20 Practical vs Tactical

[TheCZKid]

You dont have too, but i do see a slight point of impact differance from virgin formed brass vs fire formed brass. It is very minimal on paper, less than 1 inch. Group size is same eather way.

If you keep track of your brass, Zero shot, vs once shot, twice shot, and keep your loads in like bunches, you should be good to go for same point of impact on same loaded ammo.

 

[JB10]

If you keep track of your brass, Zero shot, vs once shot, twice shot, and keep your loads in like bunches, you should be good to go for same point of impact on same loaded ammo.

I do. I shoot coyotes while using virgin brass to fire form. Killes them dead eather way!

 

[urbanrifleman]

I have a new Savage Model 12 LRVP 204. The gun has never been shot and I'm already considering converting to 20 Practical for the rat patch. The major contributing factor is the cost of 204 brass vs 223 brass. And if I bring the 20 Tactical into the equation, I'm liking the 30-degree better vs 23-degree shoulder. I then tell myself if I'm considering a 20 Tactical, just stick with the 204. Need a little guidance here guys.

If I were to convert, it's just a barrel set back and rechamber to one or the other, right?

Mike...

20 Practical or better yet, 20 SPLODER (40 degree shoulder).

 

[chuckshooter]

I have a new Savage Model 12 LRVP 204. The gun has never been shot and I'm already considering converting to 20 Practical for the rat patch. The major contributing factor is the cost of 204 brass vs 223 brass. And if I bring the 20 Tactical into the equation, I'm liking the 30-degree better vs 23-degree shoulder. I then tell myself if I'm considering a 20 Tactical, just stick with the 204. Need a little guidance here guys.

If I were to convert, it's just a barrel set back and rechamber to one or the other, right?

Mike...

I would turn it into a 20p or 20tac in a heart beat. In the rat patch the 204 is fun but, it heats up quick, has more recoil, burns more powder, has a shorter barrel life. I have four 204's and five 20t/p and I hardly take the 204's anymore. forming is easy either one, run it through the die, check neck thickness/ loaded dia. to make sure it fits your chamber, load and shoot. I don't understand people taking about fireforming. maybe just a little, but it's so close, the rats won't know the difference. if I had to pick one, I would pick the tactical. only good reason is the case with the 30 degree shoulder just looks cooler.

 

[Evan]

20 Tactical doesn’t require fire forming anymore than a 20 Practical does. The shoulder on the Tactical is at 1.415” vs a 223 with the shoulder at 1.438”. Forming 20 Tactical is as simple as lubing up a case and sizing it to push the shoulder down until it fits snugly in your chamber.

 

[Paul's Black Rifles]

I ran a .204 reamer in short and shortened a .204 die and used LC 5.56 brass. You could probably just shorten the chamber end of your barrel and use a shortened .204 die.

I did too, love it!

 

[shrimpsauce]

I went tac because I found 300 pieces of Lapua brass. Just got the rifle back from the gunsmith yesterday.

 

[Mike in Oregon]

I went tac because I found 300 pieces of Lapua brass. Just got the rifle back from the gunsmith yesterday. View attachment 1654297

Very nice!

 

[boltfluter]

I went tac because I found 300 pieces of Lapua brass. Just got the rifle back from the gunsmith yesterday. View attachment 1654297

That's a great looking rifle! Nice choice of components.
Paul

 

[JSH]

I stayed with the 204 because I had a substantial amount of brass.
Buddy built a 20P and went with a long barrel, finished at 30” I believe. He runs a large dose of CFE223 and 40 grain Vmax, it has been right with 204 speeds.

Round up another action to use for a 20-221. Heavy barrel and added stock weight, mine weighs right at 20lbs. Does well with the 32-34 grain pills. I seldom use it past 2-250 yards, then I switch to the 204.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I stayed with the 204 because I had a substantial amount of brass.
Buddy built a 20P and went with a long barrel, finished at 30” I believe. He runs a large dose of CFE223 and 40 grain Vmax, it has been right with 204 speeds.

