Pros and cons of the various 20 caliber offerings?? I will shoot coyotes with it. Most coyotes are shot at relatively close range so super accuracy is not technically neccessary, but for me it is important.
Thanks Miles
Thanks Miles
20 calibers
- Thread starter dr foxtail
- Start date
Geronimo Jim
Gold $$ Contributor
20 Tactical..............great Lapua brass ...........can't be beat!
Thats exactly what I was thinking.
Thanks
P. S. I have never used Lapua brass so no experience. Do most just use the whole lot or do they segregate in some way to weed out the few "bad" ones?
Thanks
P. S. I have never used Lapua brass so no experience. Do most just use the whole lot or do they segregate in some way to weed out the few "bad" ones?
Geronimo Jim
Gold $$ Contributor
My 20 Tac is for prarie dogs and I don't bother to do anything but load it and shoot. It is the cheapest Lapua brass that you can find. I am guessing they are still selling a big one time order.
th82457
Silver $$ Contributor
I have a .20 Vartarg and a .204 Ruger. I use the Vartarg for prairie dogs and anything up to fox. The .204 has more pop for larger coyotes, using a 39 to 45 gr. bullet. Both rounds are extremely accurate and easy to load for. The .20 Tactical is close to identical performance as .204 Ruger, really depends on which one you really want. Good Luck !
Phil
Gold $$ Contributor
The bigger .20`s are just fine,as long as the bullet does it`s job...
.20 Tactical and .20 Practical will feed just fine.
.20-250 will do the job,but it is on the BIG end.....
.20BR will get it done,but feeding is iffy,some feed some don`t.
The .20 vartarg will get it done,but the brass has been a problem for me.
There are probably 10 more .20cal. variants that will do the job,pick the one you like best.
.20 Tactical and .20 Practical will feed just fine.
.20-250 will do the job,but it is on the BIG end.....
.20BR will get it done,but feeding is iffy,some feed some don`t.
The .20 vartarg will get it done,but the brass has been a problem for me.
There are probably 10 more .20cal. variants that will do the job,pick the one you like best.
Thanks, just the kind of info/feedback I was looking for.
th82457
Silver $$ Contributor
Just another comment, now that Winchester makes .204 brass, it is a pretty reasonable alternative to the other suggestions as I use their brass and get very good accuracy at less than $30/ 100 pcs. of brass. Can use standard price loading dies, with no case forming at all and lot's of good reasonably priced factory guns to chose from. Wildcats are cool, but sometimes you pay a price to be different.
ChrisNZ said:
What he said. Swap out the bushing on your .223 bushing die and shoot. Plenty of boiler room for all but maybe a "big push" on the 55's. Or run the 20.-.223AI and run them all hard! I haven't made the .20 jump yet and think this is what I am going with as I have the .223AI bushing dies also.
.20 tac/prac 204R,20 duster 20 Vartarg + turbo are all very good cartridges but the ease of finding "that" load really is a no brainer with the ppc anything you feed it just seems to work.I agree with Phil, I can always build another barrel. I have a 20 BR. Very accurate and very fast.
BigDMT
I have a .204 Ruger and a 20 VarTarg. Yes the .204 is faster and hits harder, but it recoils more and heats the barrel up faster too. My favorite thing about the 20 VT is being able to watch all the action in the scope during the shot. And barrel heating is so much less than my .204 during rapid fire occasions on prairie dog or gopher towns that I can easily fire 10 shots right in a row with no POI drift and minimal scope mirage from the barrel.
I have never had trouble with brass when forming from 221 FB either. It's a breeze to make. One pass in your full sizer and will shoot just as accurately before and after the shoulder is fire-formed, so there is no need to wait for a 30 degree fire-formed shoulder to start developing loads.
But I learned early on to NEVER form 20 VT brass from 17 Fireball cases. Shoulders and necks get way too thin and crack easily. Remington Brass from 221 FB will last a very, very long time.
My 20 VT will shoot just about ANY load you put through it with sub 1/2 MOA accuracy. Extremely forgiving round. I run a 34gr HP bullet at about 3450 fps and I can shoot twice as much as my .204 Ruger with the same bullet running 3750 fps and still not heat my barrel up too badly.
I love my .204 Ruger for gophers because of the extra carnage it produces, but I love my 20 VT for it's easy goin nature in every other aspect.
I have never had trouble with brass when forming from 221 FB either. It's a breeze to make. One pass in your full sizer and will shoot just as accurately before and after the shoulder is fire-formed, so there is no need to wait for a 30 degree fire-formed shoulder to start developing loads.
But I learned early on to NEVER form 20 VT brass from 17 Fireball cases. Shoulders and necks get way too thin and crack easily. Remington Brass from 221 FB will last a very, very long time.
