The 6.8 Western: Cartridge Characteristics, Capabilities, & Comparisons
Backcountry Hunting Podcast
Joseph von Benedikt
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 December 2021
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
SHOW NOTES
Intro: For all you hunters sniffing around the 6.8 Western, here's an in-depth look at the cartridge with A Man Who Knows: Browning's own Rafe Nielson.
6.8 Western cartridge discussion:
- Genesis of the 6.8 Western
- Significant differences from the .270 WSM
- Short shots & long shots with the 6.8 Western
- Hunt stories: Caribou, whitetails, and Roosevelt elk
- Cartridge comparisons: 6.8 Western vs. 7mm Rem. Mag., 6.5 PRC, and .280 Ackley Improved
- High-performance 6.8 Western loads in detail:
- 175-grain Long Range Pro bullet
- 165-grain AccuBond Long Range bullet
- 162-grain Copper Impact bullet
- Rifles chambered in 6.8 Western
- Browning's standard-line X-Bolt versions
- Browning's Pro series X-Bolts
- Browning's base model X-Bolts
- Winchester's Model 70
- Winchester's XPR
- Here to stay: Current sales and future promise of the 6.8 Western
Wrap: Is the 6.8 Western a candidate for an ultimate Western rifle for the one-gun hunter?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I get a lot of questions about the 6.8 Western on the show folks writing in via email or on |
| 0:07.3 | Instagram asking about its real world performance its characteristics, and even where it came from and so forth, |
| 0:16.4 | where it's going. |
| 0:18.4 | So we came right to, I don't know, Ray,, you like being called the horse's mouth. |
| 0:24.6 | This is my good friend Rafe Nielsen with Browning. |
| 0:28.2 | Yeah. |
| 0:29.2 | Welcome to the show, my friend. |
| 0:30.2 | Good to be here. |
| 0:31.2 | Yeah. |
| 0:32.2 | Happy to be a part of this. We've hunted together off and on for a lot of years and I've always really enjoyed that and just this past week we spent some time in Nebraska shooting at nice white tails with 6.8 Westerns. |
| 0:46.0 | And while neither of us really stressed our rival out, |
| 0:50.1 | they worked great. |
| 0:51.1 | And I have stretched one out in the past. So we're going to talk about that a little bit here in a few minutes. But for those of you listening, we're just going to have a powwow here and talk about what the 6.8 Western is capable of, what is compared to, and some rifles from Browning and even Winchester |
| 1:11.0 | they'll help you get the most out of one if you decide to try one out. |
| 1:16.5 | So, Rafe, start from the beginning here and just tell us a little bit about the |
| 1:21.9 | Genesis of the 6.8 Western. |
| 1:24.0 | Yeah, you know, we wanted to come up with something and we worked with the folks over at |
| 1:29.6 | Winchester Ammunition who really took a big part in bringing this about and came to us and said, |
| 1:38.1 | hey, let's do something that the market doesn't have right now. |
| 1:40.9 | And we looked at a lot of opportunities and what was out there. |
| 1:44.9 | Where are some strengths and weaknesses were and some development processes of what has come |
| 1:50.4 | about in terms of technology of bullets and those types of things. |
... |
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