What caliber would you choose

[B23]

Does Berger even manufacture a 55 gr in 20 caliber anymore ? It has not been listed on their website for a while.

They do special runs of them ever so often. I'm not sure if it's Graf's or one of the other places like them but they're usually available even though Berger shows them as discontinued. For how long they plan to keep making those special runs of 20 cal 55 Berger's I do not know and I'm not sure anyone else does either.

 

[L.Sherm]

Does Berger even manufacture a 55 gr in 20 caliber anymore ? It has not been listed on their website for a while.

Yes they do 1 run a year.
Graffs has them, there like anything else if you like them buy enough for the life of the barrel.

 

[22vartarg]

Sorry I doubted… Went to Graf & Sons, looked and sure enough they currently have Berger 55 grain 20 caliber bullets for sale in stock

 

[L.Sherm]

Sorry I doubted… Went to Graf & Sons, looked and sure enough they currently have Berger 55 grain 20 caliber bullets for sale in stock

Hey no problem. The 20 cal 55's really shine in a bigger 20, but barrel life isn't great.

 

[22vartarg]

Just to clarify… 90+ percent of the time will be at 100 yards paper… 5% at 200 yards again on paper and the rest at 300 yards mainly steel.

 

[L.Sherm]

Just to clarify… 90+ percent of the time will be at 100 yards paper… 5% at 200 yards again on paper and the rest at 300 yards mainly steel.

Then it really doesn't matter what you pick

 

[searcher]

I'd go with .20 Practical as you have lots of .223 brass. No fireforming. The 39 Blitz King shoots really well out of it and that bullet has as good or better BC than any of the .17's I believe. now - if you were instead shooting varmints all within that yardage, you could toss a coin on any of them, excepting brass availability.

 

[DogBuster]

Having used the VT........20PT..20-222 the past 15 years

20-222 gets my vote....mine is a 9 twist

The original chamber was a 20BR...thus the 9 twist for 55's

Dies are simple.......p/dogs are my targets

 

[22vartarg]

I want to thank everyone for all the helpful suggestions on my next caliber choice. It seems the clear winners are either the 20 Practical or the 222 Remington. I will look into both and probably make a decision shortly in the future. Again, thank you

 

[L.Sherm]

Any of the calibers mentioned will shoot just fine for your intended purposes.
Components used, quantity of smith putting g it together, ammo its feed and of course nut behind the trigger will determine how it shoots more than caliber.
There really is no wrong choice for those distances.

 

[22vartarg]

Looks like the 20 Practical will win the contest. Now I have learned the Uintah Precision will build an AR bolt action upper in that caliber with my choice of barrel length and twist rate that I want or do the full build from scratch.

 

[Tommie]

Regarding which caliber, I would chose a 20 cal,

I’m totally in your corner but it’s a losing battle…

 

[chuckshooter]

I’m totally in your corner but it’s a losing battle…

You mean how caliber refers to diameter of the barrel or bullet and cartridge refers to the case or complete round. It is frustrating

 

[Sniper338]

20 vartarg....... then 17 mach IV

 

[DogBuster]

Mainly paper

So sorry..........I glassed a field this morning.....

P/dogs........OMG

Twist....better to over twist than under twist

Minimum 9T on .224"

10T on 20's

That's me.....

 

[Evan]

20 Vartarg with 55gn bergers shooting 2.25" at 600 yds:

My 20 Vartarg custom

600 Yard Performance - - - My notes show I shot on a practice day at the 600 yard range using my one-in-12 Hart-barrelled "live varmint" 20 VT. I used F-Class rests and target. We took turns pulling and pasting targets in the pits and I don't have the target as the targets were reused. My notes...

forum.accurateshooter.com

Really doesn't take much to shoot 300yards well if you've got a good bullet.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Just got a new 20 Tactical barreled up on a Howa short action. 1lb Gunbloke trigger springs installed and custom bolt knob. 10” twist LV barrel finished at 26”. KRG Bravo stock.

 

[22vartarg]

I have on order now a 20 practical bolt action AR upper from Uintah Precision. It has a 24” barrel with a 1:11 twist. Barrel by Preferred Barrel Blank and should be ready in about 10 weeks +/-. Then load development will start. Plan on using Sierra Bullets BlitzKing 32 and 39 grain and Hornady V-max.

 

[22vartarg]

The bolt action upper arrives today an very eager to get it all set up and sighted in.

 

[22vartarg]

Must say I am rather impressed with the new upper… Shot 6 different test loads in .5 gr. increments with Reloder 10X and the worst group was just a hair over 1 inch at 100 yards and the best was .37 inches.