AR Sponsor
Posted: 6/30/2011 8:34:35 AM EDT
| I am in the process of building two 6.8spc AR's for my Son and Daughter for this coming deer huntig season. My question is what barrel length and make would be best for this application? Also will these gas piston kits work with the 6.8spc. Thanks for any feed back! |
| A 16" barrel is more than enough out to 400 yards. Make sure it is spec II or 6.8x43, ( both variations of the same thing ), and has a twist rate between 1/11 and 1/12. Piston kits will work with them. The only difference is barrel, bolt, and magazines. If you want the correct answers on everything else, I suggest you go over to 68forums and ask your question there. Tell them Wolf68 sent you. |
|
Quoted: A 16" barrel is more than enough out to 400 yards. Make sure it is spec II or 6.8x43, ( both variations of the same thing ), and has a twist rate between 1/11 and 1/12. Piston kits will work with them. The only difference is barrel, bolt, and magazines. If you want the correct answers on everything else, I suggest you go over to 68forums and ask your question there. Tell them Wolf68 sent you. I agree with everything except I like the 18" barrel on my hunting barrels. YMMV. I am partial to the 110gr Sierra ProHunter or the Nosler AccuBond. |
|
If you're gonna be building it yourself then try ARPerformance for barrel and bolt combos.
As far as lengths one thing to consider is because the 6.8 is more efficient with shorter barrels it might be useful to try a barrel shorter than 16 inches to help save weight with less loss of velocities. Just an FYI |
| I've seen several hunters use a 12.5" 6.8 for deer so an 18" gun might be a little too much. Reasonably the 16" midlength spc2 11 twist is probably the best combination of performance, weight, and accuracy. I have a 16" Grendel I just built because I hated having a 20" upper that was heavy. This 16" gun is much nicer to shoot and will also keep a 123gr AMAX supersonic to 1k yards so the velocity and ballistic efficiency is there. 68 is much better inside of 400yds due to the ability to burn more powder in a given inch of bore and 85gr TSX rounds to 3k FPS is definitely a viable game round from a 16" weapon. |
|
6.8SPC was developed specifically for the 14.5" M4 application. 16" is a paperless (non-NFA) purchase you can ship direct to the front door, and already longer than the design criteria.
Because of the shape of the case and ratio of bullet diameter, the 6.8 doesn't gain much with a longer barrel - and the fastest way to increase gun weight is add barrel length. Since there's not much to gain but weight, for a teens rifle (or for that, a soldier loaded with 80 pounds of gear,) 16" works fine. It's optimal for use. Best barrels are ARP - who offers a headspaced bolt, cam pin, and firing pin with it - Bison, Whiteoak, and others. 68forums is all about the caliber, but after you buy the barrel, bolt, and magazines, all the rest is AR15. Since it's a hunting rifle, the barrel and caliber chose will be a great fit. After that, optics, so an A3 upper is best. Then furniture, A1 fixed stocks are quiet in the field, and short enough without the extra expense of an adjustable. A1 grips will fit smaller hands, after that the TD Battlegrip, and the MOE with the smallest grip parts. Stock handguards will do. An extra $250 for a free float won't do much, accuracy is in the barrel, ammo, optic, and shooter first. Most 6.8 barrels are better than 2MOA, which is optimal accuracy for hunting. Most shots for woodland deer are less than 300m, and the majority of those less than 100m. Add a backlash adjustment screw to the lower, it does about 80% of what an expensive target trigger does, eliminate creep. After that, screw on a linear compensator. They throw the noise forward, reducing the impact on the shooter. Many of us don't hunt with ear protection, and should, no sense making it worse with a competition brake that isn't needed for single shot use. It's how I'm building mine - all foliage green - and you might easily finish two before I get the last part screwed on. Happy Hunting! |
| I haven't seen an AR Performance barrel yet that wasn't capable of close to .5 moa yet. I've got three loads that shoot less than one moa consistently, and one that shoots less than .5 moa consistently. All are 5 shot groups, 16" ARP recon 6.8x43 1/11.25 5R. My best load is with the 90 TNTs and I've shot several 5 shot groups inside of 1.5 to 1.75 inches at 300 yards. That load will open up some out at 400 and 500 but it's more me fighting the wind than the barrel. |
AR Sponsor