The 20 Ultimate Project
A lot has been written about 20 calibers in the last year or so. Articles regarding what weight bullets will work in what rate twist, what caliber or cartridge is the ultimate varmint combination, etc. It would seem a fellow would have to own one of every possible combination to have a chance!
Let’s see, a varmint is defined as Noun1.varmint - an irritating or obnoxious person; or varmint - any usually predatory wild animal considered undesirable; e.g. coyote. For the sake of political correctness we shall dispense with the first definition offered and focus on the second. I don’t view prairie dogs and other associated small creatures as varmints. Hence the requirement for a heavier, high BC bullet for shots at 400 yards plus on larger animals. At close-in distances, a small bullet will often suffice but at longer ranges there is simply not enough retained energy.
After making heavier (45-50 grain) 20 caliber bullets for a few years, it became apparent professional predator hunters needed (would like?) a heavier bullet with a higher BC for real-world, long shots. The lighter bullets especially with plastic tips are great for prairie dogs but questionable for coyotes at 500+ yards. Questions regarding twist rates and projected bullet weights, ballistic coefficients, etc., now reared their ugly heads.
The Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading (Fifth Edition) shows a 220 Swift in a 14 twist shooting a 60 grain bullet at 3600 fps with BCs from 265 to 271. My 20 Bobcat (a Weaver Rifle’s Gun) shoots 45 grains very effectively in a 12 twist, shooting in the 1’s and 2’s at 3900 fps. I could gain fps but my goal was accuracy followed by velocity. I think the 12 twist is perfect for the 45 grain based upon personal bias! However, for much heavier bullets a faster twist was envisioned. We would try heavier bullets in the 12 twist until performance/weight dictated the move to the faster twist. We would also try lighter weight bullets in the faster twist to determine a minimum practical weight.
In February 2005, bullet dies were ordered from Richard Corbin for a 20 caliber VLD that would range from 55-75 grains. The test rifle would be a Remington 700 mated to a 1 in 9 groove Pac-Nor Sendero (profile) Barrel nestled in a High Tech Specialists Varmint/Benchrest Stock weighing only 22 ounces. The caliber chosen by Kevin Weaver would be the 220 Swift AI, necked down to 20 caliber. Testing would start with flat-base, full metal jacket, open point bullets ranging from 45 to the maximum practical, somewhere probably around 70-75 grains. At 60 grains and above, the bullets would be the new VLD design. All jackets would be J4 and the emphasis would be on practical accuracy coupled with short, as well as long range effectiveness. Following this, we would try lighter weight bullets.
After reading Robert Greenleaf’s excellent article in the October Precision Shooting, speaking on the phone and swapping emails, it’s clear Robert knows the 20BR. While we considered the 20BR, the 20/220 Swift AI offered a much larger case capacity and brass was inexpensive. If it performed like we believed, it would be the 20 Ultimate. Capable of shooting midrange to heavy bullets at 3600-4000+ fps with BCs as high as .400! This would hopefully give us our desired accuracy and effectiveness in a light game / varmint rifle. What a combination!
October 18th and just notified the new dies are ready to ship and should be in-hand within 10 days. The barrel is on order and the stock is in-hand. As we get some hands on the dies and get farther along with the build, we will post some pictures and more information!
*UPDATE October 28th*
October 28th and UPS delivered a new spool of lead but no dies. Rats! Fortunately, October 31st UPS comes again and it’s just like Christmas! The dies are beautiful and heavy duty. The press is very well engineered and already mounted along side my Detsch 6mm dies.
After several trial and error attempts, I find the core punch is a bit over diameter. J4 jackets are slightly tapered so depending upon core weight (length) the punch must match the jacket ID at that point. Too small and the lead fills in around the punch. Too large and the punch either sticks in the jacket or scrapes the sides before seating. Not an uncommon problem. In fact, I have multiple punches for my 6mm dies due to the wide range of weights. So, email the manufacturer and schedule the shipping back of several jackets and several cores so it can be exact.
Now we wait for the new punches!
*UPDATE December 29th*
Seems like ages since I sent the jackets and cores to get the new punch fitted. Swapping emails with the die maker, it appears the punch may be here by the end of next week. Good news! Thought I might be MUCH older before it came back.
