6.8 build and range report

[mshootnit]

I wanted to build a nice hunting carbine, for deer season. The rifle lower half is a Surplus Ammo and Arms lower, Stag arms lower parts kit, combined with a CTR stock kit from Palmetto State. I switched out the standard buffer that came with the kit for a Colt H buffer. The upper half is a stock Armalite 6.8 mid length carbine upper with approx 16" barrel. I used a set of YHM mini risers and some Weaver quad lock extension rings to mount a Vari X3 scope on it.
The carbine has standard non free floating handguards and a standard trigger group with some gritty creep and a fairly heavy pull.
Range Report: I have taken the rifle out once and that is it; shooting about 34 rounds of Silver State Armory 110 gr. Accubond (2550 fps) ammo.
The rifle is averaging 2.97" groups at 200 meters or 1.35 MOA. I am happy with the rifle's performance. Possibly with a different trigger and different load it might do better. The only thing I would change at this point would be trigger and I am hoping to find a good one piece mount someday. I am interested to see what this 6.8 will do to a nice big mulie.

 

[mshootnit]

The Armalite comes with nice m4 feedramps, 1/11 twist and a Spec II chamber. It says Spec II on the upper receiver. I really think its a nice setup and I am thankful to the people at Armalite for a nice upper and good service. I am curious about how the 115 gr Pro Hunter load performs.

 

[68wj]

Sounds great to me, the muleys light think otherwise.

 

[okiewita40]

I know from reading that a lot of the guys over on the 68forums have had great success with the 95 grain ttsx round.

 

[shooter_from_show-me]

You might consider sending your trigger group to Bill Springfield in a small flat rate box. He'll work it over to a nice 2.5# or 3# pull with NO creep. I suffered from the same with my CMMG trigger until I sent it to him.

In my 6.8SPC, I use 110gr Pro Hunters exclusively and get just under 1" 5 shot groups at 100 yards using 29 gr of H322 and CCI 41 primers with SSA brass.

 

[brian923]

I built my 6.8 spc not expecting a sub MOA rifle and i got a 1/2 MOA rifle! Im in love with it, so much so that i am still considering selling my 223 upper. (only reason i havent is that its hard to part with a 1/4 MOA AR15 upper) but it has not seen much use latly... My setup is a bison armory spec II 1/11 twist. It'll shoot 90 grain sierra HPs to 1/2 MOA with a 4x scope at 100 yards. The 6.8 spc is a very under estimated round. I believe that many people are starting to figure out how versitile this little cartridge really is.





I believe the flyer was clean and cold bore shot... It was a while ago

 

[mshootnit]

thats a nice group!
Thanks for the tip on the 95 gr ttsx!
And thanks for the tip on the trigger job! Question: some have said reworking the trigger results in removing the hardening from the metal?

 

[FMJMIKE]

Nice looking rifle !!!

 

[mshootnit]

shooter from show me

What 6.8 upper are you running?

 

[Darth AkSarBen]

I have 2 uppers I built in 6.8 SPC II specs. This one has a barrel from AR Performance, a 1:11.25 twist 5R rifling. Shoots one hole groups at 100 yards, and has an Adams Arms Piston system on it.







VERY capable of killing a Mule Deer. Some have even killed elk with it.

100 yards, and a penny for comparison. Actually a 5 shot group, and you have to look at the target with magnification to see all the placement of the bullets.

 

[northark147]

You can't go wrong with a Geiselle Trigger, and you don't have to ever worry about the trigger job affecting anything.

 

[rbernie]

I have been very pleased with the Jard triggers in my hunting/field ARs.

 

[Tirod]

As a step up, seriously consider adding an adjustment screw to the issue trigger. It removes about 80% of the take up, which is creep. And that removes most of the grit, because it never resets back behind it to have to travel back over it.

The majority of high end triggers use either a screw adjustment, or set up the geometry to limit it anyway. And many civilian bolt gun triggers offered it for decades. Only recently has cost and liability intruded on it.

It won't break like glass, but it will be a huge improvement, and on a hunting rifle carried in the field, have the safety factor of a slightly heavier trigger weight to help prevent negligent discharges moving over rough terrain. Trigger weight isn't really a major issue when 8 point bucks are in the sight picture. Leave the target triggers for the range where taking minutes per shot does have an impact. That's 1/2 MOA work, and even then, not always in the running.

 

[Darth AkSarBen]

Agree 100% with Tirod. I took my AR-15 lower and removed the screw for the pistol grip and used a small set screw and with the upper off, adjusted the set screw with allen head until I had good latching, and no problems with releasing the hammer, etc. With the upper off you can feel the trigger and hammer as you manually cock it back and forth and release the hammer until you get it right. Solid, not a hair trigger, but lacking a lot of creep that is one without such a "back-stop" in the works. Of course, I had to shorten up the screw that holds the pistol grip on, but that was the only major change. Now it is a solid crisp let off, no hair trigger, does not 'jar' off the sear and fire, and is safe for field use. I shoot both the 6.8 SPCII and the 5.56 for uppers.