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Old 01-22-2019, 02:43 PM
Cow Town Bill Cow Town Bill is offline
 
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Default Are The 20 cal Rifles Sill Popular

It's 15 years since Ruger brought out their 204. Several other 20 cal versions followed.
The 204 quickly gained popularity for its 4000+ velocity, low recoil and low muzzle blast.
I resisted the urge to jump into a 20 cal rifle. My thinking was that I had a super accurate 223 Rem so why buy yet another varminter. In hindsight maybe I was too rash in my judgement. I just finished reading a number of technical discussions and it seems that the 20 cal will outperform the 223 in most, and perhaps in all situations.
Most of my varminting is shooting prairie dogs in Montana. After a shot or two there are no pd to be seen under 300 yds. The 223 with 50 or 55 gn bullets are good to about 350 yds. Then, it's time to pull out the 22-250 and then the 6 mm cal rifles.
Maybe I should add a 20 cal varminter that would not replace the 223 but supplement it. When the shooting gets hot and heavy it becomes a must to allow a rifle to cool and pull out another. Ah, such fun!!!
And of course there is the question of which 20 cal be it 204 Ruger, 20 preactical, 20 tactical and others.
Bill
I'm anxious to hear what experiences and recommendations AO members can share with me and fellow varminter b
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Old 01-22-2019, 03:06 PM
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tikka250 tikka250 is offline
 
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I have a 20 practical and it is my main go-to for tiny long range varmints. Ballistically out to 500 or so it performs like a 22-250 that doesn't heat up as fast and let's you see hits (or misses) accuracy at distance is phenomenal and with minimal or steady wind gophers are not safe out to 450 yards. My furthest kills with it are a coyote at 630 and a gopher at 550 yards.
It works so well that I am in the process of building another one for coyote hunting.
You will not be sorry if you pick up a 20. You may even start leaving the 223 at home.
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Old 01-22-2019, 03:17 PM
elkhunter11 elkhunter11 is offline
 
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My 20 tactical is still my go to coyote cartridge, and extra long range ground squirrel cartridge. I have killed coyotes to just under 400 yards with it. I replaced my 20vartarg with a 17 hornet , because it heats up even less, during high volume shooting.
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Old 01-22-2019, 06:52 PM
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Groundhogger Groundhogger is offline
 
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Great question, and one I was thinking about bringing up here myself. I've been shooting .223 for varmints here in Ontario for about 8+ years, but for 1 year, flirted with a Cooper in 204 Ruger. Great gun, great caliber...but I never warmed to the standard weight (=non heavy) barrel. That, and, I was so paranoid about keeping the rifle perfect that I would only use it days with no threat of rain. If you know hot, humid, southern Ontario summer days...you know that's a real limiting factor. lol I ended-up selling it for THOSE reasons, but loved how easy the gun was to load for, how flat shooting it was, etc.

That transitioned to asking questions about the other ".20s" here and on CGN, but I never felt confident about having a 20 made to my specs. Was closing in on 20-223 because of my familiarity with that case size...but got cold feet. I then re-considered a new 204R, decided on a gun (Tikka Varmint)...then did a 180 and pounced on a new 17 Hornet. That's a surprisingly capable round! I've dropped hefty groundhogs out to 200 yards with it, literally a bang/flop proposition. Looks a little like this;



I liked that gun, and that caliber so much that it's stalled the quest for another .20...but for maybe another year. Going to run that 17H this coming spring/summer...even if the .223 never gets touched! Then...we'll see what happens.

What I'd love to hear from the more experienced here~how does 17H stack up against the lighter 20s? More importantly, which of the lighter 20s would be the "easiest" for a reloader who doesn't like too many challenges? lol

Probably turning back to .204R because here, I may take a dozen shots on a BUSY day varmint hunting. More likely, 1/2 that #! lol
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Old 01-22-2019, 08:56 PM
amosfella amosfella is offline
 
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I've killed quite a few yotes with the cz 17 hornet. All but one were a bang-flop situation. One was close to 400 yards as measured by a rangefinder. I like skinning the yotes shot by the 17 hornet. No big gaping holes to worry about. Generally very small pin *****s with no exit.

A friend of mine has a cz 204 Ruger. He likes that one too. But, I have yet to hear of him taking a yote with it. Ground squirrels are a hilarious mess when shot with it. There have been a few that quite literally looked turned inside out.

What can I say, speed kills.

Below is the first coyote kill with the 17 hornet I use. (insert video game announcer voice here) HEAD SHOT!!!

2016-04-29_06-44-37 by wolverine00089, on Flickr
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  #6  
Old 01-22-2019, 09:27 PM
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6.5 shooter 6.5 shooter is offline
 
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.204, 40 gr v-max Hornady far superior ballistics over most if not all .22 bullets until you get into the really heavy ones (60+ grains). I choose a Ruger Varmint 26" barrel to ring out every ounce of velocity I could from the round. I found TAC powder works very well, DO play with primers they make a difference. I also have a couple .222 they stay home, the 22-250AI to much recoil to spot your hits or misses.
Also have a .17 Hornet LOVE it but a pain to load so if your new to reloading come back to it later.
I was looking at re barreling my 22-250AI to .20BR Seeing as I have a couple hundred Lapua 6mm BR brass sitting on a shelf but not sure if a couple hundred feet per second is worth the extra powder, recoil etc. And the other .20 players out there really Don't do any more or less then the .204R.

Ruger builds a fine rifle but you will seat the bullets out too far to use the mag. so it basically a single shot.
CZ would have been my top choice but none were available when I came across the Ruger.
Most rifles will not stabilize the long 40 gr. V-max bullet but people have had very good luck with 39 gr. pills.

