New Build in 20 Vartarg

r204

r204

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I just finished putting together my little project and thought I would post it up to see what you guys think. I started off with a Savage target action right bolt left port that I added a PTG bolt face along with a Rifle Basix Sav2 trigger. The barrel is a Benchmark 22" straight tapper 1in12 twist chambered in 20 Vartarg that I got from Garry at Bighorn Sales. ( great guy to deal with). I bedded the action with Devcon into a Savage 12 benchrest stock that I got off the EE. I then topped it off with Talley light weight rings that I lapped and a Sightron II Big Sky 36 X 42mm . I spent last night resizing a couple hundred Lapua 221 fireball brass to 20 cal. Hopefully I will find some time this week to load up some test round so I can get out to the range and see if my little project shoots as good as I think it looks lol. Here is a couple of pics of it.
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Looks good to me. What bullets are you planing on shooting?

When I'm done with my 204r barrel I was thinking about rebarreling to a 20VT with a 1:10" twist.
 
K0na_stinky said:
Looks good to me. What bullets are you planing on shooting?

When I'm done with my 204r barrel I was thinking about rebarreling to a 20VT with a 1:10" twist.
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Thanks
I have a bunch or 32gr bullets , Hornady, Nosler, and Sierra and a few hundred 35gr Burgers so I guess I will do a lot of testing to see which ones work the best. For powder I have a few lbs of H4198 from what I read H4198 seems to be popular with the vartarg.
 
jonesie said:
That looks like one ###y and different varmit killer. Never even heard of that rd. Be nice to see the results you get.
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The 20 Vartarg ( varmint, target) is basically a 221 Fireball necked down to 20 cal. It will push a 32gr. pill approx 3700fps with about 18.5 grs of H4198
 
I'm not sure if your aware but if you remove the ejector plunger it makes extracting the cases much nicer.

I've found with the short cases on the Savage action you can't extract them slowly because they will get pushed over into the bolt lug recess. Then you have to pull quite hard to get them out.

The only down side is you have to pick the case off the bolt face with your finger. But on the bright side you never have to chase your brass or worry about it falling into the dirt.
 
Hmm, I read your post and then I made up a couple of dummy rounds to see how they extract. My rifle didn't have a problem extracting them slow or fast.
 
r204 said:
The action that I am using used to be a 6BR and I had the same problem as you, I changed the extractor and it cured it.
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Did you just replace it with another savage one or an aftermarket one?

If it was aftermarket what was the difference?

Sorry for hijacking your thread.
 
stubblejumper said:
What throat diameter did you go with? Some people are having to neck turn when using Lapua cases.
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when I ordered the barrel I just said I didn't want to neck turn any brass so I'm not sure what the diameter is. I have some Rem brass that will not need to be turned but i sized some lapua brass last night , seated a bullet , chambered it and it is tight so I guess I will have to do some neck turning on the lapua brass.
 
great minds must think alike! I am also in the middle of a vartarg build. Unfortunately for me, i had already bought a trigger, stock and barrel before I figured out that the Remington 700 is not the greatest platform to build the vartarg on due to feeding and extraction issues, BUT too late now, haha. I have a timney trigger and I got an HS precision varmint stock. The gunsmith told me that he can fix both of the issues, so I will trust him. It sounds like a magazine conversion is quite easy to do with these to fix the feeding issue. Where are you getting your gunsmithing done? I'm having mine built at Corlane in BC, The guy seems very knowledgeable about them, but, like most things gun related, the wait will be longer than expected. They have had the parts for 3 weeks, and are telling me it will be atleast another month before they will even look at it. I also got a benchmark barrel from Gary, who is amazing to deal with. I bought the same H4198 powder, and I'm thinking I may give the 8208 XBR powder a try with the 32 gr v-max. Where did you get your dies? I bought a set from grouse river back in January, but they have yet to show up. I bought the Lapua brass as well, so I am curious to know how it works out for you. Where are you getting your load data? I just called the woodchuck den to order the terrific twenties manual, and had a very nice chat with Todd Kindler, who is also a very nice man, and such a wealth of knowledge.
 
I got my dies from Sinclair's and the Lapua brass I got form Hirsch. I got most of my load info on line at a few different sites I decided on trying H4198 first because it seems to be one of the more popular ones to use. I do remember reading some stuff about 8208xbr but it seemed like the velocity was a couple 100 fps slower that powders like H4198. I was going to hit the range today to do my barrel brake in and test a few loads but there is very stiff wind howling outside today.
 
Well I will make sure to post my findings as well once I ever get the thing done. This is my first benchmark barrel, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how it performs. The only thing I need to buy is the scope. Having trouble deciding between a Zeiss conquest, a swarovski, and a leupold. I want a zoom of atleast 20 and I'd like a varmint reticle. How long was your finished barrel? I have a 26" blank, but I'm not sure if I'll go with a 22, a 24, or a 26. Todd kindler told me that a 24 or 26 would both work well. It's easier to cut t off than try to make it grow I guess haha.
 
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