Experince with .20 cals

[RBell24]

Does anybody have experience with any of the .20 caliber wildcat cartridges? I'm mainly wanting to hear some things about the <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="color: #000099"><span style="text-decoration: underline">20 Vartarg</span>, </span></span> but if you shoot one of the similar cartridges like the <span style="text-decoration: underline">Tac 20, 20 BR, or 20 PPC</span>, I would still like to hear your experiences with them.
I primarily predator hunt, so I want to know how it does on coyotes. Does it drop them graveyard dead or do they flip and flop around?
Even if you just use it to shoot P-dogs I would like your input.
Thanks!

 

[TEAMSENDIT]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

dude it is all about shot placement with any of the tipped bullets they are going to go down in a hurry if shot in the kill zone. I have seen my buddy shoot a few with his 204 ruger and they were drt. also I have one for pdogs it is alittle better than the 223 but not much I prefer the 223ai over the 204, but I have always like the tac20 but never could get myself to buy one.

I think the best coyote medicine is 6mm of some sort with either 75vmax or 87vmax now that knocks them stone cold.

ask long range dogr or sendero man on here they are both very avid coyote hunters.

 

[MuleyTime]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

I'm a BIG TIME .20BR fan. I have this one built on a Rem 700 action with a Lilja 1-9 barrel. I built it for my main coyote rig shooting 55 Bergers going 3600 fps. The thing is a flat out tack driver, and shoots very flat with the 55's.... but you need to know that the BR case is not "feed friendly", and will require some care and a little tweaking on your part if you want it as a repeater. I think the 20 Vartarg would be a great choice as well. I really wanted something to shoot the 55's so I looked at the bigger case capacity of the BR.

Almost forgot....I've had this for almost a year now and it has killed 12 coyotes. All were pretty much DRT!!! No splashes....and NO Runners.

 

[RTH1800]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

I am really looking at TAC 20. Should be great. I have stock and action just need to order the BBl. Kreiger can only get to 26" finish length. Not sure what I want to do about that. Really do not want to go with a Lilja.

 

[RBell24]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: diggler44</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I think the best coyote medicine is 6mm of some sort with either 75vmax or 87vmax now that knocks them stone cold.
</div></div>

I have a .243 that I built for coyote hunting. 58&75gr vmax do great. The 70gr NBT's do great as well. My buddy loads up 85gr sierra GK's that also do pretty good for a solid bullet-I just like fragmentation! haha. I've never had any problems with animals getting away with this gun.

The only reason I'm wanting to know about the .20's is that I have the opportunity to get a $5500 build rifle for about half price. Just wanting to see what people think about the round and how efficient it is at putting critters down.

 

[atreeman]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

I have a tac 20 with a 26 inch 9 twist three groove pacnor on it. Was built for the 50gr bergers which it shoots sub quarters. However, tried with the 40gr v max and it shoots these in the 1s at 4000fps. Red foxes have not even twitched so I imagine the effect would be similar on coyotes as the penetration seemed to be good. Advantage over the 6mms is the very flat trajectory.

 

[deer assassin]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

good info

 

[eleaf]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

20 Tac rules. I have a newly acquired Cooper Phoenix (Model 21). I haven't shot it yet, but the previous owner provided targets and load data when he was testing loads, and it is really impressive. Less than .25 MOA at 100 with 39 Sierra Blitzkings going about 3800 fps, and 32 grain V-Max well over 4000 fps. My barrel is a stainless 1:12 twist 26" heavy varmint. I'll post poics when I get a chance. It currently has a SS 3-9x ffp mil/mil scope (really nice scope - if only they offered a higher mag variable) on top.

If you want more info from small caliber guys, you should really check out saubier.com All they do is small caliber (.14, .15, .17, .19, .20, .22 calibers) and there is a ton of great info on the 20 Tac (as well as about a million other wildcats).

The 20 Tac is really good on coyote well past 300 yards, and p dogs/ground hogs out to around 600+ yards. The round is flat shooting and packs a whollop when it arrives.

20 Tac brass is now available (Lapua), and proper dies are made from Redding, Hornady and at least 1 or 2 others, so forming from .223 is no longer necessary.

You can find ammo in 1 of 2 places (to get you started before working up loads). Hendershots will make some ammo for $35-$38 dollars a box (about FGMM prices - at least locally), and Buck Ammo also makes some in boxes of 100 for what seems a better price (~$122 for 100).

By all means take a look at the "major" manufacturer bullets (Hornady, Sierra, Berger, etc), but also look at some of the "boutique" bullets makers who specialize in hand swaged bullets. Most of them are better by all accounts, and not much more expensive (if at all). No Name Bullets is supposed to be, as one member on the board likes to say (though forget his handle right now), the cat's ass. Calhoon Bullets are also supposed to be very good.

But definitely go to Saubier.com. They know their small calibers and 20 Tac is a favorite over there. You're sure to get all of the info you could ever desire there.

 

[RBell24]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

Thanks eleaf, I'll go see what I can find there. Anyone else?

 

[eleaf]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

As a follow up . . .

If you're looking to shoot the larger bullets, 45+ grains, you will need at least a 1:9 twist barrel, and the new 57 (I think it's 57 anyways) will require a 1:6 (though many reports state that they don't do very well on the smaller bullets because the twist is just too fast, and they essentially disintegrate at high speeds with super fast twist. I wouldn't go any faster than 1:9 so that I could shoot all bullets up to 50 grains.

