Best Hunting Caliber that Fits a Short Action??

@ Pauleye,.. The .300 WSM Cartridge WITH, "Proper Bullets" IS, too Long for Most "Short Actions".
The Shorter, 165's and 180's,.. Yup, but NO,. LONG, High BC, stuff Fits without Setting, the Bullets, DEEP into, the Powder.
And, the .300 WSM, NEEDS,. a Magnum, Bolt Face.
The 7 SAUM, WILL Do, "everything" that the OP,. Wants !

Idaho Lefty said:

@ Pauleye,.. The .300 WSM Cartridge, WITH, "Proper Bullets" IS, too Long for, Most,. "Short Actions".
The Shorter, 165's and 180's,.. Yup, but NO,. LONG, High BC, stuff,.. Fits without Setting, the Bullets, DEEP into, the Powder.
And, the .300 WSM, NEEDS,. a Magnum, Bolt Face.
The 7 SAUM, WILL Do, "everything" that, the OP,. Wants !

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9 coma's in one sentence?! That has to be a record!

Idaho Lefty said:

@ Axl,. I'm a Ballistic and Hunting Rifle Genius,. NOT much, on punctuation, tho !

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I think you are too much on punctuation!
In school I always got in trouble for not using any.

I learned to spell pretty well, but got D's,.. in punctuation
Loved, Machine and Wood shop !

My son bought, a Rem 700 Short action rifle in .300 WSM and was VERY disappointed, in the Bullets he could use ( he Sold that, Rifle and went with, Tikka actions. after that experience ). The Action and Magazine was, just too "Short" for, the Longer, High BC,. Bullets !
So, I have first hand knowledge, on .300 WSM's,.. LOL !

ARlife4me said:

in a 20" barrel it'll add 1,500-2,000 #'s of muzzle energy over the 45-70 modern levers

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Now that is a potent round for sure!

bdlesh said:

Now that is a potent round for sure!

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Going purely off of ql using 350gr a-frame and 20" barrel @ max pressure it'll be close to 5,200#'s of muzzle energy. @ 500 yards the energy bleeds off fast. BC kills it at that distance.

ARlife4me said:

Going purely off of ql using 350gr a-frame and 20" barrel @ max pressure it'll be close to 5,200#'s of muzzle energy. @ 500 yards the energy bleeds off fast. BC kills it at that distance.

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That will definitely put the hurt on what it hits

6.8 western or the 7 saum.Good luck

300 wsm

I am a big fan of the 300 WSM….but, with a SA can be "iffy" unless you use an extended mag or single feed. Even with an extended mag and wanting to shoot up close to the lands will probably not work in the mag…just too long. My experience anyway.

If you are trying to use one rifle/action with two barrels, unless you go with a standard 0.473" rim diameter cartridge you're going to have to get another bolt (or bolt head, if your action's bolt lets you interchange heads, e.g., Savage 110, the various ARCs, etc.). For a short action, I don't think you're going to get something significantly better energy-wise at distance over the 6.5 Creed with another 0.473" rim cartridge (unless it's a rebated rim like the .284 Winchester), because case capacity will be the limiting factor. Same weight bullets in larger bore sizes with the same cartridge family, e.g., a 7-08/150 and a .308/150, will give faster muzzle velocity in the larger caliber but with a lower BC and thus past 300-400 yards the smaller caliber retains more energy and shoots flatter.

Unless your TL3 action is set up for '06-length cartridges the 7 PRC is out (you'd have to have an '06-length bolt stop which would give you some overtravel on .308-length cartridges) but a 6.5 Creed/.300 WSM is in. Otherwise, a 6.5 Creed/7 PRC would make a good combo as would a 6.5 Creed/6.8 Western... but they're not that different.

IMO the best combination would not include the 6.5 Creed... I'd have a 6 GT/6.8 Western combination. That would make a really good match rifle, and a really good long range hunting rifle. You'd need two bolts/bolt heads, but the .308 bolt stop would work for both. Or you could go 6 GT/.284 Winchester with the same bolt.

Honestly, you could build a 6.5 PRC and be done with it out to 800 yards with the right loads/bullets... maybe limit shots on elk to 600 yards.

Ok... I'm going old school on this one a cartridge that was way ahead of its time, the one I loved in my Rem700 BDL with a 24" inch barrel... back in the day, and I still can't believe I traded it off for one of the newer and great rifle and caliber combos... The cartridge was the 6.5 Rem Mag, it took quite a few Deer and never failed even though I didn't have the 6.5mm bullets we have today.
Just my 0.2 Cheers.