Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Barrel for 20 Tactical custom varminter

I am building a 20 Tactical on a Pierce action, with a fluted Rem Varmint Contour barrel. I want to shoot the 39gr Sierra Blitzking and the 40gr VMax.

I can get either a Lilja 12 twist or a Pacnor Super Match 11 twist at a good price.

Which barrel would you choose?

Faster twist all the way.

Back a year ago or so I was considering specs for a .20 Tact or 204 R and was going to go with a 1 in 10. I'd research the 40 gr. bullet selection and required twist weight strongly before grabbing a deal in a less than ideal twist rate.

My recommendation is for the 1:10" at a minimum if you plan to shoot anything 39 grains or heavier. I built one rifle on a Shilen Select Match 1:12" twist and it shoots the 26 grain Varmint Grenade around .250" for a 10 shot group (4,085 fps). Groups open up with anything heavier. The 40 grain Hornady was marginal, opening up to over 1".

As an experiment I purchased a Pac-Nor 1:8.5" twist barrel. The 26 grain Varmint Grenade shot down into the .1's (4,110 fps.) and the Berger 50 grain HPBT shot .350" with the first load tried (3,287 fps.). All the heavier bullets I tried worked very well.

It isn't just the weight, it's also the length of the bullet. I decided to err on the side of faster twists for the .204 Ruger. Other than the Shilen all my varmint barrels are Pac-Nor or Brux (Brux doesn't make a .204 barrel).

I have a 20 Tactical with the same barrel contour and also fluted. I went with the Pac Nor 11 twist for the 39 and 40 grain bullets you are looking to shoot. I am very happy with it and it shoots the 39 and 40's very well! I would choose this barrel again in a heartbeat.