Stag 15 Super Varminter Upper (68 Spc Ii) Review
What is the 6.8 SPC and what makes it exciting? Designed to substantially separate the difference betwixt the 5.56 and 7.62 NATO as an intermediate cartridge, the quotient is interesting, brings a lot to the table, and coupled with the right rifle for the circular, is exceptionally capable. We look at the cartridge, break down the features, and provide a selection of great 6.viii SPC rifles.
What to look for in a Quality half-dozen.8 SPC Rifle
Barrel Length
A primal benefit of the 6.8 SPC is that information technology likes comparatively shorter-length barrels. Whereas you still see lots of 5.56s and .223s with full or contest-length (twenty to 24 inch) barrels, a long 6.8 tapes out at 18 inches with many being shorter.
The cartridge also performs specially well in barrels down to every bit short equally 10-inches.
Takeaway: don't burn energy searching for lengthy barrels on your half-dozen.8 every bit it favors truthful carbine-length sizes and below.
Maker Reputation
In the early 2000s, with the half dozen.viii being the hot new round and the federal "assail weapon" ban expiring, overnight there were dozens of new AR makers popping upwards like mushrooms with several offer an SPC build, one for which at that place was no "mil-spec" to fall back upon. Most of those companies are now gone just left a bad reputation behind.
Coupled with this is some of the biggest names in the 6.8 market at beginning, DPMS and Bushmaster, suffered from declining quality in the last few years of product, spoiling their past work in the minds of many. Today, when looking for a well-built 6.viii, await for the big and reliable names such as Barrett, Daniel Defense, LWRC, and the similar. Nosotros accept a list for you.
6.eight SPC II Chambering
Since the cartridge's introduction, there accept been several variations and generations of thoughts, load data, specs and chamberings floated for the half dozen.8 SPC.
In short, today, you want to exist on the sentry for 6.eight SPC Two. Nosotros get more into that below.
Supportability
Just a decade ago, the 6.8 SPC was quick on the fashion to becoming the second most popular AR-xv chambering. For a variety of reasons, this has atrophied to the extent that several companies that once were big players when information technology came to the quotient have exited the market.
Part of this is to blame on the Trump Slump of 2016-17 that saw AR prices plummet and companies scramble to stop the bleeding.
Other reasons nosotros talk about later, merely the net effect is that for some, the half dozen.8 ride is over.
For instance, Illinois-based Lewis Motorcar & Tool used to take a huge 6.8 line, with their CQB, LM8, MLC, and SLK models all clocking in to deliver. Yet, they have downsized when it comes to the caliber and now Indiana-based LMT Defence force just offers some barrel, magazine, and BCG options for vi.eight users . The same tin be said of Massachusetts-based Yankee Loma Car. YHM offered Black Diamond, KR7, and Specter series vi.8s going dorsum to 2009 but today just lists a few barrels and accessories .
Every bit a key takeaway, attempt to stick with models with a good rail record and no apparent sign of beingness folded away.
The Best 6.8 SPC Rifles
one. Daniel Defense force
Length: 33 three/8″ – 37″
Weight: six.9 lb
Capacity: v
Georgia-based Daniel Defense force produced both 6.8 uppers and a dedicated vi.eight burglarize, the DDV6.viii, for years. However, today the simply gun in their itemize that caters to the cartridge is a version of their DDM4 Hunter line.
Using an 18-inch S2W barrel that is threaded in 5/eight×24 TPI and clad with an MFR 15-inch gratis-floating handguard with a full-length Moving-picture show rail on the roof and Thou-LOK slots everywhere else, information technology only weighs 6.ix-pounds. Aircraft with a PRI 5-rounder and Geissele Super Semi-Automated, 2-phase trigger, it wears a hydro-dipped Kryptek Highlander camo design.
two. Barrett REC 7
Length: 36″
Weight: 6.two lbs
Chapters: 30+1
The first company to market place a 6.eight SPC-chambered firearm when the M468 was brought to market, Barrett long ago replaced it with the REC7 DI , which has options in 5.56 NATO, vi.8 SPC, and 300 BLK. Lightweight, at just 6.two-pounds, it has a sixteen-inch butt and a straight gas impingement activeness.
