Decided to try a new Rifle 6.8 Western

[huntnfisher]

The X-Bolt is a great rifle accurate, smooth, and reliable right out of the box. 6.8 Western is a fun, modern choice for something different. It bridges the gap nicely between your .270 and .300 Win Mag with good ballistics, less recoil than the big magnum, and excellent factory ammo reloading potential.

Glad you finally got it to the range. Keep stacking rounds and enjoy breaking it in you picked a winner. How did the groups look?

Totally agree on the X-Bolt's being great rifles! I have 2 of them, a White Gold Medallion in .30-06, and a Maple Medallion in 6.5 CM. Both have Mcarbo trigger springs for around a 2.25# trigger pull.

 

[6mm Remington]

Careful with those at closer ranges. mtmuley

I'm with MTMULEY. I much prefer the regular Accubonds to the ABLR's.

 

[std7mag]

@Jnasa,

I had gotten a few boxes of the 150gr ABLR for 7mm a few years ago.

I did my usual load work up for them (powder ladder test followed by seating depth) in all 5 of my 7mm rifles.
Nothing finiky about loading them.
All shot really well.
When stretching the distance, I had to change the BC higher to get them to align with my ballistic calculator.
They do hold tight groups at distance!

For an up close hunting bullet, quite frankly they suck!
They are supposed to open up at a lower impact velocity (1,300fps if I recall correctly).
On a deer at 35 yards, it penciled through.
The Ballistic Tip does much better in terminal ballistics from 20ft through 500 yards!

 

[Jnasa]

@Jnasa,

I had gotten a few boxes of the 150gr ABLR for 7mm a few years ago.

I did my usual load work up for them (powder ladder test followed by seating depth) in all 5 of my 7mm rifles.
Nothing finiky about loading them.
All shot really well.
When stretching the distance, I had to change the BC higher to get them to align with my ballistic calculator.
They do hold tight groups at distance!

For an up close hunting bullet, quite frankly they suck!
They are supposed to open up at a lower impact velocity (1,300fps if I recall correctly).
On a deer at 35 yards, it penciled through.
The Ballistic Tip does much better in terminal ballistics from 20ft through 500 yards!

I'm surprised to hear it pencil through. It's a thinner jacket and meant to open down to lower velocities. Should be more fragile. I've never heard someone say it didn't expand.

I tend to avoid the Ballistic tips. I've had too many times they blow up and cause excessive meat damage. I know it depends on velocities they hit at. They might hold together better than the ABLR's though. I might try them.

Most likely I will be using a copper bullet for hunting then one of the other ones for most of my practice. We are lucky to have so many options available to us.

 

[RealMuddyboots]

My only complaint with the 6.8W is same with .270WSM, stuffing these cartridges into short action is like taking 2 plug wires off a V8. Built for longer heavier higher BC bullets that have to be seated deep into cases taking up case capacity. If in medium or even a "shorter" LA, it will do incredible things if you are a reloader.

 

[std7mag]

I'm surprised to hear it pencil through. It's a thinner jacket and meant to open down to lower velocities. Should be more fragile. I've never heard someone say it didn't expand.

I tend to avoid the Ballistic tips. I've had too many times they blow up and cause excessive meat damage. I know it depends on velocities they hit at. They might hold together better than the ABLR's though. I might try them.

Most likely I will be using a copper bullet for hunting then one of the other ones for most of my practice. We are lucky to have so many options available to us.

I've heard other people say about the Ballistic Tip"blowing up ".
In the 42 years of using them in multiple calibers and cartridges I've never had that issue.
I've always gotten a pass through with them. As I've said, 20ft through 500 yards.

If you're going mono bullets, I'd do either Hammer or Cutting Edge.

 

[Jnasa]

Got some time to run out to the range again today.

So far I am happy with the rifle. I have shot some good groups with it. I think everything has been sub MOA. I adjusted the trigger and it's pretty good. I wouldn't mind it being lighter but it breaks cleanly. This was an X-Bolt not X-Bolt 2 and it sounds like that was improved. No issues with cycling or anything else yet.

Reloads with the 165 grain Nosler ABLR have all been very accurate. I think I found a load I'll keep on hand.

I tried a ladder test using Barnes LRX and will try a few loads of them next trip. I couldn't resist and ordered a box of Hammer bullets to try also.

Great excuse to get trigger time in this summer.