seems like the logical choice to me, seeing as it comes capable of feeding the PPC case, and with the correct bolt face etc. Plus, it will be a little brother to the .358-.375 Ruger i have on a 798, am i missing something here, or is this the perfect donor?

They usually need some slicking up, they come pretty rough in the bolt raceways, according to several guys who've done similar rebarrels. Still, there aren't many choices for that boltface, so if you can find a good deal, it seems like a natural.

I love it when people agree with me!

Also, does anyone know what the bore dia. is on that rifle the way it comes from zatava? is it a .311, .310, .312? if someone has one, could they please measure and chime in?

I've talked myself out of doing A 20 CAL build...

however, that action strikes me as a perfect choice for that build...

if you really want to impress your varmint shooting buddies tho, how about a 20 PPC on a Ruger Mini 30 platform?

thought about this too. i own a mini 14, and i love it, but it just does not suit me for a precision type rifle. if i was gonna do it in a semi auto, i would try (97% chance, unsuccessfully) to do it in an AR-15 type. i can see major feed issues with it though. i like the distinctive look of Mauser type rifles, and the overbuilding the seem to be prone to.

I looked at a 799 in 7.62x39 as a donor for a 6PPC deer rifle build. Got to handle one at a nearby Gander Mountain store. They're pretty rough for what they cost new. As Ratsmacker said, they'd need some action/trigger work and I'd bet that you'll end up with a different stock as well. I contacted Wyatts Outdoor about their magazine boxes and compatibility with the PPC case. They said that they make a magazine box for Remington 700's that will feed BR cases and believe that they can provide one thqat will feed PPC as well. If the Wyatt box will feed PPC cases I think you might end up with a better rig for fit/finish, accuracy, and options like triggers, bedding pillars, etc. Granted it's not a Mauser style action though.

Just an alternative to consider.

Frank

i would agree with everything you said. the only problem i foresee, is trying to put an insert in a .473 bolt face for the ppc, or open up a .376 face to .447 for it. OR going the far more expensive option and buying an aftermarket bolt.....

Opening the bolt face should be no big deal (or big expense). If you're having the action trued during rebarreling the bolt face is squared as part of that process and opening the bolt face shouldn't require an additional set-up. You would have to make a decision about sako or Rem. extractor.

RugerDude: Is there something that a 20 PPC will do that any one of MANY factory Rifles in caliber 204 Ruger won't do?
If I were you, I would simply drive over to Montana and vist a Bob Wards Sporting Goods chain store and buy a Ruger 77 V/T in caliber 204 Ruger that are on sale right now for $549.00.
These Rifles are repeaters and ARE accurate - VERY accurate.
I have two of them in fact.
Think about the costs involved of the 20 PPC - first the 799 then a new custom barrel, then having it fitted and chambered by a Riflesmith then the costs of the custom dies!!!
Fireforming - more expense.
IF there is something in the Varmint Hunting world that a 204 Ruger won't do for me I have as yet to run across what that might be!
My 2,008 Redding Catalog shows a price of $150.00 for the custom 20 PPC 2 die set!
The 3 die set for the 20 PPC was $237.00 back then!
Who knows what the price will be here in 2,010?
A custom quality barrel is $300.00 and smithing it is another $150.00 - minimum!
Then you still have to buy the 799 Rifle as a platform.
I am BIG fan of the twenty calibers for Varminting - they are awesome!
And if your heart is set on a 20 PPC then I say go for it - but it is going to be a sizeable investment compared to a 204 factory Rifle.
Again best of luck to you.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

RD,
I think brass and dies would be an issue, as is smithing, but you would have something perfect for death on sage rats. I personally think, after trying to make a 204 work (an M77, on its second barrel with a custom re-cut by Greg Tannel, still sucketh) that the PPC case or the Tactical 20 is better-suited. I think the 204 is overbore...it certainly runs warm.
Twere ME, I'd go with the regular 22PPC or even plain old 220 Commie.
By the way, if you know Larry Cribbs, tell him hello.

Interesting.. based on a sample of ONE rifle ( which may have had issues no barrel can fix) you condemn the chambering as not "working"..

Your anwser is a wildcat round based on the same basic case,which holds about 10% less powder and that cases must be made for...GREAT SOLUTION...LOL

I'd bet $1,000 that if BOTH of those Ruger factory barrels where rechambered to .20 Tactical , that Ruger STILL would not shoot worth a damn.

