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Range Report Short mag for short action

BrienM

Underfunded Overthinker
Full Member
Minuteman
Feb 7, 2020
253
191
In a Remington 700 short action, which short magnums actually work and run as intended with boat tail in front of neck/shoulder junction? 7saum? 6.5PRC?
 
Depends on what bullet you plan on shooting. I have a hunting rifle with a blue printed 700SA in 300 WSM and almost exclusively Berger bullets. The heaviest bullet I can mag feed is the 168gr Classic Hunters without seating too deep within the case. Can go heavier with other manufacturers bullets since the OAL is shorter. For what I hunt the 168 is more that enough bullet.
 
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6.5SST or SS and 7SST or 7SS.
Just make sure and have the feed ramp notched.
7saum or 6.5 PRC will need a medium length or long action to run at their full potential.
 
You're probably not going to like what I say, but the Winchester Super Short Magnums work as intended from a short action:

.223 WSSM; 88ELDs at 3250fps:
SH22SSM1.jpg


7mm WSSM; 162Amax at 2950fps:
SH284-SSM1.jpg
 
Speer Gold Dot Rifle bullets employ a rebated base. That's one of the key reasons I'm so interested in them, They appear to be able to support a superior BC without as much protrusion into the case body. BC for BC, they appear to be shorter than the HPBT's, and so far, they are fairly accurate in my testing. Their price is good, too.

I don't run my loads excessively hot, and so far, haven't seen the sort of issues one might expect from a deep seated bullet, like donuts.

One thing I do is to only size the necks about 2/3 of the way down, leaving the area just above the neck/shoulder junction still expanded. That may be why I'm not seeing donuts. I'm talking about the 260 Rem/140 Gold Dot. I also use a 308 F/L die as a bump die for those cases when chambering gets stiff.

Greg
 
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Get M5 bottom metal and shoot either the Sherman Shortmags, SAUMs, or WSMs. I shoot a 7SS and run 190gr Bergers at 2813 w/ RL23. RL26 or H1000 might be able to do better depending on the node...but I’m currently fine with what I’ve got. Consistent and shoots in the 0.3s MOA at 500.
 
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