It’s hard to deny that the .404 Jeffery case influenced recent cartridge development.

We have seen a strong field of new rifle cartridges in the last decade. As I developed load data for them, I gathered a lot of impressions about their usefulness and performance. Please note that when I am talking velocities, I'm using pressure-barrel velocities to keep the apples with the apples. Many rifle cartridge loads published in the Speer manuals reflect sporting-rifle velocities that may be slower.

Here's how my ballistician's mind sees some of our newer standardized rifle cartridges.

The Short-Action Magnums
This group includes the Winchester Short Magnums (WSM) and Super Short Magnums (WSSM), the Remington Short Action Ultra Mags (RSAUM), and the Ruger Compact Magnums (RCM). First, I think Remington and Ruger came up with the technically better names; the term "short-action magnum" was, in my opinion, already taken decades before. It was originally used to describe magnums based on the H&H Magnum case but shortened to work in standard .30-06-length actions. Famous examples include the .300 Winchester Magnum, the 7mm Remington Magnum, and the .338 Winchester Magnum. The latest series was designed to work through the .308-length short-action rifles; that information should have been incorporated in all the names. But that's one man's opinion.

It's hard to deny the influence of the .404 Jeffery case when looking at the new Remington and Winchester cartridges. They may not match it point for point, but the overall dimensional similarities of the head and the rebated rims certainly suggest an ancestral link.

The short cases allow something that has become difficult in the conventional long magnum cases: efficient reduced loads. These are very useful for low-recoil practice or training recoil-sensitive new shooters. Although we were able to get some useful loads for the larger cases, it was no easy task. The new short-action magnums proved to be willing participants in our reduced-load development. We used Accurate Arms 5744 propellant and found a number of dandy and highly efficient loads.

The .223 WSSM is the smallest, and frankly, I did not expect much from it. However, lab results didn't lie, and we saw this little pocket rocket post some of the highest handload velocities of any U.S. standard .22-caliber rifle cartridge. It commonly edged out the .220 Swift in several bullet weights for top velocity. It should; it held a little more powder. Still, it was impressive to one who expected much less. One caution here: The standard twist for the .223 WSSM is 1:10, making some classic thin-jacketed varmint bullets prone to self-destruct on the way to the target.

Although well behaved in the lab, the .243 WSSM did not fair as well as its smaller sibling when compared to existing cartridges. It was on track with the venerable 6mm Remington and beat out the .243 Winchester by a modest margin. Both older cartridges are traditionally offered in short-action bolt rifles, so this made me wonder why a "super-short" 6mm.

There were early rumors that the .223 and .243 WSSMs were hard on barrels; however, we did not see problems in running large numbers of bullets through our pressure barrels. The calibration system for pressure barrels lets lab techs spot wear and erosion issues long before they become obvious to the unaided eye, and we didn't get any red flags during our data development.

The .25 WSSM with 87- and 100-grain bullets was nearly the same as the .25-06 Remington. The WSSM with 120-grain bullets fell between the .25-06 and the .257 Roberts +P. It made me wish for a .25 WSM on the same case as the .270 WSM for Western hunting. I think my friend Lane Pearce has already looked at this option. [You can read Lane's experiences with his .257 USM wildcat in the December 2008 issue of Shooting Times.]

The .270 WSM edged the .270 Winchester by a small margin with all bullet weights. The 7mm WSM and the 7mm RSAUM both showed a modest gain over the popular .280 Remington with bullets of 160 grains or less, and they were just under what you can expect from the 7mm Remington Magnum. There was little if any statistically valid difference between the two new 7mm cartridges with canister-powder handloads.