Long Action vs Short Action

[TimH]

What are the differences & advantage/disadvantages

 

[BigG]

If this is about bolt guns there are actually 3 common sizes, tailored to the cartridges they shoot. In descending order of length:

Magnum ~ 375 H&H length
Long ~ 30/06 length
Shot ~ 308 length

There are also tiny Mauser actions tailored to varmint ctgs like 222 Rem but you only see them once in a while. Sako and CZ make some of these tiny ones.

 

[CaesarI]

Pros Cons

Longer actions can fire longer (and thus usually more powerful) cartridges.

Longer actions are longer, this increases the OAL of the gun.

Longer actions are heavier.

Uhh...

Yeah.

Moral of the story:
Get as short an action as you need.

-Morgan

 

[Quintin Likely]

Most magnum calibers require a long action (aside from the WSMs, SAUMs, WSSMs, etc). Some rifles chambered in a short action cartridge have a long action, with a longer bolt throw than what's really needed, like the Army's M24 sniper rifle. Then there's a few oddballs...short action Savages are more like "medium" actions, since they aren't as long as the long actions are, but they're longer than a Winchester or Remington shorty. I don't really see an advantage, although short actioned chambered rifles with long actions tend to have feeding problems if the cartridges aren't pushed all the way to the rear of the magazine when loading (at least M24s do). Long action might be physically stronger for the bigger cartridges, but I dunno.

 

[TimH]

Thanks for the info. I probably should have put 2 & 2 together on this but...

 

[CaesarI]

Almost forgot. The shorter actions can be stiffer, and hence more accurate, though the difference is probably only noticeable to guys on a bench rest.

-Morgan

 

[jar]

One other thing to remeber is that a short action will usually cycle faster than a long action. That was one of the strogest points of the Enfield. It's short action made it very fast to cycle.