The REC 7 GEN II, a piston gun with a one-piece 17-4 stainless piston instead of the DI organisation, has the same specs but runs cleaner. The 6.8 versions of both models are getting harder to find equally they were discontinued officially late last yr merely keep looking for i, they are worth it if you lot can find them.
3. LWRC
Length: 32 to 35-1/4″
Weight: 7.25 lbs
Chapters: 30+1
At this point, LWRC International is the biggest player in the half-dozen.viii SPC game. Enjoying large overseas contracts for the platform, their top-notch SIX8 line is both extensive and fixes the biggest trouble the 6.8 had in terms of employ in an M4 style firearm– a reliable magazine that matched the aforementioned capacity as seen with the 5.56 NATO quotient M4.
With that, LWRC got a great mag that worked– Magpul's PMAG half-dozen.8 xxx — and designed their SIX8 guns effectually it. Fully ambi and with a cold hammer-forged Nicorr treated heavy barrels, the company makes the eight-inch SIX8-UCIW (NFA rules apply), the SIX8-Pistol, and the 16-inch barreled SIX8-SPR, SIX8-A2, and SIX8-A5, with something to fit every taste. Some consider the line the best 6.8 SPC AR-15.
four. Radical Firearms
Radical'southward 16-inch 6.8 SPC II build is a bully manner to get into the 6.8 earth without going into hock.
Using a 4150 Chrome Moly Vanadium heavy barrel with a Melonite finish, it comes consummate with a free-floating xv-inch Chiliad-LOK thin rail handguard and uses a 15-round mag. It is a DI action gun with anodized forged 7075 T6 receivers.
5. Stone River Arms
The LAR-15M 6.8 series of rifles and uppers from Rock River Artillery has a lot of variety for non a lot of money. Using 6.8 Rem SPC 2 chambers to accommodate recent developments in ammo lines for the cartridge, Rock River has at least four of these guns in production, all with a 1.five MOA at 100-yard accurateness guarantee.
X-Serial X-i: Uses an 18-inch fluted stainless steel barrel, free-floating M-LOK handguard, and ii-stage varmint trigger. It is available in several unlike finishes and buttstock options.
CAR A4: Running just 36-inches overall with a 16-inch barrel, it has a CAR-length gas organisation, this half dozen.8 has a classic, retro aesthetic.
Mid-Length A4: A 16-inch Chrome Moly Vanadium heavy butt carbine with a mid-length gas system, two-stage RRA trigger, M4 way 6-position buttstock, and a round handguard.
Coyote Carbine: With a 16-inch barrel that ends with a Smith Vortex flash hider, a low-profile gas block nether a gratuitous-floated 12.v-inch handguard with Chiliad-LOK slots, and an RRA Operator Car stock, this Rock River 6.8 has a distinctive look.
half-dozen. Stag Artillery
Stag delivered their Model 5 model in half-dozen.8 SPC to the market over a decade ago and has delivered other rifles and carbines in the caliber since. However, the Stag offerings today chambered in half dozen.viii mm are geared towards hunters, with the Stag 15 Super Varminter beingness their headliner.
Using a xx.77-inch 416R stainless heavy barrel with a SAAMI SPEC Two bedroom, it has a ane:11 twist charge per unit for the newer 6.viii loads.
Standard features include a 16.5-inch SL Quad handguard, Magpul MOE pistol grip, and fixed rifle stock.
7. Wilson Combat
Beak Wilson's Arkansas-based custom shop, Wilson Combat, has embraced the half dozen.eight and continues to make several quality rifle models to take advantage of the round, be information technology for dwelling house protection, SRT/SWAT teams, or those seeking a serious hunting rifle.
