7prc just slayed the 6.8 Western

[rootacres]

Apples and Oranges in my opinion.

The 6.8 Western was a ploy to drive sales while giving a slightly updated chambering that lends itself well to the newer, long, high BC bullets. The short action 30s have been exhausted, the short action 7s haven't gained a ton of traction in factory offerings. **I feel the 7 SAUM is fantastic package for lower 48 big game hunting.** and the 6.5 PRC/Creed have been beat to death. So what is there left to do? Basically make a 7 SAUM that pushed 6.8mm bullet. It sells ammo, it sells bullets, it sells rifles while not really offering anything that different than what we already have.

The 7 PRC though is a different animal. It's built on a long action platform. The chambering is designed around the new longer, high BC bullets. So you can realistically shoot a speedy 7, with the newer generation bullets and not have magbox length issues.

I don't see myself buying either anytime soon. They both have their place though. I just don't think a person shopping in the 7 PRC category is cross shopping it with the 6.8 Western and vice versa.

 

[Nosferatu]

I would say who the flork cares, but 7 pages later....

 

[highside74]

The 6.8 western is a hunting round the 7prc is a target round that you can use hunting. Why would someone not concerned with competition shooting want to shoot or hunt with a rifle that has more recoil and no better hunting performance? 165gr ABLRs and 175 Seirra GKs available in factory 6.8 and for me the 170 Berger eol for hand loading will kill anything a 175 eldx 7prc will kill and feel better doing it.

 

[SwiftShot]

The 6.8 western is a hunting round the 7prc is a target round that you can use hunting. Why would someone not concerned with competition shooting want to shoot or hunt with a rifle that has more recoil and no better hunting performance? 165gr ABLRs and 175 Seirra GKs available in factory 6.8 and for me the 170 Berger eol for hand loading will kill anything a 175 eldx 7prc will kill and feel better doing it.

The PRC is slightly heavier buet faster. I dont know if the 7 will have more support. The 6.5 has a ton of it.

 

[BarCO]

Seems it would probably impact the viability of a .280 ai as well.

 

[Unckebob]

The 6.8 western is a hunting round the 7prc is a target round that you can use hunting. Why would someone not concerned with competition shooting want to shoot or hunt with a rifle that has more recoil and no better hunting performance? 165gr ABLRs and 175 Seirra GKs available in factory 6.8 and for me the 170 Berger eol for hand loading will kill anything a 175 eldx 7prc will kill and feel better doing it.

If the 6.8 gets other manufacturers to chamber for it, it will be a huge success as a hunting round. If not, it will be a niche cartridge for Browning/Winchester.

 

[Balderdash]

The 6.8 western is a hunting round the 7prc is a target round that you can use hunting. Why would someone not concerned with competition shooting want to shoot or hunt with a rifle that has more recoil and no better hunting performance? 165gr ABLRs and 175 Seirra GKs available in factory 6.8 and for me the 170 Berger eol for hand loading will kill anything a 175 eldx 7prc will kill and feel better doing it.

While it will be a good round that makes animals dead, one of the issues with a 6.8W is going to be component availability. Everyone makes a great .284 bullet, but high BC, heavy for caliber .277's are limited. The 6.8W also faces an obstacle in that the 6.5PRC is already established and, like the 7mm, there's a pile of good 6.5 bullets available.

IMO, they'd have been better off revamping the 7WSM with twist and case length for heavies.

 

[dsotm]

6.8 is a fringe round for fudds, no interest in the 7PRC myself but of the two it's the one that will stick around

 

[atmat]

If the 6.8 gets other manufacturers to chamber for it, it will be a huge success as a hunting round. If not, it will be a niche cartridge for Browning/Winchester.

This would be my biggest concern as well. Minimal backing from ammo manufacturers, and several of the larger firearms companies have not backed it either (and some of these already committed to 7mm prc).

 

[MJB]

Oh got over it....... When you're splitting hairs, you're splitting hairs who cares who picks it up and who doesn't Browning and Winchester. Not the greatest names nowadays but I see the advantage and I won't stop shooting it and or pushing it for other hunters to use

 

[atmat]

Oh got over it....... When you're splitting hairs, you're splitting hairs who cares who picks it up and who doesn't Browning and Winchester. Not the greatest names nowadays but I see the advantage and I won't stop shooting it and or pushing it for other hunters to use

I get what you’re saying. But if no one else picks it up, then there’s a risk that gun sales dwindle… and if gun sales dwindle, then Browning/Winchester might produce less ammo. And then you’re stuck with hand loading only.

 

[dieselchessy]

6.8 Western was dead before it was born. There is little to no backing of .277 bullets and only 1 factory chambering that can even use a long high BC .277.
7mm and 6.5mm have lots of bullet manufactures, lots of factory chamberings, use in competition, ect…
Most factory .277 barrels are 1:10 twist. They can’t stabilize long bullets.

The 7 PRC has promise. We’ll see if Hornady can keep it alive. The 7WSM and 7RSAUM died, maybe the 7 PRC will go the same route.

 

[atmat]

The 7 PRC has promise. We’ll see if Hornady can keep it alive. The 7WSM and 7RSAUM died, maybe the 7 PRC will go the same route.

