Conversion to 6.8 spc

[joecool911]

I want to make a 6.8 bolt gun. I understand that most any of the rifles with the threaded barrel are candidates. 223 and 204 seem to be the likely calibers to work with, as the magazines are similar and all that's needed is a barrel and bolt face. I want to make a 16" barrel gun. The 6.8 shoots very well with a short barrel in ar15 and contender. But bolt guns tend to be really expensive and most makers have discontinued. Any help would be appreciated. Could I start with an axis? I have one in 308 with camo stock that I enjoy.

[Nor Cal Mikie]

You might see if the mag will work as a double stack. If it will feed, all you'll need is an opened up .223 bolt head and a barrel.
Feeding will probably be your only issue. Mine is set up as a single feed so no worries about a mag length or feeding.
Most of the AR guys are using the 6.8 SPC II chamber but I chose the shorter SPC so I could jam the bullets. Loading with 90s, 100s and 110s with good results. Mid range loads and 5 shot groups that can be covered with a dime on good days. Looking at long brass and barrel life. Sounds like the Axis would be a good candidate to build on. And make sure your barrel is "at least" 16" long.

[joecool911]

Thanks for that. I've got a buddy who is set up for changing barrels. So I don't think I'll need a smith or buy any tools. Any further input would be appreciated.

Are there any used guns I should be looking at rather than the axis that would make a suitable donor gun that are cheaper?

[tammons]

What I did recently was buy a package gun, a Savage and sold the barrel and stock and scope and ended up with about $250 in the action.

I would go regular Savage or stevens Centerfeed just because there are a million of them out there, stocks parts etc. but you could go with an Axis too.

Personally I would go for a 18"-20" barrel for a little more velocity but for hunting it does not matter so much between 16"-20".
I also would go with a SPCII chamber as it allows you to run Tactical loads sold by Wilson combat or SSA and or load hotter.
That said if you do go SPCI its easy to ream to SPCII.

Some guys are shooting the 140 gr Bergers and doing well. You may want a 20" barrel if you are going to try to wring those out.

If you ever intend to shoot subs then go with a fast twist with a threaded barrel.

What everybody was told early on was that you have to run a slow twist to run tactical loads, then later most 6.8 guys found that the SPCII chamber made more difference and the barrel twist was not that big of a deal. You may want to ask around on that.

You can go over to the 6.8 forum and look around. See if you can find HTR (hightechrancher) over there or on Arfcom.
He is one of the 6.8 gurus and might be able to give you some ideas.

The SPCII Chamber has about a .0504" longer lead than the SPCI chamber.

[Hotolds442]

I'd go with an action based on the 308 Winchester or it's children strictly to get more magazine length for seating longer, heavier bullets. The feed lips can be adjusted to get the cartridges to feed properly, although it's gonna take some trial and error. I tried filling a magazine in my 243 and had no issues feeding, but extraction was poor since the extractor was a sloppy fit on the 6.8 cartridge. The 223 magazine would not allow my 120gr SST loads to fit, I'd have to seat the bullets deeper, increasing the jump to the lands considerably. Black Hole Weaponry is now offering Savage barrels in 6.8, as well as a number of wildcat rounds based on the 6.8. I have a 22/6.8 barrel coming in the next couple of weeks for an AR build I'm working on.