Right now I've got Q brass (Which I believe is Hornady... doesn't have the same look/feel as starline)
The Hornady brass has been used by the majority of folks loading 8.6bo, but I will caution you as I did above...once you resize it, the neck is right on the edge of not fitting the gauge.
IMO, this is one of the most exciting cartridges for hunting that has come along in quite a while. Will it be a paradign shift? Hard to tell, but it has a lot going for it.
I have 3 cartridges I plan to hunt pig/deer/bear with. 300bo, 6.5 Grendel and 8.6bo.
For bullets I have:
300g SMK's and 160g TTX
Those 300g SMKs are known to be good subs. I have 2 boxes sitting on my bench. But I also have a lot of
285 Gorilla projectiles to use and those would be preferable for hunting. I don't see a lot of advantage in using subsonics for hunting, in my case at least. I currently can't use a supressor, although that can change as it's being tossed around in the courts. But currently I can't use a supressor in California.
Those 160g could be a tad light for subsonics, that you'll need to test out.
Be careful who you follow on YouTube, there's at least one guy that has blown up an AR action with a double charge (the most likely theory) and the same guy just blew apart a muzzle brake. There have been a few muzzle brakes destroyed as bonded bullets will literally come apart due to the spin from the 1:3 twist.
Lots of folks here have really gotten benchrest down to a science, but this 8.6bo is a paradign shift from traditional thinking.
Time will tell if it is as good as people are hoping for.
Where did you get that barrel blank? I ended up buying one of the pre-fit barrels from Faxon using the Savage barrel nut. I have an 8.6bo reamer I bought from PTG. Unfortunately I'm a ways from having my new shop setup with all of my machines, so it will take a bit to work on the first bolt action. In the meantime I'm using 2 semi-auto LR-308s with a 16" barrel in one and a 12" barrel in the other.
Here's a headshot posted on YT. This is pretty devistating.
DISCLAIMER: I certainly don't know too much about this cartridge yet, but it's looking promising. Ideally I would like to be using 8.6bo with subsonics with a supressor. Until then I will be shooting all supersonics, as I see no reason to use subsonics without a supressor.
