Craig Boddington was the senior contributing editor of our modern gun and ammunition caliber dictionary. Craig was involved in the development and testing of many of these and writes from first hand experience. This dictionary was written exclusively for Wholesale Hunter with unique information found nowhere else.
GUN CALIBER DICTIONARY
Rifle
6.8mm SPC
Based on the old 30 Remington case, the 6.8mm SPC (6.8mm Remington Special Purpose Cartridge) was developed in conjunction with Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and introduced by Remington in 2003 as a harder-hitting alternative to the 5.56X45mm NATO cartridge. Bullet diameter is .277-inch, same as the 270 Winchester, but the cartridge was developed to fit into the AR platform by switching out upper receivers, so shorter (lighter) bullets must be used. Standard is a 115-grain bullet at 2625 fps. Although the 6.8mm SPC has seen combat use in Southwest Asia with good results its wholesale adoption by the military seems unlikely. It has, however, found favor as a hunting cartridge in the AR platform; its many fans consider it an excellent deer cartridge out to perhaps 200 yards. — Craig Boddington