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Thread: 20 cal from 22lr brass

  1. #1
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    20 cal from 22lr brass

    22 cal jacket and core on left, 20 cal jacket and core on right





    44 grain 20 cal on left, 53 grain 22 cal on right





    Now the only challenge will be to see if my 12 twist barrel will stabilize the 44 grain pill. It shoots the Sierra 39 grain well so hopefully the 44 grain will do well too. Once I perfect a 22 jacket trim die or jig I will make some 32 grain pills or lighter. My 20-223 (aka. 20 Practical) shoots Hornady 32 grain Z-Max at 4200fps, I'm expecting about 3800fps from a 39 or 44 grain bullet.

    The 20 cal jacket made from 22lr brass till had a bit of room in it at 44 grains. Probably get close to 50 grains but not much more.

    My die has a 7s ogive and a .062 meplat. I think I could have got away with a smaller meplat, maybe .045 but I am very pleased with the results.

    If it wasn't so blasted hot over here I might have got away for the weekend to try these little 44 grain pills out. We shall see. Next spring you can bet these little pills we see some battle on the ground squirrel fields! Should be very effective!


    Good Shooting and Swage On!

    BT
    Last edited by BT Sniper; 01-03-2018 at 04:00 PM.
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  2. #2
    Boolit Man
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    So would the be for like a .204?

  3. #3
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    yep! .204 caliber

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  4. #4
    Boolit Bub
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    Brian, are you able to make a set of dies to produce bullets like the 40 grains Bergers HPBT in 20 cal using Berger jackets?
    Last edited by MFG_BOP; 07-14-2014 at 10:26 PM.

  5. #5
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    you can get Berger jackets??

    doing a die set to mimic a bullet is certainly doable, I can't remember the ogive of the Bergers though airc it's like an 8 or an 9.

  6. #6
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    Put together a couple more 20 cal die sets. This time with .045 meplats vs. previous .062. That .045 ejection pin is small! Broke the first one with the first attempt at ejecting a bullet in the new die. Had to get a feel for the smaller ejection pin and go a bit slower during ejection, got it figured out and here is a look at how well the bullets turned out.

    .204 bullet made from 22lr brass at a weight of 41 grains, did pretty good getting the nose to close up to .045 with the 22lr brass jacket.

    Here is a look at the 41 grain bullet I made next to a 32 grain Hornady Z-max




    Here it is next to one of my 52 grain 22 cal bullets both made from 22lr brass




    Left to right.... 52 grain 22 cal, 41 grain 20 cal, a BTSniper 35 grain 20 cal made with a commercial jacket, and the Z-max




    Should have some ready for PD shooting this spring.

    Good shooting and swage on!

    BT
    Last edited by BT Sniper; 01-03-2018 at 04:08 PM.
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  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy Faret's Avatar
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    But how do they shoot?

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    Last year I had no problem keeping them under an inch. The die was a bit big last year at .2050 at the base so I'm hoping for a bit better this year. They are a bit long and heavy for a 12 twist, I got an 11 and 10 twist barrel now to try them in and expect good things. We shall see. Today was the first time I think we have seen the sun up here in the wet, cold NW in a few weeks so it's almost time to get shooting again.

    The little 32 grain Z-maz will do .75" at 200yrds starting at 4200+fps, really is an awesome round!

    I'll keep everyone posted.

    BT
    Last edited by BT Sniper; 01-22-2016 at 07:13 PM.
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  9. #9
    Boolit Master

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    DANG IT now I want to become a swage guy.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Plate plinker View Post
    DANG IT now I want to become a swage guy.
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    Space for Witty Signature Line FOR RENT...........Cheap

  11. #11
    Boolit Master

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    Yeah I know and I can buy 20 cal bullets cheap enough.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by BT Sniper View Post
    Last year I had no problem keeping them under an inch. The die was a bit big last year at .2050 at the base so I'm hoping for a bit better this year. They are a bit long and heavy for a 12 twist, I got an 11 and 10 twist barrel now to try them in and expect good things. We shall see. Today was the first time I think we have seen the sun up here in the wet, cold NW in a few weeks so it's almost time to get shooting again.

    The little 32 grain Z-maz will do .75" at 200yrds starting at 4200+fps, really is an awesome round!

    I'll keep everyone posted.

    BT
    Any Idea how fast?

  13. #13
    Boolit Master

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    Probably 3800-3900 FPS Curious what he can squeeze out of that one too.

  14. #14
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    I'll look up the fps info and target pics, got it here somewhere. I was using h-335 and recall about 3800.
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  15. #15
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    Found the data from last years bullets. Using a 26" long 12 twist barrel, LC brass, H-335 powder and my 41 grain bullets got these results.....

