kentucky_smith
Member
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2005
- Messages
- 1,686
So after much deliberation and hem-hawing around, I finally decided to purchase a 6.8 upper to try out this year for deer season (yes, I'm a few months early); a Jim Zumbo special, if you will. I considered a grendel build, but decided that wasn't cost-effective.
The 6.8 is definitely a viable cartridge as whitetail medicine, with much more ooomph than the usual ARs 5.56/.223 and out to 300 yards a match for pretty much anything I would want to use. Factory ballistic charts show superior performance to factory loaded Hornady Leverevolution 30-30, .257 Roberts and 7.62x39.
I've got high-powered bolt rifle pretty well covered at home with the aforementioned 6.5Swede, .280 Winchester, an old pre-64 Win. 70 in 30/06, a FAL, and an M1. I've been wanting something handy for putting on the 4wheeler and carrying around up and down these eastern Kentucky hills. Scratching this up gives it character, scratching a wood-stocked Winchester=bad.
So I ordered and recieved a 6.8 carbine upper from JT Distributing this past week. For under $500, I'm plum tickled. Fit and finish is nice, the bolt is smooth right out of the box and the first range session I've come back happier than a pig in slop.
For a scope, I used an old used Nikon I had laying around; attached to the flattop with Quik-Site see-through scope rings that put the scope at a perfect level for me, meant scoping this thing on a budget.
What, no uber-tactical quick-release $150 mounts with front and rear BUIS's?
Those are nice, but this ain't that kind of gun. I'm not going for tacticool, TYVM. I'd have been perfectly happy with a target crown on any of my uppers, but JT Distributing didn't have carbine barrels in stock that weren't threaded.
The JT Distrbuting upper puts 5 rounds of Remington in approximately the same hole at 100 yards (sorry, crappy cell-phone pic).
It likes the Remington 115 grain, I didn't try any further than that but will when I buy more ammo. I've got some Lee dies and some powder on the way and will try reloading some of this stuff soon, but I doubt I'll be able to match the Remmy stuff. When I do reload, I'm not going to try to make this something it's not, a hotter-faster round, it's perfectly adequate as-is. Hornady 110gr Vmax and Silver State Hunter loads shot adequately well for me, but not as great as the Remington. I shot a box of each to try them out.
The A1 stock is a bit short for me, I may either order a buttpad, or get an A2 stock (I've had no luck with the collapsible m4 stocks, using a scope it's uncomfortable for me),
With the rifle-sized buffer and carbine length gas system, recoil was not harsh and spent brass was put in a nice little pile about 3' from my bench at the 4 o'clock position.
The local funshop has been ordering and selling the crap out of 6.8 ammo, evidently it is the new darling of the Contender sillhouette shooter crowd, being a bit better than the old standby 7TCU, or 7x30 Waters.
The AR is becoming more and more a multi-caliber platform. Above is my Doublestar lower with A1 stock, with the 6.8, along with my Colt M16A1 upper and another JT carbine upper with Swift scope (this is my coyote setup ) An additional upper in .204 Ruger is now seeming more and more like a great idea for coyotes and groundhogs, and I'm looking to get a Ceiner kit to go in the A1. BRD is a terrible disease I tell ya'.
Anyone mention that I should have bought a Grendel, I fart in your general direction and your mother smells of elderberries.
The 6.8 is definitely a viable cartridge as whitetail medicine, with much more ooomph than the usual ARs 5.56/.223 and out to 300 yards a match for pretty much anything I would want to use. Factory ballistic charts show superior performance to factory loaded Hornady Leverevolution 30-30, .257 Roberts and 7.62x39.
I've got high-powered bolt rifle pretty well covered at home with the aforementioned 6.5Swede, .280 Winchester, an old pre-64 Win. 70 in 30/06, a FAL, and an M1. I've been wanting something handy for putting on the 4wheeler and carrying around up and down these eastern Kentucky hills. Scratching this up gives it character, scratching a wood-stocked Winchester=bad.
So I ordered and recieved a 6.8 carbine upper from JT Distributing this past week. For under $500, I'm plum tickled. Fit and finish is nice, the bolt is smooth right out of the box and the first range session I've come back happier than a pig in slop.
For a scope, I used an old used Nikon I had laying around; attached to the flattop with Quik-Site see-through scope rings that put the scope at a perfect level for me, meant scoping this thing on a budget.
What, no uber-tactical quick-release $150 mounts with front and rear BUIS's?
Those are nice, but this ain't that kind of gun. I'm not going for tacticool, TYVM. I'd have been perfectly happy with a target crown on any of my uppers, but JT Distributing didn't have carbine barrels in stock that weren't threaded.
The JT Distrbuting upper puts 5 rounds of Remington in approximately the same hole at 100 yards (sorry, crappy cell-phone pic).
It likes the Remington 115 grain, I didn't try any further than that but will when I buy more ammo. I've got some Lee dies and some powder on the way and will try reloading some of this stuff soon, but I doubt I'll be able to match the Remmy stuff. When I do reload, I'm not going to try to make this something it's not, a hotter-faster round, it's perfectly adequate as-is. Hornady 110gr Vmax and Silver State Hunter loads shot adequately well for me, but not as great as the Remington. I shot a box of each to try them out.
The A1 stock is a bit short for me, I may either order a buttpad, or get an A2 stock (I've had no luck with the collapsible m4 stocks, using a scope it's uncomfortable for me),
With the rifle-sized buffer and carbine length gas system, recoil was not harsh and spent brass was put in a nice little pile about 3' from my bench at the 4 o'clock position.
The local funshop has been ordering and selling the crap out of 6.8 ammo, evidently it is the new darling of the Contender sillhouette shooter crowd, being a bit better than the old standby 7TCU, or 7x30 Waters.
The AR is becoming more and more a multi-caliber platform. Above is my Doublestar lower with A1 stock, with the 6.8, along with my Colt M16A1 upper and another JT carbine upper with Swift scope (this is my coyote setup ) An additional upper in .204 Ruger is now seeming more and more like a great idea for coyotes and groundhogs, and I'm looking to get a Ceiner kit to go in the A1. BRD is a terrible disease I tell ya'.
Anyone mention that I should have bought a Grendel, I fart in your general direction and your mother smells of elderberries.
Attachments
Last edited:
