7 WSM Short action or Long action (Savage)

[Red 1]

Ok so I was woundering if it would be benifical to build my savage on a long action or short action so I could seat the bullets out further, I have both actions but the long action would be an easier swap becouse it is a 7mm RM any input would be helpfull.

 

[J E Custom]

Ok so I was woundering if it would be benifical to build my savage on a long action or short action so I could seat the bullets out further, I have both actions but the long action would be an easier swap because it is a 7mm RM any input would be helpfull.

I personally find No advantage in using a long action for a short action cartridge.

The WSMs were designed for the short actions and throated accordingly. When using a short action round in a long action mag A spacer should be used in the mag for best feeding.

The WSMs are one of the New breed of High pressure cartridges and they need free bore to achieve the velocity they were designed for (62,000 to 65,000+ PSI). If you reduce the SAMME free bore
you will lose the velocity it was intended to produce and may increase the pressure to a dangerous level.

If a person wants to seat a bullet longer than the SAMME Spec. I recommend a single shot and SAMME free bore but with the bullet seated where ever he wants.

Just My Opinion

J E CUSTOM

 

[winmagman]

Red,

I'd go with the long action.

When I was researching a 7mm Saum/WSM build on a short action I went with the Saum since the brass is .100 shorter than the WSM. Even with the shorter brass I can't quite seat the 160 class bullets close to the lands and still have it fit in the magazine.

If I were to do it again I'd go long action.

Chris

 

[Red 1]

I personally find No advantage in using a long action for a short action cartridge.

The WSMs were designed for the short actions and throated accordingly. When using a short action round in a long action mag A spacer should be used in the mag for best feeding.

The WSMs are one of the New breed of High pressure cartridges and they need free bore to achieve the velocity they were designed for (62,000 to 65,000+ PSI). If you reduce the SAMME free bore
you will lose the velocity it was intended to produce and may increase the pressure to a dangerous level.

If a person wants to seat a bullet longer than the SAMME Spec. I recommend a single shot and SAMME free bore but with the bullet seated where ever he wants.

Just My Opinion

J E CUSTOM

I have been playing with an empty 7wsm case in my m111 savage to see if there would be a seating problem and am yet to have it not feed or any problem. If I'm going to be using the berger VLDs 168gr and 180 gr dont I need the magazin space that a long action would provide.

Thanks.

 

[geargrinder]

For a Savage action I'd use a long action. With a long action you don't have to worry about screw spacing, standard or magnum firing pin lengths or any of the other goofy stuff Savage has done with the short actions.

Long actions are pretty much the same since the mid-1960's. Pretty much the only difference is stagger feed and center feeds. Really just how the mag box is attached. Everything else interchanges.

I've built several wsm's on Savage long actions with great success. They are GTG.

 

[J E Custom]

I have been playing with an empty 7wsm case in my m111 savage to see if there would be a seating problem and am yet to have it not feed or any problem. If I'm going to be using the berger VLDs 168gr and 180 gr dont I need the magazine space that a long action would provide.

Thanks.

You don't need the long action but if you want it go for it . It kind of defeats the purpose of the WSM because they were designed for a short action that makes the rifle more compact.

There are lots of cartridges that will out perform a WSM that will need a long action so if you want big fast bullets go with the long action and a cartridge with more powder capacity.

Also as you go up in bullet weight the powder charge goes down making more room for the bullet
in the cartridge.

As to the feeding issue- Where you start having feeding problems is when the cartridges get staggered
because they are not held in place and the round is picked up by the bolt in a different spot in the mag changing the mag tuning and sometimes allowing more than one round in front of the bolt at
one time causing miss feed.

The most common way of dealing with this situation is to install a spacer in the magazine. (Most of the high end rifles use this method instead of making a Short action.

As I have said many times you don't have to seat bullets any longer than the magazine to get accuracy or velocity no mater how heavy, or the shape or the type of the bullet.

So It is just a matter of personal likes and dis-likes whether or not to use a short action or a long action when it is not necessary.

I have had and shot long cartridges in short actions that had to be single loaded and could not be ejected as loaded (With a live round without removing the bolt).

These rifles were for long range matches 1000 yards+ and with the heavy long barrels the short action help with balance.

And know with the short mags this is not necessary to get good velocity using a heavy bullet.

So my opinion is still to stay with the short action for the WSMs and SAUMs. And remember these are discussions and in many cases are just opinions because in many cases there is more than one right way to do something and it is just a matter of preference.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Red 1]

You don't need the long action but if you want it go for it . It kind of defeats the purpose of the WSM because they were designed for a short action that makes the rifle more compact.

There are lots of cartridges that will out perform a WSM that will need a long action so if you want big fast bullets go with the long action and a cartridge with more powder capacity.

Also as you go up in bullet weight the powder charge goes down making more room for the bullet
in the cartridge.

As to the feeding issue- Where you start having feeding problems is when the cartridges get staggered
because they are not held in place and the round is picked up by the bolt in a different spot in the mag changing the mag tuning and sometimes allowing more than one round in front of the bolt at
one time causing miss feed.

The most common way of dealing with this situation is to install a spacer in the magazine. (Most of the high end rifles use this method instead of making a Short action.

As I have said many times you don't have to seat bullets any longer than the magazine to get accuracy or velocity no mater how heavy, or the shape or the type of the bullet.

So It is just a matter of personal likes and dis-likes whether or not to use a short action or a long action when it is not necessary.

I have had and shot long cartridges in short actions that had to be single loaded and could not be ejected as loaded (With a live round without removing the bolt).

These rifles were for long range matches 1000 yards+ and with the heavy long barrels the short action help with balance.

And know with the short mags this is not necessary to get good velocity using a heavy bullet.

So my opinion is still to stay with the short action for the WSMs and SAUMs. And remember these are discussions and in many cases are just opinions because in many cases there is more than one right way to do something and it is just a matter of preference.

J E CUSTOM

Thank you for your response I will take this into acount.