6.8 Western, is it going to last?

iron cat said:
The lawsuit was initiated by a gun writer ( Rick Jamison)who contend that he was the developer of the Shortmags. Not Winchester .
In reality , P.O Ackley made it many years before by turning the rim off 348 Winchester and necking it down to 6.5, and others wete wikdcatting it into the 300. Etc. using 348 cases and 404 Jeffery as well I think.
The WSM cases are the same outer dimension although they are thicker brass..
Cat
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This is correct, that’s the reason Winchester never brought out the 6.5 WSM as they had to pay royalties on the cartridges and the lawsuit which made it pointless, hence the introduction of the 6.8 Western of their own design !
 
270 Win isn't going away, but just about every other .277/6.8 cartridge never really took off anywhere.
You would have to have a real hard on for the .277 bore to go down any of those roads.
 
Hitzy said:
270 Win isn't going away, but just about every other .277/6.8 cartridge never really took off anywhere.
You would have to have a real hard on for the .277 bore to go down any of those roads.
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Winchester sees the .277 as their baby and they are still selling enough .270 Win to keep the lights on so they can try other things to try to keep with the other kids, like fast-twist barrels... I guess we will see some new ammo for .270 coming out, that ought to cause folks like Randy Selby to talk about "individuals" and "situations", etc.
I don't believe anyone has ever had a good explanation for why the .277 bore was chosen back in the day.
 
Weatherby Fan said:
This is correct, that’s the reason Winchester never brought out the 6.5 WSM as they had to pay royalties on the cartridges and the lawsuit which made it pointless, hence the introduction of the 6.8 Western of their own design !
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Jamison had approached Olin to make the ammo and Ruger to make the firearms for his "JRW" round.
Jamison was an early proponent of the 6.5, namely the 260 Remington at the time. I bought a Model 700 Ti in 260 Rem because of his recommendation on that chambering. I must have been reading a lot of Shooting Times back then.
 
Wild_Thing said:
Jamison had approached Olin to make the ammo and Ruger to make the firearms for his "JRW" round.
Jamison was an early proponent of the 6.5, namely the 260 Remington at the time. I bought a Model 700 Ti in 260 Rem because of his recommendation on that chambering. I must have been reading a lot of Shooting Times back then.
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I actually got a hold of someone from Winchester and asked the question why not chamber the 6.5 WSM amid all the 6.5 craze........and so the story goes !
 
Wild_Thing said:
Winchester sees the .277 as their baby and they are still selling enough .270 Win to keep the lights on so they can try other things to try to keep with the other kids, like fast-twist barrels... I guess we will see some new ammo for .270 coming out, that ought to cause folks like Randy Selby to talk about "individuals" and "situations", etc.
I don't believe anyone has ever had a good explanation for why the .277 bore was chosen back in the day.
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I seem to recall reading a very long time ago that it was the bore diameter from an experimental military cartridge that Win either developed or got hold of (must have read this well over 50 years ago) and ran with. FWIW - dan
 
Joel said:
He's pinked? Huh! What was the last straw? Missed it lol
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Jeepers I missed it too!
Of course, all he would have had to do was a bit of research , into the 6.5/348 and the various Winchester/ Browning lawsuits and he would have had the answer instead of passivly/ aggressively arguing my post! LOL
I will miss his comments- NOT!
Cat
 
dan belisle said:
I seem to recall reading a very long time ago that it was the bore diameter from an experimental military cartridge that Win either developed or got hold of (must have read this well over 50 years ago) and ran with. FWIW - dan
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Well that makes sense.. Also maybe why they keep poking around with things like 6.8 SPC and 6.8x51.
 
sharman said:
I'm not trying to start a calibre debate, which is better or try this or try that. I merely would like to hear opinions regarding the 6.8 Western. I think it's an interesting cartridge and would like to get into it. I'm worried about the long term though. At present you can find rifles (Winchester and Browning), you can find limited factory ammo (expensive), you can find dies and use readily available bullets (6.8/.277) for reloading but I cannot find brass. There just doesn't seem to be that much support outside of the WinBrown company.

The PRC family is really taking off and may just bury the Western. Anyone including current owners have some thoughts or input?

Cheers,
Shaun
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Personally, the 6.8 has no wiz-bang appeal, what-so-ever. It offers only fast twist rifling, so that it can stablize longer bullets, why, for long range killing? It's a slow cartridge accompanied with a rainbow trajectory.
For a most interesting 270 cartridge, it's the .277 Sig Fury. Lot's of velocities, very flat trajectory and plenty of great bullets for hunting. The horse came first, unfortunately there is no carriage behind the horse, as in a standard bolt action rifle (action), which will obsorb pressures from this cartridge. "Only configuration which I know," is a pseudo mall ninja type rifle.
No, the 6.8 Western will be a short lived cartridge and will R.I.P., similar to some short mags and PRC.
 
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