nztimb
AH ambassador
I was asked about the reasons for my choice of the 20 cal I chose some time back for the rabbit shooting I do here and it goes back to the early 70's when I had a mod 70 22-250 for a bit of range that the (3) 22 Hornets I had were not getting to or at least not without serious gestimated range estimation (sans rangefinder then) that was not necessary with the 22-250. It was not long after this that the 17 cal became the darling of the small game crowd and with the 17 rem quickly getting a reputation in Australia with the fox shooters via the gun rags of the day, of being badly effected by the wind and especially with the Rem cartridge causing barrel fouling I was never interested in this cartridge. The 17Mk iv on the 221 Fireball case was not effected to the same extent but there didn't seem to me to be sufficient reason to go there with custom rifles etc so the unsatisfied urge for a cartridge/rifle that was an in between combination with the manners of the Hornet and the capabilities of the 22-250 laid dormant untill years later when the Ruger in 204 became the sensation of the small game long range crowd.
I did quite a bit of research on the 204 but felt that Ruger had gone the same way as Rem had with the 17 and used a case that was just a bit more than needed for this 34/35 gn 20 cal bullet and went back to my old loading books for another look at the 17Mk iv and started to wonder what the result would be if the Fireball case was in 20 cal rather than the 17 of the Mk iv.
By this time the computer was a well established part of our every day lives so I googled 20/221 and found screeds of information and I found that the 20 cal had been in developement on and off sor some time and not only was my idea feasable but was already in production and called the 20VarTarg (for Varmint Target There had been work done on the 22 Hornet, 222, 223, 223mag, 6mmbr and others but the most efficient of them all is the 20VT. In comparrison it out ranges the 22-250 while the wind drift also favours the 20VT
The cartridge was designed by Tod Kinder so I got in his load book " The Terrific Twenties" and started to seriously consider this fantastic little cartridge as I was doing a lot of shooting in Central Otago (NZ) at the time were we would lay out on the flat and snipe the hill sides for rabbits.
I liked the Little Cooper rifle but the NZ agents failed to respond to numerous emails and the parent company directed me back to the NZ agents so that idea was rejected.
A bit of research on the 204 cartridge showed that the long (5mm) freebore was not conductive to best accuracy but it was not a bad place to start from and consequently I ordered a Remington X R 100 as a donor rifle. The XR 100 was the Bench Rest outgrowth of the X P 100 pistol bolt action released in 1963 and had been used to great effect by the bench rest chaps. It came with the solid bottomed receiver with 26 inch heavy barrel in a laminated thumbhole stock that is very good from the bench and in the field from prone but I found it less so later on in the field from for carrying on walking hunts and eventually replaced it.
When it arrived at the gun shop I also bought a box of 204 Ruger ammo just to see/prove to myself if what I had thought of the larger cases 20 was a legitimate predudice. After installing a 6-24x scope and getting it sighted in I had a good few cartridges left so my shooting partner and I went out to our usual rabbit hunting hillside and set up over a bipodface and the first one I lined up showed as just on 250yds (Leica rangefinder) and the rabbit was almost destroyed with the hit and so for the rest of the box of ammo the results were the same.As I always bring a few home for the table this was less than ideal and cemented the need fot eh VarTarg n place of the 204 in my mind with years of use now proving the point.
I had already been in contact with gunsmith to talk through the barrel shorten and rechamber and he said he would get the reamer in as he was getting a number of enquiries about 20 cal so wanted the reamer on hand.
With the 20 Vartarg specs on hand I had the barrel shortened to remove the excess chamber and freebore length and with it rechambered to the 20 VarTarg I was already set to start the load testing with a set of Wilson straightline dies, Neck turning equipment, Berger 35gn bullets, ADI 2207 (H4198 equivelent) and SR primers.
The 6-24 (a less than stellar BSA from memory) had the paralax on the objective lens and was less than ideal to alter in the field so eventually I changed it for a 4-16 Monarch with side turret parralax dial which was very much better
I did quite a bit of research on the 204 but felt that Ruger had gone the same way as Rem had with the 17 and used a case that was just a bit more than needed for this 34/35 gn 20 cal bullet and went back to my old loading books for another look at the 17Mk iv and started to wonder what the result would be if the Fireball case was in 20 cal rather than the 17 of the Mk iv.
By this time the computer was a well established part of our every day lives so I googled 20/221 and found screeds of information and I found that the 20 cal had been in developement on and off sor some time and not only was my idea feasable but was already in production and called the 20VarTarg (for Varmint Target There had been work done on the 22 Hornet, 222, 223, 223mag, 6mmbr and others but the most efficient of them all is the 20VT. In comparrison it out ranges the 22-250 while the wind drift also favours the 20VT
The cartridge was designed by Tod Kinder so I got in his load book " The Terrific Twenties" and started to seriously consider this fantastic little cartridge as I was doing a lot of shooting in Central Otago (NZ) at the time were we would lay out on the flat and snipe the hill sides for rabbits.
I liked the Little Cooper rifle but the NZ agents failed to respond to numerous emails and the parent company directed me back to the NZ agents so that idea was rejected.
A bit of research on the 204 cartridge showed that the long (5mm) freebore was not conductive to best accuracy but it was not a bad place to start from and consequently I ordered a Remington X R 100 as a donor rifle. The XR 100 was the Bench Rest outgrowth of the X P 100 pistol bolt action released in 1963 and had been used to great effect by the bench rest chaps. It came with the solid bottomed receiver with 26 inch heavy barrel in a laminated thumbhole stock that is very good from the bench and in the field from prone but I found it less so later on in the field from for carrying on walking hunts and eventually replaced it.
When it arrived at the gun shop I also bought a box of 204 Ruger ammo just to see/prove to myself if what I had thought of the larger cases 20 was a legitimate predudice. After installing a 6-24x scope and getting it sighted in I had a good few cartridges left so my shooting partner and I went out to our usual rabbit hunting hillside and set up over a bipodface and the first one I lined up showed as just on 250yds (Leica rangefinder) and the rabbit was almost destroyed with the hit and so for the rest of the box of ammo the results were the same.As I always bring a few home for the table this was less than ideal and cemented the need fot eh VarTarg n place of the 204 in my mind with years of use now proving the point.
I had already been in contact with gunsmith to talk through the barrel shorten and rechamber and he said he would get the reamer in as he was getting a number of enquiries about 20 cal so wanted the reamer on hand.
With the 20 Vartarg specs on hand I had the barrel shortened to remove the excess chamber and freebore length and with it rechambered to the 20 VarTarg I was already set to start the load testing with a set of Wilson straightline dies, Neck turning equipment, Berger 35gn bullets, ADI 2207 (H4198 equivelent) and SR primers.
The 6-24 (a less than stellar BSA from memory) had the paralax on the objective lens and was less than ideal to alter in the field so eventually I changed it for a 4-16 Monarch with side turret parralax dial which was very much better
