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Ideas for a solid 6.8 SPC round for deer & hog

Bama21

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I recently acquired a very nice 6.8 SPC AR. I have glass mounted, but wont get to shoot her in before this season expires. I have read a bit on hunting loads, but have not settled on anything specific as of yet. I do reload, but am not set up.to load 6.8 at present. Any yall out there have any experience with good 6.8 loads (factory or reload)? I appreciate any useful information. Thx. Yall be safe and God bless.
 
I recently acquired a very nice 6.8 SPC AR. I have glass mounted, but wont get to shoot her in before this season expires. I have read a bit on hunting loads, but have not settled on anything specific as of yet. I do reload, but am not set up.to load 6.8 at present. Any yall out there have any experience with good 6.8 loads (factory or reload)? I appreciate any useful information. Thx. Yall be safe and God bless.
I've hunted with Hornady 120 SSTs this year but have not had an opportunity to try them on any live game, but they seem to shoot pretty well through my rifle.

My brother shot a hog with one a couple years ago and it did the trick.
 
I've hunted with Hornady 120 SSTs this year but have not had an opportunity to try them on any live game, but they seem to shoot pretty well through my rifle.

My brother shot a hog with one a couple years ago and it did the trick.

I have a box of those and was thinkin about giving them.a whirl. Thx J.
 
I haven't used a 6.8 in a few years. Here's an old post from when I did:

Decided to try out a heavier bullet in my 6.8 SPC II. I usually use Silver State Armory 85gr TSX which chrono around 3000 FPS and pass through completely intact. The TSX is an all copper bullet that retains weight well. Exit hole is usually around 3/8" or so and leaves a nice blood trail. The 85gr Etip or 95gr TTSX also do great and open up a bit quicker that the TSX especially when you only hit soft tissue.

This year I tried Hornady 120gr SST since they are available locally. These are moving around 2480 FPS which is slower than I like but the heavier bullet weight and polymer tip make up for it some. This morning I got a nice broadside shot at an 8 pointer at 65 - 70 yards. He dropped immediately then kicked around for maybe 20 seconds. I hit mid to high on the shoulder and exited low on the opposite shoulder. The entrance hole was typical small with no signs of expansion or keyholing. The exit hole was tiny, smaller than a .22cal hole. There was NO BLOOD except from the mouth. It took me a few minutes to find the holes.

Inside was a different story. The entrance hit ribs and broke out a small thumb tip chunk of bone. It must have fragmented quickly because the lungs and heart were shredded. The exit side had several impacts on the inside and ribs and some copper jacket pieces embedded in the shoulder and ribs. There was a nice thumb size chunk of bone shredded with a couple pieces of the copper jacket and most of the lead core stopping just under the skin.

I was surprised a bullet moving under 2500 FPS would fragment so much and damage so much meat. With such small exit and entrance holes a bad hit would be difficult to track. I am going to stick with the much faster 85-95 grains for the 6.8.
 
I haven't used a 6.8 in a few years. Here's an old post from when I did:

Decided to try out a heavier bullet in my 6.8 SPC II. I usually use Silver State Armory 85gr TSX which chrono around 3000 FPS and pass through completely intact. The TSX is an all copper bullet that retains weight well. Exit hole is usually around 3/8" or so and leaves a nice blood trail. The 85gr Etip or 95gr TTSX also do great and open up a bit quicker that the TSX especially when you only hit soft tissue.

This year I tried Hornady 120gr SST since they are available locally. These are moving around 2480 FPS which is slower than I like but the heavier bullet weight and polymer tip make up for it some. This morning I got a nice broadside shot at an 8 pointer at 65 - 70 yards. He dropped immediately then kicked around for maybe 20 seconds. I hit mid to high on the shoulder and exited low on the opposite shoulder. The entrance hole was typical small with no signs of expansion or keyholing. The exit hole was tiny, smaller than a .22cal hole. There was NO BLOOD except from the mouth. It took me a few minutes to find the holes.

Inside was a different story. The entrance hit ribs and broke out a small thumb tip chunk of bone. It must have fragmented quickly because the lungs and heart were shredded. The exit side had several impacts on the inside and ribs and some copper jacket pieces embedded in the shoulder and ribs. There was a nice thumb size chunk of bone shredded with a couple pieces of the copper jacket and most of the lead core stopping just under the skin.

I was surprised a bullet moving under 2500 FPS would fragment so much and damage so much meat. With such small exit and entrance holes a bad hit would be difficult to track. I am going to stick with the much faster 85-95 grains for the 6.8.

Awesome info! I appreciate you sharing.
 
I Bought a 6.8
From a member here that used Federal Fusion MSR rounds.

He told me he was extremely satisfied with that round right out of the box and shot two deer seconds apart.
One at 200 yards and one at 207 yards.....ping, ping....dropped them both dead in their tracks.

Unfortunately I'm still looking for decent glass to mount on it for deer hunting so I can't lay any personal Claim to this round although I'm gonna take the P/O recommendation and see how it does for me.

By the way O/P what glass are you using on yours?
 

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I Bought a 6.8
From a member here that used Federal Fusion MSR rounds.

He told me he was extremely satisfied with that round right out of the box and shot two deer seconds apart.
One at 200 yards and one at 207 yards.....ping, ping....dropped them both dead in their tracks.

Unfortunately I'm still looking for decent glass to mount on it for deer hunting so I can't lay any personal Claim to this round although I'm gonna take the P/O recommendation and see how it does for me.

By the way O/P what glass are you using on yours?

I appreciate your input. I bought a Trijicon Accupoint 3-9x40 with green dot reticle. I have another similar scope on my 7mm08 bolt gun and have really taken a liking to it. They are a tad pricey, but very much worth the money IMO.
 
Check with @codep. He has a good bit of experience with this round. I can't remember what 6.8 SPC load we used on our hunt with him but I do know that all of our shots were 1 shot kills on hogs ranging from 100#-250# in size.
 
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