They make 3 unlike carbine-length build options, all with six.8 SPC Ii chambers and billet receivers.
- Ranger , with a lightweight billet receiver set, sixteen-inch Ranger profile match-grade tapered barrel, TTU trigger, and Thousand-LOK runway for a 6.two-pound weight.
- Ultralight Ranger takes everything included with the standard Wilson Combat Ranger and swaps out the furniture for a Smoke Composites carbon fiber stock and other Wilson Combat magic that drops the weight downward to five.7-pounds.
- Recon Tactical , offered in iii unlike barrel lengths betwixt xiv.vii and 16-inches to offering a selection of carbine- and mid-length gas systems all remain in the vi-pound range. However, just considering it is light doesn't hateful it can't perform.
History of the .6.8 SPC Round
It had long been thought, going dorsum to lessons in World State of war II, that a cartridge firing a .270 quotient (half-dozen.8 mm) bullet could outperform larger, .30-caliber, rounds in infantry rifles and carbines. The British at the time tested a .270 Enfield load firing a 130-grain bullet at two,400 feet per 2d to replace their circa 1900s .303 Enfield and liked information technology, only then went to shift towards a .280 with a very slightly heavier bullet before being forced to take the 7.62 NATO in the 1950s.
Fast forwards to 2004.
As detailed by U.Southward. Army Major Thomas Ehrhart , the special operations community, reflecting on fighting in Afghanistan afterwards September 11th, all the same liked their M4s but found themselves wanting a more lethal cartridge.
"Two chief sergeants took the historical information about effective calibers and tested cartridges in 6mm, half dozen.5mm, 6.8mm, 7mm, vii.62mm cartridges that would piece of work within the system limitations of the M16/M4," explained Ehrhart of what was initially called the Enhanced Burglarize Cartridge projection. "They discovered that 7mm was the most devastating caliber and that half-dozen.5mm was the virtually authentic quotient for the above range. The six.8mm caliber offered the all-time compromise in accuracy and lethality."
Black rifle scholar Chris Bartocci in 2006 credited MSG Steve Holland of the 5th Special Forces Group, working in conjunction with gunsmith Cris Murry of the elite Regular army Marksmanship Unit, with the design of a "military .270."
Using the .30 Remington AR cartridge, which the AMU had tapped for their competition rifles at the time, the parent case was shortened, given a new shoulder and a larger maximum capacity for high-performance propellant. Holland and Murray sent their data to Remington for final development and production that would become the half dozen.8x43mm Remington Special Purpose Cartridge or half-dozen.8mm Remington SPC.
In testing , Murry said in June 2003,
"The gel block tests are awesome. It drops a 150-300 lbs. feral hogs like an axe, also works keen on whitetails."
At the National Defence Industrial Association'southward annual military small arms symposium in early 2004 , the new 6.8 SPC was highlighted past the ammo maker.
There, Remington engineer Greg Dennison explained why Big Greenish went on to develop the cartridge internally:
"to provide increased lethality and better long-range capability than current five.56mm NATO or 7.62×39 through college energies."
By 2005, Remington subsidiaries Bushmaster and Panther Arms were working on SPC model AR15s for the consumer market which would be ready every bit soon every bit the ammo was bachelor commercially.
However, Barrett Firearms, with their M468 (M4 in a 6.eight quotient), offered in either a standalone upper or a total-up carbine, would be the outset firearm ready for the new cartridge, showing it off at the AUSA Meeting in late 2003 even earlier ammo was being made.
The public got its commencement existent taste of the 6.viii SPC in a March 2007 episode of Mack Machowicz's Time to come Weapons on the Discovery Aqueduct which featured Ronnie Barrett and his M468.
Outside of industry events and military expos, it was the first big exposure to the round. Barrett noted:
"It has diameter, and it has weight, and it has kinetic energy, and it has what it needs to kill on the first circular."
He pointed out that the cartridge had been developed after recent post-9/xi experience in Afghanistan against "near kamikaze" type shut-up attacks.
