ultimate 20 cal long range rig

[farmer44]

If anyone had there choice to build a long range 20 cal varmint gun what would it be, Im thinking of building the heaviest barrel contour 1.250 and 1.00 at muzzle. Remington action but not sure on the caliber I would be looking at range of 500 yards plus.
Any input is appreciated.
I have a 20 TAC, 20 vartarg, and a 204.

 

[L.Sherm]

Something like a 20BR, 20 Dasher or 20BRAI to shoot the 55's

 

[Gundog]

You may want to check out another of Todd Kindler's developed cartridges, the 20 Titan.
Based on the 6.5 Grendel case. I have built 2 of them. One is a Douglas barrel on a Savage target action.
The other is a Krieger barreled Remington action. You'll need a PPC bolt faced bolt.
The Titan pushes the 55 grain bullet from 3600 to 3850 fps. Superior accuracy out passed 1000 yds.

If you have a 20 Vartarg, the cartridge forming process is very similar.

 

[GLShooter]

For pure gut wrenching power and range a 20-250 works. It eats up throats bores though so the barrel is definitely consumable.

I have a 20 LBC, Grendel necked to 20 like the Titan, and on the chronograph it will beat a 204/Tac/Prac ( I have all three in AR's) but not by enough to really add substantially to the range. The platform just limits you somewhat compared to a nice long barreled bolt gun. No big deal forming the brass but it is a bit time consuming from the get go.

Greg

 

[B23]

A fast twist 20-250 shooting the Berger 55's would be at the top of my list but I'm probably a little biased considering I have one.

My second choice would probably be a 20 Satan aka 20-47 Lapua.

Close third would probably be a 20BR or one of the many "improved" variants of the BR case necked down to 20 caliber.

All would be shooting the Berger 55 grainers.

 

[searcher]

To me, it seems like one either goes with a rig that will shoot the 39's and 40's, though they don't excel past 600 yards all too well no matter what you shoot them in. I'd probably go with the .20 Practical. Or - you go with the 55 bullet and more horsepower at the tradeoff of short barrel life. I guess it jut depends on whether it is for the occasional poke at a coyote our ground hog - or high volume on prairie dogs our ground squirrels where you can toast a barrel in two days with the heavy bullet version - or get thousands with the 39-40 version. Stepping up to a 6mm will get you everything - long reach and long barrel life - and a huge assortment of bullets.

 

[rob221]

Where do you find 55 grain bullets?

 

[RussellJ]

If anyone had there choice to build a long range 20 cal varmint gun what would it be, Im thinking of building the heaviest barrel contour 1.250 and 1.00 at muzzle. Remington action but not sure on the caliber I would be looking at range of 500 yards plus.
Any input is appreciated.
I have a 20 TAC, 20 vartarg, and a 204.

How about the 5mm/35SMc ???
I have for a 5mm/35SMc chambered Pac-Nor barrel for a Savage Large shank action, headspace gauge, Redding type-S FL die, RCBS seating die and I believe 300-pcs of new 5mm/35SMc Norma brass that I would like to sell if someone is interested.

 

[RegionRat]

Where do you find 55 grain bullets?

Graf's has them run about once a year.

https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/797/inline/1

I was surprised too. Even the Berger web site doesn't show them any more, but there they are...

 

[Tommie]

I agree with the folks suggesting a BR or one of the improved variants.

 

[RegionRat]

This was about as good a table as I can find with some metrics to show the various designs.

http://tripledeuce.net/Cartridge_Comparisons_0SJN.php

Twenty Caliber Cartidge Dimensions

Name	Parent	Body Length	Diameter	Angle	Neck Length	OAL	Capacity	Notes
20-222*	222	1.2603	0.3580	23	0.3033	1.712	27.9	222 necked down with no changes
20-250*	22/250	1.5100	0.4156	28	0.2300	1.910	47.0	22/250 necked to .204
20 Bobcat	222	1.3330	0.3660	40	0.2870	1.700	27.5	.223 neck, 40' minimum taper
20 BR*	6mm BR	1.0710	0.4600	30	0.2675	1.535	37.9	6mm BR necked to .204
20 BR Impr*	6mm BR	1.1278	0.4620	40	0.3002	1.562		6mm BR improved, necked to .204
20 Classic*	30/30	1.2041	0.4090	35	0.2258	1.552		30/30 shortened, improved
20 Dasher*	6mm BR	1.1973	0.4600	40	0.2281	1.560	38.2	6mm BR improved, necked to .204
20 Duster* (1)	222	1.3350	0.3650	40	0.2510	1.670		Sharp angle, minimum taper 2933
20 Duster* (2)	222	1.4190	0.3650	40	0.2140	1.712		Sharp angle, minimum taper 5353
20 Extreme	222	1.2600	0.3480	29	0.2150	1.585	26.0	222 improved, necked, shortened
20 Mink	22 Hornet	0.8554		30	0.2290	1.145		22 Hornet necked & improved
20 Practical	223	1.4370	0.3540	23	0.2030	1.760	30.3	.223 to .20 cal
20 PPC*	6mm PPC	1.0749	0.4310	30	0.2741	1.517	33.5	6mm PPC necked to .204
20 Pup	6mm PPC			30				6mm PPC shortened .173
204 Ruger*	222 Mag	1.5346	0.3608	30	0.2173	1.863	32.4	SAAMI Standard
20 Squirrel*	22 Hornet	0.6250	0.2930	30	0.2738	0.919
20 Tactical*	223	1.4150	0.3600	30	0.2500	1.755	30.2	.223 with 30 degree shoulder
20 TNT*	17 Rem	1.3470	0.3580	23	0.2650	1.770	29.1	17 Rem necked up with no changes
20 VarTarg*	221 FB	1.0660	0.3600	30	0.2163	1.400	23.3	Sharp angle, minimum taper
20 VarTarg Turbo*	222	1.2800	0.3600	30	0.2160	1.614	29.3	Shorter, Sharp angle, minimum taper
222 Remington*	222	1.2640	0.3570	23	0.3127	1.700	28.6	SAAMI Standard

