a sub $600 functioning rifle! Even the experts that once threw a touchdown pass 30 years ago!!

May be the best advice in the thread... that didnt start any bickering

bickering are us..

Pretty nice looking complete 20 inch rifle for sale here-
Bison 6.8

Disclaimer: I do not know the seller or anything about the rifle other than what I read in the ad.

looks good, but I just need an upper.

Another dumb question or 2..

I assume you need 6.8 magazines?
I heard you can use 5.56 mags too

I've heard that you can use 5.56 mags if you only load a few but I've never tried it.

I bought 6.8 mags from Midway and PSA usually has good prices when they are in stock. My Stag upper came with one magazine too.

PRI makes the best 6.8 mags.

ASC makes really good mags as well for 6.8.

I've found that you can only load about 4 rounds of 6.8 in a 5.56 mag. It may vary with different brands of mags, but I doubt you could get many more cartridges loaded.

I use CProduct mags without any problems.

The only barrel i will only use on a 6.8 is a ARP barrel, priced right and are unbelievably accurate! I only use PRI mags, as the others i had nothing but problems! I have a suppressed 12.5" short barrelled rifle that i cannot put down! Its my go to rifle from hogs, whitetail and exotics. Fixing to build another, was going to go to 20" but after doing a little reading decided to just do a 16", as it seems 4 more inches gives you not enough velocity to worry about, but then again i shoot evything suppressed and im not worried about the little extra blast from a shorter barrel. For all your 6.8 needs! http://68forums.com/forums/forum.php.

I can get 3 to feed from a magpul 223 magazine. However you just have to bite the bullet and buy some PRI mags, they are not cheap. I have 3 magazines for my 6.8, IIRC they are about $40 each.

Yes, you can use 5.56 magazines, but the cartridge will sit a hair lower than you want for reliabilty. The rounded shoulder on the 5.56 magazine is sharper than the same shoulder on the 6.8 magazine, and the radius keeps the larger case pushed down a bit further. Your BCG "may" pick up the rounds and feed the cartridges OK, but not all do.

JMHO, the PRI mags have the strongest following for strength and reliability. They are heavy gauge stamped steel, and will last probably longer than you will be shooting.

ASC is a good magazine for the average shooter, I own both, and haven't had problems with either, especially in a 5-10-17 round size for bench and hunting.

Most magazine companies keep the same length as the 5.56 magazines, so the 20 round length is 17 rounds of 6.8, and 25 rounds 6.8 in 30 round length.

If you want to try an ASC magazine, I'll trade you for a PMAG of your choice.

I use the ASC 10 round and 25 round Mags ,no problems unmodified But I do Modify them by taking the needle nose pliers of a Leatherman and SLIGHTLY bending the feed lips upward and outward so the Bullet tip is pointed more toward the chamber than the bottom of the ramp.

Also take the Mag apart and Bend the leg of the spring under the follower under the front of the cartridge providing more upward pressure .

Doing this allows me to pull back on the Bolt and just let it ease forward and it will chamber a round without the case or bullet tip catching on anything.

All these Mods with pics are talked about on 68forums,lots of knowledge and help on the site.

OP here: Good stuff guys and thanks for the input.

Are Olympic AR's a potential?

Saw a good price on one and I know D-tech uses their stuff and he has a good reputation.