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Newbie to bolt rifle what is short / long action?


joshxdm9

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I am sure this is a dumb question but am am very green to bolt action rifles. I just bought a Remington 700 SPS tactical and now looking for a replacement stock/ chassis and am noticing even when I search remington 700 they have options for short or long action. Just looking for some education on this. Thanks

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It has to do with the length of the cartridge. As an example, the 308 family is typically built on a "short" action, while the 30-06 is a "long" action. This holds true for the R700, but not all mfg. Savage being one exception.

Go to Remington's page, their catalog should show what the length is based on the cartridge. Or post it and someone will let you know which it is.

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It has to do with the length of the cartridge. As an example, the 308 family is typically built on a "short" action, while the 30-06 is a "long" action. This holds true for the R700, but not all mfg. Savage being one exception.

Go to Remington's page, their catalog should show what the length is based on the cartridge. Or post it and someone will let you know which it is.

Ok so I have a .223 so sure it would be short action?

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It has to do with the length of the cartridge. As an example, the 308 family is typically built on a "short" action, while the 30-06 is a "long" action. This holds true for the R700, but not all mfg. Savage being one exception.

Go to Remington's page, their catalog should show what the length is based on the cartridge. Or post it and someone will let you know which it is.

Ok so I have a .223 so sure it would be short action?

Yup!

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What they said...

The .308 Win was basically a way to take advantage of improvements in propellants to get .30-06 performance in a shorter cartridge, which reduced encumbrance for ammo carried and also had the advantage of reducing the travel length of the action. In a bolt action, that means shorter throw and in an auto-loader that means higher rate of fire. I think (and may be wrong) that short action specifically covers any of the .308 Win derived cartridges, whereas long action will be anything bigger, like the Magnums (.300 Win Mag, .338 lapua, &c.).

I am not sure what fishsticks meant about Savage being an exception—my Model 12 LRP in 6.5CM is a short-action bolt rifle.

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It has to do with the length of the cartridge. As an example, the 308 family is typically built on a "short" action, while the 30-06 is a "long" action. This holds true for the R700, but not all mfg. Savage being one exception.

Go to Remington's page, their catalog should show what the length is based on the cartridge. Or post it and someone will let you know which it is.

What they said...

The .308 Win was basically a way to take advantage of improvements in propellants to get .30-06 performance in a shorter cartridge, which reduced encumbrance for ammo carried and also had the advantage of reducing the travel length of the action. In a bolt action, that means shorter throw and in an auto-loader that means higher rate of fire. I think (and may be wrong) that short action specifically covers any of the .308 Win derived cartridges, whereas long action will be anything bigger, like the Magnums (.300 Win Mag, .338 lapua, &c.).

I am not sure what fishsticks meant about Savage being an exception—my Model 12 LRP in 6.5CM is a short-action bolt rifle.

I thought that fishsticks was saying that Savage was more in line with Remington while other manufacturers do not follow such convention as closely.

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I am not sure what fishsticks meant about Savage being an exception—my Model 12 LRP in 6.5CM is a short-action bolt rifle.

Quoted from another forum.........

Yes please explain Short action Vs Long Action. Why is the .308 FP110 a long action as opposed to a short action, if long actions are for 30-06 and greater? Thanks

The difference is about half an inch. The 110FP in .308 is a long action because Savage had some financial problems back in the 80s so they cut costs simplified things by reducing the line to only the long action 110 since it will work with any caliber. The short action was reintroduced a few years ago. Any 110s you find that are in short-action calibers are because it was manufactured during the time that they only made long actions.

Sounds like I'm remembering what once was, instead of what is now.

Here's another description:

http://www.midwayusa.com/content/HowToGuides/size_action.htm

Edited by fishsticks
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I am not sure what fishsticks meant about Savage being an exception—my Model 12 LRP in 6.5CM is a short-action bolt rifle.

Quoted from another forum.........

Yes please explain Short action Vs Long Action. Why is the .308 FP110 a long action as opposed to a short action, if long actions are for 30-06 and greater? Thanks

The difference is about half an inch. The 110FP in .308 is a long action because Savage had some financial problems back in the 80s so they cut costs simplified things by reducing the line to only the long action 110 since it will work with any caliber. The short action was reintroduced a few years ago. Any 110s you find that are in short-action calibers are because it was manufactured during the time that they only made long actions.

Sounds like I'm remembering what once was, instead of what is now.

Here's another description:

http://www.midwayusa.com/content/HowToGuides/size_action.htm

Correct, at one time Savage built all their bolt guns on the same action length.

It’s not an uncommon plan; the coveted Pre 64 Model 70 Winchester used a single action length. Everything from .22 Hornet to .458 Winchester Magnum

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