What is the best long action tactical round?

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Allen Gun Works

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OK, I bought a Remington 700 long action rifle today. I needed the action, I know, sounds like an addiction, well it is. :bangHead:

So anyway, I need the action to work with in building another product we are developing. So, I figured since I have the action I might as well build a rifle with it. Basically, I want to build a long action version of my LTR, but not so light!!! I want to keep the short barrel though cause it looks cool.

I am thinking either 300 Win Mag, or .338 Win Mag. I KNOW the .338 performs well in a short barrel, but I am not sure about the .300.

Suggestions?
 
Well, the LTR has a 20" barrel. Keeping true to that design I would like to stay close to that length. The .338 I am talking about is my cousins Sako. I will have to ask him the barrel length, but it is not much longer than 20".
 
20 inches is far from useless on the LTR. There are many rifles with short barrels that shoot well with the right loads. Shorter is better for tactical....as long as accuracy is not sacrificed. At least that is my opinion. There are .338 Lapua Magnum sniper rifles that only have 24" barrels.

Like I said before, I know the .338 will fire well in a shorter barrel. If the .300 does, in fact, need at least 26 inches of barrel, which I doubt it does, then I guess I will strike that one from the list.
 
I've seen some European Military Forces with designated marksman rifles in the .300 WM caiber. I got to shoot one to 800 meters, the barrel was 22 inches long. It shot superbly better than I could then and much better than I can now...

Troutseeker
 
LTR type rifle in .300WM...could be a cool rig. I myself would go longer barrel to maximize on the reach. In a short barrel your going to feel some serious recoil so I would suggest a break. I personaly love the .300WM cartridge it has done everything I have asked of it.

If you go ahead with the build post some pics and let us know how it shoots.
 
I would recommend a 300 WSM in your action. It has the same ballistics as a 300 WM but in theory you should be able to achieve relatively good ballistics with a shorter barrel (Short mags tend to have a shorter bbl then the full mag counterparts i.e. 24" vs 26") and it would burn less powder and probably give you slightly better bbl life.
 
Long Range Canuck said:
LTR type rifle in .300WM...could be a cool rig. I myself would go longer barrel to maximize on the reach. In a short barrel your going to feel some serious recoil so I would suggest a break. I personaly love the .300WM cartridge it has done everything I have asked of it.

If you go ahead with the build post some pics and let us know how it shoots.
Click to expand...

X2 you are getting into somee big figures for recoil with a very short barrel and acasee capacity like the WSM or the Win Mag, but secondary recoil ( muzzle jump ) could be extreme, even if you get the barrel in a heavier contour, because of the fulcrum involved.

Cat
 
Only one person recommended the .300 WSM. I saw a great demo on this round. He bought a Rem. 700 in long action and rebarreled to the 300WSM. This allowed the bullets to be seated out further. 180 gr. bullets were hitting 3080 fps., and the 1" groups at 200 m. were impressive.
Once the barrel is shortened there are always losses. While the higher velocity rounds lose more per inch it still boils down to whether the target in question can tell the difference. I would favour the 24" barrel. It is not how long you make it but how you make it long. The same can be applied to weight. The .338 LM is going to need some weight, and slow burning powders need the length.
I remain a fan of the .338 Win Mag. but that leads to another aspect of case development. The difference in length of the .338 WM, 300/358 Norma mag, and the 300 Win Mag is not much. Had the marketing been in place, Norma could probably captured the market. They just may have had a better idea but most of the targets were not offering opinions and the big gun writers were not being unduly influenced with coin!
 
At present I shoot a 3000WSM on a 950T action, and anyone who says it is not as good as the standard magnum is nit picking, for sure.
it handles long bullets quite easily!
As you stated, horesman2, I would think it would have more to do with the targets in question , and the velocity needs.
I've shot some lighter weight, short barelled , big caliber rifles, and they were neither fun nor as accurate as longer barreled ones.
cat
 
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if I was to build a LA rifle it would wear a 26"arrel and be in 300WM

make a Big brother little brother combo use the LTR for out to 800meters and the big brother out pased 800


Jamie
 
Thanks for all the great info. I think that with all things considered I will look at the .300 either win mag or wsm. Since I want to keep the short barrel I will likely lean towards the wsm. I should be ordering all the parts this week so I will have to make a decision soon.

For those that voted for the .338LM, I hear you. I want one bad, but the Rem long action won't take it without some major bolt mods and the actions that will are kind of expensive.

I will start a post with the progress soon.
 
Read up some of the literature on the evolution of sniping cartridges. You'll find the Americans (where we seem to get most of our books) went from service rifles cartridges (30-06 and 7.62) to target cartridges (.300 Win Mag) to deliberately chosen cartridges (.338 LM).

There are probably good reasons why .300 Win Mag just never made it into the big leagues. Wasn't the US Army sniper rifle specified for a long action to be a switch-barrel from 7.62 to .300 Win Mag? The .300 Win Mag has a short neck to support long bullets. Nor does it significantly extend the rifle's range towards the .50 cal.

(For the record, I hunt with a .300 Win Mag and have had few problems. But in a perfect world, I wouldn't choose it for sniping.)
 
Rem. mag action is great. forget about short length barrel , unless you are looking at a precision .308. if you are considering downrange energy, over 600M range, then you must rebarrel to 26-30" lenth. .338 Lapua or .338-378 with or without freebore are your choices. Do the math, are you hunting or shooting at paper? Either way, these are two hard to beat calibres to challenge beyond 400 meters.
 
You would be disadvantaged in a short barrel especially with the 300 WM, given your two choices the 338 Win Mag is the more tolerant caliber in a short barrel due to it's larger bore. A 250 or 300 SMK is nothing to sneeze at in such a package, ouch! You would have to have the chamber/throat dimensions thought out very well to take advantage of the long mag box also.
bigbull
 
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