The Truth About 6.8 Western Velocities

Hi there, John Nick Adams, coming to you from the range out here in East Texas again

As some listeners have requested, I'm doing a video for you today where I measure velocities of the 6-8 Western out of a standard rifle with factory ammo

So I have a listener-donated rifle that I borrowed to do this test today

Browning, X-bolt, long-range hunter rifle, 26-inch long barrel. Now, all of the companies that make 6-8 Western factory ammo right now

advertise their velocities with a 24-inch barrel. So realize that with a 26-inch-long barrel

velocities are going to be on the high side. But still will be interesting to see what we're getting out of it

So I got my Garmin chronograph, just as usual, and we're going to shoot Winchester Copper Impact, 162-grain bullets

Winchester ballistic silver tip, 170-grain. Winchester Expedition, big-game long-range with 165-grain accibon long-range bullet

that flagship load from Winchester. And then, of course, we also have the Browning Long Range

range pro ammo with the 175 grain Sierra bullet. Just like I did in my video for the 7mm

PRC, we'll shoot three shots from each type of factory ammo, measure of the velocities

lit the barrel cool, then come back and try it again. So we'll see what sort of velocities

we're getting out of this stuff. Let's get shooting. Okay, I need to interject here

For some reason, I had a tough time measuring the velocities of this 175 grain browning ammo

I have no idea what the deal was. Maybe the Sierra bullets are constructed in a way that the Garmin just has a hard time seeing them or something

I don't know. Regardless of exactly why, my Garmin kept missing. shots for some reason. Even though it was placed in almost the exact same spot I had it when I

recorded all of the other 6.8 Western velocities without issues in this test. I have shot hundreds of

rounds with this chronograph ranging from little 22s up to big 50 cows and this is the only

ammo I've ever had an issue with so I was really confused, baffled, frustrated by this whole thing

I shot about 10 rounds of the Browning Long Range Pro Ammo in this range session, and I got one

velocity measurement. It was very close to what Browning advertised, so I think it was accurate

But considering all the issues I had with this stuff, that is why I put an asterisk next to it

in my table that you'll see here in a second. Then next, I forgot to hit record on my camera when I shot the Winchester Expedition Big Game

long-range ammo with the 165 grain acubon long-range bullets. But here is a photo of the details

right after I finished shooting. Once again, this ammo shot almost exactly as fast as advertised

Here's the full breakdown of all four loads I fired. Temperature around 85 degrees Fahrenheit

So it was warm, not really getting hot yet, but definitely not cold either. Like I've mentioned in

the past modern powder is pretty temperature stable certainly much more stable than was the case 100 years ago but nothing is perfectly temperature stable Guys shooting in really cold weather will notice a slight decrease in velocity Guys shooting in very hot weather will notice an increase in velocity

So take that for what it's worth. Warm, not super hot. Rifle is about two years old, thoroughly broken in barrel, so it is also shooting about as fast as it ever will

Now, if you measure every shot in a rifle, the velocity of every shot in a rifle

you will usually notice a slight increase in velocity after you put a couple boxes of ammo through it

This will happen with just about every barrel to one degree or another. Some rifles will have a bigger increase than others

Some will have a slower, but any barrel will speed up a little bit after it's done breaking in

So if you are shooting a brand new rifle, like literally brand new, you've put just like five rounds through it

you're going to be getting slower velocities with that rifle and with that ammo

then you will with the same rifle after you get 50 or 100 rounds through it

This rifle has about 200 rounds through it right now. And remember, this is with a 26-inch barrel

Most companies advertise velocities with a 24-inch barrel. Put all those factors together

Slightly warmer than average temperature, fully broken in barrel, and then the fact that this barrel is a little bit longer than is typical at 26 inches long

I would expect to obtain velocities towards the upper end of what you could reasonably expect with factory ammo

That's basically what we saw here. And before I dive into the details, I observed no signs of pressure with any of this ammo

As you can see, the 162 grain and 170 grain, Winchester ammo shot a bit faster than advertised

That was especially true with that 162 grain copper impact ammo, which was a whopping 130 feet per second or about 4.5% faster than advertised

The 170-grain ballistic silver-tip ammo wasn't quite that fast, but it was still moving along nearly 60 feet per second faster than advertised

The 165-grain Nossler Acubon long range and 175-grain Sierra-tipped Game King loads were almost dead on with their advertised velocities

I was actually a little surprised both weren't going a little faster. That could be a fluke with the 175-grain Sierra loading in light of the issues, I had recording velocities with it

However, the 165 grain acubon long range ammo was amazingly consistent with just a 5 foot per second variation from low to high velocity

So I feel pretty confident that is what that stuff was actually doing velocity-wise during this particular range session

Now, if you step down to a 24-inch barrel, you are going to lose a little velocity across the board with all of this stuff

I'm just guessing, but if you take that 20 to 30 foot per second rule of thumb that's often thrown around

out there in terms of velocity loss per inch of barrel, I would wager that you're going to bring that

162 grain copper impact ammo down to around 2950 feet per second, or still about 75 feet per second

faster than advertised. I'm guessing the 170 grain ballistic silver tip ammo would probably

be very close to advertise out of a 24 inch barrel. The 165 grain Nossler, 175 grain Sierra loads

would be a little slower than advertised, but not excessively slow. Call it 40 to 50 feet per second slower than advertise

But once again, that is just a guess. You may lose more velocity than that, or you may lose less

