Long Range Shooting Rifle Options

Dude I'm so jealous. I want one of these so bad. The ballistics tests I've seen on this round are insane and that gun looks the tits.

 

thanks for the info... the lower i have in the safe was earmarked for 6mm ARC, since i already have (had? damn boating accidents) a .300 blk... and its a -15 lower so it wouldnt work for 8.6 anyway.

 

I'd argue that it won't become a wildcat round. Here's why:

Anyone remember .224 Valkyrie? You do, kind'a? Did anyone mass-produce a gun for it? No, and that's why it's going away.

8.6 BLK (which was almost called 8.6 Cosby), already has a few companies building guns for it. I have The Fix myself, and even in .308 with a 16" barrel, it weighs 2 oz. short of 10 lbs. with glass, 10 rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber, a bipod from Q and a Q silencer.

That same gun chambered in 8.6 is less than 5 lbs. Of course, If I keep the existing EOTECH Vudo 1-10, add a Porq Chop silencer (12 oz.) keep the Kickstand bipod (8.6 oz. ironically), it'll be well under 10 lbs. with a folding stock. I'm sure it sucks hucking a 20 lbs. Remington 700 pattern rifle with a telephone pole barrel through the woods to do the same job. .375's literature indicates the bullet performs best in barrels down to 10.75" - 8.6" is good down to 8" for subsonic cartridges. So yeah, even with a silencer, folded, it'll be smaller than a .375 Raptor platform until it's time to shoot.

You'd mentioned the 1:3 twist - that's no accident, and something has to stop the bullet from spinning. Yes, conventional energy numbers look a lot better with .375 Raptor, but that takes into account only linear velocity. Rotational velocity matters just as much, or at least the developers of the cartridge argue, more. As an example, a bullet lofted at 1:10 twist barely spins once going through a human-sized target from one side of the chest to the other. 1:3 twist = almost 5 revolutions before exit over that same distance. If you've bumped passed your red limiter one too many times and watched your engine come apart at 17,000 revs, I'm sure you can image 500,000 RPM fucks shit up. That's why you don't need jacketed bullets for the cartridge,. The bullet opens plenty well enough on its own without any additional components. There's plenty of gel testing evidence (and several hundred big game kills in Africa by the guys who developed the cartridge) to show that you don't need that jacket on your bullets because it's always warm outside when 8.6 is around.

And then there's the recoil matter. On account of its slower exit from the muzzle, chamber pressures are much lower, so less noise, too - so if you're gonna be shooting it a lot, then you won't get beat up as much, nor will your gun.

Finally, the matter of effectiveness at distance. How many people here have taken game of any kind beyond 300 meters? Have you done it more than once? Call me a wimp if you want, be all like smooth power delivery, and the 8.6 is it by spades in that department compared to .375 Raptor.

I'll take the cartridge that's quiet, fits in a light gun and doesn't kick much. As word gets 'round, other people will do the same. I can't wait to kill shit with mine, that's for sure!

I mean, dude - just LOOK at that. I'm gonna smack a Bullwinkle dead with this rifle, quietly ... without flinching.

 

Coyotes have been pretty scarce within a good mile or two since the last one I got, but the past 3 nights I’ve had 2 on the cameras every night like clockwork. Both came out of the woods, one ran towards the neighbors, about 800 yards away, the other one came straight to me. One big male down tonight. Pretty close shot, 150 yards. It’s impressive these coyotes will to survive. The last two kills immediately had me second guessing my placement since they ran 50-75 yards before they dropped, but the shot was excellent. The crosshairs pic is just a representation of the xrf display, not where the shot was taken.

 

Had three coyotes this morning on the taxi way in Branson MO. Needed a thermal This morning on the walk around and I could have smoked them

 

this is the perfect round for where I hunt

 

Dude, 8.6 killed a rhino. It’ll be great for coyotes.

 

8.6 Blk, Great! A short limited powder capacity subsonic caliber that’s underpowered and has the trajectory of a rainbow. I’m sure that will fly off the shelves.

 

I've got a bore guide. When I bought a cleaning rod I didn't account for the added length of the guide, so patches barely make it all the way out past the brake. I need to pick up a slightly longer rod. But I mostly want to remove the brake when I hurt with it. It's very concussive with the brake on and depending on the surroundings could do significant ear damage from a single shot without ear pro. May look into active ear pro so I can still hear and still be protected from the blast.
The bolt is pretty rough. The raceway the bolt release rides in will cut you if you hold it bare handed to take the shroud off. Don't ask how I know. But it's the lugs seating and going in and out of battery that takes more effort than I'd like. Not really an issue with lack of finishing on the bolt body.
I have a long ways to go to get to a point where I have sound technique. I don't have a bench or access to a range with benches. Breathing isn't optimal in prone position, mostly because I've gained a lot of weight. And doubt that I'm breathing properly anyway. I need to get the physical things on my end sorted before I can even know what the rifle, ammo, and optic are capable of.
I've seen some videos complaining that the 7 ARC factory ammo isn't really close to the box claims. That's disappointing since it's kind of marketed as being more ELR capable with factory ammo than 7 RM. I can see the appeal of it if that's the case, but if it isn't performing as advertised it's kind of a solution without a problem.

 

Totally, a shit cartridge, especially with supers in a 12” barrel.

 

Right, I was curious so I looked at some vids. Fucking YouTubers, glorious editing in those videos. The minimum caliber for dangerous game in most countries in Africa is .375, not even close to an ethical choice of weapon in my opinion. How many PH’s had to use their 500 Nitro Express for follow ups?

 

You said a mouthful but the 375Raptor suits my needs.

 

I didn't want to go into detail about the cartridge but the above boldface was the primary reason I chose the 375 Raptor cartridge I also wanted in a AR10 platform. I have aspirations to go bear hunting if I can win a lottery or be invited to go along with some who wins a lottery They claim the 308 can manage any game on the North American continent. I wanted a more of a security blanket.

 

Have you taken rotational velocity into account? Speaking with people about the 8.6 cartridge, the concept of fast twist isn’t understood as a form of energy transfer. Everyone is stuck on linear velocity.

Spin a tire on an axle at 10 RPM and try to stop it by hand. Do the same thing with the same tire spinning 30 RPM. Which one takes more effort (energy) to stop? That rotational energy has to go somewhere. A properly matched bullet can be just as damaging, if not more, than a faster bullet. Math and shit.

 

That’s been a subject for a number of years. The fact remains, dangerous game require .375 or over by law. One of these flip flop wearing tacti-kool subsonic ass-clowns making media content in Africa will shortly discover the meaning of “fuck around and find out”

 

Big game I’m taking a big gun

But I don’t have much desire for that

 

Don’t get me wrong, the round and rifle is intriguing, it just isn’t a dangerous game round IMO. Add the inconveniences of $200 to the government for the suppressor, another $200 to the government for an SBR stamp, paperwork every time you want to cross state line, ammo availability for those not rolling their own. Poor initial accuracy in the 1.5 to 2.0 MOA requiring some load and development an the aforementioned catastrophic bullet drop at distance. I’m not sure overall it’s worth the hassle. Not a recipe for the success of the round while waiting for the next fad to roll out.

 

I have no desire for large game that doesn't reside in North America but elk, moose and possibly a bear could end up on my dinner plate.

 

No special federal permission needed to take a suppressor across state lines.

 

I'm aware of that, but an SBR you do.