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  #1  
Old 01-24-2014, 01:39 PM
jim saubier jim saubier is offline
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Default 6.8 spc

I was surprised to see that this cartridge uses both/either small rifle primers or large rifle primers. I am helping out a friend with this cartridge and when looking at brass noticed the different primers used.

I would think that the small primers would be plenty enough for such a small case, why would it not be consistent? which would you prefer to use?

I'm waiting on dies to arrive any day, have bullets and a good selection of powders of the appropriate burn rate. I don't reload typically for big stuff (all relative I guess) and only really have Small Primers so I'll have to look deep in the reloading cabinet to find a stray box or stop and pick some up. I have mostly brass with the large primers.

Anybody loading for this round? Any favorites? I've got Barnes TSX and Nosler Accubond bullets, in the 110 or 115 grain range. His intended use is hogs/deer sized game.
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  #2  
Old 01-24-2014, 02:26 PM
Bill K Bill K is offline
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Default 6.8 spc

A decent article in the 2014 Hodgdon reloading manual on this round. All the brass, except from Remington seem to use small rifle, Rem use's Large. It mentions that sr works just fine, some at first, thought lr. It also gives loads and info. Hodgdon load data site also gives loads, etc. Bill K
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  #3  
Old 01-24-2014, 02:48 PM
thekriebles thekriebles is offline
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Hello Jim. Since your friend will use the cartridge for hunting vs. bench/target/competition use, here's some interesting info from Kevin Thomas of Lapua USA regarding their 308 Win. Palma that utilizes a small rifle primer. This case is larger than the 6.8 SPC and the 6XC (I'm not knocking down Mr. Tubb or his perspective...he's clearly a legend!). I'm simply sharing additional feedback for consideration:

"Wanting the same ease in dealing with primer lot selection as they'd had with the Rem. URBR cases, members of the US Palma team approached us about producing a case along these lines. It's dubbed the 308 Win Palma case to differentiate it from their standard production 308 Win. case using the normal large rifle primer pocket. It offers the same advantages as the old URBR brass.

There is, however, no such thing as a "free lunch". The case capacity of a full grown adult 308 case is about the maximum limit of what a Small Rifle primer will reliably ignite. Even then, it requires good conditions; fairly warm weather, a easy-to-ignite powder in the medium burning range, etc.

Moving to a very slow burning powder, a ball powder or firing in extremely cold weather can (and will) result in hangfires, misfires or both due to the primers capacity to ignite the charge having been exceeded. The mildest, softest primer that will reliably ignite a charge is almost always the most accurate. Large or small, big cases or smaller ones, that rule holds true.

But in many situations, such as the hunting fields or certainly military operations, the need for absolute reliability trumps accuracy. So, while the 308 Win. Palma case is used very successfully in competition, we do not recommend its use in any sort of hunting applications, cold weather or with difficult to ignite propellants, such as many of the ball powders
"

I hope this assists your project.
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Last edited by thekriebles; 01-24-2014 at 02:54 PM.
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  #4  
Old 01-24-2014, 03:10 PM
dk17hmr dk17hmr is offline
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Love the 6.8, I have two currently. In my AR I use small primer brass and in my bolt action I run large primer brass. No really reason other than I had 5000 wolf small rifle magnums that I like because they are slightly harder and that firing pin floats.

Big fan of 85gr bullets here for my 6.8s. Have used 110gr a fair bit as well. Reloader 7 for lightweight projectiles and h322 or h335 for heavier.
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Old 01-24-2014, 04:44 PM
ray h ray h is offline
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Jim my brother has a G-2 in 6.8. He's using the 110 gr Sierra now but when he uses them up he'll switch to the TTSX 110gr. I see they make a TTSX 95gr for the 6.8. He's killed several deer, one just over 200lb with the 110gr Sie and 28 gr of H322. Another load he likes is 25.6gr of 4198 with the Sierra bullet. Marty at Twisted barrel cut the G-2 barrel to 19inches and did a heavy flute. Great job. I bedded it an old Rynite Contender stock for himto cut weight. It's his favorite rifle to hunt deer here in Md.
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  #6  
Old 01-24-2014, 08:09 PM
Mulerider Mulerider is offline
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As mentioned, only R-P brass runs the LR, probably due to the 6.8 being built from their old 30Rem. SSA, Hornady, and Federal all run SR.
I have also found the R-P brass to have thinner necks, resulting in more neck expansion in fired cases. My experience in two different AR's, plus a Rem 700.