This led to a boom in 6.viii SPC popularity.
By 2011, there were at to the lowest degree 30 gun makers with either a dedicated burglarize or upper in their catalog chambered in the quotient. Daniel Defense started making a rifle for information technology, the DDV6.8, every bit did companies such equally Christensen, Cobalt, Olympic, Stag, and others.
Even Ruger got into the game with versions of their SR556 and Mini-xiv (!) chambered for the round. For a few years, many common bolt-activity hunting rifles, such equally the Browning A-Bolt, Ruger M77, and Remington Model 700, were available in 6.8, although the round was never intended for use with such designs.
Since then, growth in the 6.8 arena has narrowed, especially one time Remington itself began starving off its modern sporting rifle lines at Bushmaster and DPMS later on 2013. Today, the cartridge and its firearms are nonetheless very much in production just are just not equally popular every bit it used to be, and nosotros'll talk about that in other sections.
.6.8 SPC Specifications
Substantially a development of the .30 Remington AR cartridge, which can also exist seen as a rimless .30-30 Winchester, the round that became the six.8 SPC used a vanquish body diameter larger than 5.56mm NATO– although it is the aforementioned cartridge length– but just smaller than 7.62×39.
Early on specs had the cartridge running 55,000 psi MAP in terms of chamber pressure. Key in its design was the fact that it could use a standard AR15/M4/M16 lower receiver, simply converting the gun to fire the newly developed cartridge past swapping out the upper receiver for in one case chambered in 6.8 (or even just the barrel, bolt, and bolt carrier).
Due to the cartridge'south neck and bullet profile, although information technology could utilize a standard M16 box mag, after the first few rounds the magazine would smashing and demark, meaning they had to be downloaded.
With the issue corrected using specially-designed mags that had their internals optimized for 6.8 SPC, in most cases but 27 to 28 rounds of half dozen.8 volition fit in what was ordinarily a 30-round sized mag when using 5.56, and then at that place is a slight loss of magazine capacity.
Ballistic performance of the 6.8 SPC
While loads for the cartridge cover everything from 85- to 140 grains most mutual manufacturing plant loads for the 6.8 SPC as we know it today tend to be in the 100-to-120-grain neighborhood.
Splitting the difference in that, let's look at Hornady'south 110 gr V-MAX load for the cartridge from their Black line. This load delivers 2,550 fps at the muzzle, dropping down to 1,893 at 300 yards, while bringing an impressive 1,588 ft/lbs. of energy and keeping 875 of that at 3 football fields. In terms of trajectory, it offers impressive accuracy — flat to near-apartment (within 2.5 inches up or down) to 200 yards and drops 10.four-inches at 300.
After that, all bets are off as the bullet weight starts to outrun the velocity and information technology rainbows down dramatically, beingness minute of man at 500 yards.
Go on in mind the in a higher place is from a 16-inch carbine-length test barrel.
The 6.viii SPC, with its special ops lineage of use by commandos who adopt the shortest guns possible so they tin hands exercise things similar jump out of airplanes and climb out of submarine hatches, offers better terminal functioning when fired out of pistol and SBR-length platforms. For example, keeping two,300fps and 1,300 ft./lbs. out of a 10.5-inch barrel. That'south tough to vanquish.
The ballistic coefficient of the vi.eight SPC is college than the 5.56 due to the shape and weight of its bullets. For example, in virtually 110-grain loads the 6.eight runs a BC in the .360 to .370 range compared to the 55-grain v.56'south .185 to .257. What this ways is the vi.8 volition bring more than of that free energy downrange with it.
The cartridge tin be loaded to evangelize astonishing terminal effects on target.
Users of the half-dozen.eight SPC
Although adult initially as a side project for Uncle Sam, the six.8 SPCs utilise was limited in U.S. war machine service. Reports are that USSOCOM bought quantities of M468 upper receivers from Barrett for a few years to requite the circular some field trials but, as the early on ammo adult by Remington didn't quite come across the potential it promised without being besides spicy for the initial chambering that was adopted, they passed.
