Problems with long action for short action calibers?

dust · #1 10-17-2009, 03:56 AM

Looking at a Savage long action rifle, but want to stay short action calibers for now. The long action will leave room for more if the bug bites, but i am wondering if there are any problems with using a long action for short action calibers. Will the long action be weaker, or have problems that the short action wouldn't? i know that the .472 bolt face calibers will feed from the magazine, and the extra room in the mag will help with reloading if i get into it, but i am wondering if I need to wait to find a good price on a short action gun.

Jamie6.5 · #2 10-19-2009, 11:53 AM

No. There are even advantages if the barrel(s) have long freebore and you need to seat bullets out a ways over standard COALs.

dust · #3 10-20-2009, 02:55 AM

More interested in the action being weaker, or stress or movement problems.

.280fan · #4 10-20-2009, 09:23 PM

dust - the conventional wisdom says the short actions are stiffer than long actions. Seems logical to me.

Johnboy · #5 10-31-2009, 12:03 PM

how can one action be weaker when the [ bang ] takes place behind/in front of the bolt head.I would think that the opening is the only thing that is different.had a long action built into a 308 and had no problems at all.and if I remember right I loaded hot for that one rifel.so lets just say this.I's what ever you want and want to do with the action of choice.I would load and shoot it any day of the week.
John

OKIE2 · #6 11-04-2009, 02:09 PM

I put a 6.5 rem mag on a 300 win mag action and had no problems any where
it works fine

Kevin Thomas · #7 11-12-2009, 11:18 AM

Feeding from the mag can be a problem, but beyond that there's little more than some extra bolt throw and a little extra weight. For what it's worth, the army's M24 sniper rifles are built on long actions, whereas the Marine M40s are on short actions. The army intended their system to be convertable to 300 Win (which I've only seen done once or twice) so decided that the extra length wasn't a problem, and puts up with the occasional feeding bobble. Ultimately no real strength differences, but the shorter action should theoretically be somewhat stiffer. Whether ort not that translates into anything noticable in the real world is up for debate, but the army doesn't seem to worried about it, and the systems been working well for a couple decades now.

The Savage is a great rifle, and I'm sure that if it's properly set up and fed decent quality ammo, it'll do whatever you need of it.

Kevin Thomas
Lapua USA