Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Ode to the 20 VarTarg

I have mentioned my 20 VarTarg in a number of posts, but I have not seen much written about it from others. I see interest in the 221 Fireball and the 17 Fireball, but not much from this 20 Fireball wildcat. I guess it is because it is a wildcat that many stay away from it, but I am telling you that it is a great round. I get over 3800 fps from my 32-grain V-Max loads and it shoots .5 MOA. Because it is built to my specifications, I enjoy shooting it more than my Kimber in 204 Ruger, which is an excellent rifle.

I originally purchased a Remington M700 SPS in 204 Ruger and had it rechambered to 20 VarTarg. My varmint shooting buddy purchased a twin of my SPS, but had a custom barrel screwed on it. When he consistently outshot me I had mine rebarrelled with a 22� heavy straight taper Stainless barrel. Instead of putting the wimpy SPS plastic stock back on, I replaced it with a Bell & Carlson Medalist stock. This combination fits me like a glove and is my favorite varmint rifle and I have a bunch.

Beautiful Sweet Set Up there VL..

I am a 20 VarTarg user as well and think it is the best small game cartridge going.

I started out with a Rem XR 100 in 204 and had it re chambered to 20VT. During testing I had found the 35gn Berger and 19.2gn H4198 (ADI 2207) to be best, giving me 3775fps, with numerous 1/4's a few in the 1's and a .084 on paper, and to date my longest shot on a rabbit has been 316 yds. Have taken goats out to 150yds although only on stationary animals as it is a bit light for them on the run.

I built a lighter walkabout stock as the thumbhole X R stock was a pain for field work and now with Harris bi-pod, my own design but-pod, a 12 round external ammo carrier, sling and scope it is portable at 11 lbs (nearly 2 lb lighter than the lam stock)


Yeah, I really like this one and first had thought's along these lines in the the 70's when I was running 22-250 and hornet's. Saw a 17 MK IV and thought it would be better if it was a little bigger bullet as the 17 was getting a bit of stick(fouling/wind-drift) when the 17 Rem came out. When the 204 was released I thought of the little Fireball case and googled 20/221 and was taken by all I read. The result has more than lived up to all expectations.

Von Gruff.

I've been using my 20 VT for 2-3 summers now...its actually a recycled 204R bbl that I had rechambered to VT....had 2500+ rds on the original chamber..the VT was the perfect re chamber...still going strong and rolling p/dogs off their mounds @ 500 yds with the 40 V max @ 3500 fps...my other 20 is a 20 Practical...also a recycled 204R bbl...scope is 4-14 Weaver Tactical...

I have no pics of mine, but it is a Cooper Varmint extreme. I have to admit that I've been mostly using the 221 fireball and not paying attention to the 20 VT, but hope to get some time this winter to really wring out some loads and use it next spring on ground squirrels. I got on the 20 kick with a 20 Tac, but have since sold it off and went to the small round....Love the fireball and it's spawn.....

Is that a tactical felling wedge under the butt?

yept & it works great !!!!!!!!!!!

I'll have to try that. I have the same stock on my model 10.

VarmintLooney: That is one GREAT looking Varmint Rifle!
And I am very glad it has pleased you so much!
May I ask you this question though?
Why such a short barrel - it would seem to me that a 24" barrel would add some "free" velocity and the added mass of 2 more inches of barrel would diminish recoil a tad and also add a tad of steadiness out in the field???
But the over-riding quiry I have for you is why not customize that SPS into a neat Rifle but keep it in 204 Ruger caliber - in other words why did you decide to go for the custom/Wildcatted 20 VarTarg cartridge as opposed to factory round in the 204 Ruger.
I am a great proponent of the 204 Ruger and I could be convinced to try a 20 VarTarg if there were some benefit in the Varmint fields to it's use.
My good friend Jack from Yelm, Washington is planning a 20 VarTarg right now and I have asked HIM this same question - which he avoids answering, directly.
Again great looking Rifle and a fine job of photgraphing it as well.
Wishing you continued happiness with your 20 VarTarg.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VarmintGuy� I have a Kimber Varmint in .204 Ruger that shoots little tiny holes besides looking great in walnut. Since most of what I shoot is gophers, a 204 is just not necessary. It heats up too quickly and requires a muzzle brake to see the hits. I have a .221 Fireball and thought that it would be better in 20 caliber. The VarTarg is a great caliber for gophers, and as I discovered this summer, a great caliber for prairie dogs, too. It takes longer to heat up and hits much harder than my Hornets. The distances I shoot both these animals are usually less than 300 yards so a long tube is just not necessary. I get over 3800 fps with my VarTarg shooting a 32-grain V-Max. I got the idea of a short but heavy barrel from Kimber�s SVT (223 Rem). It has a straight non-tapered barrel of 18�. It shoots tiny bug holes all day. It is a heavy rifle, but is not nose heavy, thus easier to use from a quad or sticks. I did not want a barrel that measures 1.125� at the muzzle like the SVT, so I asked for a straight taper down to .75� on a 22� barrel. My shooting buddy put a 24� tube on his VarTarg and his averages about 25 fps slower than mine with the same load. I don�t feel I give up much, if anything.

