Suggestions for a short-actioned all-around rifle?

K

Kevin Ballowe

Member
I've a Remington short action sitting here. The weather is cooling down and it's time for a project.

Already have a couple .308's and 7mm-08's. Got a couple 6.5's On long actions there's 30-06, 280-AI, 270, etc.

I'm thinking laminated stock and a #4 or #5 contour that's not longer than 22".

Mainly just for killing paper but should also be enough gun to take the occasional deer.

Nothing too radical. I was wondering about a .25-308......

Anyone?
 
There are a greater variety of 6MM bullets available, just a thought.
 
I think a 6.5x47 8" twist might make an interesting addition to your current list of all-rounders.

Greg
 
6's

kansasvet said:
There are a greater variety of 6MM bullets available, just a thought.
Click to expand...

6mm BR, 1:8 twist. Great for paper, low recoil, good barrel life, great varmint cartridge and would take a deer. Fits the .308 bolt face. nhk
 
You already have excellent deer rifles. If you build something for both paper and deer it will be a compromise for both. If you only had one rifle that would make more sense. We can't read your mind to know what you want. You apparently don't mind if you can't find ammo at Wall Mart.

My choice would be for something totally different from what you already have. Maybe a 458 SOCOM or 338 BR (AKA 338 Whisper). Both work in a 308 bolt face short action and are gentle on barrels. Neither are suitable for target shooting, but what I might enjoy shouldn't matter to you.

For long range target shooting the 6.5x47 Lapua or perhaps a 6.5 Creedmoor would give good accuracy to over a kilometer even with the 22" barrel. You could hunt deer with those too but the 308 or 7mm-08 makes as much sense for practical hunting. For moderate range paper punching (600 yd+) a 6mm BR is hard to beat for a 308 boltface short action.

There is not a "right" answer. Maybe just put the action back in the gun safe until you know what you want.
 
THIS rifle would have to consistently print 3/4" at 100 yards. Will be outfitted with a 3x-9x scope and probably will not be shot at distances farther that 300 yrds.

Looking for lighter recoil than, say, a 7mm-08. No muzzle brakes.

Would want the cartridge to feed from the factory magazine in a Model 700 ADL.

I like the 6.5's and the 260 is probably a great cartridge but it almost fits in a Remington short action....... Ya gotta stuff a lot of bullet into the case......

Part of my problem is that I'm not familar with a lot of the wildcat short action cartridges and not sure which are a good fit for a short action.

Oh yeah - wold be nice if it would re-load itself.... hahahahahahahaha JK
 
300 yds and .75 MOA and no recoil....

If it wasn't for the deer I'd swear you're talking about a .223 Remington. nhk
 
I'll second R.G.'s recommendation on a well balanced .25. A 250 Savage Ackley or 25X47 Lapua would be a dandy as would the 25-308 (aka the .25 Souper/Super).

The 250 Savage Ackley Improved is an impressive cartridge that's perfect for a short actioned rig. Dave Kiff's 'standard' reamer with a .287 neck works perfectly with the Redding dies (#80416 for the f.l. die set and #84416 for the f.l. set incl. a neck die). The reamer is big enough at the back end to work with the new Lapua 22-250 cases. The currently available 250 Savage brass from either Winchester or Remington run a bit smaller on the back end @ .466 -ish. If you opt for using 250 Savage brass, I've found the Remington cases to be quite a bit better than the Winchester.

Powders that work are Re15, 760, H414, AA2700. Velocities with the 100 gr. BTips are 3,100, 3,300 with the 85-87 gr. bullets and the 75 gr. Sierra's and VMax stuff goes 3,680-3,700. The Sierra's are serious varmint juicers. ;)

Here's how mine ended up. It's a skosh over 7.25 lbs 'all up', balances well and is a dream to shoot. Hart # 2 twisted 1:10, McMillan Sako Hunter stock and a Weaver K6. Metal work by Stan Ware @ SGR Custom Rifles.

gun.jpg


R.G. has a twin to this gun, but in 250 Roberts Improved. Maybe he'll post a pic or two.

A couple of targets from the gun with the BIB 88 gr. bullets. With any decent 'big box' hunting bullet, it's darn near impossible to make it shoot bigger than .5" three shot groups.

BIB88s.jpg


Lots to love about the quarter bores....... -Al
 
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I haven't had a rifle built in a few years. Kinda got away from shooting for a while and took to touring the country via motorcycle.

I know than many of you think that there's no "perfect" rifle for what I'm describing but it really doesn't need to be the "perfect" rifle. Really, it just needs to
1. Not thump the snot out of me
2. Be relatively accurate
3. Not require too much case forming and - minimal neck turning.

If I want accuracy - I'll drag out my 6ppc or .222 or whatever. I have a 8mm-06 AI that consistently prints 2" groups. Nope, not accurate at all but it pushes a 200 partition @ 2900 and is the Hammer of Thor on Elk. It's a hammer for a different application.

What I don't want to do is go find some neat cartridge and mess around for months trying to get it to shoot accurately... then post out here for help.... only to have someone tell me that I picked a cartridge that just isn't ever going to be accurate or that is notorious for splitting cases or case head separations or whatever. THAT would be a real bummer.

So, I have some very good advice now and I really appreciate it.

Thanks !!!

Kevin
 
I've been planning and trying to make time to finish a new hunting rifle for my own use for a while now. I'm thinking a 7x47 Lapua would make a very good all around caliber.--Mike Ezell
 
The right cartridge

Kevin Ballowe said:
What I don't want to do is go find some neat cartridge and mess around for months trying to get it to shoot accurately... then post out here for help.... only to have someone tell me that I picked a cartridge that just isn't ever going to be accurate or that is notorious for splitting cases or case head separations or whatever. THAT would be a real bummer.
Click to expand...

I have a friend that is always after the latest wildcat and that creates its own set of problems; availablity of reamer$, bra$$, die$ and load information. nhk
 
I would second the 250AI idea, I shoot one quite a bit for deer and an last week it tipped an elk again so it has good stuff for hunting but it is one of the most accurate rifles I have, everything I though at it shoots good and it is very pleasant to shoot and really likes R17 with heavier bullets like the 115 Berger or 120 Hornady.
 
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