Yes… another cartridge… Yes… ammo availability will be an issue… Yes… there are competing interests… like the 338 arc.
So, why then? Well allow me to elucidate!
When I heard about this round, I was skeptical. I thought, I just got my 300 blackout all setup! And I like it! Why would I switch over to an AR-10 platform and spend a bunch on a custom barrel for this beast when my 300 is doing JUST FINE… then I heard the reasons why it was developed.
The 8.6 was made to fix was the 300 fell short on.
The 300 is an excellent sub/super round, but the 8.6 is better. Turns out, 8.6 (.338 for the domestics) is in a “physics world” sweet spot. It, for some reason more sciency that I want to get into, is MORE suppressible than 30 cal or 40 cal. It’s in a harmonic world that is as close to perfect as it gets… if you want it to have energy at your target anyway… 22 with a can is damn quiet, esp if you do shorts or heavy subs, but you aren’t taking down any of those delicious meat sacks we call deer(don’t argue with me)!
Now great, you’re sold…right? Quieter is awesome right? My ears are still ringing… Not enough to make the sale!
But wait… there’s more! The SPIN. Let me tell you about the spin!
In order to stabilize the bullet at subsonic speeds, Q, the developer of the round, gave this beast a standard twist of 1:3!!! That means that bullet is spinning a full revolution every 3″ of barrel travel!!
OK, so what does that actually mean? This is what sold me. At supersonic speeds, a muzzle velocity of 2800 FPS on a 1:8 twist rifle is 252,000 RPM, that’s a spinning nightmare that makes things stable and work. I’m sure you’ve seen the ballistic gel tests of these… the bullet expands, you get the little explosion inside the gel. It’s awesome, we love it. But what this means for the 8.6, a SUBSONIC bullet at 1050 Muzzle velocity is spinning at 252,000 RPM too! And since this thing also does supersonics… at 2800 FPS, its going 504,000 RPM!!! INSANE!!! This is something that the 338 arc, while it can fit in an ar-15 platform, missed the mark. The twist is key to me. It makes it devastating on target and ensures the blood trail will be short.
These things spin so fast that solid copper projectiles are nearly a MUST, and you can get them in heavy projectiles that peal back like petals and act like a blender going through the ballistics gel! It is INCREDIBLE!
So I’m sold! Then you put the icing on the cake. It is designed to function at full capabilities in a 12″ barrel! I have been using 18-24″ barrels with a suppressor while hunting for several years, and in a blind or a tree, it’s a hog to move from shooting position to shooting position. I am straight-up excited to be able to be suppressed in a short package and with a heavy effective round that won’t kick my arm off this year!
So to summarize…
The 8.6, while it is hard to find and expensive, has all the features I am excited to utilize. It is a heavy bullet, that has incredible effects on target. It is super suppressible and designed to run in short rifles. My hunting world is born again!