My 20 Practical

[IA_shooter]

I finally got to shoot my 20 Practical I built off of a Savage 10 action. I was having issues getting my brass/rounds to chamber and came to find out it has a really tight chamber and I have to size my brass with a small base .223 die to get it to fit this gun.

Here's a picture of the gun............

And here's a couple different 5 shot groups @ 100 yards with it .........

The group using 24.6gr of H335 measured about .25" and the group using 25.2gr measured about .2" ;D

I still am not seeing any signs of pressure at all so I'm going to load up some higher charges and see how it does this w/e but I'm extremely satisfied so far. The 25.2gr of H335 was pushing the 40gr V-Max's about 3500fps. I hope to find another higher node with super accuracy. If I can get it up to 3650-3700fps I'll be really, really happy.

The barrel is a BHW 20" 1-10 twist. I thought my BHW 20 Practical AR barrel was accurate but WOW I'm super impressed with this barrel.

 

[SS427]

I'm impressed as well. That is a nice shooting barrel. How can you not like twenty calibers that can shoot like that?

 

[IA_shooter]

I was a little hesitant on the polygonal style rifling last year but I had a 6X45 upper built with one of the BHW barrels and it shot really, really well with 80gr bullets so I then had a 20 Practical upper built with a 24" BHW P3 polygonal rifled barrel and it was shooting under 1/2" MOA but I wanted to "see" the hits in the scope so I decided to build a 20 Practical bolt gun with a BHW barrel.

One other plus is it seems the polygonal rifled barrels are easier to clean.

 

[pacificman]

Looks like you have a good shooter there for sure! I have been thinking 20 Practical in my future also. I'm another sold on the 20 calibers as well. Thanks for sharing man!

 

[Rusty W]

I also built a 20 practical on a Savage action about 2 years ago. I used a Criterion barrel w/a 1-9tw. I've only shot 32gr v-max's through it and 8208xbr powder, about 25grs. I haven't shot it in a while, need to get it out & get ready for this fall and maybe some coyotes.

 

[IA_shooter]

I'm heading up to SD next w/e to do some coyote hunting and PD shooting and I've found a load using 24.2gr of H322 pushing the 40gr V-Max about 3500fps for my 20 Practical that has been shooting under 1/2 MOA all the way out to 400yds and beyond for me.

I went out this morning and set up my 6" steel target @ 385 yards with just light quartering winds from left to right and this was a 7 shot group with 1MOA of windage dialed in on my scope. I think I am ready for some SD Prairie Dogs.

 

[searcher]

I built a .20 Practical a year or so ago on an A/R platform, using a Hart barrel. Sweet shooting caliber - but I also had loading issues until I also bought a short-base sizing die - the first I have ever actually NEEDED just to make a gun function properly. Because this is a somewhat high-pressure round and, when loaded in an A/R needing several thousandths of shoulder clearance, brass maintenance is much more of a chore than with the bolt-gun version. I had thought about making one of these in a bolt gun - but have decided to go with the Tac 20 due to the sharper shoulder angle. I suggest trying LT-32 powder if you get the itch to try something else - though, based on those great groups, you have not much reason! Nice rig.

 

[redrockranger]

Don't forget H-4198. Might shrink those nice groups a little more.

 

[mattri]

Good shooting!

You're going to have a blast in the pd fields with as 20 Practical. Built one a couple years back and got to take it to WY. It was an absolute laser out to about 400, after that things opened up but 400 is still a ton of fun. Be sure to let us know how it goes.

 

[IA_shooter]

I got to shoot PD's in SD this past w/e using the 20 Prac. Like you said, a laser out to 400-450. Wind was a challenge. 15-20 mph with gusts to 25 or more but I still managed to kill dogs all the way out to 548 yards. 8)

 

[mattri]

That's awesome- well done.

 

[GrocMax]

H335 and 39-40's you should be able to get near 3800FPS before pressure, you'll be in the 37g+ territory. But with that said your lower node will be better on the barrel and brass life and critters can't tell the difference. 32-33-34g you should be able to get over 4000 easy. The 34g Midsouth VNE makes for an excellent cheap, fast, flat trajectory plinking/varmint round to about 350 yds.
$0.08 a bullet is hard to beat.