    24.0 = 3525 fps
    24.5 = 3580 fps
    25.0 = 3640 fps
    25.5 = 3675 fps
    25.8 = 3750 fps

    The groups started to open up on me at the 25.5 grain load. The 24.5 grain load was the winner on the first outing with a 1.9" 200yrd 5 shot group. Then I started to adjust the OAL and shot some ten shot groups... best oal was 2.225 with a 1.60" group with two fliers, six of those eight shots went into a 1" cluster at 200 yrds! I'll post pics later.


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  16. #16
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    Was the lc brass .223? I have tried to form them but keep coming up short? Details please. Assuming .204 Ruger

  17. #17
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    Yep.... 5.56 (223rem) LC brass formed into 20 Practical which is a 20-223 which is simply a 223rem necked down to 20 cal with same shoulder angle. Very easy to form and very accurate. Just got back from shooting matter of fact. My Shilen 20 Practical barrel has over 3000 full power loads down the barrel and still shoots 3/8" groups at 100.


    Spent the weekend putting together an AR-15 with a 24" BHW 10 twist barrel. My first barrel swap on an AR. Learned a lot, might be even easier then swapping barrels on a Savage. It shot very well, just breaking in the new barrel but I got a 3/8" 4 shot group with 24.5 grains of N-133 with the 32 grain V-Max bullets. Using same 25.9 grain load that I shoot in the Shilen barreled Savage I was able to shoot groups approaching 1/2" in the AR. Should be a great barrel for the 41 grain pills made from 22lr brass. I'm going to clean it up and send it off to be Nitride processed with my next batch of dies.


    Got to love the 20 Practical!

    Good shooting and swage on!


    BT
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  18. #18
    Boolit Buddy Faret's Avatar
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    BT how did you do the rimfire brass prep? Steps between derimming and annealing?

  19. #19
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    I simply took 22lr brass that had been prepped for 22 cal bullets and sized it down in a draw die, good to go.

    So process I followed to go from 22lr to 20 cal jacket and bullet was.....

    clean 22lr brass
    derim
    degrease (remove lube)
    anneal
    clean (stainless steel media tumble)
    draw down to 20 cal
    seat core
    form point

    I suppose you could draw the case down to 20 cal right after you derim it, but I think drawing it down after anneal might actually make a better jacket?

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  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Faret View Post
    But how do they shoot?

    HOLY SMOKES! I just got back from range today. Shot some of the bullets I made in January of this year as shown in post #6. I was fine tuning some loads with the Nosler 32 grain Varmageddon, Hornady 32 grain Z-max and the Nosler 40 grain BT bullets. Got them all to where they where shooting well under an inch at 200 yrds. I had some of my 41 grain bullets with me that I simply pulled a number out of a hat for a load with Ramshot TAC. I figured I would start with a mild load and test three different OAL lengths. The load was 24.0 grains of TAC with LC brass and CCI 450 primmer.

    I was having quite the time getting the Nosler 40 grain BT bullets to shoot in my 11 twist CBI barrel, had to drive them pretty fast before they would shoot decent groups so I was not expecting much from my home made bullets from 22lr brass. Matter of fact yesterday I shot some of last years 44 grain bullets loaded with H-335 powder and they didn't shoot very well in this CBI barrel so again my expectations where not that high with this years 41 grain bullets with the small .045 meplat.

    Actually got a couple readings on the coronagraph (lack of sun light was a challenge with the small 20s) at a average of a mild 3300 FPS. Not exactly screaming but a good start I guess. So I test out the first OAL with a .020 jump and got a group that was "not bad" at about 2.5", it was better then last years bullets in this barrel but nothing exceptional. I still had a load with an OAL right on the lands and one with a .020 jam. So I fire the next five rounds with the OAL setting right on the lands and HOLY SMOKES! all of a sudden the bullet holes are appearing in the small 1/2" circle of the bulls eye! I didn't even feel like they where my best trigger control as it felt like I might have pulled a couple yet somehow like magic the bullets just kept finding their way to the direct center of the target. I was in disbelief so I really didn't get all that excited while pulling the trigger as I didn't expect the group to hold this tight so maybe I was able to keep the excitement behind the trigger in check allowing for a better group.

    Anyway after 5 rounds they all landed in a small little cluster dead center of target at 200YRDS! Group measured .515" center to center!

    The last group with a .020 jam did pretty well with a group of about 2"

    I couldn't be certain looking at the small 1/2" group of 20 cal holes at 200 yrds threw the scope if they where all there, it seems we are always surprised when we walk up to the target and find fliers that we couldn't see in the scope but nope! All five in the BULL! I couldn't believe it!

    I don't even know what made me pick the 24 grain load right from the start? But with these kind of results I might not need much more load development.

    I'll have more details and pics soon.

    I have a new ground squirrel load for this spring!

    BT
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