20 Vartarg for 100-200 yrd bench rest, your opinions?

r204

r204

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I was thinking of building a 20 Vartarg for 100 - 200 yrd bench rest. No competition just for my own pleasure. I have a Savage target action sitting here and a FTR stock and though the 20 Vartarg might be a nice chambering for it. From what I have read they seem to have very long barrel life as they use under 20 gr of powder. If I was to get a barrel it would prob be a 1 in 12 twist , 22 inches long. 32 and 35 gr bullets is what I would prob load for it.
I would like some opinions on this chambering from people who have some experience with it as I don't know anyone who has one. I even asked at my local gun shop about it and no one there has any info on it. Your help would be appreciated.
 
Thanks Tomochan, yes that is prob the first write up on the Vartarg that I seen, read and got me interested in that chambering.
 
I had a 20 vartarg built about five years ago rem action McMillan stock and a gaillard barell. I think its great shoots .2 easily.performs like a 22-250 in the gopher patch.Use 18gr. H4198with a 32gr. v-max. barell is 1 in 12 twist
 
Thanks vartarg, Have you tried any other poweders besides H4198 ? From what I have read seems like H322 ( I think) was the most popular powder. I was also thinking Benchmark might do the trick as well. About the brass, did you just use 221 fireball brass, neck it down to 20 cal. and fire form it? What brand of brass did you use? I was looking around at different site sponcers and 221 fireball brass seems hard to come by.
 
I looked at the 20 practical and the 20 tactical but what intrigued me about the 20 Vartarg is you get 3700 fps using under 20grs of powder as compared to the tactical and practical using 7 to 8 grains more powder for only a couple hundred fps. I already have a 204 ruger and a 223 AI so I was just looking for something a little different. This is what they say about on accurateshooter "This cartridge is based on the 221 Fireball case and is probably the most efficient of the 20-Caliber cartridges. It is also extremely accurate. Like the 6PPC, it has the optimal bore to case capacity ratio for max efficiency".
 
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Check out woodchuckden.com the 20VT is a very efficient round and can be extremely accurate. I had a Tac20 for a short time that was super accurate. Great round, and you may find Dakota brass for it. Check with Prophet River on the brass.
 
Well did some checking and I found one place in Canada that list 221 fireball brass. Sinclairs list a 20VT Redding dies set but it is backordered. Seeing as how it will prob take 8 months to a year to get a barrel made that should give me enough time to round up the rest of the items I will need. I just have to make my mind up if the 20VT is the way I want to go.
 
r204 said:
Well did some checking and I found one place in Canada that list 221 fireball brass. Sinclairs list a 20VT Redding dies set but it is backordered. Seeing as how it will prob take 8 months to a year to get a barrel made that should give me enough time to round up the rest of the items I will need. I just have to make my mind up if the 20VT is the way I want to go.
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If you are looking for 20vt dies i would check prophet river in lloydminster AB i have seen a few on the shelf from time to time.
 
I checked Proohet River all he had was 1 die, I think it was a full length die. I kinda want the Redding Comp die set if I was to go ahead with this build.
 
Thanks Clay but that isn't the set that I would be after . I would want the set that has the micro seater , body die and bushing neck die.
 
I bought a Cooper in 20Vartarg earlier this year from Prophet River. I bought the Redding Match Neck Bushing Die set, and bushings, from Sinclair and I found some Nosler 221 fireball brass, and I mounted a 3-15x42 Zeiss HD5 scope. While fireforming with a cataract in my shooting eye, I was easily able to shoot five shots sub 1/2moa using the 32gr v-max, ahead of R-7. I shot groups as small as .200" at 100 yards, but the average was in the .350" to .400" range. I just recently had my cataract dealt with, and I now have a good supply of fireformed brass, and I hope to see the rifles true potential in the next week or two. I also recently purchased a Cooper in 20 Tactical, so I will soon be able to do a side by side comparison of the two cartridges.

Lapua has recently started producing 221 fireball brass.
 
Hay Stubble jumper where did you find the brass? I e-mailed one retailer that list it on his web site but haven't heard back from him
 
r204 said:
Hay Stubble jumper where did you find the brass? I e-mailed one retailer that list it on his web site but haven't heard back from him
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I cleaned out Bashaw Sports, they had a few boxes of Nosler. Either Ellwood Epps or Accuracy plus had Remington brass at the time. If I needed brass now, I would contact Hirsch Precision, and get some Lapua, if they have it yet.
 
from what I have been reading Lapua was planning on making 221 FB brass but the plan has been put on hold.
 
r204 said:
from what I have been reading Lapua was planning on making 221 FB brass but the plan has been put on hold.
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Go to the Saubier site, people are already using the Lapua brass.

Received Lapua 221 Fireball brass from Graf & Sons. Lot number is P00773001/0721114. Measured the neck wall thickness on two cases. Measured each case at four points located 90* apart using a ball micrometer. The average neck wall thickness was .0129 inches. Thus, the loaded neck diameter will be approx .250 inches for the 221 Fireball.
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Some fireforming groups from my Cooper. Two are pretty average, the top one was the best group to date while fireforming.

vartarggroups.jpg
 
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