New Cartridge 6.8 Western

[WYOHTF]

Varmints come in all different sizes It works fine on the 30 years worth of deer for me and I'm sure thousands of others use it successfully as well.

I am a fan, it was the starter rifle in my home growing up. It was. 788 rem.
55 grain speers harvested countless deer and antelope.
I'd love to have one in an A.I. With a fast twist

 

[FEENIX]

With the new production of 165/175 matrix, 170 eol, and 165 ABLR, I say there are a variety of good 277 long range bullets. Lot batter than 5 years ago! I have a bunch of matrix/eol bullets and an 8tw barrel in the safe, trying to figure out what to build.......27/28 Nosler is the way I'm leaning right now.

Yep! I have enough 165/175 Matrix for 2 barrel life.

 

[Big Guy]

Crap..

 

[palerider3]

The only statistics that I trust are those that I made up myself. My one class in statistics taught me that it is the art of lying with numbers. A good statistician can make the data say anything that he or she wants it to.

80% of statistics are made up on the spot, 50% of the time.

 

[Tac-O]

Ugh. So tired of the 6.xxx short mag cartridges. I don't own one, but F them anyway.

What we need is a saami 30-284

 

[FlGunner]

Winchester would have done so much better to bring out a 6.5 wsm with a 7 or 8 twist or simply throw an 8 twist on the 270 wsm. Come out with a heavy for caliber factory offering and spend a few bucks marketing it the way Hornady has and they'd sold plenty. I think they jumped at a catchy name like "Western" instead of getting to what will really sale. Hornady has great marketing and that's why the Creeds and PRC lines are selling... coupled with appropriate twist rates. There's rounds that will fit where the creeds and PRC line is that just wasn't jazzed up with fancy marketing or simply had an inadequate twist. The 260 Rem is a great round as well as the 6.5 Remington magnum and 264 Winchester magnum. Just needed better twist with the 6.5 Rem mag and 264 win mag.

 

[ZAK13]

Needs a 1/8 twist.... Maybe?

I'm saami they have 175 going 2840fps with a 24" tube

yes, a 1:8 twist barrel is part of the equation, which is interesting, considering the 27 Nosler is 1:8.5 twist

 

[25WSM]

The extra speed of the Nosler might be able to overcome the .5 inch less twist to some extent. Depends on how long these new 277 bullets get. Personally I would rather have the extra twist of the 8.
Shep

 

[Gstew1930]

Hell I'm intrigued by this cartridge. I like the wsm's and saums. Plus the good ole 270 win. I don't know how popular it will become but I like the idea

 

[284saum]

What we have here is Winchester, a competing company to Hornady, bringing out a similar performing cartridge to the 6.5 PRC. Like the PRC, the 6.8 Western is SAAMI spec to succeed. Factory ammo with heavy for caliber, aerodynamic bullets, working in factory rifles. A heavier bullet option to appeal to those who may see the 6.5mm's as a bit on the small side for larger game like elk.

I don't blame them for not calling it a WSM, the fad of "short mag" is well over

 

[Gstew1930]

I am a fan, it was the starter rifle in my home growing up. It was. 788 rem.
55 grain speers harvested countless deer and antelope.
I'd love to have one in an A.I. With a fast twist

I still coyote hunt with my 788. Super accurate

 

[Eric Alexander]

Bartlein, Hart, Proof, Benchmark, Krieger, Criterion. Very common nowadays.

my understanding was that they are cut-rifled on the long lathe built for rifling

 

[Jud96]

my understanding was that they are cut-rifled on the long lathe built for rifling

They're rifled on a CNC rifling machine.

 

[JemezDave]

You've learned how to not shoot small groups, that counts for something. I think all information is worth the trouble even if it doesn't solve the problem because it makes identifying what does work easier.

I once read a quote attributed to Kent Duckworth, the "Worth" of Cosworth Engineering & Cosworth racing engines, who said "Don't read, you become misinformed." I think what he was saying is that you don't know the particulars of someone else's test of an idea unless it was conducted and reported in a rigorous scientific manner. Even then you may not know everything and it is best to test it yourself.
So when I'm told that lots of people have tried something and have not succeeded it tells me that it isn't an easy thing, but it doesn't tell me that it is impossible.

The obvious solution is for the bullet mfg's to make the HFC bullets in the desired caliber(s), but that is kind of a chicken and egg problem. Until there is a volume mfg of tight twist .257 and .277 chamberings it's going to be hard to convince the bullet mfg's to tool up to make bullets for them. So maybe this new .277 chamber is the first step in that direction. Those of us who've been around long enough can recall that 6.5 bullets used to be few and far between, and most were low performance designs. Now look at what is available in that bore size.

When I worked in the store between ourselves we jokingly called them "bullet-shell-heads" because it seemed that the correct term was never used by anyone......

I perceive what they're trying to say in a nice way is that you have no idea what you're talking about. Why would you want to draw down someone else's completed bullet to turn it into something else in the first place? It's just not a compelling idea at all.