Which .20?

[zedsdead]

I have a 26" Benchmark barrel on its way to the smith as we speak. On his recommendation I am leaning towards doing a 204. I have been reading the 20 caliber section and now I'm thinking the 20 Tactital also looks pretty cool. I'm not all that wild about having to fire form brass but I have a boat load of 223 brass. Ballistically they look very close, with the 204 having a slight edge. Any advise? This will be on a trued 700SA and used for informal target and varmint shooting.

Thanks

 

[coupalr]

If you are not a fan of fire forming then why not a 20 Practical.

 

[Craigyboy]

you can get pre-formed laupa/dakota brass, thats what I am using in my tac20, very consistent stuff, neck turning was pointless as the necks were very good already,I dont it anyway though)

my tac20 is a cooper phoenix it was a .204 ruger before but the chamber was far too sloppy and long, re-barreld and bedded with a pac-nor 1-11 twist, shoots the 32's great so far, tops out at about 4100 fps with 27g of h322,I am sure a faster powder would push it harder though)

 

[Tommie]

You are the perfect candidate for a .20 Practical. No fireforming and you already have a bunch of .223 brass.

Tom

 

[acloco]

I am with Tommie - 20 practical..and don't look back.

 

[BJILEG]

I built a 20 Practical Med palma taper,,best 20 I have..Weaver Rifles has an excellent reamer for the 20 Practical..

 

[zedsdead]

New to 20s. What is a 20 practical?

 

[Forum Boss]

New to 20s. What is a 20 practical?

See: http://www.6mmbr.com/gunweek061.html

It's a 20-223 Rem wildcat, Kiff Reamer, 23 degree shoulder.

20 Tactical has a 30-degree neck, pushed back. 20 Practical is easier to make from .223 brass.

 

[zedsdead]

Damn it! Just when I thought I had it narrowed down to two choices you guys have to throw in another one. :crazy: Looks like I have some more homework to do. Thanks for the replies.

 

[vargetman]

My vote goes for the 20 practical also. You can use .223 dies.If you have a Redding .223 type S bushing busing die you can use a smaller bushing. I use a .228 bushing in mine. Kevin Weaver has a reamer and does a excellent job. I have a Pac-Nor 1/11 twist crome-molly barrel. You can shoot up too 40 grain bullets in it. .223 brass is easy to come by. I use Alliant Reloader 10 x. It shoots m.o.a. of ground hog. I have shot a few at 300 yards with the 20 practical. I think it has an advantage over the 40 grainers in the .22 caliber range. The 20 caliber 39 grain Sierra.s have a high B.C.. But you should shoot the bullet that shoots best in your rifle. So try a few and See what happens. You can also use a .223 seater die for the 20 practical. Hope this helps . John

 

[Tommie]

vargetman made an excellent point. Any bushing style .223 dies can be used for the .20 Practical. The Practical case is a simple neck-down of .223 brass with no other changes. So simple, it's almost like cheating. Case capacity is almost identical to the .20 Tactical and load data is interchangeable. Because the shoulder angle is unchanged, there's no possibility of feeding issues in a repeater.

A good friend recently built a .20 Practical on a AR15 platform. The prairie dogs are in for a bad day.

Tom

 

[MarcH]

Mickey Coleman also has a .20 Practical reamer. He did a nice job with my Benchmark barrel. Very first 5 shot group @ 100 yds. was just under .250 ctc. Good cartridge.

 

[DogBuster]

I've had two 204s...one is now a 20 Vartarg...the latest is now a 20 Practical...both are Pac Nor 12 twist SS SM barrels..screwed on Savage s/shot actions...the 20VT pushes a 40 V max at 3550...the 20PT pushes a 40 V max at 4026...whats not to like?

Dot is one inch w/five @ 100 yds..netting 4026 avg velocity...Win 223 brass...Rem BR primers...very little brass prep...scope is Weaver 4-14 Tactical..the 20 VT has the same scope/set up with Choate Varminter also..

 

[mkstjohn]

GO WITH THE TACTICAL AND FIRE FORM WHILE SHOOTING PRAIRIE DOGS. I have built two and my next project is going to be a 20 VARTAG.

 

[zedsdead]

DogBuster,

I noticed you HAD two 204s. Did you go another route because you did not like the 204, or just wanted something different?

Thanks for all the replies. You're all making my decision tougher but I'm enjoying it.

 

[DogBuster]

I built two 204 Pac Nor barrels...heavy varmint barrels....ran 2500+ rds out of the first...heard of the Vartarg...so...sent the barrel back to Pac Nor and they rechambered it to VT...wow !! What a shooter...19.5/H322 and the 40 V max...3550 fps...dies are easy...my #2 204 was very new at 800+ rds...the Practical caught my eye...4026 fps..even faster than the 204...dies are much less of an investment than the ballastic twin 20 Tact..I already had the dies/brass....whats not to like about the 20 PT....build one..you'll see !

 

[Ogre6br]

heres a way of getting a 20 Tactical without having to shell out for expensive dies etc.

Plenty of G-smith will have a 204R reamer- just get them to run the reamer in short so it suits .223 length brass.
Then get em to turn the excess off the length of a set of 204R dies and you have a .223 case based .20 cal- common brass easy to get dies, almost he capacity of the .20 Tac, 30 deg shoulder- will still feed from the magazine- and you can get real quality .223 brass to sun it with.

Saves on copping the cost of a custom/new reamer from your G-smith if he doesn't have a .20 prac or Tac but does have a .204 R.

Later
p

 

[zedsdead]

Well guys, I went with the 204. It's on a trued 700SA and a 1-11 twist Benchmark barrel. Hopefully I'll be out breaking in the barrel next weekend. Thanks for all the replies and help.