In addition, the stock arrived
(up on the mountain) today via UPS from Kevin. It needs some TLC to get ready
for paint but not much. Sanding with 800 grit and some glazing putty to fill a
couple small imperfections will make it smooth as a baby’s butt.. A base/primer and I’ll get it back down the mountain to
Kevin. We haven’t decided on paint but I’m leaning toward candy root beer with
a candy tangerine and candy apple red accent. Kevin UPS’d
a Benchrest Stock for his 52C that needs painted candy blue violet first. It
needs a bit more work but I think it will look great. Some pictures will be
posted of before and after work on the bench stock as well as the “Ultimate”
stock. Need to get some before pictures this weekend then I’ll get them posted.
*UPDATE January 2nd*
Well, it’s clear photography is a heck of a lot harder than I imagined! Here are a few pictures of the 52C stock but I have given up in frustration on the High-Tech Stock. You’d think these digital cameras would help a novice take pictures. Maybe by the time the stocks are prepped for paint I’ll have made some progress!
Click For Pictures of 52C Stock*UPDATE January 8th*
Somewhere between the Pillsbury
dough boy and Uma Thurman crossing to the diner in
Kill Bill2! After all the sanding I was white from head to toe (as well as
everything within 3 feet!) and trailing a not-so-small white cloud. Thank god
for shop-vacs! After wiping everything down it was
time to prime. Took awhile to get comfortable with the new airbrush but it
works great. Both stocks are primed and will get the base of silver tomorrow
after a quick touchup with 1200 grit. If all goes well, clear on Tuesday, candy
on Wednesday and final clear Thursday/Friday.
*UPDATE January 15th*
Well, I have the 52C painted and we’re getting ready to clear coat. Once the clear coat is applied the gloss will be apparent. The 20 Ultimate stock is ready for color and will get the first thin coat this afternoon. The Candy Blue Violet of the 52C really stands out. Doesn’t look quite like the color chip on the paint site but there is a big difference in monitor settings. Hopefully by tomorrow afternoon the Ultimate Stock will have the required 3-4 color coats. When that happens, I will post a picture with the 52C.
Click For Pictures of Painted Stocks*UPDATE February 3rd*
The punches for the heavy 20 bullets actually finally arrived. Below is a link to get a view of the perspective between the 45, 70 and 58 grain 20 bullets. There is .100 difference between the 70 and 58 grain bullets. These are PROTOTYPE and may change slightly. Thursday the 9th I will be delivering a handful of test bullets to Kevin for testing in the 20 Ultimate and his 20/250. This rifle is going to be something special!
Click For Picture of 20 Caliber Bullets*UPDATE February 9th*
Okay!! Kevin has bullets, bullets and more bullets to test the 20 Ultimate with! Unfortunately some guys keep calling, ordering guns and wanting barrels fitted, etc. There is no rest for the weary or Kevin. I did see the action and barrel fitted into the stock! This is a really cool rifle. It still needs some dies and some brass prepared but Kevin is closing in on the finish line. As a side note, Kevin now can also be reached on a cell phone at (719)337-0501. Kevin is learning how to run his lathes with his feet since he has a phone in each hand!
*UPDATE February 13th*
Got a phone message from Kevin, he is breaking in the barrel for the 20 Ultimate! Said the wind is so bad he’s going to wait a bit but he’s on the final leg. As soon as we get some numbers we will post them and then all of you can call at once and order your 20 Ultimate! Who wants the prototype??
*UPDATE February 14th*
Well, we’ve finally done it! The core of Kevin’s nuclear reactor melted down! I guess 20 hours a day, 7 days a week took a toll. He is shipping the 20 Ultimate up the mountain with dies and cases. I hope to receive it by Thursday/Friday. A day or two to prep the cases (check primer pockets, flash holes, neck thickness, etc), find a scope to mount and then head for the range. No promises but maybe by Sunday or Monday complete the barrel break in and start load testing next week. Just as soon as there is some data, it will be posted. Kevin can go back to being behind and still working only 19 hours a day! You guys should ALL send his wife Jeannette a Valentines Day card! She tolerates a lot!!