Round up another action to use for a 20-221. Heavy barrel and added stock weight, mine weighs right at 20lbs. Does well with the 32-34 grain pills. I seldom use it past 2-250 yards, then I switch to the 204.

What speed is the 204?

 

[Mike in Oregon]

Talked to my smith this morning. The cost would be under $200 to rechamber to 20 Practical. To me, thats worth it and it pays for itself real quick when you bring in all the equations. Thanks guys.

Mike...

 

[STS]

I ran a .204 reamer in short and shortened a .204 die and used LC 5.56 brass. You could probably just shorten the chamber end of your barrel and use a shortened .204 die.

That's exactly what I did too. When the .204 first was introduced you couldn't find brass for it. Hornady was loading it all for ammo sales. So I measured the difference between the .204 and .223 headspace gauges, and chambered one .105 short with my .204 reamer. I used .223 Lapua brass. You could call it a .20 Practical Improved with its 30 degree shoulder. Dies are cheap and simple to do.

 

[Radar]

No fire-forming, just necking down from 224 to 204, good to go.

So just like a 20 Tac

 

[searcher]

I thought the 20P didn't need to be fire formed???

It doesn't

 

[AWS]

Fickled mind of reloaders. All my 204 brass becomes 22-204"s,6mm-204's and 25-204's. My 223 brass becomes 20Practicals and 6x45's

 

[jwv2001]

Re-read your first post. The shoulder should be your first consideration. Either the Tactical or "sploder" / AI would be my guide to do what you're doing. In your 1st post, you mentioned availability of brass. 30 or 40 degree shoulders will make your brass last much longer.

 

[Lefty2506]

I don't honestly understand why the 20 Tac exists. Originally I though the 20 Tac was a 20 Sploder which made perfect sense. When I learned what the 20 Tac actually was, my only questions were why does it exist, and why can't I get a 20 Sploder barrel for my AR from the places that are selling them for the 20 Tac?

The whole benefit of the 20 practical is that its so easy to form the brass. You CAN make it as difficult to form as you want, but you don't HAVE to. From what I can tell, the 20 Tac is a ballistic twin to the 20 Practical so why bother with the fireforming step?

 

[jwv2001]

The whole benefit of the 20 practical is that its so easy to form the brass. You CAN make it as difficult to form as you want, but you don't HAVE to. From what I can tell, the 20 Tac is a ballistic twin to the 20 Practical so why bother with the fireforming step?

Lefty-- you don't HAVE to fireform any of the cartridges that you mentioned, except size the necks to 20 cal. Load them and shoot them.
My first experience with an Ackley cartridge was with a .223 Rem. Some of the best groups with that rifle were when I was forming the cases. The same with my 20 Tac. All I did was run them through a sizing die to form the neck, load them and shoot them.
I also don't care for these proprietary cases, i.e. the .204 Ruger. You have to buy a special case to have the advantages of the performance. You can forget about trimming cases and split case necks. You can wring out the performance with the ubiquitous .223. The advantage of shooting these modified cases, as far as I'm concerned, is case life. The sharper shoulders and straight walled cases are the key.
As far as not being able to get a "sploder" for an AR, you will have to take that up with the barrel people. The only problem I can see, is because of the straight walled case, there might be a problem ejecting the cases. Some on this forum have said that because of the sharp shoulder they have had feeding problems.

 

[Rick in Oregon]

I'm late to this party having just returned from an extended sage rat trip and away from the internet, but if faced with this daunting decision ( ), I'd opt for the 20Tac.

First, I'm a fan of sharper shoulders that greatly reduce the need for case trimming. Second, it may have a slight increase in powder capacity. And last, I only shoot single shot for varmints in the field, and that sharp 30-35* shoulder just looks way cool. Valid, probably not, but you asked.