20 practical questions

[Michadian]

I have some experience reloading commercial calibers, but have not done any wildcats as yet. I am building a 20 practical savage and have two questions (simple I hope).
I assume that I can use 223 Remington "go" and "no go" gauges to set headspace for the 20 practical round. Is this so?
Can I use the 223 Remington "trim to" length of 1.750" for the 20 practical round? The reamer print for the 20 shows 1.760", which is the same as the 223 Remington.
Thanks,
Michadian

[mattri]

Yes, the advantage of the 20 Practical is that is just a 223 necked down to .204. When I built my 20 Practical Savage I used a standard 223 GO gauge and for case trimming I had a machinist buddy turn a regular 223 Lee trim gauge down to .204. Never had an ounce of trouble and to be honest the only reason I got rid of it is that it was so accurate it was boring.

[pdog2062]

Keep us informed on your progress as I am thinking about a 20 practicl as well.I already have a 6x45 and really like it.I use a pair of 223's and the 6x45 for prairie dogs and would like to keep everything based on the 223 case for simplicity of brass and components.

[Michadian]

Thank you!
Maltri, I'm glad I understood.
pdog2062, will do, this is a winter project so progress will be slow.
Dick

[BTSniper]

Yep! You got it figured out. The 20 practical is a heck of a cartridge! I am just loading up 5K worth to be ready for spring PD shooting. AWESOME!

BT

[mattri]

FWIW I used a Redding type S bushing neck sizer to form 223 cases to 20 Practical in two steps. I'd run the virgin cases through the sizer using a bushing that got them about halfway between .224 and .204 and then run them through again with a bushing that brought them to their final size, then from there on out just leave that bushing in for regular sizing work. It seemed to work well and was recommended to me by Warren B.

As far as loading goes I found H4198 and 39gr Sierra BKs to be amazingly accurate and consistent, maz load was a little over 4000fps but accuracy was incredible at 3850.

I used mostly Win brass, tried Lapua and didn't see any improvement to warrant the cost.

I shot my 20 out to 600 often but found that while it was a laser out to about 400 it started trailing off after that and the wind pushed it around more.

Prairie dogs were a breeze out to 350-400, made hits a little farther than that but again the wind blew the little pills around at the longer ranges and the impacts weren't quite as impressive. For a mid range target/varmint gun its an awesome round, super easy to make and a real blast to shoot. Best of luck.

[Michadian]

maltri,
I just ordered bushings @ 0.233, 0.226, & 0.225".
Thank you for the load suggestion, I'll be sure to give H4198 & 39gr BKs a try. I'm looking forward to a fun experience.

[BTSniper]

I use mixed head stamp from commercial to mill brass, basically whatever I have availble. I purchased a 20-223 set of dies from CH-4d and sizing the 223rem down to 20 practical is one easy pass in the FL die.

I use Viht-N133 for powder and push the 32 grain V-Max to 4200FPS out of a 26" 12 twist Shilen. 26.5 grains is max for me and I usually load at 26 grains. It's a hot rod and screams with the 32s, I don't care if I have to replace the barrel every over year shooting thousands of max loads, it is worth it! So far I got about 2,000 rounds down the tube and the rifling still looks good.

Accuracy is awesome, easy 3/4" groups at 200 yrds, sighted in .5" high at 100 and I hold on hair out to 300yrds when shooting PDs!

I'm going to try some of my custom 42 grain bullets soon with H-335.

BT