OK, I will confess up front that I'm still new to long range/tactical shooting so I apologize in advance if the following is a stupid question...
While researching components (caliber size, barrel manufacturer, barrel length, action maker, chassis system maker, etc.) for a custom build, I think I have narrowed it down to the following: 6.5mm creedmoor with a 26" barrel in a Dual Strike 30 chassis, action and barrel manufacturers still pending. While researching actions though, I'm seeing a lot of references to short actions, long actions, as well as those for *some* specific calibers (.308, .300, .338) but not 6.5mm, .243. .260 (what I'm led to believe are newer/less common calibers).
So my question is this: benchrest and other technical differences aside (lefty/righty, etc.), are there really only two basic types of actions, i.e., long and short? Meaning do calibers .308 and smaller work best in short actions and larger calibers (.300, .338, and up) only work in long actions? I've seen claims that you can use .308 in either type and that seems (from what I can tell) to be the midpoint caliber that can ride the fence while smaller calibers are really meant for short actions and larger calibers *have* to use long actions.
Am I over simplifying this? Am I just way off base? Does what I wrote even make sense?
THANK YOU in advance.
While researching components (caliber size, barrel manufacturer, barrel length, action maker, chassis system maker, etc.) for a custom build, I think I have narrowed it down to the following: 6.5mm creedmoor with a 26" barrel in a Dual Strike 30 chassis, action and barrel manufacturers still pending. While researching actions though, I'm seeing a lot of references to short actions, long actions, as well as those for *some* specific calibers (.308, .300, .338) but not 6.5mm, .243. .260 (what I'm led to believe are newer/less common calibers).
So my question is this: benchrest and other technical differences aside (lefty/righty, etc.), are there really only two basic types of actions, i.e., long and short? Meaning do calibers .308 and smaller work best in short actions and larger calibers (.300, .338, and up) only work in long actions? I've seen claims that you can use .308 in either type and that seems (from what I can tell) to be the midpoint caliber that can ride the fence while smaller calibers are really meant for short actions and larger calibers *have* to use long actions.
Am I over simplifying this? Am I just way off base? Does what I wrote even make sense?
THANK YOU in advance.