If you're looking to put down critters (p dogs, g hogs, coyotes, fox and the like), you <span style="font-weight: bold">will not</span> need to shoot the larger bullets. The 39 grainers will take anything down you need to at distance (+/- 300 yards for coyote - maybe more - and +/- 600 yards for p dogs/g hogs) Part of the beauty of the .20 caliber stuff, and the 20 Tac in particular, is that exit woulds are virtually non-existent (ask the fox guy from England a few posts above, and I'd be willing to bet that he will agree), and that means pelts ahoy!

All of the power of the bullet stays in the target rather than passing through. I have read reports of the larger bullets not being so kind to the pelts because they exit far more frequently than the smaller, faster bullets.

All that said, they will all do the job very well on any critter you choose to put down.

If you can get a 20 Tac custom for a rockin' price, I'd be all over it like stink on shit.

 

[laylowlong]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: eleaf</div><div class="ubbcode-body">






If you can get a 20 Tac custom for a rockin' price, I'd be all over it like stink on shit. </div></div>

Thats a good one.

 

[MuleyTime]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: eleaf</div><div class="ubbcode-body">As a follow up . . .
I have read reports of the larger bullets not being so kind to the pelts because they exit far more frequently than the smaller, faster bullets.
</div></div>

Just my 2 cents....

However....I would be willing to bet that I have as much experience as anyone with .20 caliber 55 Bergers and coyote Deaths

You would be surprised how little damage they do. All the bullets are going to do extensive damage if you hit bone. Even the .17's with 30 grain bullets. I just want to throw this out there because, I can tell you that the .20BR shooting 50 or 55 grain Bergers are very very fun at extended distance shooting. I have had a ton of fun competing with the big guns at 1000 yard steel shooting (at least while the wind is somewhat calm)

If long range wasn't in my repertoire, I would have been all over the .20 TAC or even the .17 TAC/Practical...

 

[knockemdown]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

You'd be better served with the 40Berger over the 39BK for killin' coyotes from a .20TAC. Keep those 39s for poppin' p-dogs...

 

[RBell24]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

I probably won't get the opportunity to shoot p-dogs with it because there aren't any within about 250 miles of where I live. Coyotes are a weekly thing, though. Also, the gun I'm looking at is a 20 vartarg

 

[brand692]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

Well, I don't see any specific 20 VT discussion so I will give you my .02. The 20VT is an absolutely fantastic round. Obviously there is no commercially available brass or loaded rounds, so you have to be handy with handloading.

While I've never owned one, a good shooting buddy of mine had one built, and well, the brass work up was easy, but brass maintenance was a bit more work. The parent is 221 FB, which is around. For initial forming, simply run the 221FB into the 20VT die and you have 20VT brass. However, and I do not know why, the brass would develop a doughnut at the second or third firing. All the brass would have to be reamed and neck turned with the neck turning bit just cutting into the shoulder in an attempt cut out the doughnut. Or buy more 221FB brass and size it.

Now that the bad is out of the way, here is the good. The 20VT is the hands down the 6PPC or 6BR of the 20 cal world. It is hands down the most efficient, accurate, and low recoil of the 20s. My buddy's rifle had a BAT Right Bolt, left port and was a BLAST to shoot. Not the fastest of the 20s, it is still great on small varmints, but has a limited range.

I loved shooting his 20VT. It was super accurate, and frequently shot mid teens when it was put to the paper. It used next to no powder, I think we were loading something like 19.1 grains of H335 behind a 33 gr bullet, but don't quote me on that and refer to a proper load manual for loads. I'm running off of memory, which isn't great. It also had NO, and I mean NO recoil. If you like seeing the red mist, this is the king. It has less than half of the recoil of my 204 Ruger which doesn't have much either.

If you are willing to reload, you will be really happy with a well put together 20VT.

Check this out for more info on the 20s:
http://www.6mmbr.com/20Caliber.html

 

[RBell24]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

Thanks for the info brand. I read that article about a week ago and was glad to see that it was thought of as the most efficient of the .20's. Todd Kindler seems like a very knowledgeable guy and I'm sure he wouldn't like it if it wasn't a good round.

 

[idahoshooter]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

Anyone playing with the 20 Dasher?

 

[RTH1800]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

I ordered a Kreiger barrel for the Borden action yesterday. I am not sure what stock I will use. I have badger bottom metal and lug. Should be ready to go soon.

 

[pre64marksman]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

I'm interested (far in the future) in .20-222. A friend of mine used to have a Weatherby Vanguard heavy barrel in .204Ruger. The accuracy was nice but not what he wanted so he traded it toward an XP100 thumbhole-killer gun from factory! Not sure if its still in their product line, his was used.

 

[RBell24]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

I haven't really been impressed with he .204ruger. I usually don't hear of people praising it either

 

[atreeman]

Re: Experince with .20 cals

Part of the beauty of the .20 caliber stuff, and the 20 Tac in particular, is that exit woulds are virtually non-existent (ask the fox guy from England a few posts above, and I'd be willing to bet that he will agree), and that means pelts ahoy!



True: The 40 v max do not exit on solid body shots.

50gr bergers do exit and leave large holes.