Really thinking about a barrel in this caliber but want to hear what you guys think.

Just shot an AR in this last week. Loved the look of the little cartridge...thought it would make a sweet short range deer gun. But I have enough of those already.

I have the 6.8 in a 16" carbine and I like it a lot.. I think you should get one

I've got 3; one 16" AR, a 14" contender and a special run (?) Ruger M77 with 16". Dandy little deer/hog cartridge, IMO.

Buddy of mine has one in an AR platform and loves it. He keeps telling me I need to shoot it, and I'd like to but I just haven't gotten a chance to meet up with him. That and I'm afraid I will want one lol

DOA,

I have a 14" 6.8 and have killed WT Deer with it, factory ammo ain't much, but I loaded the 110 Barnes TSX and it did nice on Southern WT Deer had the same effect as a .243, I'd say no real bang -flop like a big bore , but still nice no recoil and nice shooter!!

Has anyone shot the Hornady 120 grain SST factory load? I am thinking about using it.

I built an AR in this caliber and couldn't be happier with it, if you would like to learn some more about this caliber jump over to the 6.8 forum lots of folks there with experience and not the usually attitude.

http://68forums.com/forums/forum.php

I have a Contender in 14" and 21", Ruger Mini, Barrett 6.8. They all shoot great! ( velocity / accuracy ). Haven't taken any game yet. Using Barnes 110 gr TSX, RP 110 PSPCL, and RP 115 FMJBT.

Doc

J.D. Jones gave me a 6.8 Contender to test before it went public years ago. The original factory :open point" bullet was a dog. Groundgogs made it to their den. Deer ran 75-150 yds. I wrote a bad review about it. He made some guns for "certain Amer. forces". They didn't like it either, and asked him to make other stuff. I think the newer bullets have made it more decent, but I got soured on it and never bought one. Accurate, yes. Deadly, no. I'll take a .309 JDJ any day. Good to 400 yds. on deer size game.

I hope this does not come across as being a cartridge hater, because I do not even own one. But I own several AR15 non-556 calibers, and I feel that one must take a hard look at the ballistics and understand that this caliber (and a couple that I have) leave a lot on the table, ballistically speaking.

As the Hitman pointed out, bullets are the killer for these AR born cartridges. To fit the magazine and the bolt strength limitations, you are giving up a bit of pressure, and are working with the lighter bullets in the caliber. Bullets that may or may not perform well at the reduced velocity (what Jeff is describing above). Or you have some selection of bullets that are purpose built, but will be limited to these. My 6x45 (for my AR) describes what Jeff and the Hitman are noting. About all I can run are 85-90 grainer .243 diameter bullets. Basically varmint bullets for the 243. Luckily Barnes' 85 TSX shoots well, fits the magazine, passed my testing, and worked OK on the one antelope killed. Would I purpose build one for a Single shot? No way, unless all I wanted was to have two guns shooting the same ammo. The 6.8 does have factory ammo, so it would be head and shoulders above my 6x45, but still.

Maybe in a bolt action single shot, or a Encore (v. Contender), and maybe see if the throat could be opened up in length. Then you could perhaps open up the throttle a bit, and use heavier bullets. But then you would be back to where the Hitman was noting you could just have an already proven "bigger" hitter.

Craig

I think your info may be out of date somewhat on this cartridge. I am loading 6.8mm bullets from 90gr Speer varmenters to 140gr Berger VLD's. When it originally was introduced the bullet selection was pretty weak but that is not the case anymore.