Tikka rebarrel to 20 Practical 0FB

[RabbitSlayer]

Going to rebarrel my old t3 lite in .223. Considering sending it to pac nor for a 20 practical 0FB and sticking with about the same contour. I want to shoot the 39 gr sierra if they ever come back in stock. I want it to feed from the factory mag. Anyone tried this? Will it reach the lands? Will it be too short and rob case capacity?

Im also considering 204 ruger or .223 with 53 gr vmax. Would one of these be better? I have a .204 woa upper im just about to start loading for it. I tried some factory 204 40 gr in the tikka mag. It just barely clears and seems like it would work, but no room to seat any longer.

This is primarily a walking jackrabbit gun.

 

[Mark M.]

20 Practical and don't look back

 

[L.Sherm]

If you use zero freebore dont see why you can't touch the lands.
Thats what I would find out from pac nor what freebore and neck dia. they use

 

[BAM]

If you use zero freebore dont see why you can't touch the lands.
Thats what I would find out from pac nor what freebore and neck dia. they use

0 freebore

 

[B23]

Going to rebarrel my old t3 lite in .223. Considering sending it to pac nor for a 20 practical 0FB and sticking with about the same contour. I want to shoot the 39 gr sierra if they ever come back in stock. I want it to feed from the factory mag. Anyone tried this? Will it reach the lands? Will it be too short and rob case capacity?

Im also considering 204 ruger or .223 with 53 gr vmax. Would one of these be better? I have a .204 woa upper im just about to start loading for it. I tried some factory 204 40 gr in the tikka mag. It just barely clears and seems like it would work, but no room to seat any longer.

This is primarily a walking jackrabbit gun.

Factory Tikka mags for their 204/223 rifles allow for a max OAL of 2.305 +/- a couple thou and for comparison factory Hornady 204 32gr ammo measures OAL of 2.249 +/- a thou or two.

For a light weight short-ish barreled walking jackrabbit gun something like a 20-221 or 20VT would work great and still leave you with plenty of room in the magazine but I have a Tikka 204 and just went and checked to see if it would feed and eject a 221 case. I seated some bullets in the case and they would feed through the magazine fine but wouldn't eject the case out of the receiver. Instead of ejecting the case out it would just fall out of the bolt face and drop down on top of the magazine follower so something off of the 221FB case used in a Tikka probably won't work very well.

The 204 or 20 Practical are excellent choices and depending on what you may want to do with this build, besides shoot Jacks, neither one is a bad choice but since you mentioned this is primarily going to be a walking jackrabbit gun I'd also take a strong look at the 20-222. Personally, I wouldn't bother going with anything "Improved" on a setup like this.

I'm a big 20 caliber fan, especially for shooting small critters, but, there is no denying the 22 Cal. has a MUCH bigger selection of bullets in all weights so that is something you may want to consider before ordering a barrel.

If you decide on something 20 Cal. I would highly recommend you use a 11 or 10 twist rate barrel.

 

[L.Sherm]

. Personally, I wouldn't bother going with anything "Improved" on a setup like this.

If you shoot alot and have access to a reamer I would do the improved version simply to keep from trimming brass back if nothing else along with some performance gain doesn't hurt. I seriously doudt the center feed mag would become an issue feeding if you want a repeater.

 

[RabbitSlayer]

If you shoot alot and have access to a reamer I would do the improved version simply to keep from trimming brass back if nothing else along with some performance gain doesn't hurt. I seriously doudt the center feed mag would become an issue feeding if you want a repeater.

Yeah i also was looking at 223ai.

Factory Tikka mags for their 204/223 rifles allow for a max OAL of 2.305 +/- a couple thou and for comparison factory Hornady 204 32gr ammo measures OAL of 2.249 +/- a thou or two.

For a light weight short-ish barreled walking jackrabbit gun something like a 20-221 or 20VT would work great and still leave you with plenty of room in the magazine but I have a Tikka 204 and just went and checked to see if it would feed and eject a 221 case. I seated some bullets in the case and they would feed through the magazine fine but wouldn't eject the case out of the receiver. Instead of ejecting the case out it would just fall out of the bolt face and drop down on top of the magazine follower so something off of the 221FB case used in a Tikka probably won't work very well.

