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Following its commercial debut at the 2004 SHOT show, the 6.8 SPC had a slow start in the civilian market because Remington did not deliver ammunition quickly. Producing a load meeting velocity goals without unsafe pressure proved difficult for Remington. Inconsistent brass quality and powder clumping problems caused further delays. They sorted it out and shipped ammo in mid-2005, but the velocity was very slow at under 2500fps.

Although these supply problems caused a lot of "fear, uncertainty, and doubt" about the future of the cartridge, there was a silver lining. The strong interest in an intermediate cartridge with substantially more power than 5.56 spurred several ammunition manufacturers to produce their own brass and ammunition. By early 2006, three separate factories were making 6.8 SPC brass: Silver State Armory, Hornady and Remington; and five manufacturers were shipping loaded ammunition: HSM, Load-X, Remington, Hornady and Silver State Armory (SSA).


In a region where conventional rifle choices rule, the author bagged this healthy Wisconsin doe at 30 yards with his 6.8 SPC carbine shooting the 110-grain Sierra Pro-Hunter.
The future of 6.8 SPC in the military is clouded by high-level politics and big money. Many in the military-industrial complex have been trying to figure out how to profit from this grassroots epiphany. In just a few months, soldiers and technicians revolutionized the capabilities of the M4 and AR-15, drawing from their thorough understanding of ballistics, marksmanship, weapons platform, and real-life combat performance of 5.56 and 7.62x39mm. Various units throughout the U.S. Military are testing it now- officially or not. Even if the "Big Army" isn't sure if it wants 6.8 SPC, the shooters already know they do. On the civilian side, several large Federal, State, and local law-enforcement agencies are interested and are currently testing it.

6.8 SPC shoots minute-of-angle or better at both 100 and 600 yards, similar in accuracy to the 77-grain Mk262 5.56 from the SPR. Converting the M4 or M16 is easy, and can be done at the armorer level by switching out only the barrel and bolt, and replacing the user's magazines. Furthermore, any weapons system chambered in 5.56 can be converted in a similar fashion, including the current SOF 5.56 rifles: M4, M16, Mk12 SPR, Mk18 and HK416; and future systems like the Mk16 SCAR-L and the XM-8. 6.8 SPC is the clear upgrade path of these weapons to provide increased lethality. Sierra, Hornady, and X-Treme provide land-warfare legal projectiles which show nearly ideal terminal performance. Silver State Armory has developed two armor piercing (A.P.) projectiles specifically for 6.8 SPC: one has a tungsten core similar to M995 and meets the M995 military spec for armor penetration at 100 meters; the other has a steel core similar to the old .30-06 M2 A.P. "black tip".


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