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.20 Wasp anyone?

Eventually I'll build a .20 Wasp with one of my 30-30 Remington 788 actions. I've stumbled upon a couple people who are as silly as I am, but none that have built a fast twist version for 50-55 grain pills. Anyone tried it yet?

Tom
 
Tom,
I seriously considered a 9"tw barrel for my second .204 Wasp two years ago, but went with a 11"tw Pacnor on my Ruger No.3. My first .204 Wasp is a Ruger No.1 with a 11" tw Krieger and it shot 39-40gr bullets so well that I decided to stay with 11"twist. Since then I've read that the 9" twist will shoot the 39 and 40gr bullets well and you have the option of the heavier bullets. I've been waiting for one of the bullet makers to come out with a 50-55gr tipped bullet, but it doesn't look like its going to happen.
When I ordered my .204 Wasp reamer from PTG in June,08 Dave Kiff told me they already had a design named .20 Wasp so I named mine the .204 Wasp. I moved the shoulder .003 forward of the long version .219 Donaldson Wasp to make sure that I could form the shoulder with my .219 FL Redding die. Case length is 1.770 and the neck is .232 dia and .250 long. It holds 32.5gr of Varget. I was looking for velocities close to a .20BR and I'm getting 4000+ fps with 31.0gr Varget or N140. Here is a pic of a loaded round next to the No.3 and a pic of both rifles.
147.jpg

148.jpg

204waspreamerbmp.jpg

I don't know how the .020 freebore would work with a 55gr Berger, it works fine for 39-40gr bullets.
I had Mark Penrod put a 8"tw Shilen on a No.3 in my .219DW PDK wildcat chambering for my first fast twist PD rifle a little over a year ago. It worked well on long range PD's last June in Montana shooting 75gr A-max at 3200fps. A lot less shots to dope the wind and a personal best shot of 709 yds. I was hoping for a 1000yd shot but didn't get the opportunity.
Voldoc has shown that a .20BR can reach out to 1000yds with a 55gr Berger. I have no doubt that with the right conditions a 39gr BK at 4100fps can do it. My first year out with my No.1 .204 Wasp, I had two hits at 634yds with the 40gr V-Max. I was up 34 clicks from a 200yd zero.
may-09144-1.jpg

Dave
 
I'm working a 20 caliber which is the 6.5 Grendel necked down to .204. Chamber dimensions are set to be able to avoid neck turning and a long throat to allow long nosed bullets. I went with an 8-twist barrel to use 55-60 gr bullets.

First20Grendel.jpg


First few shots have been OK but have been distracted by another project. The 6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbook http://shootersnotes.com/articles/6-5-grendel-reloading-handbook/ is now printed and shipping so I should be able to be more aggressive with the .20 Grendel.

Will post more as the shooting moves forward.

Looking forward to comparing notes with the Wasp development. The 20 Grendel is being optimized for AR applications while it looks like the Wasp is designed to be a no-kidding serious long range varmint cartridge for bolt-action rifles.
 
Dave,

That's some fine shooting and some fine weapons. 600+ yards with a 40gr bullet is very impressive.

Are you turning necks after forming the .204 Wasp brass?

Tom
 
Tom,
I bought a box of 1000 pieces of R-P 30-30 brass, formed a few of them and seated a bullet before deciding on what neck dia. on the reamer to order. Loaded rounds measured .232 so I figured they would clean up when I turned them to .229-.2295. I've had good luck with necks about .012 thick before and the necks cleaned up at least 90%. Here is a pic of my forming process.
003-1.jpg

1 30-30
2 1st die, .325 dia.
3 2nd die, .284 dia, trim to about 1.820 length
4 3rd die, .260 dia.
5 FL .219 Wasp die, .2223 expander(makes a good fit on my neck turner pilot), neck turn to .245 dia
6 .219 Wasp NK die with .237 and then .228 bushings, trim to 1.770 length, loaded with 31.0gr Varget and 39gr BK
7 fireformed .204 Wasp
I made the form dies almost 20 years ago when I was a tool and die maker and had access to some really nice machinery. The 1st die was a .44 mag seater that I inserted. The 2nd and 3rd were .225WW dies that I opened up the neck dia. and changed the shoulder angle with a wire EDM and ram EDM.
My Redding .219 Wasp neck die was converted to a bushing die by JLC Precision in Iowa. I use a Forster case trimmer and neck turner.
I turned the necks at .22 cal. because I didn't have a .20 pilot at the time, only took a couple of trial cases to get the neck turner set up. I bought WW brass for my second .204 Wasp so I could keep it seperate. The WW brass is heavier and I've had to reduce powder charges about .5gr.
Dave
 
Great photo - thanks! All this talk about a .20 Wasp is getting to me... again. Those long hits you're making with heavy bullets in your .219 make me really wonder what 50 or 55 grainers would do in a .20 Wasp.

I've sometimes contemplated doing a serious hotrod like a .20/30-30 AI but that just seems ilke too much of a "good thing".

Thanks again.

Tom
 
Tom,
Here is a link to the thread on Voldoc's 1032yd PD with a .20BR.
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3767164.msg35963565#msg35963565
A fast twist .20 Wasp has close to the same powder capacity. The 55gr Berger has a BC of .381 with a hollow point, wonder what the BC of a 55gr V-Max, NBT or BK would be? The 39gr BK has a better BC at .287 than the 50gr Berger at .281 and you can get a lot more fps with the 39gr. Those numbers are what's listed on their websites.
A .20/30-30AI would be close to a .20-250, good for coyotes and such, maybe a bit much for a PD or ground squirrel shooting. I really like the capacity of my .204 Wasp, a little more than a .204 Ruger, close to a .20BR. I've actually backed off to about 3950fps for my PD load with the 39gr BK. I've had it up to 4150fps without pressure signs. I bought 500 32gr Zombies a while back. Going to try to find a .20VT type load for the close shots. Maybe extend my barrel life with the light load and the were cheap. Here's a couple more pics.
Untitled.jpg

L to R My rifles and ammo right before I left for Montana last June.
No.3 .223, bought it at a gunshow a year ago, needs a new barrel.
No.1 .219 DW PDK, Shilen 14"tw, 8-32X40 Bushnell 4200
No.3 " , Shilen 8"tw, 6.5-20x40 Leopold
No.3 .204 Wasp, Krieger 11" tw, 6-24x42 Sightron SII Big Sky
No.1 " , Pacnor 11" tw, 6.5-20x40 Leopold
They all have Kepplinger set triggers, The scope on the .223 is a Premier Reticle 18-40 that I had just bought and wanted to see how it would do out on the prairie.
024-1.jpg

028.jpg

The dogs were pretty skittish at this town, shot a few under 200yds with the .223 when we first got there, then it was the No.3 .204 on dogs 3-400yds to the left and the No.3 .219DW PDK with 75gr A-Max on the dogs 5-600yds on the other side of the pond. Can't wait to get back out there.
033.jpg

Dave
 
We were on BLM land Southeast of Zortman,Mt about 160 mi North of Billings. Here's a link to some more pics.
http://www.varminthunters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41446
http://www.saubier.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18889
Dave
 

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