neck and most of the time a 30 degree shoulder. Here some confusion comes in: I did see a few .20 Tactical rifles made with a 23 degree shoulder like the .223 Remington, but with the longer neck. To make that longer neck, a costly die set and a step or two more are needed to form the brass and move the shoulder
back. These steps are critical in keeping the headspace correct and getting the shoulder fireformed correctly. Thus the name “Practical.” It’s more practical to have to size down only the neck. To start my quest for a .20 Practical,
I needed an action. To start from scratch was no good. Actions are around $350 to
TEST LOADS
Powder in grains 22.8 23.3 23.8
AA2015 – All using the 32-gr. Hornady V-Max, OAL = 2.240, BTO = 1. 878 Velocity (fps)
24 Using fire-formed brass 24.4 Using fire-formed brass 24.8 Using fire-formed brass
Powder in grains 23.3 23.8
3,616 3,697 3,787 3,904
3,951* 4,004
100-yd. group (inches) 0.888 1.378 0.964 1.131
0.714 (4) or 1.286 (5) 0.794 (4) or 0.909 (5)
24 Using fire-formed brass 24.3
24.5 Using fire-formed brass
Powder in grains 24.5
3,434 3,403 3,528 3,509 3,593
100-yd. group (inches) 0.555 0.360
Number shots 3 3 3 5
4 or 5 4 or 5
AA2230 – All using the 32-gr. Hornady V-Max, OAL = 2.240, BTO = 1. 878 Velocity (fps)
0.433 (4) or 0.672 (5) 1.149 0.704
25 Using fireformed brass 25.2 Using fireformed brass 25.5 Using fireformed brass
Powder in grains 24.3 24 8 25.3 25.3
3,705 3,837
3,898* 3,925
100-yd. group (inches) 0.722 0.707
Number shots 3 3
4 or 5 3 5
Hodgdon Benchmark – All using the 32-gr. Hornady V-Max, OAL = 2.240, BTO = 1.878 Velocity (fps)
0.237 (4) or 0.786 (5) 0.582
3,570 3,733 3,850 3,784
25.8 Using fire formed brass 26.3 Using fire formed brass
Powder in grains 25.5 26
3,800* 3,909
100-yd. group (inches) 0.66
4 or 5 5
Ramshot TAC – All using the 32-gr. Hornady V-Max, OAL = 2.240, BTO = 1.878 Velocity (fps)
0.905 0.434 0.609 0.976 1.103
3,836 3,918
26 Using fire-formed brass 26.5
26.5 Using fire-formed brass
3,896* 3,965 4,013
100-yd. group (inches) 1.121 0.636
Number shots 3 3 3 4 5 5
IMR 8208 XBR – All using the 32-gr. Hornady V-Max, OAL = 2.240, BTO = 1.878 Velocity (fps)
0.548 (4) or 0.734 (5) 0.655 0.889
* = My shooting loads Page 134 October — December 2011
Number shots 3 3
4 or 5 3 5
Number shots 3 5
$400. Stock $200 to many hundreds. Bar- rels are into the many hundreds. Before long I was looking at $1,200 to $2,000. I still would have to pay a gunsmith to put it all together. The next thing I tried was buying
a used rifle with a shot out barrel, or maybe a caliber I could chamber to the
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