6.8SPC vs. 6.8SPCII confusion

You can look up prices of ammo and availability here.

http://ammoseek.com/ammo/35-remington

35 Rem isnt as much as retail, but it would require buying more than a box or two at a time to make it practical to ship.

Look at the menu for 6.8.

30 Remington AR 150gr Core-Lokt ammo is available for less than $20/box. It IMO is the best SAAMI approved factory ammo available catridge for hunting medium game, in the AR-15 platform.

Spec II means 1:11 twist and longer throat. 6.8 originally was 1:10 twist. Spec II yields more velocity potential with handloads.

The maker should specify.

The 6.8 is probably the best all around fit for your needs in an AR. As mshootnit said, the SPC II chamber and 6.8 ARP and 6.8x43 chambers all have a redesigned throat and leade, and generally slower twist. Any of the common chambers SPC II and later can handle the higher pressure factory loads that used to be sold such as the SSA "Tactical" loads. I don't know of any manufacturer's that are still putting out the original SAAMI spec chambers, and most, such as ARP, Rock River, Bison Armory, Stag, Radical Firearms and PSA will clearly identify the chamber spec they are using.

Here's the twist on SPCII - most of the commercial ammo sold is rated by the original lower stress spec because it's SAMMI approved. You have to handload or buy special hot loads to get the SPCII performance. It boils down to the industry not willing to expand the performance envelope.

Is that an major issue, no. 6.8 was designed for 50% more power than 5.56 and the incremental difference with SPCII is small. It amounts to at best another 5-8% increase if you develop handloads. Most firearms could see that kind of improvement, even the .35. It's the larger cartridge that is important first of all.

Buy SPCII and don't worry about it. If and when reloading is seen as the better economical way to source your ammo you then have the capability. Until then enjoy the 50% higher foot pounds of force the larger heavier bullet offers and go shoot pigs. 6.8 is the answer with more power in a light recoiling gun that follows up faster on second shots.

Worry more about those guys who tell you a night vision scope is the greatest thing since sliced bread shooting hogs. They aren't cheap.

I'm not aware of anything new that is not SPCII. I personally don't care about the difference, but many do. You can get another 100 - 150 fps out of properly adjusted handloads with the SPCII chambering, so you might as well get it unless you want something older like a 6.8 Mini 14. I have one of those and it is the rifle I enjoy the most. For some the fact that it is to the original specs. is a bummer. I have an AR in SPCII, but to me the difference is meaningless so I just load everything to the original SAMMI specs. so I won't inadvertently get a hot load in the Ruger.

The Mini was just one of the early adopters and why the ammo industry doesn't often make 6.8 "NATO" ammo - it's just too hot for the old leade design as it pushes pressures over the limits.

When the drawings went from the early developers to Remington to sponsor for SAMMI approval somehow an artifact in the leade design got included which was never intended to be there - and now we have a slightly less powerful standard which the early guns are stuck with. Nobody cares to accept the liability of stuffing the later spec, hotter ammo in it with the propensity for eventual damage. It's happened often enough before with some old guns unable to handle newer powders, or a wildcat that goes right in half a dozen other actions if the rounds get mixed up. We have that exact situation with .300BO in 5.56 and more than one AR has had a catastrophic failure from it.

Since the gun community is worst case risk adverse nobody sells much "true" SPCII spec ammo. Silver State sold out and my one box is now a collectible. Not much else was out there.

The discussion then becomes something of the same as "should I shoot +P ammo in my handgun?" Getting hits in the right place counts for more. Good optics help as well as practice.

Getting really good SPCII ammo on the market will probably take talking packages that remind you in three languages it's your fault you loaded it in an old spec gun. In other words, you won't find it in a Big Box store.

As noted before, SPCII is a chamber design and not an ammo spec. The short lead and faster twice can cause pressure spikes. Just buy a SPCII upper and don't worry about it. Check out www.68forums.com for all things Remington 6.8.

I have a .30 Remington AR. It's an awesome round and certainly the most powerful for an AR15 platform and ammo is cheap for now. BUT, it is not an easy upper/rifle to find since they don't make the chambering any more. DPMS sold some uppers that were black and Remington sold complete guns in Camo.

My R15 came off GunBroker. The upper is proprietary with a hybrid bolt that has an AR10 bolt head size so the barrel extension is different as well which means the upper itself is specially sized. In the case of my R15 once again, it is a composite upper and lower.

Mike C2 said:

As noted before, SPCII is a chamber design and not an ammo spec. The short lead and faster twice can cause pressure spikes. Just buy a SPCII upper and don't worry about it. Check out www.68forums.com for all things Remington 6.8.

I have a .30 Remington AR. It's an awesome round and certainly the most powerful for an AR15 platform and ammo is cheap for now. BUT, it is not an easy upper/rifle to find since they don't make the chambering any more. DPMS sold some uppers that were black and Remington sold complete guns in Camo.

My R15 came off GunBroker. The upper is proprietary with a hybrid bolt that has an AR10 bolt head size so the barrel extension is different as well which means the upper itself is specially sized. In the case of my R15 once again, it is a composite upper and lower.

Click to expand...

I absolutely love my 30 AR also. For a SAAMI spec'd and factory ammo available it is the top dog when it comes to hunting game. And R-15's in 30 AR are actually fairly easy to find. They are in stock at several online stores. I picked mine up last year and I've been hunting with it ever since. My 150gr SST hand load is sub MOA.

True enough for now. I looked for 3 years to find mine because they had dried up. Looks like about a year ago Remington released some old stock but they will dry up and unlike the 6.8 will be hard(er) to duplicate or repair in the future. But it is an awesome round IMO. Too bad the original AR15 bolt size wouldn't support the bolt load.

If it dries up I'm not worried I bought 10 boxes of ammo just for the brass...lol. My only worry is if I ever break an extractor...I called Remington and they said they didn't have any available for sale, but a friend who works for them said they have all spare parts you'll ever need but they are for warranty repair use only

No need to be confused. If you have an improved chamber 6.8 (SPCII, ARP, Noveski Mod 1, SAAMI II, etc), you can shoot any off the shelf 6.8 SPC ammo and safely handload a bit hotter.

If you have one of the few SAAMI chambers (Remington, LMT, Ruger) you can still shoot any factory 6.8 spc ammo.