Magnum, Short-action, Long Action, Intermediate. Doubtless, we have all heard these terms thrown about when discussing rifles and cartridges, but what do they mean, and, how did we end up with this system of rifle action sizes, and what has been its effect on cartridge design (and vice versa)? It’s been an interesting journey to arrive at the current mix we have, and like any good online recipe, there is a ton of backstory. (Just a note, we are an Amazon Affiliate, and we may get a sliver of any sales made from links that send you their way)
Today’s shooter has their choice of a dizzying array of rifles and cartridges to choose from. But this was not always the case. Early bolt-action rifles were strictly military affairs. However, the military is a driver of innovation. There are four rounds that bring us to where we are today, three of which sprung from military requirements.
Table of Contents
The Great Granddad of Rifle Rounds.
In 1888, in response to the French adoption of the 8mm Lebel rifle and cartridge, the German Army designed and adopted the Commission 88 rifle and the 8×57 cartridge. The case of the 8×57 (now known as the 8mm Mauser) was the basis for the whole Mauser family of rounds, most modern rounds, and the rifles built around them, like the famous model 98. These rifles are known today as an intermediate-length action. Back then, they were known as standard actions, but that designation is less clear these days.
The Better Idea
After America’s introduction to the receiving end of a Mauser rifle in the Spanish-American war, we decided to create a faster-loading successor for the Krag rifle. Our replacement (the 1903 Springfield rifle) turned out to be a copy of the Mauser, but boasting a longer and faster round. Ironically, (and happily for shooters later on) the new .30-03 and its immediate successor, the .30-06, used the same case design as the 8×57 Mauser, but the case was a quarter inch longer and the round an eighth inch longer overall. The .30-06 can fit into an intermediate action, but it is tight and sometimes requires some alteration to the receiver.
The Magnum
Magnum used to be a term for an overly large bottle of cheap wine. When Holland and Holland brought out the .375 H&H in 1912, a resemblance was noted. This long, tapered round featured a belt on the base of the casing to headspace on since the round was so tapered (to allow flawless feeding) that it would not reliably headspace on the shoulder of the casing like the 8×57. The .375 was nearly three-eighths of an inch longer than the 8×57 and required a larger and longer (magnum) action to work without modifications.
The Shorty
In 1915 Savage Arms unveiled the .250-3000 cartridge to the world, created by cutting a .30-06 casing off at roughly the two-thirds mark and necking down. Five years later, they followed up with the .300 Savage round using the same method. This cartridge would eventually be the basis for Winchester’s experiments with the Army that led to the creation of the .308 Winchester.
Why these Matter
Prior to WW2, bolt action rifles were either a similar design to a military action, built using a surplus military action, or were purpose-built around a cartridge. Many rifles used a standard (usually surplus) Mauser action, or a magnum Mauser action. There were also custom firms that would take a pair of standard Mausers and cut one just forward of center and the other just aft of it, then weld the longer halves together to make a magnum, and the smaller halves together for a shorter action for cartridges like the .35 Remington or .250 Savage. This all changed in 1948 when Remington introduced the models 721 and 722.
The 721 and 722 were significant in a number of ways. They were designed for mass production with little hand-fitting required. They were the first factory rifles to reliably group one minute-of-angle from the factory, and finally, they created the standard for what is considered a short or long action rifle. The long action was not really that new, the 1903 and Winchester 70 had been built around the ’06 family of cartridges. However, the dedicated short action of the model 722 was something new entirely. Designed around the .300 Savage, it provided a perfect platform for the progeny of its offspring, the .308 Winchester. This was the action length all other manufacturers copied when building their own short action rifles and is the box that most new modern rounds have to fit into.
Lost in the Middle
A casualty of the creation of short action rifles are the intermediate rounds, anything similar to the 57mm length Mauser case. Some notable non-Mauser rounds in this group include the .257 Roberts, 6mm Remington, and 6.5 Swede. They can fit in a short action rifle, but the bullets must be seated deeply (decreasing powder capacity, and therefore velocity) to do so. They fit in a long action with room to spare, but then why not just chamber the rifle in a long action round and get the most performance? There are still a great many Mauser actions floating around if one has the desire and the coin to build an intermediate cartridge rifle, but the affordable, mass-produced rifles of today will be found in cartridges that were designed to fit in a short or long action because those are the rifles currently produced.
Conclusion
Rifle and cartridge development is very much a cycle of one driving the development of the other and then the cycle repeating in reverse. The 8×57, .30-06, .375 H&H, and .300 Savage had rifles built around them. In turn, nearly every bolt-action cartridge that followed was created to fit those rifles. We now also have seen this pattern play out with the AR-15 rifle and the family of rounds created to fit its action, and then the mini-action rifles created to house some of those. I am interested to see what the future holds for rifle and cartridge development and what new things may spring out of the needs of tomorrow.
Until next time.
