Bench-Talk

If you were to build a new .20 varmint rifle for hunting, which chamber would you use. At this time I’m thinking I would go with the 20 BR. Or mayhaps 20 PPC or 204 Ruger or 20 Tactical or 20 Vartarg or ????? Let’s hear from the board. Tell me what action, trigger,  barrel weight, twist, bullet, powder, stock and scope combination would be your ideal 20! CJ’s curious.

Craig, mine is a .204 Ruger, I chose this because ease of getting production dies, brass etc; I used a Stiller Predator action and pac-nor 11 twist,3 groove barrel. It is a rem. sendero fluted profile. trigger is a Timney from Stiller wich they I belive they  hard coat. Using Leopold duel dovetail bases and rings and 6.5x20 scope.Put it in a old hs precision stock i had laying around but have accurate innovatins walnut stock on order. Should be pretty sharp. Powder wise, Reloader 10x, benchmark,133 give good results with 10x giving highest velosity {in my other 204 adl,have not chronyed pred. yet} have mainly been using 32 gr.serrias but going start using 40's for coyotes. Is great crow and yote rifle acounting for 2 1/2 coyotes right after getting it. Shoots really good too. Reamer used is a min. spec. snug neck that dont require neck turning, Dont want to do ANY of this on my hunting rifles. Good luck, Mark.

CJ, I have a .204 Ruger (#3 contour BBL), built on a Rem. 700 Action and a 20BR (HBR contour BBL), built on a Borden ALPINE action: both feature PacNor barrels: respectively, 1:12" & 1:11". Both barrels shoot the 39/40 Gr. bullets well enough for hunting, but the 1:12" (.204) groups tighter using 32 Gr. Hornady V-Max; for the 20BR, I'm going with 40 Gr. Bergers.

Since you know a WORLD FAMOUS smith, I'll advise you to go with one of the following: 20 Tac; 20 Practical; 20 BR - depending upon which bolt-face you have or, want. With bullets seated out to contact the lands, the .204 case is too LONG to work through most .223 length magazines. The SAAMI spec. freebore length is a WHOPPING 0.100" !! Consider this: with a Hornady [40 Gr.] factory load, and a custom ZERO freebore  reamer, featuring the customary 1Deg., 30Min. lead angle, the bullet will still be 0.050 OFF the lands!! So, when the bullets are seated out for land contact, they are too long for most magazines - especially clips. The 700 feeds them well. Being based upon the .223 case, both the 20 Tac. and Prac. avoid this issue - Redding offers dies for both . . . and both deliver full .204 performance. And, LAPUA brass is available. For any of the above, I'd opt for not more than 0.030" of freebore, whic accommodates keeping the bullet base in the case neck.

With 32 Gr. bullets and Hogdon BenchMark, the speed-limit for my .204 barrel is right at 4150 FPS; the 40 Gr. bullets, propelled by Win. 748, are limited to just under 3900 FPS. The 20 BR  is delivering a solid 4100 FPS using both 40 Gr. Hornady V-Max and Berger 40 Gr. BT - this via a "case-full" of Win. 760. Since these were built for speed, I sacrifice the BR type precision for solid .5 MOA five-shot groups: at a measly 3700 FPS, the ALPINE/PacNor/Berger [20BR] rig delivers sub .3 groups . . but, that's not why I built the thing! ;)

Although the #3 contour .204 PacNor shoots very well, I won't build another with anything under a #4 - I just don't care for the wimpy appearance of the factory weight tube.

Put REO on it right away - then let the fun begin! ;) RG

I opted for the 20 Practical. I use the Savage action along with a 1/11 twist Pac-Nor barrel in cromoly. I had Kevin Weaver to chamber the barrel. I already had Lapua 223 brass and Redding 223 dies. I purchased a .228 bushing. You can neck down the brass by using a .246 bushing then go to a .240 bushing to a .233 bushing and finally a .228 bushing. I have tryed Benchmark, N-133 , h-322 and Reloader 10 x. The rifle shoots best with 10 x and a 39 grain Sierra or a 40 grain Berger. The neck on the barrel is .233 ths. the loaded round measures .231 ths. with Lapua brass. I have shot Woodchucks in Ohio to 325 yards. After they are hit they don,t even move. The velocity runs 3850 for the 39 and 40 grain bullets with Relaoder 10 x. I also use Federal 205 primers. The20 Practical is very accurate and is easy to load. I also found that you must start low with powder and as little as .3 tenths of a grain of 10 x can be a hot load. Hope this helps.

