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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 10,946
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 10,946 |
So I got out to shoot this today. It shot so well it's almost disappointing, but dam it's a fun gun to shoot. I've got about 50 rounds through it and have 2 bullets (32Vmax and 35 Bergers) shooting sub dime size groups with the H322. Heck It has not thrown a group larger than an inch yet! I need to figure out why my chrono isn't reading right because I really would like to know what these are doing speed wise. 
They say everything happens for a reason.
For me that reason is usually because I've made some bad decisions that I need to pay for.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 30,760
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 30,760 |
T R U M P W O N !
U L T R A M A G A !
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 32,044
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 32,044 |
any powder that works in the 204 will do the same in 20 Practical
A Doe walks out of the woods today and says, that is the last time I'm going to do that for Two Bucks.
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,523
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,523 |
VarmintGuy,
The every first website I checked had brand-new major-factory .223 brass on sale for $50/250. The cheapest .204 brass on the same site cost $50/100, which is pretty typical these days.
An E.R. Shaw .20-caliber costs $150, and I have had excellent luck with Shaw barrels--which are available in Remington 700 factory contours. I know several gunsmiths in this area who would fit and chamber it to any common bolt action for $150, for a total cost of $300.
Did a little research on dies and found they can be had for as little as $50, though getting exactly what I'd want would run more like $100. In other words, not much different than .204 dies. So let's call that a wash.
So the basic cost for rebarreling to .20 Practical would be around $300. At a difference of 30 cents per case, a shooter would break even by buying 1000 pieces of .223 brass for the price I found so easily. The break-even point could come even sooner, of course, by purchasing once-fired .223 brass, which is commonly available and usually priced around 10-12 cents per case.
After the break-even point, of course, the .20 Practical shooter would be saving even more money.
A "friend of a friend" works at the local reformatory, and gets us all the .223 brass we want, for free. All we have to do is to rework the primer pockets and trim the stuff (eccchhhh!) and we have all the brass we want. It's not match-grade, but it works, and the price is right.
You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.
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Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,089
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,089 |
Yep, "sweat equity" works for brass too!
I got a bunch of once-fired .17 Hornet brass a couple of years ago that turned out to have the "short" primer pockets found in some of the early cases. (Always wondered where the short primers came from to use in those cases?) The price was so good it was well worth the time spent power-uniforming the pockets.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 10,946
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 10,946 |
![[Linked Image]](http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/bbassi/DSCN2219_zpsereivznh.jpg) ![[Linked Image]](http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/bbassi/DSCN2221_zpsqjqivw7v.jpg) 100yd, then 200yd group off the bags. All in less than 5 minutes. Not a doubt in my mind the flyer was me. Factory trigger, non-bedded. 35gr Berger over 24gr of H322. I'm very happy at this point.
They say everything happens for a reason.
For me that reason is usually because I've made some bad decisions that I need to pay for.
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Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 4,755
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 4,755 |
Did a little research on dies and found they can be had for as little as $50, though getting exactly what I'd want would run more like $100.
I'd be very interested to know what die set I could get for the 20 Prac for $50, if you don't mind sharing. Dies are the one thing that turn me away from this cartridge, since I don't already use a .223 Redding bushing die, and don't intend to buy one. Are there other cheaper options now?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 30,760
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 30,760 |
Most guys that shoot the 20PT also shoot a 223...
so you're part way there already...
Redding 223 bushing die w/.227 bushing...
Forster BR seater for a 204R...already had one from former 204R
Hornady match 223 FL sizer.....prep & neck brass to 20.......
go shoot p/dogs....coyotes...G/hogs........
T R U M P W O N !
U L T R A M A G A !
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 10,946
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 10,946 |
Did a little research on dies and found they can be had for as little as $50, though getting exactly what I'd want would run more like $100.
I'd be very interested to know what die set I could get for the 20 Prac for $50, if you don't mind sharing. Dies are the one thing that turn me away from this cartridge, since I don't already use a .223 Redding bushing die, and don't intend to buy one. Are there other cheaper options now? I got my Redding type S from fleet farm for $25. Got a 204 also for the same price. Bushings ain't cheap though.
They say everything happens for a reason.
For me that reason is usually because I've made some bad decisions that I need to pay for.
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Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 4,755
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 4,755 |
Most guys that shoot the 20PT also shoot a 223...
so you're part way there already...
Redding 223 bushing die w/.227 bushing...
Forster BR seater for a 204R...already had one from former 204R
Hornady match 223 FL sizer.....prep & neck brass to 20.......
go shoot p/dogs....coyotes...G/hogs........
Thanks but you must not have read my post all the way through. I do shoot 223, but don't have a Redding bushing die for it and don't intend to buy one.
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Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 4,755
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 4,755 |
Paging MD - I really would like to know about other die options you found.
Can a shortened .204 Ruger die work, or is the shoulder diameter wrong?
Tikkanut, are you saying above to use the Hornady match 223 FL sizer just for the body, or is that also a bushing type that can neck down to .20 cal?
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,749
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,749 |
Back from cross country travels..
I form cases for my 20 Practical the following way.
Deprime with RCBS decapping die.
F/L size the case with an RCBS Small base 223 die with the spindle out of it.
Start neck sizing with a 204 die
Finish sizing the neck with a Hornady 20 Cal Universal Sizing Die ( $20)
Then camfer, and then seat bullet with one of my 223 seating dies.
After shooting, neck size with the Hornady Universal Neck Sizer.... and bump shoulder back when needed with the 223 Small Base die ( when needed) or a regular 223 F/L die with the spindle removed.....
Had all of them shooting a 223... bought the Hornady for $20 on line, and also already had a 204 die set from shooting a 204...
so total additional cost was only $20 for me...
"Minus the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the Country" Marion Barry, Mayor of Wash DC
“Owning guns is not a right. If it were a right, it would be in the Constitution.” ~Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
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