Most people have heard of .300 Blackout, but fewer have heard of 8.6 Blackout, which was invented by the same guy who brought us .300 Blackout. Here he is talking about his new pet caliber:
"When you get this bullet spinning to a certain RPM, you can go with short barrels. We’ve got a 4-inch-barrel 8.6 gun we’re working on right now, and we’re able to shoot groups. If you get the bullet spinning fast enough, you can have short barrels. The barrels are stiffer and you’ll get better groups. The smallest groups we’ve shot with 8.6 subsonic have been with the shortest barrels."
What’s interesting is that Kevin’s company makes 8.6 Blackout guns, but only with 12-inch barrels. Other companies like CMMG also make 8.6 guns, but always with barrels over 11 inches. People who want to test Kevin’s hypothesis and get a shorter-barreled 8.6 often discover Q’s 8-inch PDW-style 8.6. Q might as well stand for “Gucci Queen” based on some reviews, though.
"This is going to be initial shots—just want to get this bad boy out and get a feel for it. So, we are back from the range. We had a time. I can’t necessarily say it was a good time, but we had a time. This bad boy did not function. It would not cycle. It ran one round every once in a while, ran two rounds."
There are some fantastic reviews on YouTube, but they’re all from one channel called Alabama Arsenal, which doesn’t disclose whether they’ve received any freebies from Q. So for now, if you don’t want a “Gucci Queen,” your only choice is to wait for Gorilla to restock their 8.6 complete uppers.
The Cheapest 8.6 BLK Rifle?
Until, that is, the Pro2A 8.6 Blackout Patriot, made with Aero Precision upper and lower receivers, a 7.75-inch barrel, and somehow priced at about $930 after applying the 20% discount code they always seem to offer. Granted, it doesn’t come with anything ambidextrous, and you have to pay an extra $25 for the adjustable gas block. But it might be the cheapest 8.6 blackout rifle if it runs.
So, does it run? Well… yes—sort of.
Pro2A 8.6 Blackout Patriot: First Impressions
We did initial testing with 60 rounds, which might not sound like a lot, but keep in mind that’s around $200 of ammo for 8.6 Blackout. Unfortunately, on the ninth round we suffered a failure to fire—pull the trigger, click, nothing. As we like to say, the bullet always tells the truth. The shallow primer indentation, accompanied by circumferential scratches on the bullet, indicates the round was not fully in battery and met significant resistance in the throat. We rechambered the same round; it fired fine the second time, and there’s nothing wrong with the ammo.
Fresh chambers or throats can be a little tight or rough, and feed-ramp edges can initially be sharp. Early break-in can improve cycling. To be fair, we encountered the failure on the ninth round, and rounds 10 through 60 were flawless.
Our next step is a thorough cleaning and lubrication, then another 60 to 100 rounds through the gun. If no failures reoccur, we’ll call the Pro2A Patriot 8.6BLK good to go.