Your "overbore" comment is interesting as well. If every "overbore" cartidge were not accurate, many, many cartridges like the .22-250 and .220 Swift would not be the classics they are today.

Hell, to many of the Benchrest shooters out there, the .22 PPC is "overbore".

Probably the BEST round to put in a Rem 799 with the Russian bolt face is the 6.5 Grendel..

There is something a .20 ppc will do that a factory .204 Ruger will not. some of those are... allow for 55 gr bergers to be seated out and still take advantage of the case's capacity and still fit in the box, stabilize 40 gr v-max/50 gr bergers/55 gr bergers, drive 55 gr bullets 3200+ safely, have enough throat for the 55 gr bullets period. the list goes on. i own a .204 Ruger, and dont get me wrong, i love it. but factory .204 rugers come with a 1-12 twist, in most cases this will not stabilize a 40 gr v-max, much less the longer 55 gr berger HP's. and even if it would, so much of that bullet has to be seated down into the body, that you may as well have a 20 tactical, its not going to give you desirable speeds with those very heavy bullets.

The .204 is a 400-500 yard varmint cartidge not a 1,000 yard Benchrest rifle.

Making a .204s trajectory steeper than a factory 55g .223 round is silly in the extreme..

Not to mention the fact that a 55g Berger with it's blunt nose shape has no better real world BC than a 40g V Max..

The CZ527 also comes in 7.62X39 if the protruding magazine, backwards safety, and single set trigger are to your taste. They're executed much better than the 798. I believe that the ruger M77 also came chambered in 7.62X39. They won't be easy to find though.

Not a fan of the grendel, never was, and i LOVE 6.5's. so, maybe that 55 gr bullet from a 20 ppc isnt going any faster than a 40 gr out of a .204, but it carries undeniably more energy. and the 40 v-max BC is .275, the 55 bergers, is .381. even if they were the same BC the point would be irrelevant, because a 12 twist .204 Ruger will not stabilize either one at safe pressures...an 8 or 9 twist ppc however, is a much different story

RugerDude - I was just looking at the load data and ballistics of the 20BR and it appears as though you can drive a 40 gr bullet at 4000 fps from the 20BR, but with the 204 it is necessary to step down to the 32 gr bullet to attain that speed. It also appears to do this with only a couple or so grains of powder more - it appears to be an efficient cartridge.

After reading about it it sounds like a neat cartridge and a pretty neat project also. What the heck, build what you want and let the naysayers carp about something else - after all it is your money and your project. As long as you are happy with what you are doing more power to you.

drover

I don't think brass would be an issue,jin62, just neck down the .220 Russian case. If you get the neck diameter right, you wouldn't even have to neck-turn except to clean 'em up. Dave Kiff probably already makes that reamer, the .20 PPC is a known entity now.
It's an imminently doable build, and I think RugerDude has his head on straight. I'm not a fan of the 799, but even that's workable if the right guy gets to work on it. Kevin Weaver comes to mind..............

Go for it, RD.

Thanks for that ratsmacker. i was a little curious what he was going on about with expense, 799+barrel+reamer+work, nothing too crazy. a faster twist .204 Ruger would cost every bit as much to build since that would have to be a custom job too. hey rifle manufacturers... how about a 1-9 .204 offering???

