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20 Vartarg head space gauge.

Considering purchasing a 20 VarTarg Go headspace gauge. Thought I would ask around before purchasing a new go gauge. Anyone have one they wish to part with or rent? I won't be ready for 4 months or so, id guess.
 
Suppose I was a bit less than clear. This will be a drop in barrel & I wish to verify the chamber head space when assembling the barrel to the action. I have a bit of experience with this & the first two were in spec with no modification to the barrel or the CZ 527 action. I had not expected such luck. for a one & done I suppose I could measure the fired cartridge datum point on a optical comparator, to verify the head space.

May just go that rout or something similar.
 
I just had my 20 vartarg barrel made by and headspaced by pacnor. I sent a dummy round that I made prior to sending. They set the headspace exactly at my dummy round which made for a tight chamber with my dies. IMO, I think this a feasible to do by yourself by setting your die longer than you plan. After your barrel is screwed on see how far out you have to use your die to get your bolt to not close. If it is more than .005, you may want to take some off the barrel or you just use a little longer headspace for your rifle which will probably give you a bit more velocity.
 
If you want tight headspace, you can use a fired case and just tighten the barrel so when you bump the shoulder 0.002" that will give you 0.002" - 0.003" clearance (because a fired case springs back up to 0.001").

If you want a little more than 0.002"- 0.003" HS then back the barrel out just a hair and recheck with masking tape on the case head so it acts like a no-go gauge.

I've done this in a pinch.

I've also used Hornady modified AOL cases because they measure EXACTLY the same base to datum as the go-gauge for the same cartridge.

And as others stated, you can size the brass with your die without overcam (only touching the shell holder) and set the HS according to that. Once the barrel hits the brass, back out a hair and re-check with masking tape on the case head for no-go gauge.
 
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Some of the above posts beg the question as to how to get a fired case in the first place............
 
As for it being a wildcat:

I have a barrel stamped 20vartarg that has a 23degree shoulder-other words it is a 20-221fireball. It will chamber, fire, and eject a 20vartarg round just fine, but the brass is blown ot to 20-221fireball dimensions when fired.

I guess that since it is a wildcat that is just a moot point and does'nt matter??
 
I just had my 20 vartarg barrel made by and headspaced by pacnor. I sent a dummy round that I made prior to sending. They set the headspace exactly at my dummy round which made for a tight chamber with my dies. IMO, I think this a feasible to do by yourself by setting your die longer than you plan. After your barrel is screwed on see how far out you have to use your die to get your bolt to not close. If it is more than .005, you may want to take some off the barrel or you just use a little longer headspace for your rifle which will probably give you a bit more velocity.

Have you had much opportunity to get out & shoot your CZ 20 vartarg yet? Curious what your experience has been like? For example how has she fed from the mag, were any mods needed, what bullets have you tried?
 
Have you had much opportunity to get out & shoot your CZ 20 vartarg yet? Curious what your experience has been like? For example how has she fed from the mag, were any mods needed, what bullets have you tried?
I haven't hunted it yet, still doing load development. I have only tried Sierra 32gr Blitzkings so far. I started with LT-30 and haven't found anything amazing with that powder, didn't shoot anything better than about .4" groups at 100, but no worse than .8" groups either. Found a lb of H4198 and just shot some groups today. Getting consistent .35" groups with 18.2 and 18.4 gr. Need to do a comprehensive seating test at 18.3gr. To get near the lands, I have only about .125 of the bullet in the case, so freebore is regrettably on the long end of what I wanted. With only 1lb of H4198 will need to switch to another one after 400 rounds and hoping I can get Lt-30 to shoot.

I converted a 223 rem for this build. I purchased a bobsled single shot adapter for it, but it doesn't work. It is too low and it doesn't get the bullet into the chamber at a good angle. Gets hung up when closing the bolt. I have a flush mag and feeding them one at a time just sitting it on top of the mag works great. I haven't tried feeding from the mag yet. The trigger is so good and the recoil so low, can hardly tell it was shot until I see the hole in the paper. I see why people love this round. Will get her out on pdogs in the next couple weeks if I can finalize a load.