Withal, the circular has seen some adoption overseas with Saudi arabia in 2012 ordering guns from LWRC in the quotient for the elite the Saudi Royal Guard Regiment while Hashemite kingdom of jordan put the eight-inch PDW variant into limited production under a license from LWRC for use at that place by that U.S. ally.
Purpose of the SPC
The six.8 SPC was developed past the military to upwards the lethality of their M4 Carbine systems, especially at close ranges, while requiring minimal changes to the gun. Since then, it has gone on to see widespread use with consumers both in harvesting game and as a circular used in conjunction with modern sporting rifles.
The divergence between vi.8 SPC and vi.eight SPC II
At that place is no half dozen.8 NATO standard.
Without getting too much into the inside baseball game of the affair, the initial half dozen.8 SPC chambering developed by Remington and adopted by SAAMI has morphed over the years.
While most early rifles used a barrel with a 1:10 twist rate and a shallower pharynx for cartridges with a lower pressure load/ability curve to keep the gun rubber, newer chamberings trend towards the vi.8 SPC II which has a longer throat and a decreased freebore or special hybrid chamberings like Noveske's Mod 1 design.
While the original was developed by Remington, the SPC Two update came from enthusiasts and members of the 68forums to correct what they felt were holdbacks to the initial design.
The SPC II chambering will permit handloaders, wildcatters, and custom ammo makers to wring a bit more performance from the cartridge, especially when using .270 bullets. Notwithstanding, as information technology can accommodate stronger pressures developed past such loads, using ammo developed for SPC II chamberings in legacy SPC rifles tin can potentially dangerous.
As far as consumers, guns, barrels, and uppers should exist clearly marked by the manufacturer if they are SPC or SPC II standard, even if the bulk of factory ammo is still at the older threshold.
half dozen.eight SPC Vs Other Cartridges
Fundamentally, when looking at the vi.viii SPC, it performs roughly in the same envelope as the old .30-30 Winchester but allowing for a much better bullet design and delivers akin to the Russian 7.62×39 M43 round used in the AK and SKS series of carbines, simply with more than accurateness potential and long-range operation.
The six.five Grendel — which has the same overall length– is oftentimes held upwards as a superior pick to, and "a killer" of, the vi.eight SPC, which, coupled with the increased availability of half dozen.v Creedmoor in AR10/AR308 -sized platforms in recent years, has sliced away the market for the round.
Nevertheless, while the Grendel does put some negligibly better velocity and energy figures up compared to the SPC at ranges past 100 yards, the difference isn't earth-shattering, typically simply gaining 100fps and about 200 ft/lbs.
Also, since the Grendel has a higher ballistic coefficient on near loads, it shoots flatter, but, equally with velocity, it is only a piffling improvement.
For example, at 300 yards, a Grendel will typically take an 8-inch drop with the most mutual 120-grainish factory loads whereas an SPC volition be closer to 11 inches– but keep in listen that higher BC in the six.v also helps in retaining energy on target at that altitude.
As a trump carte du jour to the statement on the SPC'south behalf, the 6.8 is optimized for shorter barrels than the Grendel and will outperform information technology in pistol and SBR formats at the cage and CQB ranges, and the round will deliver its peak performance out of barrels as brusk every bit 16 inches, whereas the Grendel hits its acme out of 20s.
When stacked confronting another 7.62x39mm performance doppelganger, the .300 Blackout , the SPC is evenly matched for the outset 200 yards, with both delivering exceptionally and with more than effectiveness, especially in terms of terminal ballistics against barriers, than a 5.56.
However, at 300 yards, the Blackout drops a whopping 30 inches more than than the half-dozen.8.
Has the sunday set on the 6.8 SPC?
