6.8mm spc

Anybody tired this round in a handgun? would like to hear about pro's or con's

There are a few guys I know with Contenders chambered in the SPC. Performance is slightly inferior to the 7-30 Waters. I prefer the Waters for the rim, but you could make a rimmed 6.8 with 30-30 brass, like a necked down 30 Herrett.

I can't say that I have tried it, but when looking at ballistic charts it should work great in a contender. It's one of those calibers I have considered buying a barrel in myself. I too would like to hear field reports

AH,

While I do not have one, I am familiar with the cartridge from the AR15 world.

The one thing I think I would want to research if the plan is to hunt with it would be available bullets. The cartridge has been a little slow getting suitable projectiles for the AR15 world, and with the decreased velocity with a handgun, you might have slimmer pickin's than you might have with the more traditional bore diameters. And I would think it would need every bit of a 14-15 inch barrel.

Craig

I've used it in an AR, Mini-14, and T/C contender pistol & carbine. It is quite accurate in all formats, generally with 115 gr. bullets. Barnes makes several bullets, a TSX and Tactical which are great for handgun hunting. I've taken several antelope and whitetails with the Contender handgun, 70 to 170 yds., all one shot kills. Like they were hit by lightning, didn't move from the point of bullet strike.

Additionally, one of HHM members wrote an article about taking whitetail with his 6.8 Contender. You can search the article database, it was very well written.

Doc

Yes, I had the original Contender chambered in it sent to me by JD Jones with the order to "see what it does".
I took around 10 groundhogs. Everyone got to its hole. I took around a dozen deer with it. They ran from 50 to 150 yards. All these animals were taken with the original Rem. open point bullet. It was garbage.
Several govt. agencies tried it with this bullet and they all got rid of it quickly. JD made other guns for these agencies. I did deer with them and they did well- different cal., different bullet.
It looks like newer bullets in this round makes it more effective, but I was so burned with it that I never used it again. JD, too.

If I were to use it I would hand load some 130 Noslers to try. The ballistic tips are usually good for deer hunting.

IMHO, having had one in the Contender, the 130 NBTs are too heavy. The cartridge was designed for 100-115 gr bullet. Like WVHM stated, it can do well, just choose your projectile wisely.

Again JMHO

I don't see why it wouldn't work. You'd likely have to be a bit more careful about bullet selection.

Thanks for the input guys, I give my 6.5 jdj to a dear friend and have been looking to replace it.. I have taken one deer with this round out of the AR platform with noslers 85gr e-tip, worked really while. the buck took 3 steps on its hind legs and fell over dead. you don't see much about it in the handgun world. I thought it might be a good choice since it was designed for the 16in barreled AR's

I'm guessing it wouldn't lose much velocity out of a 15 inch T/C, then.

Not enough to matter for hunting purposes.

Exactly.

It is boarder line with the NBT expansion velocity for hunting applications. This is a forum, you can do what ever you want. But like WVHM stated, I would choose something else.

JMHO

well barrel showed up so going to play with it. tctex I was getting right at 3000fps with the 85grain e-tips from my 16in barreled AR.I am going to run them across the chrono tomorrow, if they are anywhere close to that I shouldn't have any expansion issues. if I do I will try other projectiles. not new at this game at all and always do my testing before chasing game.

Tn lone wolf I will be down in Hardeman county in November to try it out, if I like how it preforms.

LOL. I thought we were still talking about the 130's. To me, IMHO, the 6.8 favors the lighter projectiles.


Duane

I shot the 6.8 this weekend with 110vmax,115 federal fusion and my reloaded 85gr e-tip. vmax was doing 2450fps, federal was doing 2400fps, and e-tip was doing 2650fps best grouping was with the the e-tip. shot all bullets into wet phone books at 100 yards wasn't much left of the vmax, fusion wasn't much left of it but the base, e-tip expended picture perfect with no lose of weight. will post pics later.

That sounds awesome!

Duane

Sounds like the e-tips are the clear winners. Always fun testing new caliber and bullet combinations

I'm personally not a fan of the 6.8 SPC for deer hunting. I think there are better cartridges for deer hunting, all though it will certainly kill a deer (even a 22 will do that...).

I think there are several round I'd consider superior, including, but not limited to, the 7-30 Waters.