My 20 VT will shoot just about ANY load you put through it with sub 1/2 MOA accuracy. Extremely forgiving round. I run a 34gr HP bullet at about 3450 fps and I can shoot twice as much as my .204 Ruger with the same bullet running 3750 fps and still not heat my barrel up too badly.
I love my .204 Ruger for gophers because of the extra carnage it produces, but I love my 20 VT for it's easy goin nature in every other aspect.
rich44
Silver $$ Contributor
I have a couple of .204 Rugers a 20br and am building a 20/250 I have no experience with the smaller 20's but would really like to have a Vartag. The 204 has worked well on coyotes I have only taken one so far with the 20br and 55gr Berger but at 300yrds right behind the shoulder it was DRT with no exit. I have taken many groundhogs with the 20br out to 500yrds but I could not get mine to feed so I made it a single shot, and that is one reason why I'm building the 20/250 it should feed fine and get a little more velocity than the br. I don't shoot any colony varmints so I'm not to concerned with barrel life, but if I were using it for pd's I would probably go 20 practical or Vartag
BigDMT
I agree that if barrel life or barrel heating is not a concern, as is with coyote hunting, a bigger 20 cal would be a wise choice.
For a rifle that could see 300+ rounds in one day like my rifles when gopher hunting, a smaller 20 cal would be nicer to you.
One thing to keep in mind is that if recoil and reloading cost is not a big deal, you can always load DOWN a big 20 cal to save barrel life when going after gophers and prairie dogs, then rev it back up for long range work.
Like I said, I only run a 34gr bullet from my .204 Ruger at 3750 fps in a 22" barrel because I mainly do a ton of shooting with it for prairie dogs and gophers and don't want to burn up my barrel too quickly. That load also works well for coyotes out to 400 yards or so, but drifts horribly in the wind past that due to light weight and low BC. I could run that bullet closer to 4000 fps, but gophers still come apart very nicely at 3750 fps
If I am specifically on a coyote hunt, I have another load for my .204 that uses the 39 gr Sierra BK at 3825 fps. Much better out to about 500 or 600 yards if the wind isn't blasting horribly.
So my .204 is pretty versatile. My 20 VT cannot be loaded UP a whole lot more. I could maybe get 3600 fps with the 34 gr bullet from my 20 VT in it's short 22" barrel, but that's not much gain from 3450 fps and I don't want to burn my barrel out too fast on that rifle either.
So you have to really think of not only the type of hunting you will be doing right now, but also about the type of hunting you MAY be doing in the future and choose a round that will do it all for you.
The other option is to build multiple rifles like many of us do : )
For a rifle that could see 300+ rounds in one day like my rifles when gopher hunting, a smaller 20 cal would be nicer to you.
One thing to keep in mind is that if recoil and reloading cost is not a big deal, you can always load DOWN a big 20 cal to save barrel life when going after gophers and prairie dogs, then rev it back up for long range work.
Like I said, I only run a 34gr bullet from my .204 Ruger at 3750 fps in a 22" barrel because I mainly do a ton of shooting with it for prairie dogs and gophers and don't want to burn up my barrel too quickly. That load also works well for coyotes out to 400 yards or so, but drifts horribly in the wind past that due to light weight and low BC. I could run that bullet closer to 4000 fps, but gophers still come apart very nicely at 3750 fps
If I am specifically on a coyote hunt, I have another load for my .204 that uses the 39 gr Sierra BK at 3825 fps. Much better out to about 500 or 600 yards if the wind isn't blasting horribly.
So my .204 is pretty versatile. My 20 VT cannot be loaded UP a whole lot more. I could maybe get 3600 fps with the 34 gr bullet from my 20 VT in it's short 22" barrel, but that's not much gain from 3450 fps and I don't want to burn my barrel out too fast on that rifle either.
So you have to really think of not only the type of hunting you will be doing right now, but also about the type of hunting you MAY be doing in the future and choose a round that will do it all for you.
The other option is to build multiple rifles like many of us do : )
FWIW my 20 Practical shoots a 39gr SBK at 3860fps using 23gr of H4198 and shoots in the 0s at 100, and 1/4" at 200 on a good day. On a bad day it will group 1/4" at 100 and 1/2" at 200. It hits pds at 400 until it gets boring. I just had it borescoped and with over 1500 rounds the bore is fine, nice sharp rifling. It's easy to form brass and cheap to shoot.
th82457
Silver $$ Contributor
I agree with the previous poster on the barrel heat up between a .20 VT and a .204 as I have both also and it is pure logic - the .204 burns a lot more powder (usually 7-9 grains more) . My leaning towards the .204 gets back to the original post about a .20 cal for coyotes. I would say a .20 VT will work, but a .204 gives more range and more power - especially with a 39-45 grain bullet. .20 VT is hard to beat for prarie dogs at any rate.
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