Easy to shoot varmint cartridge

[harleybug]

204 outperforms my 223 all day. Shoots much faster. But my personal favorite is my 17 hornet awsome 300 yard round. Its an awsome little cartridge.

 

[rsbenden]

the day I cant afford to reload for my .243 will be a sad day indeed,I have a .22 .17,223,22-250 fer varmints but none of them hold a candle to a roll your own.243 round topped w/a 55gr varmageddon. pure evil.....0-350 deadhold,what a rig.

 

[mav007]

Just though I'd throw this out there. IF you reload, I would highly recommend giving the 20 Vartarg a shot. I have a .204 and the 20VT is very close in performance, with half the powder. Great little round, my max is a 405 yard shot, mine loves the 32 and 39 Vmax.
I don't run mine hot, only about 3750 ft/ but it will shoot in the .2's. Others are running them over 4000.

 

[oldfortyfiveauto]

204 outperforms my 223 all day. Shoots much faster. But my personal favorite is my 17 hornet awsome 300 yard round. Its an awsome little cartridge.

I also have pretty much settled in on the 204 and 17 Hornet for P Dogs. The 204 has about half the drop of a 223 making 600yds shots not a big deal. The 17 Hornet is really nice on the dog towns that are pretty wary due to the lower noise. Makes for more shooting opportunities.

 

[drags]

It has not been my experience that a .204 type caliber is good past 300 yards, I have one and I really like it out to about 250 yards after that I like my 22x47 lapua with 80 g. a-max bullets. I shot at a groundhog at 345 yards with the .204 and missed him twice the next time I hunted there he came out and I used the 22x47 and got him on the first shot. Now I am talking groundhogs not prairie dogs where you can walk shots into them, most of the time the groundhogs don't stay around after a miss. The calibers I like are .223 .204 out to 250 yards, the standard 22-250 with 52 or 55 gr. bullets out to about to 350 yards and the 22x47 past that. My longest kill on a groundhog with the 22x47 is 510 yards.
Joe

 

[jrock]

I did go with a savage model 12 in .204 and got my 40 grain Vmax's to group a 10 round group inside 1" at 400 yards in a 3 to 6 mph wind. Crazy fast and accurate and I'm not that great of a shooter. Waiting for the next season to deal death and destruction. I talked my friend into a same model but his heart was set on 22-250. He doesn't reload so we'll see how well that holds for him.

 

[lewwetzel]

I think you made a very good choice!

 

[Predator 22]

Dad and I just went threw 6,000 rounds of 20 practical in three weekend ground squirrel shoots, both of us shooting Savage actions with Shilen 26" barrels. I took extra rifles, a couple 223rem bolt guns and an AR15. I shot them all but got the most enjoyment out of the 20 practicals, in my opinion the 223s where no fun, period, next to the little 20 cal 32 grain V-Max @4200FPS! Hits on ground squirrels where easy out to 400 yrds, even in heavy wind. Longest shots where at 600 where I took down 4 of the little critters but defiantly at the far end of the range limits.

The accuracy is unreal with these guns and the lack of recoil allows you to spot your hits at any range. The ability of these 20 cal bullets to pop the little ground squirrels was awesome.

My stock Savage 12BVSS 223rem shoots very small groups too but...... I like the 20s!

When loading 6 thousand rounds my wallet appreciated the 25-26 grains loads of the 20 or 223 vs. the 35 grain loads of the 22-250s

Forming the 20 practical brass is easy! I take all that spent 223rem brass and one push into a CH-4d 20-223 FL die and VOLIA! a 20 practical ready to load!

I am considering selling my 223s simply to buy more 20 practical barrels. All though shooting single shot the 20s never got all that hot. Must have about 3-4000 rounds down the tube now and accuracy is still amazing.

BT

That's some amazing speeds you are getting with your 20 practical! What's your load and barrel length? I'm planning on moving to it after my 204 barrel is toasted. I'm getting 4090 fps out of my 204 with a stiff load of benchmark and a 26" tube.

 

[tt35]

Good choice, jrock!

 

[6.5x300]

That's some amazing speeds you are getting with your 20 practical! What's your load and barrel length? I'm planning on moving to it after my 204 barrel is toasted. I'm getting 4090 fps out of my 204 with a stiff load of benchmark and a 26" tube.

Shilen 26" 12 twist barrel
32 grain V-max bullets
Viht N-133 powder
CCI 450 Primer
LC brass

I consider 26 grains of N-133 to be about max for our rifles. I have tested up to 26.5 but you got to use a drop tube and it is certainly over max psi. We have also found that the Shilen "Select Match" barrel develops pressure sooner then their standard "Match" barrels, I suspect the "Select" has a tighter bore.

The only numbers I found in my books for the moment concerning loads with the N-133 and the 32 grain V-max is as follows. These where shot from the 26" Shilen Select Match 12 twist barrel.

I don't recommend anything over 26 grains of N-133 when using mil brass and the 32 grain pills!

Anything over 26 grains would flatten primers with an occasional popped primmer. We settled on the 25.9 grain load that we run in both our guns. We have found Winchester commercial brass to operated at a lower pressure as it doesn't have any problems in the "Select" barrel.

Grains FPS

25.7 = 4140
25.9 = 4185
26.1 = 4230
26.3 = 4265 Hot!
26.5 = 4290 Too Hot!

Be safe!

The 20 practical is an awesome round and the little critters are starting to come out of their winter hibernation. Almost time to get out there again. So far I have 4500 rounds loaded with 3,000 more rounds prepped to be loaded.

BT

 

[6.5x300]

After nearly 4,000 rounds the barrel is still shooting 3/8" groups

at 1/2" high at 100 just hold on hair all the way out to 300!

3/4" orange target dot

 

[6.5x300]

Just put my first AR-15 together with a 20 practical barrel from BHW. A 24" 10 twist.

Was getting decent groups with my 25.9 grain load and was happy. Had a few other loads for testing so figured I would just send them down range with little care as I had pretty much settled on shooting the same 25.9 grain load.

The 25.0 grain load wasn't very impressive then the 24.5 grain load did this! Give me a mulligan for the first shot and the next four went into a small .290" group!