Long action vs. short action
- Thread starter AMHsix
- Start date
Steve Smith
New member
I think I answered this on AR-15.com. but I will here too.
The biggest advantage is if you're shooting fast, the short action will often allow you to keep your cheekweld, whereas the long action makes you move your head when cycling the bolt.
The biggest advantage is if you're shooting fast, the short action will often allow you to keep your cheekweld, whereas the long action makes you move your head when cycling the bolt.
9mmepiphany
New member
about .5 inch
long action sized for 30-06 family
short action sized for 308 family
long action sized for 30-06 family
short action sized for 308 family
Heehee!
I always get a giggle out of that powder-setting-uniformly thing. The benchresters certainly get their mileage out of the chubby little PPC cartridges, and it could very well offer more uniform IGNITION. But as far as settling, I can show a person a uniformly settled charge, slightly compressed, in a 6.5-06, and they'd be hard pressed to tell the difference in how those grains sit compared to a 6mm PPC or 7mm BR.
Then again, I'm firmly of the belief that if a gunsmith/shooter lavished the same attention on a long-action gun that they did on a short-action, to include squaring the action, truing the bolt face, lapping the lugs for full contact, installing a premium barrel like Krieger, Obermeyer, Lilja, and BlackStar, and used all the other neat-o tricks of the trade, then you'd have a gun that shot just as well as it's short-action cousin. The locking lugs aren't in any different place than behind the chamber, regardless of action length.
I did just the above experiment with my 6.5-06, getting 1/4" 5-round 100 yard groups, and it uses a "sloppy" 98 Mauser action, albeit blueprinted and trued up with a Krieger barrel.
I always get a giggle out of that powder-setting-uniformly thing. The benchresters certainly get their mileage out of the chubby little PPC cartridges, and it could very well offer more uniform IGNITION. But as far as settling, I can show a person a uniformly settled charge, slightly compressed, in a 6.5-06, and they'd be hard pressed to tell the difference in how those grains sit compared to a 6mm PPC or 7mm BR.
Then again, I'm firmly of the belief that if a gunsmith/shooter lavished the same attention on a long-action gun that they did on a short-action, to include squaring the action, truing the bolt face, lapping the lugs for full contact, installing a premium barrel like Krieger, Obermeyer, Lilja, and BlackStar, and used all the other neat-o tricks of the trade, then you'd have a gun that shot just as well as it's short-action cousin. The locking lugs aren't in any different place than behind the chamber, regardless of action length.
I did just the above experiment with my 6.5-06, getting 1/4" 5-round 100 yard groups, and it uses a "sloppy" 98 Mauser action, albeit blueprinted and trued up with a Krieger barrel.