John Mangus

   Craig, if I was building a .20 for a nice 'walking varminter' style rifle, here's what I would go with:

  Short 700, Davidson bolt shroud, reworked factory trigger @ 1.5 lbs, BDL bottom metal, PacNor #2 @ 22" twisted 1:11, chambering would be the 20 VarTarg Turbo (222 necked to .20), McMillan Sako Hunter or Remington Mountain Rifle pattern stock, Talley lightweight base/rings combo. For optics I'd opt a lightweight approach....a Leupold 6X42 non-A.O., a Weaver K6, Sightron 6X42, etc.

  If you're careful with the optics package, you'll end up with a rig that will weigh 7 3/4 lbs. all up..cocked, locked and ready to rock. You can save a few more oz. by opting an ADL trigger guard and spec'ing the thinnest, lightest weight pad possible. Talk really nicely to Roy Oines and have him fire up the Bridgeport and scallop the sides of the reciever ring and rear of the action to save a few more oz. if he's willing.

   Brass is great, the dies are stupid-simple, the velocity peaks about where most of the bigger .20's are most accurate and it will feed like a 222. Second choice in chambering (for me) would be the 20 Practical...which is just the 223 necked to .20.

WOW, Sound advice. Thanks for your responses.

I like the short action700 and have several to choose from for this project.

Randy’s information about feeding the .204 round through a magazine is sound advice. The .204 is off my list. I have a .257 Roberts with this inconvenience. 

If I have a rifle built it will depend on the bolt face. It will be a 20 BR or .20 practical. I’m still undecided on barrel weight. I think Al’s set up sounds pretty good with only some minor changes.  

My thoughts on chamber specs. Do I want a tight neck BR type chamber? Is there a chance a round may not chamber in a hunting environment? I believe this is the second most important thing you can do to improve accuracy. A competent smith is number 1. Bedding is number 3. Turning brass is another thing that is not my favorite way to spend an evening. What are the minimum SAMMI specs? How much difference is there form, say John’s Savage?

Isn’t it great to live in this country, where our dreams can become reality? Support out troops! Thank You. CJ

CJ, when using a Rem. 700 (short) action, you won't encounter the feeding/length issue - you'll have plenty of length for the .204. The length issue comes into play when opting for one of the "cute" .222/.222 Mag sized actions, such as the popular CZ, KImber, etc. With the .204, you need to avoid using a .223 length magazine - it takes a .222 MAG length to avoid the length issues. If I were to do another .222 (.378") case-head deal, I'd want one of the scaled-down actions.

One positive attribute of the .204: I've found that every "LOT"of brass [which I have purcahsed] (both Rem. & Win. head-stamps) have produce maximum loaded round run-out of 0.0003", whith most running under 0.0002" - this works well enough for huntin' ! So, no need to turn necks with this case. It seems that Hornady wanted this cartridge to produce "varmint" precision, without a lot of extra effort. Here are some of the SAAMI chamber/Loaded ammo specs. Cartridge (loaded round) Maximum diameters (tolerance -0.008" /+ 0") : neck  - 0.231"; shoulder/Nk junction - .3599"; "Web" (0.200" ahead of bolt-face) .3759". MINIMUM Chamber specs. (tolerance = -0.0" / + 0.002") : Neck diameter - .232"; shoulder = .3608; Web = .3768.  These are pretty tight for SAAMI specifications! ;)

My Henriksen .204 reamer features a .231" neck Dia., .3608" shoulder Dia., and .3768" Web Dia. - no neck turning required. So far, most of the "out-of-the-bag" brass has produced loaded-round neck diameters running .3285" - .3288". Following neck-turning, I have been unable to see any improvement in precision. I had Hugh grind the reamer with a 0.060" free bore, but am having him cut it back to 0.030" or so. I listened to Hugh and went with the SSAMI body dimensions, thus, the Redding dies work perfectly! ;) The down-side to the Rem./Win. brass is wimpy case heads . . about when you get things boiling, the primer-pockets get loose . . . this isn't such a big issue with a 20BR and Lapua brass. With the .378 case-head,  Pressure is my biggest grip - there just isn't enough mass surrounding the primer. Good shootin'! RG

It depends on how deep your pockets are. I went the 20 Practical route because I already had the Savage. The neck is a .233 and the loaded round comes out at .231 ths.with Lapua brass and Sierra 39 grain Blitzkings.. The 20 BR. has just to much boiler room for me. Just a personal choice. So you have many choices to go with. Hope this helps. I second on SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS.

Be safe and shoot well,

John Mangus

Craig,

I had a 20 BR built on a Searcy action with a 9 Tw Lilja barrel to shoot up to 50 gr bullets. If I were building a 20 today I would build a 20 PPC or a 20 tac, with a 12 or 11 tw to shoot up to a 40 gr bullet. The 9 tw slowed the speed down for the light bullets. I think the 39 or 40 gr bullets are best. A friend wanted it more than I did. I am looking for a custom action in 223 boltface to build a 20 tac with a 223AI barrel for PD.

Mark