Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Any advice re the .20 Practical?

Does anyone have any guidance on a twist and groove combination that works well with .20 Practical for typical weight bullets? I am ordering a Rem-age barrel and this is my first time playing with a .204 bore rifle. Thanks.

PM Tikanut....He’s the guru on the 20 Practical.

He set me up and it’s been the ballz after I got everything together.

😎

20P built off a 90’s Rem 700 action. PacNor Sendero contour 1:10 with an APA rtg dbm.

😎

Thanks.

I am thinking 1-10 twist, 3-groove, 22" threaded for a can.

Have shot Tactical,Practical and 204...all of which are an easypass,over sumptin' as blasse' as a modest length 223. Hint.

Mighta' put one together,not long ago. Waiting on PV Lapooey hulls,but one never knows,in this weather.

HawkHill 7" RPM at 21" in typical Halibut Blueprint,with MacaMillion and one of Colin's Down Under DBM's. I wonder if it will shoot 88's,with a steel AM 5rd Smooch and MDT Herd Clips? Hint.

LAUGHING!.................

I sure wish I knew what the [bleep] you just said.

LOL! I was just thinking the exact same thing.

VERY much enjoying,how the STUPIDITY is no "act". Hint. Congratulations?!?

You "hard charging" Couch Lizards,really "know" your "stuff". Hint. LAUGHING!

Cite any/all words that are "too big" or "too Technical",as you Google your First Fhuqking Clue. Hint.

Bless your hearts,for doing your best,with what incredibly fhuqking little you "have" to "work" with.

Hint.

LAUGHING!................

3G 11 twist will be good for anything to 40 grain.

some good info here

https://www.accurateshooter.com/cartridge-guides/20caliber/

10 twist is probably the best choice. Unfortunately for some reason makers like to put out 12 & 11 twist which can be marginal for the 40 gr Vmax in some conditions. I built one a couple of years ago with an 8 twist and it'll spin apart the 39 gr. sierra, the 40 gr. Vmax has a tougher jacket though and it works great in it. The 39-40 gr. bullets are the sweet spot for this cartridge in my opinion, they have the B.C. to reach out there unlike the 32 gr. offerings and give a trajectory similar to the 22-250 with less powder and bullet weight.

I'm not personally enamoured of 3 groove barrels, I'd stick with 4,5, or 6. Three grooves have a reputation for being hard on bullet jackets when the velocity gets up there and you can get some pretty good speed out of the .20 practical.

I am going with an X-Caliber barrel and they only offer 3 or 6. I have heard the same "3 groove=disintegrated bullets" theme, but do not have any first hand experience one way or the other. Other people really like odd numbered grooves because of the way the forces are distributed.

I'm running a 3G 1-9 in a 20BRAI with 55 at 3750 and I've ran 46.5 at 4050 fps with zero problems.

Yondering started a thread on a request for load data. There might be some info there that could be helpful. See below.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...20-tactical-practical-loads#Post14356077

if you get drunk, its a lot easier to understand Stumpy's posts....

he dictates them when he's drunk... and his dog types them for him...

must play hell with his spell check on his computer....

I have one that I had built.... i just settled on two bullets.. both Hornadys... the 24 gr NTx and the 32 V Max...
and two different powders... H 322 and Benchmark... 1 in 10 twist...

Loaded up a bunch of rounds for another campfire member, who had 39 grain Sierras and a bunch of CFE 223 powder...
he liked the end results out in the varmint fields...

I posted this being sober ( as I don't drink alcohol ).. so my post should be easier to understand that Schtick's two posts on the thread...

How fast are you pushing that 24gr bullet? I looked at those, but figured I'd start with the basics first, mainly the 32gr and 40gr V-Max. That 39gr TNT bullet has a big hollow point and lower b.c., but can be had pretty cheap, I bought them for $0.10 each. I also ordered some of the 34gr "Varmint Nightmare" bullets from Midsouth; they have a similar hollow point to the TNT, but a much more blunt/rounded ogive profile, if they shoot well I think they'll be strictly a closer range bullet.

I used a 1:10 twist blank from Black Hole Weaponry with their 3-groove Caudle rifling, which doesn't have traditional lands and grooves. They call it polygonal, but it's really shaped from 3 intersecting circles, with no flats so it's not a polygonal shape. It shoots well in my other examples, but I have yet to do any accuracy testing with this 20 Tactical.

I like 40 V's........20PT...20-222...even the Vartarg

My 20 Vartarg will occasionally run 32's........

For me.......summer of '19 was a bummer for p/dogs

prob only kilt 550-600 dogs......

I am thinking 40gr (or 39 SBK, whatever) will be the main use for me as well. Sure I could just shoot 40gr in 223, and did a lot of that in years past, but am more interested in reaching out a little further these days and the 40gr 223 gets left behind in that arena.

I'm looking at this 20 as a medium-range laser beam, with more reach and trajectory than a 40gr 223 but also have other good options for longer range. In fact, the 24" AR15 upper I built for this is sharing a lower with my 24" 243 LBC upper; both very similar setups with similar barrels, but slightly different use for each; the 20 for higher volume medium range, and the 243 for reaching out further.

I posted this in my barrel build thread, but will share it here too just for fun - this is a sample of 5/16" Peterbilt frame rail (this stuff is high strength but not hardened). 32gr 20 Tac (mild load, about 3900 fps) on top vs 75gr 223 Wylde (~2600 fps) on the bottom. High velocity makes a big difference on steel.

Geebus!!