These M1999 actions have me thinking.
The so-called "short" action holds a 3.12" cartridge, so let's see some .284, .308 or .323 calibers on a 2.25" Jeffery case.
I'll bet a 3.1" Jeffery would beat a 2.8" Lazzeroni, if you see where I'm going.
(See, for example, Lazzeroni's 10.57 Maverick, with it's 2400 fps 400gr .416 bullet.)
Further, if Lazzeroni can do what he does in a 2.8" cartridge with a .577" base, let's see what a 3.1" Lapua Mag-based cartridge can do, with it's .587" base, eh? (Mag cap is an issue here, though.)
Besides the M1999, there's all those "afflicted" Yugo's waiting to be elevated to "magnum" status...

Of course the question always arises, "what will these do that another, standard chamber won't?"
Well, I do believe we should make use of the space given us, whether it's in one of MR's knew actions, or an old shot-out Yugo milsurp looking for something more than .308 Winchester. The 3.1" Jeffery-based rounds would fit right in with Winchester's belted mags, I'm sure. So, this is about package size, not maximum long-range terminal ballistics. You simply can't make a Yugo into a 7mm Rem Mag. (Or a 458 Win Mag, for that matter!) But with this Jeffery case, maybe you can.

Those are my thoughts for the evening.

Before you get too far along in your plans just remember that Lazzeroni gets their velocities in 26" barrels and their cartridges are loaded to an average of 65k-67k psi.

You need a very, very good action and you MUST be a meticulous reloader or ......

Point taken, especially regarding Yugo's.
Nonetheless, in any given rifle, safe loads of that 3.1" Jeffery will stand up to safe loads of a Lazz case or Win Mags, and beat a WSM for certain. The Lapua Mag case all the more so.

I'm really surprised, the more I think of it, that no one has pushed this cartridge length before.
Is it just that it's so easy to get 3.35" out of most Mausers? What else?

Isn't what you're proposing very much like the Dakota line of cartridges?

Screw it

[ 06-20-2003, 12:43: Message edited by: Talking Head ]

Sorry I missed what Talking Head said.
The ones that get changed to "screw it" are often the most entertaining.

DB Bill, yes and no.
Dakota's rounds are 3.34" long or so.
These won't fit in a 3.1" action.
But take that and push the shoulder back 1/4" and trim, and yes, that's what I'm talking about.

I was just playing around with some drawrings, and took the measurements from the 257 Weatherby, from the shoulder up, and put them on top of this short Jeffery case. Assuming a COL of 3.25" for the Weatherby, and shrinking down .15" (for a COL of 3.1"), basically we have a 257 Dakota on a 2.4" case. Only a hair smaller than their 7mm case (2.5") but it fits in this intermediate action length. And has more capacity than the Weatherby still. [best I can figure, this new case would hold ~82-3gr of water, compared to Weatherby's ~75, so it is significant.]
So, assuming a 26" bbl and similar throating, you could have a super long-range 25 cal on the M1999 short action that would beat pretty much anything out there (if energy is your "game").

How much would this cost?
Too much to make it worth most people's while.
But how many wildcat are exactly this way?