Thread: Short barrel magnum calibres?

Righto, Not looking for do or don't rather interested in first hand experience. Who has or had a short barreled magnum talking 20 inches or less plus suppressor and how did you rate it? What calibre and speeds were you getting out of it and what powders were you using?

Currently toying with the idea of chopping the rem mag down but don't really want to cut into into the fluting or getting a WSM and chopping to 18 inches. So hit us with what you have got.

Bro look up Doc Watson on Youtube, he has a chopped remmag review.

Ive got a 20" 300saum. Its a very efficient case. 3k with 168grn. 3.170k with 150grn. N550 & R17. For my 50-500 yd hunting with the 168 NBT its hard to beat.

Also a 22" 270WSM. 129grn Barnes LRX 3.330k with R19, 3.250k with R26

There're plenty of 7saum around with 20" getting 2.9k with 160 grn. My 22" is 3k.

I recall Greg Duley saying you can take a 7mmRM back to 20" ok.

I've got a 300wsm 18 inches. Tikka t3 with dpt with stainless blast baffle. Not huge speeds but I'm happy the game I have shot with it have dropped on the spot mostly. 168 amax doing 2850. The only thing I don't like it the muzzle jump even with the suppressor I can't spot shots with it but it doesn't bother me too much we try to film our shots when we can now so we can just watch that and see if I missed haha

Sent from my AMN-LX2 using Tapatalk

Brothers has a tikka 300 wsm, 21 inch suppressed, 2975 168 amax. Loves it. Leaves his 7mm08 at home now. I’ve got a 20 inch saum. Suppressed. Can get around 2850 with 162 eld x. Goes good.
I still like smaller calibres better though!

Interesting thread. I have a hankering for a 7 SAUM with a shortish barrel (20” or so). What’s the story with that set up and 162s?

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Interesting thread. I have a hankering for a 7 SAUM with a shortish barrel (20” or so). What’s the story with that set up and 162s?

My 7mm SAUM is a factory standard 22" barrel, I'm pushing the 162 Amax at 3087 fps with RE26, so id imagine chopping 2 inches off would still achieve 3k+ with 162's

Cam7mm08 has a 15” 300wsm and shoots quite lite bullets, 130ish I think. He loves it.

Have a 20 inch 300WSM but due to the lock down not tested it yet since it was cut down. With the 24 inch barrel however the 200gn Hornady Precision hunter ammo was 2830 (magnopeed)
I'm hoping for similar velocities with 175-180gn projectiles with the shorter barrel

Originally Posted by mikee

Have a 20 inch 300WSM but due to the lock down not tested it yet since it was cut down. With the 24 inch barrel however the 200gn Hornady Precision hunter ammo was 2830 (magnopeed)
I'm hoping for similar velocities with 175-180gn projectiles with the shorter barrel

my 300WSM Tikka 959 has a 20" barrel and am getting 2980 with 178 amax using win 780 powder

Originally Posted by 57jl

my 300WSM Tikka 959 has a 20" barrel and am getting 2980 with 178 amax using win 780 powder

Well that sounds promising, I got my rifle back from being chopped day before "the great lockup" still waiting on powder and then permission from dear leader thugs to go further than the nearest supermarket. Mines a Kimber Montana shot great with the 24 inch barrel but was a bit of a handful recoil wise.

Originally Posted by mikee

Well that sounds promising, I got my rifle back from being chopped day before "the great lockup" still waiting on powder and then permission from dear leader thugs to go further than the nearest supermarket. Mines a Kimber Montana shot great with the 24 inch barrel but was a bit of a handful recoil wise.

I use a suppressor with a double muzzle break in it =243 recoil

Originally Posted by 57jl

I use a suppressor with a double muzzle break in it =243 recoil

Interesting, how does that work as the breaks usually work by re-directing gas to offset the recoil but with a suppressor which works by trapping all the gas inside and slowing its escape??

The recoil is acceptable you just must pay attention to what you are doing, rather then just shoot with one hand tucked under the butt like many do

7 saum works well. 7 08 on steroids. 162 eld x or m 2850-2900. I think reloder 23 or 26 are good powders. I’ve used 23 to get to 2850 with 59 grains. Reloder 26 may be better I’ve heard. 59 grains 2213 gets me 2750fps. Used out to 500yards ok. Nothing walks away if hit square.

Begs the question- what are you trying to achieve? What distance do you want to shoot game ? What sort of hunting are you going to use this for ? 300 WSM, 300 SAUM or 7mm SAUM or 284 all tick a lot of boxes. Personally I would not shorten any of these less than 20in. If you chop your RM too short you burn a lot of powder for little or no speed gain over the smaller cartridges. How’s your tolerance for recoil ? If you are recoil shy you’d be better off going 7mm than 30cal.