In this cartridge, Browning Ammunition offers a 175-grain load in its Long Range Pro family. The .277-caliber bullet is a Sierra Tipped GameKing and it leaves the muzzle at an impressive 2,835 fps. Winchester has a couple of loads. One is an Expedition Big Game Long Range load pushing a 165-grain AccuBond bullet. Another offering features a 170-grain Ballistic Silvertip. I learned there is also a Match entry from Winchester with a 170-grain Sierra MatchKing bullet.
The parent cartridge is the .270 Winchester Short Magnum, so one might say the 6.8 Western falls into the realm of the “short, fat magnums” that became the rage some years ago. It’s not a belted cartridge, though.
I’m particularly pleased Browning and Winchester offer several rifle models in this caliber for 2021. My guess is they’ll sell a bunch of them.
Winchester’s rifling twist is 1:8-inches so in a 24-inch barrel the projectile is going to rotate three times, which will enhance its ballistic capabilities at fairly long ranges. Browning uses a 1:7-½” twist rate in its rifles so the bullet gets a little bit more spin traveling through a 24-inch bore. The tighter rifling twist stabilizes heavier projectiles.
Winchester will offer several variations of its XPR and Model 70 series rifles, all with three-round capacities because of fat profile of the case. I did some counting and came up with nine Model 70 versions. In the XPR series, I counted 14 different variations.
The 6.8 Western — hottest, newest cartridge
The 6.8 Western, a hot new cartridge on the scene. Born of the .270 WSM,
it offers better downrange energy than the 6.5 Creedmoor or 6.5 PRC.
Have you ever known someone who just had to have the newest gun in the hottest new caliber with the most eye-popping finish, just so he — or she — could show up at the range or in hunting camp to instantly get all the attention?
Yeah, we all know somebody who fits this description. For the past couple of years, they’ve been singing the praises of the 6.5 Creedmoor — an admittedly good cartridge for which many rifles have been chambered.
Make yourself a little bet, and I guarantee you’ll win. Sometime this summer or early fall, your pal will show up at the range toting a rifle chambered for the 6.8 Western, a sizzling new round that appears destined to overshadow the 6.5 Creedmoor. If you haven’t read about it yet, just wait. My prediction is you will be hearing a lot about it.
The 6.8 Western is loaded to deliver more energy than the 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC or the 7mm Rem. Magnum and it’s short enough — OAL of 2.955” — to work in a short-action rifle.
Browning X-Bolt Western Hunter LR is offered in the 6.8 Western
Win Model 70 Featherweight is one of several Winchester models offered in the new 6.9 Western cartridge.
Another 6.8 Western offering is the Winchester XPR Compact
Just about everybody I know makes bullets that will undoubtedly be tried by reloaders as data becomes available, although with the rifling twists used in the Browning and Winchester rifles, my guess is the best loads will stick with heavier, longer bullets found in the factory ammunition. I’ll also expect information to surface sometime later this year regarding the best propellants to use with this new cartridge.
My own preference for sub-.30-caliber cartridges has always tilted toward the .25s (i.e. the .257 Roberts, .257 Ackley Improved and .250/3000 Savage). I never owned a .270 Winchester but I zeroed a few for friends and found it to be a flat-shooting round, explaining its popularity among guys who hunt sheep and goats, and deer on the plains where long-range shots are typically the rule rather than the exception.
But the bugaboo with those earlier sup-30 calibers is bullet weight. The 6.8 Western, as noted earlier, offers its loads with heavier projectiles, approaching what one finds in .30-caliber rounds.