*UPDATE February 17th*
Here is the awaited unveiling. Some pictures of the rifle, the engraving on the barrel and a comparison shot of cartridges. The small cartridge is a 20Bobcat (20/222) followed by the 20-220 Swift cases. The seated bullets are for breaking in the barrel and fire forming the cases. I will be working on case prep before continuing the barrel break-in. We’re getting closer!
*UPDATE February 22nd*
The case prep is done. The cases were older WW and the necks were thicker than a politician’s wallet! So, all the necks were turned to take some off and even them up. They then went through 3 reducing neck die bushings to get the right diameter. Since we've gone this far, the flash holes were de-burred and the primer pockets standardized. They're ready to prime (tomorrow) and continue breaking in the barrel and fire-forming. It takes time due to the cleaning regimen. BE PATIENT!
*UPDATE February 24th*
Okay, the barrel break-in is done. The thing that amazes me is how light this rifle is! With the stock weighing only 22 ounces, it feels like you could carry it all day long. Got off-track there, anyway, break-in is done using some new bullets just cooked up, all weighing more than 50 grains. Sunday I will take it to the range, adjust the scope and see how the different weight groups shoot after the match, or if they will stabilize. I was pleasantly surprised by, whoops, not gonna tell yet! The really good news is I have arranged with a prominent barrel maker to test bullets from +50 to maybe 75 grains. They have a heck of a lot more resources and expertise than I do. And they have a faster twist barrel(s) than I do! A 58 grain bullet in the 20 Ultimate case follows.
*UPDATE February 27th*
Well, Kevin had a great day at the match and whipped up on us. Hard to believe he took a day off from work! The day was cool and cloudy so by the time the match was over there wasn’t much sunlight (heavy clouds). I managed to chronograph seven fire-form loads and just a few of the 55 grain loads.
The 33 grain bullets with 32 grains of Win 760 chrono’d an average of 4047, high of 4310, low of 3964.
The 55 grain bullets with a starting load of 34.4 grains of 4064 chrono’d an average of 3446, high of 3461, low of 3410. The sun went away so instead of working up increasing loads, I came home. I thing the load will wind up being at least 400 fps faster when I get back out to the range. Maybe more.
*UPDATE March 2nd*
It’s going to be Sunday before I can get back out to the range. It’s been pretty cloudy which doesn’t help the chronograph. I’ve been making a thousand bullets to send off for testing hopefully by sometime next week. When that’s out of the way I can refocus on the 20 Ultimate. Everything is ready, just need a sunny day.
*UPDATE March 5th*
Okay, preliminary testing has continued. Today I fired four 58 grain bullets with 40 grains of 4064 resulting in fps of 3767, 3753, 3753 and 3738. The primers dropped out on 2 cases so I need to back off a bit. The cases were old cases and probably had seen some warmer loads.
The 70 grain clocked 4073, but was, ummm, ahumm, also a bit warm!
Ideally, the 58 grain bullet load will be about 3600-3800 and the 70 grainer
probably 3400-3500. As soon as the bullet shipment for stability tests leaves,
I’ll have more time to work up real world loads. The heavier weight bullets
will need larger case capacities to achieve the fps needed. With the higher
Ballistic Coefficients and flat shooting, the Ultimate 20 should be great for
egg shoots and other longer range shooting. It is yet to be determined how much
the extra case capacity means in comparison with the 20 Cougar and 20-250. As
with the 220 Swift Cartridge, it should shoot a bit
faster with a bit less powder or much faster with more powder.
*UPDATE March 27th*
Since the heavy bullets have left
for testing at the barrel maker, we’re basically waiting for the results. We
could shoot some heavies but not with the range of twists, powders, etc. So
when we get the results we’ll post them here and everyone will know what
weights at what fps in what twists. Kind of like a small vacation till then!
*UPDATE October 1stth*
This is very disappointing as we have waited patiently
for months for the testing results. Phone calls to Douglas go un-returned and no answer to emails sent to Tom Gardner at Douglas Barrels.
It appears the 1000 bullets sent to Douglas have gone into a black hole and the promised testing and publishing of results
will not happen. At present there are no further plans to develop and test heavy 20 caliber bullets. This experience
has been an eye opener and a bummer.
Good Shooting,
Kevin & Mike
Pac-Nor
Phone: (541) 469-7330
High Tech Specialties, Inc.
Phone: 717-484-0405