Yep, but hard to bet against the marketing behemoth that is Hornady.

 

[Balderdash]

I have nothing for or against Browning, Winchester, or Hornady, etc but what makes a cartridge endure is end user popularity, not manufacturer commitment. It's a rare company that supports a minimally popular product for very long. It's just business.

All stated companies have allowed plenty of their proprietary offerings to languish after the initial interest waned. Remington was arguably the best at making sure they did a run of ammo every now and then for the numerous wildcats they brought to OEM offerings, but now they're under new management.

 

[todd m]

6.8 Western was dead before it was born. There is little to no backing of .277 bullets and only 1 factory chambering that can even use a long high BC .277.
7mm and 6.5mm have lots of bullet manufactures, lots of factory chamberings, use in competition, ect…
Most factory .277 barrels are 1:10 twist. They can’t stabilize long bullets.

The 7 PRC has promise. We’ll see if Hornady can keep it alive. The 7WSM and 7RSAUM died, maybe the 7 PRC will go the same route.

shotshow2023 - Browning introduced Hells Canyon 270 WIN with 1:8 barrels. So it's not 1, it's now 3 - 27 Nosler, 6.8W, and 270Win. Doesn't mean more MFGR's will start making heavy high BC bullets in .277, but there're already at least 5 that do (Nosler, Sierra, Berger, Hammer, and 1 company that I can't remember the name of.

 

[GAHunterJim]

The 270 Win has been a long time personal favorite, the best "deer" cartridge IMHO, however, the .277 caliber has not spawned many offspring, unlike the 7mm (7mm-08, 280 Rem, 7mm rem mag, etc). I do think the 7mm PRC will be the end of the 6.8 Western, a cartridge that really didn't fill any void in the market anyway.

 

[wind gypsy]

Apples and Oranges in my opinion.

The 6.8 Western was a ploy to drive sales while giving a slightly updated chambering that lends itself well to the newer, long, high BC bullets. The short action 30s have been exhausted, the short action 7s haven't gained a ton of traction in factory offerings. **I feel the 7 SAUM is fantastic package for lower 48 big game hunting.** and the 6.5 PRC/Creed have been beat to death. So what is there left to do? Basically make a 7 SAUM that pushed 6.8mm bullet. It sells ammo, it sells bullets, it sells rifles while not really offering anything that different than what we already have.

The 7 PRC though is a different animal. It's built on a long action platform. The chambering is designed around the new longer, high BC bullets. So you can realistically shoot a speedy 7, with the newer generation bullets and not have magbox length issues.

I don't see myself buying either anytime soon. They both have their place though. I just don't think a person shopping in the 7 PRC category is cross shopping it with the 6.8 Western and vice versa.

Think you nailed it in the bold. The 6.8 basically does what the 7 SAUM does and it's actually a better designed round when it comes to fitting modern high BC bullets in a short action, but it's still a .277 bore. It does what a round in a better bore diameter but still couldn't make it does..

My money is on 7 PRC overtaking 7RM sales in rifles and eventually ammo once there are more rifles out there.

 

[Lou270]

Sportsmans warehouse has 66 models listed for 6.8W from Browning, Wichester, Christensen Arms, Seekins, and Fierce. The round has pretty good support of rifles already. Heard on podcast that Federal has 6.8W on roadmap so expect in 2024. Since Vista own Remington bet you will see there in next year or 2 as well

Lou

 

[Balderdash]

Think you nailed it in the bold. The 6.8 basically does what the 7 SAUM does and it's actually a better designed round when it comes to fitting modern high BC bullets in a short action, but it's still a .277 bore. It does what a round in a better bore diameter but still couldn't make it does..

My money is on 7 PRC overtaking 7RM sales in rifles and eventually ammo once there are more rifles out there.

I've typed it before, perhaps even in this thread, but, IMO, they'd have been better off updating the twist and shortening the case of the 7mm WSM a bit to enable handling heavies in a short action; basically exactly what they did to the 270 wsm to get the 6.8 W.

Would've yielded a factory loaded, short action, high performance .284 that comports with modern projectile tastes, of which the .284 was already front and center. And it still wouldn't have been a competition with the 7PRC, as it's long action and a step up in performance.

Instead, they are left attempting to create/expand a market for high BC .277 bullets. Not that I'd argue one is better than another as far as on game performance.

 

[GAHunterJim]

"My money is on 7 PRC overtaking 7RM sales in rifles and eventually ammo once there are more rifles out there" - I would agree, over time, but the 7RM is the king of the 7mm crowd and has been for a long time, I have two and they are fantastic. I do believe the 7PRC is the best of the 280AI/7RM/300WM with bullets in the 175-180 range, a long distance champ in the making. However, most hunters like me, are deer hunters and really don't need 175 pills for most of our hunting work, most shots typically under 200 yards. The 7RM does really well with bullets in the 150-160 range (140s too) so you could make the argument that the PRC is too much for most deer hunters. Either way, I'm going to build one as soon as I can cobble together the components, not sure what I'll do with it but gotta have one!