The 204 or 20 Practical are excellent choices and depending on what you may want to do with this build, besides shoot Jacks, neither one is a bad choice but since you mentioned this is primarily going to be a walking jackrabbit gun I'd also take a strong look at the 20-222. Personally, I wouldn't bother going with anything "Improved" on a setup like this.

I'm a big 20 caliber fan, especially for shooting small critters, but, there is no denying the 22 Cal. has a MUCH bigger selection of bullets in all weights so that is something you may want to consider before ordering a barrel.

If you decide on something 20 Cal. I would highly recommend you use a 11 or 10 twist rate barrel.

Thanks for checking that for me. I haven't looked at 20-222. I like longer barrels so 23 or 24 inch is the length i will go. If anything, i want to go faster. 20-250 sounds fast lol. I already have 17 hornet and 17hmr if i want to carry something more mild. A vartarg would be interesting in place of 17 hornet, but not many guns can feed it is my understanding.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

How long are shots while walking up jacks? Shoot any of the 32 gr bullets.

 

[B23]

Yeah i also was looking at 223ai.


Thanks for checking that for me. I haven't looked at 20-222. I like longer barrels so 23 or 24 inch is the length i will go. If anything, i want to go faster. 20-250 sounds fast lol. I already have 17 hornet and 17hmr if i want to carry something more mild. A vartarg would be interesting in place of 17 hornet, but not many guns can feed it is my understanding.

Feeding the Fireball case through a factory Tikka mag won't be much of a problem it's getting that little case to eject it out of the action is more the issue.

I have a 20-250 and shoot the Berger 55's. It's a fun gun but I'd consider it somewhat of a specialty item and they aren't much for barrel life. I'm hoping for somewhere around 600ish rnds before it's done.

If you're wanting fast put a 12tw on a 22-250 in whatever length you want and shoot the 53gr Vmax. That should explode Jacks pretty good and the barrel will last a bit longer.

Anything off of a 22-250 parent case will require a different bolt if you plan to use your Tikka 223 as the donor platform.

 

[RabbitSlayer]

How long are shots while walking up jacks? Shoot any of the 32 gr bullets.

Point blank to far as i can spot one. Off hand or shooting sticks, and sfp duplex make about 300 yards the max realistic range. Im basically going for mpbr. My 204 upper likes the 32s so i have a lot of those, but when you compare it to the 39 gr bk the bc is so high the mpbr is pretty similar to the 32 vmax at least in paper.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I have the 20 Cal 223a zero freebore reamer. I call it the 20 Sploder. People are buying them like crazy. There is a 20 Sploder thread in the 22 forum.

 

[redrockranger]

At the top of homepage is a list of cartridge information by caliber. I chose the Fireball reamer design. Very happy. The 20 practical is a lazer to 350 yds. Pac Nor 11 twist barrel 26" long,# 8 contour. Read the article and enjoy the education.

 

[RabbitSlayer]

I have the 20 Cal 223a zero freebore reamer. I call it the 20 Sploder. People are buying them like crazy. There is a 20 Sploder thread in the 22 forum.

That 20 sploder looks interesting, but maybe a little too wild of a wildcat for me. Im new to reloading so part of the appeal of 20 practical is that there is a lot of info available. It would be my first gun that isnt a saami chamber.

 

[urbanrifleman]

That 20 sploder looks interesting, but maybe a little too wild of a wildcat for me. Im new to reloading so part of the appeal of 20 practical is that there is a lot of info available. It would be my first gun that isnt a saami chamber.

It is a 223a made into a 20.

20 practical but better.

I have the 20 Practical reamer also.

 

[RabbitSlayer]

It is a 223a made into a 20.

20 practical but better.

I have the 20 Practical reamer also.

I understand what it is. There is like zero load data or instruction on forming, dies, and so on. I know 20p also has no load data published, but there is tons of info on the internet and most people say start with 20 tactical data.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I understand what it is. There is like zero load data or instruction on forming, dies, and so on. I know 20p also has no load data published, but there is tons of info on the internet and most people say start with 20 tactical data.

20 Practical is a great choice.

 

[revoman]

I'm enjoying my 20p built from a Ruger American action, Preferred Barrel Blanks barrel 1/11" twist and a Prarie hunter stock from boyds. I was able to get factory blem 32gr Hornady vmax projectiles from Midway at $.16 each, last year. With that I'm still paying $.10 per primer (didn't start collecting until 2020) which means its pretty economical to shoot.

Glad I got into this caliber