Sell me on a short action magnum caliber

[BPollard]

I have opted for the additional 2 ounces of a long action in my last 3 "short action" builds. The additional 2 ounces is not noticed, but the additional room to seat bullets long and have room in the box is priceless. 6.5 or 7mm, SS, SAUM or Max are all great for light, packable rifles. I don't have a WSM, but it would work too. I heard ADG is going to produce WSM brass, which takes away a big handicap.

The 65SAUM is definitely getting a lot of attention.

 

[DJ Fergus]

Doing a build shortly. I've got my eye on 3 calibers so far. 7saum, 270 wsm, 6.5wsm.

what else should I look at?

I'm wanting this for a compact backpacking rifle. Barrel no larger than 24" preferably 22"

thanks

7 saum. hands down

 

[WHITEBULL]

270 wsm with a longer throat. Mine loves 165 Matrix and the Berger 170gr Extremes. Running just below 3000 fps.

 

[softtail103]

What barrel length are you running.

24 inches. Hart #5 1-8 twist

 

[Ace Quackhunter]

Doing a build shortly. I've got my eye on 3 calibers so far. 7saum, 270 wsm, 6.5wsm.

what else should I look at?

I'm wanting this for a compact backpacking rifle. Barrel no larger than 24" preferably 22"

thanks

6.5 Remington Mag.

 

[Goldengun]

270WSM. I'd sell you on this, but it sells itself. Since your building it, you can get it to be whatever you need it to be. Lighter, shorter, more inherently accurate, ballistically optimal and efficient, off the shelf ammo. I'd get a fast twist just in case I wanted to run the "overly" heavies, but I think the real beauty of it is what it does with 150g and below. 1500ft. lbs out to 900 yards give or take and 1000ft. lbs out to 1300y at mtn elevations. If you need more than that, I don't think the 3 calibers you mentioned are what your looking for.

 

[mrjashu]

7 saum. hands down

+1 on this. I love my 7 saum.
Fits nicely in a short action. I'm shooting the 180eldm (.777 G1!) at 2770 with a 22" barrel. Great cartridge!

 

[Idaho Lefty]

The .270 WSM with, 140 -150 grain Bullets, in a plain Vanilla, 1-10 Twist, 24" bbl., Rifle, HAS BEEN, getting IT, "done" for a long Time now, with, great Accuracy and, LOW "tolerable", Recoil ! ( AKA,.. NO Brake, Necessary ! )
The 140 gr Classic Hunter, Berger's, starting at, 3,175 to 3,200 FPS are still going,.. OVER, 2,000 FPS at, 800 Yards !
That's, a good bit, further than, MOST Hunters "could" hit, the Vital's on, a Big Game animal as, FEW Hunter's, Practice, much ! There's, a reason why, the .270 and .300 WSM's, have "survived" in Short Actions,. THEY,.. get it,.. DONE !

 

[Jnmullins]

I have a 7 SAUM in a Model 7 and its a great little rifle. I have been shooting 140s because OAL is limited by the mag box. Its not a max load, so the 140 Partition or Accubonds are going just over 3000fps and perform very well on whitetails and hogs.

 

[dave_halsey]

because 300 wsm seems to be one of the only calibers on the shelf right now lol

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

The rarely ever mentioned .300saum, the forgotten cartridge that I've found is extremely accurate and efficient.....much better than most give it credit for.

 

[jda2631]

If you reload, pick one of Rich's SS cartridges in whatever bullet diameter you want. Best short action magnums out there IMO. I have a 7SS, it won't be my last of his cartridges. I want to try a 30SM next. Not to mention, Rich is great. He will talk to you on the phone and answer any questions you may have. Highly recommend.

 

[Northkill]

Doing a build shortly. I've got my eye on 3 calibers so far. 7saum, 270 wsm, 6.5wsm.

what else should I look at?

I'm wanting this for a compact backpacking rifle. Barrel no larger than 24" preferably 22"

thanks

All excellent choices. I've got a 270 WSM that I've tried about everything in. Looking to upfit to a 8-twist Bartlein carbon (24") and setup to run the BD-2's or Hammers:

.277 140gr Super Bulldozer-2 - Badlands precision, LLC

Length: 1.560″ BC (G1): .650 BC (G7): .333 Twist: 1-8″ Price: 50/BOX

badlandsprecision.com

.277 Cal-156gr Hammer Hunter™ - Hammer Bullets

Recommended twist rate of 1-8" or faster Bullet length is 1.56" Nose length is .8011" Bullet weight is 156 grains Recommended use: Big game hunting G7-BC=.292 Calculated from shot drops

hammerbullets.com

7 SAUM is a healthy choice as well. Pick you poison.

 

[vancewalker007]

Doing a build shortly. I've got my eye on 3 calibers so far. 7saum, 270 wsm, 6.5wsm.

what else should I look at?

I'm wanting this for a compact backpacking rifle. Barrel no larger than 24" preferably 22"

thanks

Those are all great choices, if. That if is if you to shoot the longer high BC bullets I would consider a medium length action or 700 style short action set up for the longest mag you can fit then have the chamber long throated to put the bullet base just above the case neck shoulder junction when the bullet of your choice is touching the lands. This is how I set up my 6.5 PRC and I have great velocity results from it. In my 6.5 PRC the Hornady 143 Factories are about 75 thou off, and they fit in the mag no problem. Most cartridge in their SAAMI configuration leave some internal ballistic performance on the table but having the seat the bullets so deep. If you want a chamber that's SAAMI but spec'd for long high BC bullets the new 6.8 Western would be a fun choice and I think from my reading the cartridge will fit in a standard short action. I might still do a long mag setup to just to be sure I can fit long rounds in it. All these short fat mags are very efficient on powder/velocity performance so you don't give up much going to a 22 or 24 inch barrel. A 22 is nice because it makes a decent length for a suppressor. If I were 100% going to use a suppressor all the time I'd go to a 20.