An asterisk* after the cartridge name indicates that the above dimensions have been obtained from actual reamer prints. The others are from the best reliable sources available to me. Remember, many of these are wildcats and therefore non-standard so the dimensions may vary. Special thanks to the members of the Saubier small caliber forums and to Pacific Tool & Gauge for their assistance.

The 20 Duster dimensions are from PT&G prints 2933 (1) and 5353 (2). As you can see, the dimensions are different but both are referred to as 20 Duster.

Caliber	Case OAL	Water Grs	Neck Length
17 Fireball	1.42	23.8	0.222
204 Ruger	1.85	32.4	0.2
20 Tactical	1.766	30.2	0.25
20 VarTarg	1.4	23.3	0.217
22 Hornet	1.403	14.9	0.3857
218 Bee	1.345	19.3	0.2559
221 Fireball	1.4	24.1	0.2025
222	1.7	28.6	0.3127
223	1.76	30.6	0.2027
22/250	1.92	47	0.248
243	2.045	54.8	0.2407
244	2.233	56.2	0.3508
6mm BR	1.56	39.4	0.322
257 Rob.	2.233	57.1	0.3213
257 40 degr	2.233	60.3	0.321
7mm/08	2.035	55.2	0.2842
308	2.015	55.8	0.3034
30-06	2.494	67.1	0.3854

If anybody knows a better one, I am interested. There is a thread on this forum collecting similar information to make a data base of 6mm cartridges and wildcats for comparison.

https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/6mm-cheat-sheet-info.4025875/

 

[Gabe22BR]

I gotta 20BRAI that hammers @ 600yds. At our local MSSA club matches, I’ve took small group, Highest score, 1st in HG... almost every time I’ve carried it.

55gr Berger bullets can be found @ Grafs...

 

[L.Sherm]

I gotta 20BRAI that hammers @ 600yds. At our local MSSA club matches, I’ve took small group, Highest score, 1st in HG... almost every time I’ve carried it.

55gr Berger bullets can be found @ Grafs...

Mine is the best shooting rifle I've ever owned for pure accuracy, easily tunable and seems to shoot everything avg. no matter what I put in it

 

[farmer44]

Thanks everyone for the great information it is quite impressive. Due to the fact that I don't want to burn barrels out after a few days of shooting I think the right barrel twist in the 204 Ruger would probably be my first choice due to the fact of cases being available no special reamers and the ease of loading may be my choice. Any other input is more than welcome.

 

[L.Sherm]

If its just barrel life your after then 204 is the choice. That being said I don't think you will get much if any benefit from stepping up to a 55 with a 204 vrs a 40 with the velocity loss.
The 6BR case is proven and with the Lapua brass it definitely gets the nod.

 

[PA Jeep]

For those with the 20 BRAI. Did you do a tight neck? Any help with powder used with the 55 Berger. I was thinking Reloader 16 or maybe 15. I'm thinking of going with the BRAI

 

[Tucker65]

I built a 20 Practical with shooting the 55gr Berger's in mind. I knew it probably wasn't going to push them at impressive speeds, but I was hoping it would shoot some lighter bullets without over spinning them also. I'm getting 3350 fps with the 55gr and good accuracy. I've also shot 39gr Blitzking's in it and they shoot tiny little groups also. I'm using Benchmark powder because I had alot of it on hand at the time. There might be better powder to use to get more speed but I'm happy with it for now. Here's a couple of pictures from some load testing at 500 yards. These were shot of a bull bag and rear squeeze bag from the hood of my truck. I'm pretty sure a better set-up would result in better results. The video was a 12" gong at 750 yards. First time shooting the rifle at that distance and I connected 3 out of 4 times.

 

[CharlieNC]

How about the 5mm/35SMc ???
I have for a 5mm/35SMc chambered Pac-Nor barrel for a Savage Large shank action, headspace gauge, Redding type-S FL die, RCBS seating die and I believe 300-pcs of new 5mm/35SMc Norma brass that I would like to sell if someone is interested.
View attachment 1248987View attachment 1248988

I bet that sucker screams!

 

[75vmax]

20-243 55 gr berger

 

[L.Sherm]

For those with the 20 BRAI. Did you do a tight neck? Any help with powder used with the 55 Berger. I was thinking Reloader 16 or maybe 15. I'm thinking of going with the BRAI

No, mine has a .236 neck.
I couldn't get any speed with H4350 or RL16. RL15 has been awesome. I would like to try H4895 I know with lighter bullets 8208 has worked in another rifle