DougB
Member
I'm interested in a fairly compact, accurate bolt-action rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor. I would like around a 20" barrel in a medium/heavy contour. Fluted would be ideal, but seems rare. The Tikka T3x CTR looks like an excellent option for me. My concern is that I've read that Tikkas all have long actions that are blocked to handle shorter shorter cartridges. This bugs me, in that, if they were true short actions, the overall length of the rifle could be maybe 3/4" shorter or, conversely, I could have a little extra barrel length (giving a little better velocity) in the same length rifle. A shorter action would also reduce weight by a few ounces, while providing a stiffer action. There doesn't seem to be any benefit to having an unnecessarily long action other than to reduce manufacturing costs. I did read that some handloaders load cartridges longer than standard, and these may feed better in a longer action, but I have no interest in doing this.
However, in doing some online searches on this topic, I found that quite a few manufacturers really only have one action length, and also, that some true short actions are actually heavier than other manufacturers long actions. Does anyone have information on the actual lengths and weights of different actions and how they compare? Is there a true short-action rifle out there that would provide similar performance to the Tikka T3x CTR, while providing a shorter, lighter rifle? I know saving less than an inch of overall length and maybe 3-4 ounces may not seem like much, but it just bugs me to have a action significantly longer than needed for the cartridge. But maybe I'm over-thinking this.
However, in doing some online searches on this topic, I found that quite a few manufacturers really only have one action length, and also, that some true short actions are actually heavier than other manufacturers long actions. Does anyone have information on the actual lengths and weights of different actions and how they compare? Is there a true short-action rifle out there that would provide similar performance to the Tikka T3x CTR, while providing a shorter, lighter rifle? I know saving less than an inch of overall length and maybe 3-4 ounces may not seem like much, but it just bugs me to have a action significantly longer than needed for the cartridge. But maybe I'm over-thinking this.