Long Action/Short Action

M

MissileCop

New member
Anybody have an answer for this one? I'm sure it's an easy question for those far more intelligent than I in the realm of firearms, but I haven't been able to find an answer.

What exactly differentiates a short action from a long action rifle? Case diameter, cartridge length, what? I have no clue.

I know that calibers like .308, .30-06, and larger calibers are normally described as long actions, but where is the cutoff between short and long? Especially with the myriad of wildcat cartridges?

Any info would be a great help. Thanks in advance.
 
misslecop,

Generally your short action cartridges fall into the .243, 7mm-.08, .308, .223, etc. LA rounds are your .280, .270, 30.06, 300 Win Mag, etc. Shorter action guns chamber slightly faster because there is less bolt throw.
 
It's all in the length of the receiver. Depending on the length of the cartridge, the receiver may either be long or short. Drop by your dealer and look at the Remington 700. There's a long receiver (30-06) and a short receiver (.308) version of that gun. The advantage of a shorter receiver is less metal, less weight and less time to work the bolt.

I think Savage has changed and in the old days, they only had one length action for all calibers. They've modernized and now have a shorter action for their .308 and smaller.

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The rails in the magazine area are just a little longer. About ..900. Otherwise the actions are the same. Either will perform equally as well except that the long action has a longer bolt throw.. I have built many match 300s on short 600 actions with 300 Win chambers since they are single shot and when I was working with the JFK center on the new Army sniper rifle we tested long actions with the 308 and there was absolutely no difference in accuracy
 
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