started my first wildcat. a 22lr replacement

[squirrel_slayer]

Got my 20 TCM chambered barrels back from the smith.

Nice! looking forward to seeing how it performs.

Being that I have zero sub 22 caliber experience aside from a 17hmr. what are you thoughts on "fun factor" ie. blowing little critters up with the sub calibers. are the 17's more dramatic in this respect or do the 20's hold their own? from playing with QL it's looking like 20gr bullets in the 17 will do somewhere in the 3750-3800 ft/sec range and the 20 was about 250 ft/sec behind that with a 32gr bullet.

good news about the bushing die. that will really make things a lot easier/cheaper.

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Come to think about it, I don't think I've ever killed anything with my center fire rigs. (except the doe that I didn't see behind the target stand and that was from a bullet that glanced off the frame) Use to shoot lots of ground squirrels. That was with a Ruger 10/22. From there I graduated up to a center fire Savage and I've been hooked ever since.
All I shoot now is paper and a five shot group must be covered with a dime. As far as speed? I don't bother to check. I just work up a load and when they're all going in the same hole, I move on to another caliber.
My favorite round was/is the .221 Fireball. I started working on a shorter version. Thought going down to 20 caliber would reduce recoil but that turned out to be a joke. The 20 VT didn't impress me much. A shorter version? Maybe. The TCM took over that position. Less powder = less recoil!!
I want to see my hits and if it will shoot bug holes, it's that much better. The 17 would even better but I figured I'd better get the 20 squared away before I bit into another caliber. Still got the 17 VHA but like seeing a pretty girl, my mind wandered to the TCM. Smaller calibers make for some touchy loading so you have to watch it close or you get in trouble real fast.

[Appleseed]

I started down this road with a savage action. Didn't find the .20vt to be any better than the standard .221fb. But, I changed actions to a CZ 527 and Sinarms made it a switch barrel. At the time the idea was to drop between the .20's and 17's.

I'm not doing much reloading now and will stick with the .223 and sell both the complete CZ 527 switch barrel and the Striker .221fb barrel. Devin machined both barrels. (Rifle is here in classified and striker barrels going to Specialty Pistols).

The savage action wasn't much fun trying to get it to cycle rounds, that's why the CZ...everything works from the magazine .221fb, .20vt and down to the .17's.

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Now, if you could put a barrel nut on a CZ?? That's the only shortcoming of working with a Remington, Howa, Cooper or ANY rifle that has to be set up by a smith.
And when the CZ feeds? Got to love it if it's just for that reason.

[Appleseed]

Yep, this is a smooth barrel nut like the new savage, with standard CZ metric threads. Any new barrel for CZ will screw on with head spacing, just like a savage. Use the .221fb mag for any cartridge with similar oal.

Check out the pics in classified non-savage rifles. It's going away soon to another small caliber web site. The pics are better quality by email. With all the smith work and the new McGowan barrel, it's less than a new one and has less than 100 rounds. Just not loading for the calibers now.

http://www.savageshooters.com/showth...-Switch-Barrel

[squirrel_slayer]

sweet build! I like the CZ especially some of the wood stocks i've seen. The savage is working for my needs. yes it's far from a repeater but I have yet to venture into a dog town so it's a non issue for me right now.

one action that has really caught my attention is howa's new mini action. i'm willing to bet if you coned the bolt/barrel it would make for a great action for the shorty's