Making brass out of Starline 222 brass. Actually got a nice little system down and I can make 20pcs in about 30-35 minutes. Have a procedure written down, will post it up if anyone is interested in it. The harbor freight saw makes is so easy. After 3 firings, I can tell that my brass needs to be annealed already.
 
I haven't hunted it yet, still doing load development. I have only tried Sierra 32gr Blitzkings so far. I started with LT-30 and haven't found anything amazing with that powder, didn't shoot anything better than about .4" groups at 100, but no worse than .8" groups either. Found a lb of H4198 and just shot some groups today. Getting consistent .35" groups with 18.2 and 18.4 gr. Need to do a comprehensive seating test at 18.3gr. To get near the lands, I have only about .125 of the bullet in the case, so freebore is regrettably on the long end of what I wanted. With only 1lb of H4198 will need to switch to another one after 400 rounds and hoping I can get Lt-30 to shoot.

I converted a 223 rem for this build. I purchased a bobsled single shot adapter for it, but it doesn't work. It is too low and it doesn't get the bullet into the chamber at a good angle. Gets hung up when closing the bolt. I have a flush mag and feeding them one at a time just sitting it on top of the mag works great. I haven't tried feeding from the mag yet. The trigger is so good and the recoil so low, can hardly tell it was shot until I see the hole in the paper. I see why people love this round. Will get her out on pdogs in the next couple weeks if I can finalize a load.

Making brass out of Starline 222 brass. Actually got a nice little system down and I can make 20pcs in about 30-35 minutes. Have a procedure written down, will post it up if anyone is interested in it. The harbor freight saw makes is so easy. After 3 firings, I can tell that my brass needs to be annealed already.
I for one am always interested in how people do things. Please, post your process. Thanks.

Rich
 
I haven't hunted it yet, still doing load development. I have only tried Sierra 32gr Blitzkings so far. I started with LT-30 and haven't found anything amazing with that powder, didn't shoot anything better than about .4" groups at 100, but no worse than .8" groups either. Found a lb of H4198 and just shot some groups today. Getting consistent .35" groups with 18.2 and 18.4 gr. Need to do a comprehensive seating test at 18.3gr. To get near the lands, I have only about .125 of the bullet in the case, so freebore is regrettably on the long end of what I wanted. With only 1lb of H4198 will need to switch to another one after 400 rounds and hoping I can get Lt-30 to shoot.

I converted a 223 rem for this build. I purchased a bobsled single shot adapter for it, but it doesn't work. It is too low and it doesn't get the bullet into the chamber at a good angle. Gets hung up when closing the bolt. I have a flush mag and feeding them one at a time just sitting it on top of the mag works great. I haven't tried feeding from the mag yet. The trigger is so good and the recoil so low, can hardly tell it was shot until I see the hole in the paper. I see why people love this round. Will get her out on pdogs in the next couple weeks if I can finalize a load.

Making brass out of Starline 222 brass. Actually got a nice little system down and I can make 20pcs in about 30-35 minutes. Have a procedure written down, will post it up if anyone is interested in it. The harbor freight saw makes is so easy. After 3 firings, I can tell that my brass needs to be annealed already.
Sounds like you are off to a good start. In the absence of 4198 offerings it seems N120 & perhaps N130 may be worth a look as well.

Looks like I'll have my first 20 VarTarg barrel showing up this coming week. Suppose a barrel is due to be removed from a 223 rather soon. Look forward to starting my own load workup. Seems H4198 may be as good as any, in terms of powders too start off with if you have a adequate supply, & I do. Think I'll give it a go without a headspace gauge.
 
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Think I'll give it a go without a headspace gauge.
I headspaced mine off of some brass that I purchased from @TheCZKid . Then, I got worried about it, as I am wont to do, so ordered a headspace gauge. I could have saved the money: they were literally the same. Closed on the go, didn't close with one layer of tape on the end. Perfect. But at least I feel better. Well, except for the wallet....

Good brass prep from Doug.
 
Also look at RL7. I have 2 VT's, 1 loves H4198 and the other shoots best with RL7. Ya gotta test.
 

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