Questions on 6.8 conversion

[Bill92869]

I see growing interest in the 6.8 conversion for AR's. I have questions that I can't find clear answers for, perhaps someone here can help:

1) What is involved in "converting" a 5.56 (barrel, bolt, mag follower, ??)

2) Can I have a 5.56 lower and exchange with a 6.8 upper and back? Is there a legal issue in making my rifle a multi-caliber weapon (no issue with my Thompson Contender)

3) any "wear" issues with the heavier round (front pin wear, recoil buffer wear, lower wear)?

[ar15barrels]

Ted would have to beat me to this one...

[Bill92869]

Hey, that's good news! Who has the best offerings for the 6.8? And while I'm thinking of it, 16" or longer?? I'd like to have a big brother for the M4.

[arfan66]

Try Tim at http://www.ko-tonics.com/KT68.html. Good company to deal with, reasonable prices and many folks are getting sub-moa out of his 16" barrels.

[Sgt Raven]

Barrel, bolt and magazine. It was found that the mag needs to be steel and that the internal and feed lip geometry of the standard aluminum GI magazine had to be modified to accommodate the wider diameter and shorter shouldered 6.8 SPC round.
Yes


No

The problems with aluminum mags is they swell when loaded with more than 5-7 rounds. If you tweaked the mag lips to work with the 6.8 SPC round and used it as a fixed mag a 10 round mag can be made to work.

[arfan66]

From a reliability standpoint, I just forked over the extra cash and bought C Products 10 rd. magazines w/magpul follower. They aren't much more expensive than 5.56mm 10 rd. mags and I know that they'll feed properly.