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All this 20VT talk has me thinking

All this talk about the 20 VT has got me thinking that if Remington chose to make the 20 Fireball instead of the 17 FB we might still have another viable factory 20 available to this day. The 20 VT really is the perfect colony varmint round and not too shabby for fur bearers either. The 204 Ruger makes sense when you want to have bragging rights for the fastest, but the 20VT can do 90 % of what the varmint hunter wants. It's obvious what Hornady and Ruger were trying to do back then with the 204 and it's twelve twist. Sure am glad I bought that Cooper MTV in Vartarg back when I did because it sure puts a smile on my face every time I pull the trigger. Fern I wouldn't wait another minute to call Pacnor.
Matt
 
I had my CZ 527 in .221 FB re-barreled with a Douglas premium stainless 1:12 barrel several years ago. Shoots al 32 to 35 grain bullets very well and the 39 Sierra BK. Does not like the 40 grain V-Max that well. One suggestion if re-barreling your 527 .223 is you will probably want to use a .221 FB magazine with a shorter follower to feed better than your .223 magazine.
 
I do have an 8lb jug of H4198 untouched and some cfe black I could use. Only thing I did not take into account is the magazine feeding so thank you for brining that up. Would have to locate a 221 fb and see if it would lock into my action. If not then will have to explore other options
 
Fern said:
I do have an 8lb jug of H4198 untouched and some cfe black I could use. Only thing I did not take into account is the magazine feeding so thank you for brining that up. Would have to locate a 221 fb and see if it would lock into my action. If not then will have to explore other options
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223-to-221 mags are different lengths-
The 221/222 are the same, the 221 has a block in the back to fill the 221follower-

The 204/223 are same mag-

It’ll feed just find, like it is-

I done been down this rd-
 
Fern said:
That looks awesome what caliber was it originally and what barrel twist length did you go with. I I may have asked you this while back on another one of your threads but wanted to double check
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It was a Cz 527 American in 204 ruger from Factory.

It has a Douglas XX 9 twist barrel on it cut at 21 inches and im running 40 gr BIB bullets at 3350 fps with H4198 and Fed 205s!
 
@HillbillyLongRifle

Thanks for posting the barrel length and fps.

I have a 28" on my VT and shooting at 3400 fps with CFE BLK and 40 VMs.

I'm going to cut barrel to 22" to fit 52" soft rifle case with can. Your info is timely since is was concerned how much speed I may lose....looks like only about 50 fps.
 
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ricco1949 said:
@HillbillyLongRifle

Thanks for posting the barrel length and fps.

I have a 28" on my VT and shooting at 3400 fps with CFE BLK.

I'm going to cut barrel to 22" to fit 52" soft rifle case with can. Your info is timely since is was concerned how much speed I may lose....looks like only about 50 fps.
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You may not lose that much speed.

I have another that was 24 inch and cut it down too 20 inch barrel and it only lost 35 fps!
 
Would the 20 VT still shine like she does in an average factory rifle? If any company would make this happen, I would suspect Hornady would be it. Trouble seems to be that we have few factory actions that are really geared towards this length of cartridge.
 
SD guy said:
Would the 20 VT still shine like she does in an average factory rifle? If any company would make this happen, I would suspect Hornady would be it. Trouble seems to be that we have few factory actions that are really geared towards this length of cartridge.
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I have 2 20 VT's and am building a 3rd. All feed fine out of a standard 223 bolt face action (single shot). Everybody who has ever shot one immediately wants one. I built my first off of a Remington action and it quickly became my favorite cartridge. So much so that a year later I built a full on custom - Borden, Kreiger, etc. After shooting mine my daughter asked me to build her one which I am in the process now. My recommendation is that if you don't want another rifle then don't shoot a 20VT!
 
Fern said:
I have a cz527 lux in 223 that I don’t shoot it. I got it for a price I couldn’t refuse. Reading Rick’s post on his rat shoot and the low recoil makes me wonder do I need a 20VT? I have a 20 TAC 204R already but trying to justify the 20VT.
I know you have to turn brass or buy some from members that make it I am not afraid of the “chore”. For some reason I enjoy processing cleaning brass
I was super impressed with pac nor and the barrel they put on my 204R that I would send to them if I go through with it
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Get a 20 VT, you won't be disappointed.

I built one about 10 years ago on a R700 FB action, Lija 12-twist, 3-groove barrel and HS Precision PSV 096 stock. It's on the heavy side so it's not a walk-about rig for me. I use Nosler 32gr boat-tail BT [purple tip], Rem 7 1/2 primer, H4198, RL7 or AA2200 all work very well for me. Fortunately for me, 17 FB brass was available at the time so I purchased several hundred cases and prepped them all.

Mine consistently shoots sub 1/8 MOA [HORZ & VERT] groups @ 200 yards as long as I do my part. You won't go wrong with a PACNOR barrel either. I just re-barreled my 30-06 with one and I've been pleased with it thus far.

Good luck,
 
Have you seen my thread from a ways back:

Thread 'My 20 Vartarg custom'

Hi all, I'm not sure where to put this, but I figured the main board was ok. I've had this project in the works since August. Here's the spec's:

Borden Rimrock BR, Right Bolt, Left Port, Right Eject
Hart 26" 1in9 twist chambered in 20 Vartarg
Picatinny Rail
Jewell trigger

All put together by Jim himself. Jim let me know he was finishing up soon and my excitement is overflowing so I thought I'd start this thread to share!

Here's my JGS reamer print:
job_474962-20VARTARG_EP (safe).jpg
I opened up the 0.200 datum to 0.3769 to match the SAAMI 378 rim case spec. I also opened up the neck to 0.234 for a light...
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55gn Berger and flirting with 1” groups at 600 yards even after 2000 rounds down the barrel. It has to be the most satisfying rifle I’ve ever shot. It is so consistent.


EDIT: tell me this doesn’t make you rethink what’s the minimum needed for long range accuracy:

Post in thread 'My 20 Vartarg custom'

Shot at 600 today. It was heavy overcast, humid, and mild wind. The 20 Vartarg blew me away today:
IMG_20220625_142154822.jpg
Double checked my Benchmark node from 19.6 up to 19.8, and then tried 3 different seating depths. The purple group is 1.7". Absolutely stunning. 0.35 G1 BC, 3150fps, and it is outshooting my 6.5x47 by a significant margin.
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Evan, excellent LR performance from that little FB case.
But I must ask, why choose the 55gr bullet for the 20VT? Just to shoot paper?
With the loss of velocity with such a heavy for caliber bullet in such a small case, terminal effects on small varmints in the field must be lacking.....no aerial performances?

IMO, the 32gr bullets just seem tailored for the 20VT, but maybe it's just me.
 
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