What's wrong with stores/manufacturers/industry and 6.8?

[Waylander]

Aside from the military, 223 outsells 5.56mm by a massive margin.

Only because it's cheaper. My point is if 5.56 was cheaper and Wolf made assloads of it, it'd be flying off the shelves too. It has nothing to do with the caliber designation.

[rsilvers]

I think 6.8 would sell more if the chamber issue were just left alone, instead of fans trying to get a second chamber - and then normal people just skipping the entire cartridge as being in dispute.

[rsilvers]

That is certainly true for the people on this forum, but I am not sure it is true for the average shooter. I do think 6.8 would be more popular if it were called 270 AR or something. I was very conscious of that when I picked the name 300 AAC BLACKOUT instead of 7.62mm AAC BLACKOUT or 7.82mm AAC BLACKOUT.

[Waylander]

That is certainly true for the people on this forum, but I am not sure it is true for the average shooter. I do think 6.8 would be more popular if it were called 270 AR or something. I was very conscious of that when I picked the name 300 AAC BLACKOUT instead of 7.62mm AAC BLACKOUT or 7.82mm AAC BLACKOUT.

With all due respect, more places than not in addition to 300BLK are also referring to it as 7.62x35mm.

[rsilvers]

Yes - I arranged for that in case the military preferred a metric designation, but the cartridge name is 300 AAC BLACKOUT. In reality, they don't care as they have 50 BMG, 300 WM, and 338 LM (they don't call them 12.7x99mm, 7.62x66mm, and 8.6x70mm).

[fixit69]

My first post here, so I'll stick my foot in my mouth. The 6.8 is my new build. Have a couple ARs I have mangled,( wish I would have found this site before I...) and find from my research that the 6.8 will be best FOR MY INTENDED USE in this particular build. Is it too slow in catching on? I don't think so if my ignorance found enough downtime so I could prepare to build one, and manufacturers who have already been named are tooling up. Waiting for money to get right for barrel and bolt. Just my two cents. Great job on your cartridges BTW. Hmm... No can't afford 6.8 and 300. But...

[MistWolf]

Only because it's cheaper. My point is if 5.56 was cheaper and Wolf made assloads of it, it'd be flying off the shelves too. It has nothing to do with the caliber designation.

I don't see a price difference in the 223 & 5.56 I've been buying.

Caliber name does matter to the general public, not just with the 223/5.56. To think otherwise is to ignore the lessons of small arms marketing history

[rsilvers]

5.56mm costs more to make because the brass is higher strength.

I know, because we do that manufacturing operation on 300 AAC BLACKOUT.

[Waylander]

I don't see a price difference in the 223 & 5.56 I've been buying.

Caliber name does matter to the general public, not just with the 223/5.56. To think otherwise is to ignore the lessons of small arms marketing history

I've never seen any 5.56 as cheap as the cheapest .223. What the average Joe buys. Maybe you buy in bulk.

As far as the small arms marketing history that may have been the case in the past but AR enthusiasm has exploded and with the internet more people are educated on it. Maybe old timers got turned away from all the oddball European rounds. Younger people are getting turned on to ARs that couldn't get past the cost a decade or two ago.

I can't see a person saying "gee, if only they'd have called it 270AR instead of 6.8 I'd be all over that."

[rsilvers]

What 6.8 needs to take off is a lower price gap with 5.56mm. Sort of like the difference between 40 S&W and 9mm.