what is meant by short-action

I was looking at some stuff on semi-auto rifles today, and I came across a new term: short action. I was wondering what is meant by this.

thanks,

jon

Jon, a lot of rifles are manufactured in the same Model with a standard or short action for the smaller calibers, and longer ones for larger cartridges and the magnums.
James

Generally .308 is about the cut-off for a short action.

I know they have it, but what is it? does it have to do with the length of the recoil required to get the spent cartridge to cycle out of the chamber? if so, why make a distintion between short and long? is it because it affects the firing rate?

I'd guess they were talking about the length of the receiver.
F

No Guessing

The Short action, (shorter Receiver and Bolt) is intended for ~.308 Win class of cartridges.. (New Super Duper Magnum Jam-o-matic Cartridges are squeezed in these, see below)

The Standard length is ~ 30-06 length (and a few of the Shorter Magnums)

The Magnum length can handle most Belted Magnums 7mm, .338, .375 H&H, .378 Weatherbys, etc (There are a couple that need a tad more..) .416 Rigby etc...

There are a couple actions (CZ and others) that are shorter than a normal short action, for .223 and Hornet...

The difference is strictly length of Bolt and Receiver (affects distance you pull bolt to rear, which adds up to microseconds difference between lengths), A couple ounces difference between each step up in action length. Heavy recoilling caliber Magnums, get heavier due to additional bracing/crossbolts/foward recoil lug, required to prevent stocks breaking.

Firing rate in a Normal Hunting Bolt action rifle is barely affected. (Relatively few large caliber Semi Automatics , Like Browning BAR, AR10, etc, out there)

Only difference between lengths: Bolt Length, Receiver length, Stock, Firing pin, firing pin spring, (Extractor on Mauser types) Trigger guard, magazine box, follower, follower spring, (detachable magazine on Semi Autos).

Magnum Bolt faces/Extractors are opened up a bit to handle larger diameter cartridge.....

Lot of Gizmo cartridges out now that are short and fat (to save 2 ounces).

Short and fat Brick shaped cartridges can get you killed hunting dangerous game.... The short, sharp shoulder just does not feed well during rapid cycling....

Not a problem for most hunters, but it is for me up here.....

Jon, it has more to do with the loaded cartridge being able to physically fit into the magazine and being able to cycle up through the action into the chamber. If it will do that it will probably eject just fine. Like was mentioned above 308 is generally the cutoff point. Any thing longer is usually classified long or magnum action.
James

anchorman said:

I was looking at some stuff on semi-auto rifles today, and I came across a new term: short action. I was wondering what is meant by this.

thanks,

jon

Click to expand...

Well there were some recoil operated self loading designs that were of a long recoil type, the barrel and bolt recoiled together for quite a long distance, I have seen some Browning designed shotguns that worked that way, and the 1941 Johnson rifle works that way as well.

Bill

" New Super Duper Magnum Jam-o-matic Cartridges"

Good name for them. I fail to see the need for this new class of short magnums. I would take a plane 102 year old 30.06 over them any day. You can buy cartridges for a 30.06 anywhere. Gary P. Hansen

is a short action more reliable than a long action (all newfangled jam-o-matic cartridges aside)? if so, does this hold true for both semi-autos and bolt action rifles, or is short/long action only referring to semi-autos?

thanks,

jon

I have never seen "short action" in the context of semi-auto rifles, only conventional bolt action manually operated rifles, although the M14 was designed to be a shorter action than the M1 so that the rifle would be shorter and weigh less (most of the reduction in length and weight came from a shorter barrel, though.) Ultimately the move to medium power cartridges (7.62 x 39 and 5.56 mostly) drove the actions to be shorter since the cartridges were much shorter. Feeding reliablility is gained mostly by cartridge design (not too fat a proportion.)

I fail to see the need for this new class of short magnums.

You obviously aren't in the business of selling large quantities of new rifles, then. :-) It's mostly a marketing ploy.

Short action vs. long action...

Is the short action more reliable? No. It does have an advantage of a shorter bolt stroke for loading the next cartridge.

The only advantage it has, and this is debatable, is that on some bolt guns such as the Remingtons and clones, the free floating bolt being shorter allows for better repeatable accuracy.

Now, with this being said, we build M24 and M40 clones. The M24 is a long action while the M40 is a short action. We build these beyond the specs of the military and truth be told, we haven't found any difference in accuracy as long as the guns are built competently and with care.

I'm kinda wierd in that I prefer the action to be mated to the cartridge. All of my .308's are short actions without exception. I do have a couple of the .300 WSM's and I've never had any issues with them at all. But then again, we modify the bolts to work with the cartridges better.

By far, my favorite bolt gun is my .338 Lapua built on a Stiller Action TAC 338. That is a long action with an extra half inch or so of meat of the front for threads and a beefier all around in general.

The main thing is that the receiver must be trued and a good quality barrel should be installed. Bed the gun in a good stock and you'll have a great shooting rifle.

Mike