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6.8 Western- has it been abandoned already?

Seems like the hype has run its course when it comes to the 6.8 Western. I have yet to find a rifle chambered for it anywhere, and only found ammo in a local Bass Pro Shop, and only 3 boxes at that. It might be just me, but I feel that 6.8 Western seems to have been abandoned already by Browning/Winchester. If that is the case, it's a shame, because I feel it's a great cartridge that has some potential as a good all around cartridge. What are your thoughts? Does anyone on here own one, and if you do what do you think?
Most LGSs have ALWAYS limited inventory to .223, .243, .270, .30-06, 7mm Rem Mag, and .300 Win Mag. Requesting anything more would get you an annoyed look and a special order ticket to be filled at some future time after you prepay 100%. That's why I rarely seek out brick and mortar shops anymore. They NEVER have the newest, cutting edge items unless they are really large, overpriced megastores.

If you can't find any online, that means they are pretty popular, and have been bought up. I've said it before multiple times, and I'll say it again: The fact that ONLY Winchester makes brass and ammo is dooming it from its inception. I don't think it's at the end of its life yet, but may be within a year or two. And if anyone reallybwants to start the debate about Winchester brass being absolute junk, I will gladly get out my calipers and open a bag up and tell you what my reeadings are. The only way I'd load anything with Winchester brass would be of I fire-formed it first. It's all THAT bad out of round. Forget weight sorting. Many cases aren't fully formed and have creases in the shoulders or other defects in the neck and have to be discarded completely. That's enough to doom even the best cartridge. Maybe I gave a nickle more than my allowed 2 cents worth here, but that's been my experience for the past 20 years. Much older Win brass was as good as it comes even today. Those days have passed.
 
Correct, this is factory loaded, ready to shoot ammo.
Which is awesome! But I couldn't find a box for 10 months. Sold mine. Went back to my 270 win. I can find 270 win in every store I visit. I think it really depends on how people intend to use it. For big game hunting out to 400-500 yds I'm not losing anything with my tried and true 270 win. So, this time around I didn't jump on the bandwagon and buy a 6.8 Western nor will I ever. It's a great cartridge, I just don't need it.
 
Regarding rifles and ammo not in stock, sounds a lot like many rifles and calibers, depending on what store you visit. This is the current state of stock these days.

Regarding viability of the 6.8 Western, the premise behind creation is exactly the same as the creedmoor and PRC, whose viability seems not to be in question. Why question one vs the other. Sure there are many who will dog the cartridge because their granddad's 270 will do this and that, but those folks don't understand the real logic behind the 6.8 Western.
 
Oh I understand it, I just don't need it. But that's just me. I shoot over 400 yds at big game animals about 1% of my shots. All the rage high BC stuff is amazing at 600+ yds I get it. I shoot plenty of steel out to 1300 on weekends. But I'm a guy still shooting a lever action at deer, hogs and bear. While the majority of folks are practicing shooting animals at 1000 yds I'm crawling for an hour to get into range with my 44 mag. I like the new technologies, but I'm a polaroid camera in a digital world for sure. The companies are all going to come out with the next 6.5 Creed until the fads change. That's just smart business on their part. Just bad timing for the 6.8 Western.
 
That's the truth!
I bought a 6.5 PRC about 6 months ago after shooting a friends. I was originally looking at the 6.5 CM, but wanted a little extra punch in case I decided to use it for hunting. I waited almost a year to find the rifle I wanted (Ruger Precision Rifle) and 4 months to find brass (Peterson). A few days after getting the rifle, I was fortunate a friend made a trip to Idaho and found two boxes of 20 Hornady loaded 147 ELD-M on a gun store shelf and picked them up for me. I was delighted to find that right out of the box, it shot the factory ammo at just under 0.5 MOA. After getting a muzzle velocity with a LABRadar and plugging the numbers into my Kestrel, I was able to make a first round hit on the 10" bullseye at 1000 yards (the picture used for my avatar). My son also purchased a 6.5 PRC about the same time I did with the intent of hunting Elk and deer with it.
 
Nailed it and the majority of the blame falls on the big gun manufacturers. Up until I believe 2018, Browning and Winchester never offered variant twists. I could be wrong, but I've never seen them
My reply was meant to be sarcastic; as in, it truly is much easier to just buy a 6.8 Western over a 270wsm or a 6.5 CM over a 260 if you want to send heavy for caliber bullets. I apologize for any confusion.
 
That's fair, but is the Creed better over the .260 and the Western better over the .270wsm? I sure don't think so. So my point, is developing and 'new' caliber by reinventing the wheel a good or better choice? Absolutely not, but that's the way hunters and especially handloaders are today.
 
That's fair, but is the Creed better over the .260 and the Western better over the .270wsm? I sure don't think so. So my point, is developing and 'new' caliber by reinventing the wheel a good or better choice? Absolutely not, but that's the way hunters and especially handloaders are today.
It's more about the faster twist and heavy for caliber bullets , than the cartridge . It wouldn't be smart for a ammo maker too offer 270 win or 270wsm loaded with 175 gr bullets or would it be smart too offer 260 rem ammo loaded with 156 gr bullets etc , that's my take on the new cartridge offerings.
 
1st, why does anybody need a heavier bullet? I've shot 85% of all North American game with a 7mm-08 140gr accubond or partition. Second ,the gunsmith that builds my custom rifle's shoots 150 out of the 270wsm and shoots it accurately out to 850 with zero problems and missed fatal shots. The 6.8 will vanish in the near term.
 

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