Need some 6.8 advice from the AR Guru's

So I bought a 6.8 last year, mainly for my 12yr old girl to hunt with. The rifle has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for me. So I'll try to give a "brief" history with it.

PSA Lower
Rise 3.5lb trigger (not the greatest, but way better than the milspec).
Pro2a upper, 1;11, 16" carbine length gas sys. w/12" flee float m-lock hand guard.
Nikon BM glass in an SWFA mount.
Gun is tight in all respects.

Broke it in and played with S&B cheap FMJ, and never got better than a 2-3" group with them. Most 100yd groups were horrible. Showed quite a bit of pressure.
Bought some SSA 110gr Nosler AB's loads and it did better, holding steady around 2". Still not good enough. Showed quite a bit of pressure.
Started loading for it, Barnes 95gr TTSX over H322 and a couple of other powders. Best groups were right around 2".
100Gr Nosler AB's did better, giving me a load I felt the kid could hunt with shooting anywhere from 1-1.5". So I reluctantly settled on that, she hunted with those last year and took one big sow which ran over 100yds leaving a nice blood trail to follow, nobody could have put a better heart shot on that pig than she did. The bullet just didn't seem to expand that well, leaving a small exit wound and not a lot of internal damage. Just a tough little bullet as I've found AB's to be.
So I changed up this spring and have been playing around with Speer 90gr Gold Dot thinking the construction might be a little better suited to the speed, and maybe a touch more speed to boot. Have tried a few other powders, but again seem to be getting the best results overall from 28.7 gr of H322. Right now it'll will shoot good groups (.75" +/-) on occasion, and just acceptable (1-1.25") groups a lot of the time. The inconsistency is perplexing.

All reloads are Starline brass,cci 400's, trimmed, fl sized, light crimp, mag length as I've had none close to hitting the lands yet, etc.

Now, what I am finding is the barrel copper fouls like crazy, with every bullet I've ran through it. 20rnds produces several royal blue patches before they start lightening up with Sweets. After about 20rnds you can see the buildup to the rifling. It copper fouls worse than any other barrel I've ever personally seen, including the 50yr old '06 I inherited from my dad that has a bore which looks like a gravel road (when clean). From a consistency standpoint, the groups seem to settle in a little better between 10-18 rounds or so. After 20rnds they just start going to pot. I usually stop about 25-30 rnds out of frustration.

I'm not looking for a .5" al day long rifle. If it would shoot .75" to 1" regularly I would be ok. Sometimes it will do it with every other group. And when it doesn't, it's not a flier causing it, the whole group opens up. Then I can stack the next one. And that's after quite a bit of time and effort to find the load this bullet likes part of the time.

Important to me, I want an exit wound. If she has an animal run off, I want it leaking from two holes vs one, hence the lean toward premium/bonded bullets.

So I've really been on the fence leading up to this season on whether the put the rifle in the safe and pursue another route, or keep plugging away. Season is not that far off, and the kid needs to start getting some trigger time on her hunting rifle. She's already talking about spending more time in the woods this year and I look forward to that. I just feel the rifle should be capable of at least consistent results, whatever that might be. So far I'm seeing consistently mediocre. I know I gambled and went cheap on the upper, and might be suffering the consequences, something I accept readily. Honestly, I have RR 223 with a 3moa red dot and milspec trigger that I can shoot just as, or more consistently at 100yds than this thing is with a scope.

Moving forward, I am considering replacing the barrel. It's not a monumental cost or task to do so.

After all of that, a few questions for the guru's.
1. New Barrel?
2. Recommendations? 16-18" length only.
3. Anything on the rifle I might be overlooking?
4. Am I just expecting too much?

On barrels I have been looking at
YHM https://yhm.net/yhm-88-f.html ,
RR https://www.rockriverarms.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=290 ,
and Wilson https://shopwilsoncombat.com/Match-Grade-Barrel-68-SPC-II-Recon-Tactical-16-1-11-Twist-Stainless-Fluted/productinfo/TR%2D68RCMG16FT11/

Very few other reputable companies, that I know of, have any showing in stock online. My knowledge is admittedly limited, hence this post.

Any other recommendations?

Thanks for looking. Not interested in changing calibers at this time. I really want the 6.8 to work.

AR Performance makes great 6.8 barrels but they are probably out of stock. Out of those choices, I would go Wilson Combat. I have a 6.8 PRI upper with a Douglas Barrel and it's one of the most accurate rifles I own.

I'd rebarrel with a 16" ARP barrel. I've had 5 or 6 and they all shoot factory 120 SST very well. They're not expensive either.

Beat me to it.

120 grain SSTs are great on hogs! Don’t expand well on deer though.

ARP is the gold standard, the guy is a 6.8 guru.

A realistic 30 hogs and 10 deer type animals with sst, dead right there

If ARP is out of stock on barrels, then I would recommend Wilson, Bison Armory (I am running this barrel) or Black Hole Weaponry.

Your barrel should not foul like that and I would also be suspect of the gas system, which also may be adding to your inconstancy.

My White Oak Armament 6.8 barrel will do .1 moa if I do my part. 1/4 moa groups are boring with that rifle. I hear really good things about ARP barrels too.

Have you tried Nosler 115 grain custom comp bullets and XBR 8208 powder? I don’t get my highest velocity with that combo, but it’s an effective hunting load.

.1 MOA is pretty impressive.

No sh!+.

Went thru a bunch of 6.8 barrels early on before I found AR Performance and every 6.8 I build for friends and family gets one if possible.
Harrison at ARP is very easy to talk to and provides some good handload info.
Also had good luck with Bison barrels on quite a few builds and if ARP is out and someone has just gotta have it now, Bison gets the call.
Don't care for Wilson as a company so they don't get any consideration from me.
You have to watch YHM as they produced a bunch of tight chambered fast twist barrels built to SPCI specs early on that build pressure.

ARP barrel and look at Hornady SST ammo. Has worked great for me.

I suggest ARP as well. One other consideration is to go with a mid-length gas system vs. the carbine length.

Played the 6.8 game before and all the ARP suggestions are spot-on. I got into the 6.8/AR platform for my kids to hunt with and I have a suppressed 12.5" ARP that has shot sub-MOA with everything I've put through it. Then I had to disassemble the upper to swap out another part and didn't re-bed the barrel extension with Loctite 620. Accuracy went to crap. Pulled it back apart, re-bedded, and voila! Accuracy returned. I have also repeated these results on a 5.56 LMT rebarreled with an ARP .223 Wylde.

I think your long term answer is a new barrel, followed by a better trigger (I like the Geissele SSA-E), but 30 min and a $7 bottle of the correct Loctite might improve your accuracy to more acceptable levels and buy you some time before you HAVE to make the swap. Good luck, but as always, YMMV.

I'm also currently shooting 90 gr Gold Dots over H322, S&B Brass, and CCI 41's.

Vern1

Just curious why you don't care for us as a company?

Also we have a lot of experience making quality 6.8 bbls since that's the first caliber we added after 5.56

Y'all forgot to tell him to get a bolt. AR Performance will also sell you an enhanced bolt that is head spaced to the barrel/barrel extension when you by from them. If they are out of stock check out Black Stone Arms. He's out of the Dallas area and might be able to help you out. He does great work. I have both an ARP 16 incn 5R and 3R barrels and both shoot the Hornady 120SST's sub moa aa well as the federal Fusion 90/115 gr gold dots.