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Loading the 20br

Hntnhrd

Silver $$ Contributor
I have a Remington 700 action blueprinted with a proof research stainless barrel (1in10 twist) chambered in 20br. The thing is a laser!! It’s fun to shoot and I have to be careful as to not heat the barrel up to much!! Anyway the guy who built me the gun started me on a load with h322 and 39 grain Sierra Blitzkings. We settled on 30.5 grains of powder and they are averaging at about 4200 fps with no signs of pressure on the brass. ( we tried up to 31.5 grains of powder but got heavy extractor marks and hard to lift bolt. I can only imagine the FPS out of those ).
Well since 39grain Blitzkings are impossible to find lately I have been searching for an alternate load. A local shop has a few thousand nosler ballistic tips 40 grainers in stock so I picked up a box. I started with H 322 but at 29 grains with these I was blowing primers. ( Remington 7.5) I then picked up a pound of Aa2520 and a pound of Tac. I started at 28 grains of powder with each and the 40 grain BT.
Really all the test loads with both these powders weren’t bad. They were all “minute of Praire dog”! But in my rifle!! 31.5 grains of AA2520 gave me a group that was really just one enlarged hole. The most accurate load with Tac and the 40 grain BT was at 29.5 grains of powder.
It looks like I’ll grab a thousand more of the BTs from my local shop and that should get me through the life of this barrel. Fun round to shoot and it literally blows the Praire Dogs away on how it performs!018680EC-F583-4137-9FDB-8E452F4C4931.jpeg
I have researched the net and have seen were others have some good loads developed but some of the powders are just impossible to find. If anyone has any other suggestions for this round I am all ears.
 
RegionRat said:
By chance, have you ever read a book called The Terrific Twenties? It is dedicated to the 20 cal wildcats and a great book to have for someone who likes 20 BR.

There is also a dedicated sub forum here for the smaller calibers where the 20 BR and others are the focus.

https://forum.accurateshooter.com/forums/small-stuff-22s-20s-and-17s.8/

What twist is your bbl?
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I have looked through it. My wife and daughter are always trying to find me something for my birthday ( at the age where I don’t need anything and if I do I just go buy it :) . So I gave them the link to order me the book.
Twist is 1/10.
 
The Hornady 40 VMax comes around every so often and is worth a try as well. It should run just as well as the others and certainly does the terminal ballistics job well at the speeds you are running.

The powder issue is one a learning to watch the topic by using an automatic service like ShootingBot, getting notices from your preferred suppliers, or watching forum threads, etc.

Many of the previous patterns of powder availability have been radically changed in the last few years, so finding the ones you like or want to try is a matter of spending some time learning the new ropes.

Powders like H4350, Varget, etc., used to have a rhythm based on a shipment from Australia that marked when Hodgdon would distribute them, but these days it is clearly being metered out over time. Even the new TS15.5 took a long time between the announcement from Hodgdon, and the appearance at retail. Even then, it pops up at intervals. I kept watching and i figure I caught the second or third wave.

Nothing wrong with the 2520, but if you wanted to try some of the other powders, you end up having to play the new game to score powder (or other components in demand for that matter.) Sounds like your rig is worth a look.
 
Grabbed enough 40 grain noslers to last the life of the barrel. Shot enough p dogs last weekend with this rifle at 400 yards to talk my buddy into having one built! The splat factor at shorter ranges is pretty impressive.
 
I have had good results with H4895 and both 40g Vmax and 40g NBT'S. Best accuracy came at 3950 fps.and 29.3 g of H4895. In my rifle. I got it up to 30g and 4075 fps but accuracy wasn't quite as good. My barrel is an 11 twist I belive.
 
swimster said:
I have had good results with H4895 and both 40g Vmax and 40g NBT'S. Best accuracy came at 3950 fps.and 29.3 g of H4895. In my rifle. I got it up to 30g and 4075 fps but accuracy wasn't quite as good. My barrel is an 11 twist I belive.
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I haven’t been able to find H4895. I have some IMR 4895 . I also haven’t been able to get the vmax to shoot all that great.
 
The Nbts shot better for me too ,but I ran out and had to switch to the V max. I have tried some other powders. I'll check my data book and get back with.
 
The other 2 I tried with 40g V max were cci 450 ,29g of Benchmark 3900fps @ 29.5 I was getting some pressure signs. Next was cci BR 4s 30g Varget shot some good groups velocity was a little low 3853 fps. Pressure @ 30.5. I was going to try some IMR 8208 but I quit testing after I shot the H4895. Good luck it's a sweet round for Pds.
 
I have a 20BR that needs some attention. It has 2 rounds through it just for test fire. A Shilen prefit Bighorn action, TT trigger, WOOX chassis. I am skim turning necks just to knock off the high spots, made a fair bit of difference in my 22BR.
I had this throated for deep seated 55 grain Berger’s. I just didn’t see enough gain with the 40’s in the BR case to want to use them.
Terrific Twenties is a good read, but the powder data is dated for the most part.
I have not made a hard decision on exactly what powder I am going to start with using the 55’s.

Glad to see a couple of others doin 20BR.

I see some folks running the 55’s in a VT case. I myself really question what pressures they are running to get the distance they are sending them too.
 
I have been looking for R15. Buddy has some I can test drive for the time being.

On paper and theory it looks like it should be a good combo with the right powder. We shall find out
;-).
 
RL16 works as well
All varieties of 4350 works as well, just gotta use a 12” + drop tube to get it in..

Just get a dense case load, look for the speed node around 3500-3570..
The BRAI version will be 3650ish
The 20 Dasher be 3750ish..

The search function on form works for looking up 20BR loads for certain bullets.
I had to start from there on my 20BRAI, and go on up…
 
I was able to find a pound of vv133. I am not unhappy with the two loads I have come up with so far. Just if components continue to be hard to find I would like to have options.
 
Dusty Stevens said:
133 is too slow. You need 130 or faster
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I wondered about that. One of the hard parts, for me, is not grasping the concept of what powders work in different calibers by burn rate. The only reloading manual I could find loads for 20 Br was the accurate powders online manual . We came up with the original load for this rifle from Todd Kinders book , of h322 and 39 grain Blitzkings.
 
Hntnhrd said:
I wondered about that. One of the hard parts, for me, is not grasping the concept of what powders work in different calibers by burn rate. The only reloading manual I could find loads for 20 Br was the accurate powders online manual . We came up with the original load for this rifle from Todd Kinders book , of h322 and 39 grain Blitzkings.
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Look at a burn rate chart and if it gets full before pressure or you gotta really pack it go to the next faster, back off and go with that. Check with @Tommie on here i just built him an improved 20br and hes shooting 55. He may know what you could use in there
 
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