Jim62:
I'm pretty good at making rifles submit to my will. The particular rifle (a raffle win, not an actual deliberate buy) here has been properly bedded, the trigger is slicked to sneeze, the rings are lapped, on the second barrel I lapped the lugs before I sent the works to Greg.
The bottom line is the chamber on both barrels was cut WAY too fat, I cerrosafed each three times. Ruger would not trade me an unchambered pipe, either.
So, I had Greg shorten the throat and shrink the neck to .233, but wanted to keep the rollmarks. That meant he couldn't destroy the old chamber. So he didn't. We both thought "the plan" would work although he was concerned about the fat base. My mistake.
With fireformed brass, this gun will shoot 32 BKs and 39s reasonably well, leaker groups with cloverleafs and a flyer. So, when you are spotting your shots, and your shot was a leaker, darn, you miss again, and was THAT a leaker or was it the first one? The leaker is almost always a case that formed a bit off. If I gage every case, and shoot a special group with those perfect cases...THEN it will shoot. Like .3 to .5, nice and round.
With VIRGIN brass, accuracy is terrible, well north of an inch, with a cluster (straight brass) and flyers (banana brass). Completely random, and enraging. The cull rate is 35 to 50 percent depending on maker.
Factory accuracy was shotgun-class, so bad, I pulled the unfired stuff -- this was before I had any bag brass to play with, there was none to be had because of the hype and the fad.
Never mind that before I had Tannel do his expensive evil, the only thing that would shoot under about 1.5 inches were 39BKs, the only bullet that could be loaded to the throat, which in turn is way the heck and gone in the boonies -- that's the SAAMI spec, I got the drawings. I have never liked Weatherbys very much for that same reason.
As warm as the 204 is, I woulda thunk the fresh from scratch design would have a nice short throat that you could burn through for a nice long accurate life. I would also expect that such a dinky caliber doesn't lend itself well to stacked tolerances.
As things are, I have a line on another reamer and plan on one more set-back try for this barrel, with a short throat, little no-turn neck, and small base. If that fails, then I will probably turn it into a 20 Tactical.
Sorry to hijack, RD, but I'm thin-skinned and prone to leap to my own vainglorious defense. Good luck with your great wildcat adventure.

Rugerdude, I think that you have got some really good advise in this thread.

On some remington actions, I have known guys to have the gunsmith put a sako extractor in the bolt and use the bolt for PPC size cases and 6 BR Cases.

If you want to go all out on a custom, then the Weatherby 224 Mag is a bastard size close enough to work with the PPC case.

Good luck!

I think i have some good advice too, looks like i am looking for a donor now...

Umm, probably not your taste, but the news from the SHOT show say that Savage is going to make a model with a 1-9" twist pipe, probably the LRPV. It's not well known generally yet, but that's what I read on .204 Ruger.com.

O'RLY? thats a handy piece of info to have... might be time to reconsider, AGAIN

I made a boo-boo, it wasn't Savage with the 1-9" twist .204s, that was a typo from one of their press releases.

http://www.204ruger.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7370


However, T/C is going to make a 1-10" twist .204, that'll help a bit...

will help a bit, but if it is a bolt gun, you still have mag box length limitations that prevent you from shooting the bullet(s) i intend to shoot. and 1-10 isn't a safe bet to stabilize those, their recommended is 1-8

Dammit, how can we have a good argymint if we agree on all this stuff? d:^)

I have a CZ 527 that I bought to do just that, but I am having a hard time finding someone to do it, can you (or anyone) suggest someone?

Bunnie,,

Is that the gun at Williams I told you about???

As far as reabarreling a CZ, It CAN be hard to find a gunsmith that will cut a metric thread barrel.. weenies...

I would call gunsmith Dennis Olson in PLAINS ,MT. for the barrel work

Dennis has never been afraid of offbeat guns and he like CZ and BRNO rifles..

I bet he will do it for you. He is a world class gunsmith and is very reasonable for the quality of work done.

It is the very same gun. Thanks again for the tip, you saved me over $100.

Also thanks for the recommendation. I have found a few guys with the correct reamer but non of them would do the barrel swap and I didn't want to have to ship my gun and barrel to 3 different guys to get it done. I will contact Dennis Olson next week and see if he can help.

I have to say though, this rifle shoots so well as is I am starting to have second thoughts. I haven't tested it with .308 bullet handloads yet and I fear that if it shoots well I will have to buy another gun (that I will not shoot first) to make my Grendel.

Well.. you broke the FIRST rule of custom rifles..

NEVER shoot the DONOR RIFLE!!!!!!!

LOL..

As to contacting Dennis via phone ,sometimes he gets busy and cannot answer calls right away.

Keep trying.

Dennis is a good guy...remember tho, it's SPRINGTIME coming up.
Best time, or "better" is right after hunting season.

For the OP. In CDNN's latest flier 799 mini-mauser 7.62x39's are being offered at $399.

That's not a bad price, I think. I paid $300 for just the action about four years ago.

I walked past a new Ruger Compact in 7.62x39 with a nice chunk of wood on it one time too many and finally picked it up. It's a nice little carbine as is and I figure if I can't get it to shoot I'll rebarrel.

Always wanteda little 6ppc but I'm sittin on a fast twist 308 Rock that is kinda sayin subsonic 308x39 to me as well.