Things take inverse since 2007. Mack Machowicz has, sadly, passed. Future Weapons has been off the air, even in reruns, for virtually a decade. New .243, .27 and .thirty-quotient rounds for AR platforms like the .350 Legend, .277 Fury, and the 6mm ARC have entered the market and are making headways with consumers, boosted by big advertisement buys from household names in the firearms industry looking to sell curious shoppers the side by side "gamechanger."
It has gotten to the point that the cartridge itself has even been the starting point for other "gee-whiz" rounds like the .224 Valkyrie , which uses the 6.8'due south case with a smaller bullet.
None of this means that the 6.viii SPC has stopped being a practiced cartridge. It all the same brings dramatically more than performance– over 50 percent more energy with a much larger bullet– from the muzzle of an AR15 than 5.56 NATO, keeping that delivery at ranges under 200 yards.
Information technology will deflect less and deliver more, peculiarly in shorter barrels. This makes the round a better selection for potential urban tactical situations and for sportsmen brush hunting medium game such as whitetails and wild hogs. Speaking to hunting, it is country-approved for harvesting medium game in most places, something the 5.56 probable won't e'er be.
Top shelf AR rifle and upper makers are still cranking them out and ammo companies are all the same filling factory-fresh boxes. Then, no, while the 6.8 is being crowded out of the market place, information technology is still in the marketplace for now and volition exist for the foreseeable time to come.
With that beingness said, for those going the six.8 road, it may behoove them to get into saving their brass and taking up reloading as a hobby– just in case.
Shortcomings
Even though it has been on the market in 1 form or another for 2 decades, the 6.viii SPC is withal seen as a niche round for many. This means that local gun stores and even big-box sporting suppliers either don't behave it on the shelf or have to special social club it– fifty-fifty disregarding infrequent circumstances like the recent national ammo shortage.
This likewise ways you are ownership 20-round boxes of bespoke rounds designed for sporting purposes with advanced bullet types such every bit HPBTs, SSTs, and dynamic ballistic tips, non 200-, 500- or g-round majority packs of FMJ such as with more common AR15 chamberings in v.56/.223 or AR10s in 7.62 NATO.
Harder to find and more expensive, 6.eight is sold and inventoried more as a deer round than for guys looking to stock upwards for a home defense carbine. This inhibits extensive training. For case, when attending a 3-mean solar day tactical carbine course where you may drib 500 rounds on metal and paper targets in quick succession, would you take the vi.8 or a 5.56?
When information technology comes to mag capacity, the 6.8 drives down the standard AR/M16/M4 mag from the ability to hold 30 and insert on a closed commodities to just holding a reduced 27 rounds—if y'all are lucky. The few exceptions for that, such as Magpul'southward dedicated vi.8 PMAG, are not common and are often platform-dependent.
For instance, the 6.8 PMAG is only billed equally operation to expectations with the LWRC Six8 line, although that mileage may vary.
In another ding, for those looking at every ounce and gram on their platform, a fully-loaded mag of 27 6.8s is likewise about ane-3rd heavier (i.06-pounds in a GI aluminum mag) than 30 rounds of 5.56 (0.76-pounds in the same mag). It may fit the same AR mag, but it besides brings a bigger bullet along for the ride, which is going to add upwardly should yous conduct lots of them.
Finally, with the higher pressures at the chamber, the vi.8 gives more than felt recoil to the user than the 5.56, which impacts both the user experience as well every bit rapid follow-up shots on target.
Departing shots
The 6.eight SPC, especially in SBRs and big format AR pistols, is one of the most effective "black rifle" cartridges at shut (200 yards and nether) ranges, delivering more kinetic energy on target than whatever 5.56 ever could.
Developed in conjunction with the armed forces to perform in exactly that sort of bad breath distance, it saw a surge in popularity shortly after information technology striking the consumer market a decade ago but has been losing steam in recent years due to comparable rounds being released.
Still, information technology is a viable choice for those looking to be well prepared or to put meat in the freezer.
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Source: https://www.americanfirearms.org/6-8-spc-complete-guide/
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