RL-10X is great for 100+gr pills, and the re-introduced AA2200 may be the ultimate powder for 95-110gr bullets (all I have tried is the original 2200, but have recently bought some of the new stuff).

My 700 shoots the Nos 110gr Accubonds very well, and my Stag Mod 7 is not picky, easily doing MOA accuracy with Sierra 90gr HP's, Barnes 95TTSX, or Hornady 100gr SP's. Most of my 85-90gr loads have been with the mentioned RL-7.
Western's Xterminator (AA2230 with a different name) has also worked well...their data pages are very updated with new recipes.
SSA brass has been my favorite (but no experience with the new Federal stuff).

This big sow dropped at the shot, 95gr TTSX Barnes behind the ear (~150yds). Several other hogs and TX whitetail deer have fallen to my 6.8's.

I'm a fan.
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Last edited by Mulerider; 01-25-2014 at 02:34 PM.
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  #7  
Old 01-25-2014, 05:46 AM
Johnly Johnly is offline
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My 6.8 is on a 1/11 twist AR platform. So far I've been using 110-115 grain bullets with H4198 and AA2015 powders. I prefer Hornady brass with SR primer pockets as compared to the LR pockets on R-P brass as they seem to stay tighter longer.
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  #8  
Old 01-25-2014, 01:04 PM
Nor Cal Mikie Nor Cal Mikie is offline
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My first experience with the 6.8 SPC was when I picked up a piece of fired brass at the range. Never seen one before but it got me to thinking. Smaller than a .308 (less recoil) and a little bigger than a .223. (more pep) Did some digging and couldn't find much info related to bolt gun loading so I set out to build one on a Savage action. Ordered up dies, brass and a barrel. I went with SSA small primer brass. Figured the small primer would leave more brass at the case head and help the brass last longer?
Had a friend open up a .223 bolt head to fit the 6.8 case.
Ordered the barrel with a very short throat so I could jam the bullets into the lands. I order all my barrels that way and as the throat wears, I can go to heavier bullets or longer with the OAL and still reach the lands.
And, I went with the 6.8 SPC rather than the SPC II chamber. The shorter the throat, the better.
All or most of the AR guys go with the SPC II. More power I guess but I can see shorter brass life and harder on the rig.
Started out with 90 to 100 grain bullets and so far, it's turned out to be a bug hole maker.
5 shot groups that can be covered with a dime and with a little hold over, without changing the scope adjustment, I can hit steel out past 440 yards.
All mid range loads and my brass lasts a long time. Pretty good selection of bullets available so you can tune it to your likes.
As far as FPS, I've never checked. They're all going in the same hole so why bother?
Accurate Arms 2230 and 2460 with CCI BR primers gets the job done in good order.
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  #9  
Old 01-25-2014, 02:31 PM
Mulerider Mulerider is offline
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Nosler announced they will offer 6.8 ammo. Don't recall which bullet weights. Another brass choice! (If I mortgage my home....)
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  #10  
Old 01-25-2014, 02:44 PM
william t. oviatt william t. oviatt is offline
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I used an Encore in 6.8 SPC for a few years and liked the round. I always used REM 7.5 BR primers and never had a failure in any kind of conditions....Sometimes as cold as 25 degrees F. below.
I sold the 6.8 when I got a 6.5 Grendel I liked this round better and it had a better bullet selection at the time....maybe not as big of an issue now, tho, more selection is available for the 6.8 now.
Course, my favorite cartridge in this powder capacity is the 6mmAR (6.5 Grendel necked to 6mm). This moved bullet availability in a BIG WAY! 55 grain to 115 grain bullets as opposed to 85 to 127 grain bullets in the 6.8. This is in a bolt action CZ. If in an AR platform I would probably go with the 6.8 if the heavier bullets are the goal. The heavies in the 6mm AR are sometimes issues for the mags on the ARs, with out modification.
Just some thoughts....
BIll
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