I suggest that you take one of those 204s you have (I bet you have more than one) and rechamber it to the VarTarg. You will not regret it.
Happy shooting!

VarmintLooney: You are starting to pique my interest!
I just love my 204's (I currently have 5 of them) and would rather amputate a toe than significantly modify any of them.
I do though have about 10 to 15 more years of banzai (all out!) Varmint Hunting left in me and the 20 VarTarg may just be along for the ride.
I remember back several years ago when a good friend of mine came to me with a "plan" to re-chamber his rather accurate Ruger 77 V/T in 223 Remington "down to" 221 Remington Fireball!
I actively lobbied against that and advised him to get another Rifle that maybe did not shoot as well as his 223 and modify it.
Well my friend ignored my sage advice and had Dan Cowen the custom Riflesmith in Renton, Washington re-chamber the Rugers original 223 barrel "down to" 221 Remington Fireball!
The newly chambered Rifle shot even better once the work was done!
I have seen this a few times over the years where a good shooting factory Varminter is re-chambered by a competent Riflesmith and it ends up shooting even better than before!
Chambers ARE important.
My 204's are very conducive (due to their heaviness and my non-hot rod handloads maybe?) to allowing me to see my hits?
My Remington XR-100 in 204 Ruger with its Nikon 6.5x20 Monarch scope weighs 12 pounds 2 ounces - field ready.
It does not recoil much at all.
Could you post some of your velocities and powder charge weights for your 20 VarTarg?
Thanks in advance.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VarmintGuy� I am not an experimenter when it comes to loads for my rifles. I find a load that works well, tweak it to as good as I can get, and stick with it. I did do some load development before I ended up with my present load and I will list them here. Remember, I am after gophers at distances of less than 300 yards.

Bullet � Varmint Grenade 26 grain
Powder � A1680 18.3 grains
Groups - .25� to 1.00�
Note - Too dark for chronograph + windy

Bullet � V-Max moly 32 grain
Powder � Reloader 10x 19.5 grains
Groups � 1.00�
Velocity � 3400 fps
Note - You cannot fit enough 10x powder in this case to bring it up to reasonable velocities.

Bullet � V-Max moly 32 grain
Powder � N120 17.9 grains
Groups - .25� to .60�
Velocity � 3800 fps
Note � This was my primary load until N120 dried up locally.

Bullet � V-Max moly 32 grain
Powder � A1680 18.2 grains
Groups - .30� to .80�
Velocity � 3825 fps
Note � This is my primary load.

Bullet � V-Max moly 32 grain
Powder � Lil�gun 16.0 grains
Groups � n/a
Velocity � 4200 fps
Note �Blew primer, stuck case in bolt head. Case is too big to put less than 16.0 grains w/o filler. Big swings in velocity.

Bullet � BlitzKing 32 grain
Powder � H4198 18.5 grains
Groups - .70�
Velocity � 3675 fps
Note � Too slow

Varmint Lonely, When you changed to the 20VT from the 204, what did you do to make the Magazine feed properly?

Godsdog: I hope VarmintLooney comes back and answers your question but I checked and he hasn't posted on this forum for 6 (six!) years now - since 2,014.
I wish I could help with your query but I can't - maybe you could ask on this forums gunsmithing section?
Best of luck to you.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I used a REM 700 that was a 223 and had a new barrel installed and chambered in 20 VT.
NO GO on feeding and ejection. Ended up going back to a 223 barrel.
The key to building a 20 VT is use one of these actions, Sako A1(461), REM 700 that was factory made for the 221/17fb, or a REM XR 100. The XR100 is a single shot, so no feeding issues. It will need a sako extractor though.
I have/had 221FB, and 20VT in all these actions with excellent results.
For PDs, the XR100 in 20VT is a fantastic gun.

Long time Vartarg user here......2006 ish

Had a Pac Nor 12 twist 204......got bored with it at 1200 rds......

Had P-N rechamber it to Vartarg....never looked back

But also run a 20 Practical...20-222

This one is on a 'G' series Savage stainless s/shot....

Prob ran 1K + rds outta it this summer....32's & 40 V's

Mine has become my favorite rifle. It is ridiculously accurate. Mine was built on a Stiller repeater and I bought a Remington fireball magazine, and follower. It feeds fine with that setup.