Tell me about your 20 Practical

[pacificman]

I don't yet have my 20VT barrel and I'm already thinking about a 20 Practical to go with my 20VT. Guess the 20 caliber bug hits hard when it hits... ;D The throat is gone in my 17 Remington so I'm thinking about a 20 Practical barrel. I see it basically as compared to a .204 Ruger but being able to acquire .223 brass more easily would be a big benefit. Would be great to hear more about the performance of your 20 Practical.

 

[L.Sherm]

Preformance wise I think you are correct it is very close to the 204. My 20 Pract. is on a 527 action, Green mountain barrel 24" 1-12 twist 3850 fps with AA 2230 powder and 34gr. v-nitmares from midsouth. Accuracy is .5 at 100yds think I might be able to improve alittlle because I just worked up to where it shoots now and stopped didn't mess with anything else. I'm just using different military brass also. I use a redding 223 FL bushing die very easy just use the correct bushing for the brass your using and pretty much good to go, I also have a .232 neck so I don't have to turn brass. I also have a 20 VT I think it is a little more effecient as far as powder to fps and tad bit more forgiving as far asaccuracy but the availability of 223 brass kinda makes it a wash. Maybe a little less recoil with the 20 VT also. I think it boils down to each is own they are both great calibers.

 

[hogpatrol]

Before my recent PD hunt, I HAD 1200 rds of .20 practical. Never bought one piece of .223 brass. It shoots 1/2" "all day long" with N133 and SBKs and Bergers, all weights. I've been using once-fired R-P brass I scrounge at the ranges. Tried LC, PMC, IMI and a host of other military brass but there was no consistency as far as accuracy was concerned so I stick with the R-P.

 

[5spd]

I built one & ended up selling it, but it shot everything right at .400" w/ my mixed & separated brass. It just could not shoot over .650 overall. Brass was simple to neck & load also.
I ran a CBI 24" 1/11 twist and stuck to 32g bullets.

 

[JohnD]

Mine is a Sako L461 with a Krieger 1-11 barrel. I use Lapua, WW and LC brass
with Tula/Fed primers. Powders have been 748 and 10X. Different lots of 10X
varies so I have to adjust accordingly. I get about 3800-40 fps with 39 gr. SBK
and 40 gr. Berger. I prepped the WW and LC brass and the best groups almost
always come with WW brass even better than Lapua. Same as my .223, go figure…
Dies are a Forster .223 BR seater and Redding .223 body and Type S Neck die.
I had mine built when the .204 first came on the scene and brass was not readily
available. With all the .223 stuff I had laying around it was easy to transition
the components over to a .20. They don't call it a Practical for nothing.

Good luck with yours, John.

 

[Tommie]

A buddy converted an AR15 to 20 Practical for prairie dog shooting. He hasn't touched any of his .223's since. The 20 Practical is so good and easy it's almost like cheating.

Just a side note: although this chambering seems to be a fairly recent phenomenon, it is listed in volume 2 of P.O. Ackley's Handbook. He credits Bob Forker, former handloading editor of Guns & Ammo magazine, as the originator. At the time it was called 5mm/223.

 

[pacificman]

Like the 20VT seems there ain't nothing negative about the 20 Practical either. Was wondering what your chamber dimensions are also...neck size (I see LSherm is running a .232) and how much free bore if any? I'm thinking zero free bore and .232 neck same as my 20VT will be. I have been using RL-10x in two of my rifles (.204 and.223) with great accuracy. I also like the 1-11 twist as I could shoot the 40 grainers without worry.
My .17 Rem is sporting a 700 action with pac-Nor barrel ...I was thinking Pac-Nor again using their "Rem-Nut" as the action is already trued up. Good or bad what is your opinion on that idea? Thanks for all the info so far guys!

 

[L.Sherm]

I think you are putting together a good combo in the .232 neck zero freebore and a 1-11 twist if you want to shoot up to 40 grainers. I built mine speifically because of the ease and availabilty of 223 brass now I also make 20VT from 223 brass. Good luck it should be a fine shooter.