A 20 or a 22-inch barrel will produce even slower velocities on average than a 24- or a 26-inch-long

barrel, and you will generally lose more velocity per inch of barrel as you get shorter and shorter

And keep in mind that you may also see some variation with different lots of ammo too That doesn seem to be as big of an issue with the 6 Western as it is with other cartridges

like the 7mm PRC, right now anyway, but it is always a possibility you will see a noticeable

difference in accuracy and point of impact and or velocity if you change to a different lot

So keep that in mind. So what are the takeaways here? The 6-8 Western seems to be producing velocities very close to advertise or even a little

faster, at least with these four specific loads. Interestingly, I think that 162 grain copper impact is a very underrated bullet for the 6-8

Western, and it should be fantastic for hunting all manner of game at basically any reasonable range

Just like the name says, this is a lead-free copper projectile. Not only is that thing absolutely screaming out of this rifle

but it is also a very tough bullet that's wonderful for work up close on bigger game

That bullet also has a reasonably high BC2, around 0.56 on the G1 scale or thereabouts

which is excellent for a copper bullet. So if your rifle shoots that stuff well, it's definitely worth looking into

Now the flagship, 165 grain and 175 grain, acubon long range, and Sierra-tipped game-king bullets

were performing very close to advertised for me in terms of velocity in this test

Even taken into account a little loss of velocity going down to a 24-inch barrel

they'll still be doing great. Both are also very high BC projectiles

among the best you're going to find for a 277 caliber rifle bullet right now

So a slight loss in muzzle velocity isn't catastrophic either. They'll still do great in the wind

they will retain energy really well, and they are excellent in terms of terminal performance on all manner of game

So you're going to be getting very, very close probably to the advertised velocities

or advertised ballistics with at least these four 6.8 Western loads. Realize that your mileage may vary with velocity

These are the results I got with this rifle, these lots of ammo, under these conditions

You go to a place where the temperatures are cooler, you shoot with a different rifle, with a shorter barrel, you use ammo from different lots, might get different results

Now, slight variations in velocity aren't that important at closer range, but it can be a much bigger deal as range increases

If you'll be shooting out past 300 to 400 yards, or if you just want to be really about this stuff

measure your velocities out of your rifle with your ammo. Borrow a chronograph if you need to do it, but that will give you some validation on what your

performance actually is. You can dial in your scope appropriately. If you use a CDS style

like on a loophole scope, you can get it cut for the appropriate velocities, or you can just

punch in the correct numbers in a ballistic cap. Do those things with the right

velocities under the right conditions and then you'll be able to really stretch out the range

with this rifle cartridge and actually be able to hit what you're aiming at

Now for example here, I had a guy at the range once offered to pay me 20 bucks to use my

chronograph to verify his velocities. He wasn't shooting a 6-8 Western but he had a really sweet

AR rig. It was shooting great at close range, just tiny tiny little bughole groups, but he was having

a really hard time hitting steel out past about 200 yards and he was getting really frustrated

Now he as it turned out diagnosed his problem correctly in that he was obtaining velocities in real life that were very different from what he thought those bullets were doing

So he asked me to use my chronograph. I said, no, no problem, you can use it

I'm not going to charge you for it or anything. So I let him use it. And he realized that his rifle, which had a pretty short barrel, was shooting about 250 to 300 feet per second slower than what he thought

He was shooting a couple different hand loads out there. and they were all going quite a bit slower than what he thought

So he used my chronograph, saw that was the case, adjusted the velocities in his ballistic app on his phone

and then he immediately got right on target, and you just started nail and steel plates at 300, 400, 500, and 550 yards

And that was as far as that range went out. I'm sure that if you were so inclined and were at a longer range

he could have been doing great at even longer range than that. So that is a big takeaway with this

Yeah, in general, I'm saying, the 6-8 Western is giving you velocities close to advertised, but your mileage may vary

You need to verify this stuff for yourself. All right, back to the 6-8 Western

This is a great rifle cartridge. I've spoken highly of it in the past, and the fact that it is achieving velocities very

close to advertise, combined with the other advantages it possesses, should make it

just that much more appealing. With luck, other companies besides just Winchester and Browning will pick up the 6.8 Western

and start making ammo for it in the near future. We're already seeing, for instance

Christiansen Arms is making rifles for it. Fierce is as well. So hopefully some other big gun companies

are going to pick it up as well. I'd love to see Nossler or Barnes

or someone pick it up here soon. Same thing with Remington and Federal

and all of that stuff. So hopefully, and if we check back in five, ten years

something like that, the situation is going to be very different. There's going to be lots of companies making

lots of great quality rights. and ammo for the 6-8 Western, and this cartridge is still going to be performing right at the

advertised performance specifications for it, and people are going to be doing great with it

This is a wonderful cartridge. I would hate to see it die because of logistical issues associated

with rifles and ammo and just people having a hard time getting what they need for it

But at least for me right now, with this Browning Expo and with these Winchester and Browning

factory loads, it is performing as advertised. or even better. I hope you get the same sort of results with it

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What have your experience has been with the 6-8 Western? What factory loads have you shot out of it? What velocities are you getting out of them? What game have you harvested with it? Let me know by leaving a comment on this video right now. And also, feel free to leave a comment with requests for future videos you'd like for me to make. Other cartridge comparisons and profiles, other cartridges you'd like me to verify the velocity of, stuff like that. No promises on any of that, but I will do my best to fulfill the wishes of people watching these videos. Thanks for watching these videos

watching. Have a great day