So my gopher getters are:

.22 LR up close and personal 0-90yds.
.17 HMR 0-175yds
.17 Hornet 0-275yds.
.204 R 0-500 yds.

.22wmr just because
.22 Hornet old and slow but awesome
.222 Rem classic and awesome to 300yds
.22-250AI paper puncher. why? recoil mainly
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Last edited by 6.5 shooter; 01-22-2019 at 09:36 PM.
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Old 01-22-2019, 09:41 PM
markg markg is offline
 
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Default this is a great read

This is a great read when considering 20 cal stuff.

http://www.accurateshooter.com/cartr...des/20caliber/
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  #8  
Old 01-22-2019, 09:49 PM
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6.5 shooter 6.5 shooter is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by markg View Post
This is a great read when considering 20 cal stuff.

http://www.accurateshooter.com/cartr...des/20caliber/
Read it again today for the 10th time...lol hence the idea on the .20 BR.
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Trades I would interested in:
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especially! with the HHR reticle. (no duplex pls.)
- older 6x fixed scopes with fine X or target dot.
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  #9  
Old 01-23-2019, 04:37 PM
Cow Town Bill Cow Town Bill is offline
 
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Default 20 cal

Quote:
Originally Posted by 6.5 shooter View Post
Read it again today for the 10th time...lol hence the idea on the .20 BR.
Yes, that is a great discussion on 20 calibers .
I, too, have given thought on a 20 BR---I have a 243 Win that I could have re-barrelled---6 BR Lapua brass is readily available---the round appears to be the most potent of the 20 cals and bullets over 40 grains should work fine as well.
Time to don my thinking cap.
Bill
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Old 01-24-2019, 05:18 PM
aardvaark aardvaark is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cow Town Bill View Post
Yes, that is a great discussion on 20 calibers .
I, too, have given thought on a 20 BR---I have a 243 Win that I could have re-barrelled---6 BR Lapua brass is readily available---the round appears to be the most potent of the 20 cals and bullets over 40 grains should work fine as well.
Time to don my thinking cap.
Bill
I like the 20BR as well. I’d seriously consider it if I didn’t already have a 204R. Just wanted to mention (in case you missed it) that you’ll need to speed up the twist if you want to shoot most of the 40gr and over bullets. At least that’s the way I read it. My 204 won’t shoot the 40 Vmax; after about 100 yds the accuracy drops off fast.
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Old 01-24-2019, 06:54 PM
PartTimeHunter PartTimeHunter is online now
 
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I love my 20 Extreme. It has a Bob Jury barrel on it with an eight twist so I can shoot the 55 grain Bergers. It won't accurately shoot anything under 40 grains though, they're spinning too fast. Lots of fun to shoot the little ones, easy on the shoulder, easy to load for and cheap to load
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Old 01-24-2019, 07:02 PM
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6.5 shooter 6.5 shooter is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aardvaark View Post
I like the 20BR as well. I’d seriously consider it if I didn’t already have a 204R. Just wanted to mention (in case you missed it) that you’ll need to speed up the twist if you want to shoot most of the 40gr and over bullets. At least that’s the way I read it. My 204 won’t shoot the 40 Vmax; after about 100 yds the accuracy drops off fast.
I shot the 40 v-max out of the Ruger and a semi custom Rem. I bought off this sight, maybe I just got lucky..
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Trades I would interested in:
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especially! with the HHR reticle. (no duplex pls.)
- older 6x fixed scopes with fine X or target dot.
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  #13  
Old 01-25-2019, 04:47 PM
FishOutOfWater FishOutOfWater is offline
 
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My coworker was looking for a good coyote/gopher rifle and ended up buying a Savage in .204 Ruger from the EE here, based on my recommendation...
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  #14  
Old 02-23-2019, 01:03 PM
matt_3479 matt_3479 is offline
 
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Tough to beat the 20 cals. I’ve owned 204 rugers and currently shoot a semi custom 20 tac pushing the 39 blitzkings at 3800fps. One of my favorite rifles I own for sure!
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Old 02-23-2019, 01:35 PM
Salavee Salavee is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by matt_3479 View Post
Tough to beat the 20 cals. I’ve owned 204 rugers and currently shoot a semi custom 20 tac pushing the 39 blitzkings at 3800fps. One of my favorite rifles I own for sure!
I'm a Tac .20 fan as well. Had it built on a Nesika action a year before the .204 Ruger was introduced and was sure I jumped the gun a bit. Turns out not to be. It's a fantastic cartridge. It also likes the 39 Blitzkings and 32 V-Max. The V-max 32 gr. shot the best 5 shot group of my entire life (once) - .166 . Does a nice job on Coyotes as well.
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Old 03-05-2019, 02:52 AM
Faststeel Faststeel is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PartTimeHunter View Post
I love my 20 Extreme. It has a Bob Jury barrel on it with an eight twist so I can shoot the 55 grain Bergers. It won't accurately shoot anything under 40 grains though, they're spinning too fast. Lots of fun to shoot the little ones, easy on the shoulder, easy to load for and cheap to load
My 20 Extreme is a CZ 527 and it is a fantastic shooter with a variety of bullet weights and powders. Very fun to shoot.....FS
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Old 03-05-2019, 07:28 AM
PartTimeHunter PartTimeHunter is online now
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Faststeel View Post
My 20 Extreme is a CZ 527 and it is a fantastic shooter with a variety of bullet weights and powders. Very fun to shoot.....FS
Nice. I have a Sako L461 action that needs a barrel...
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  #18  
Old 03-05-2019, 08:09 AM
bucksnbears bucksnbears is offline
 
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If buying one mostly for coyotes, I'd be somewhat hesitant. Few factory rounds are good coyote bullets.
Reloaders have a few more choices.
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