20-250 with 55gr Bergers

W

W. Chad Shultz

Member
Anyone here playing with a 20-250 wildcat. My brother had Bob White build him one and he is loving it. I am thinking of building one with a 1-8 twist for the 55gr Bergers. Let me know what you think.
 
Yea Berger makes them I have a 50 and a 55 in my hand now. There is quite a difference in the length. They look as good as my 130gr 6.5 VLD's. My brother is pushing them around 3900 in his rifle.
 
Check out www.hgfirearms.com. Nice handmade bullets and they offer all the smaller .20 cals as well as 45, 50, 52.5, and 60 grain .20 cal bullets using Berger J4 jackets. They say the heaviest will run with a 1-9 twist. Should be a neat build.
 
I just read an interesting article on this caliber by Dave Afleck in Utah. if you just search 20-250 it will come up. I think I will have to build one soon. I like the idea of being able to hold on fur too 400ish and not blowing giant exit holes in good fur. I get a cat or two a year that shows up while I am calling coyotes. I have a winchester classic SS 243 in the shop now that has the ugly boss barrel on it, maybe I will use that for my build. I am a sucker for winchester classics and pre-64's.
 
Thanks for the bullet info and the link to the story, turns out it was the same one I read. There are a few guys in Illinois where my brother is shooting this caliber and loving it.
 
DAA knows his stuff.
Should be great for predator hunting, but don't even think about using it on colony varmints. Barrel life would be maybe one day.

Jack
 
Very true, this would be a calling rifle only, and if I burn the barrel up from shooting that many coyotes I will be in heaven. Just for fun we did shoot my brothers a few times this summer at some p-dogs. They were not very far out, maybe 200 and I showed the flatlander up pretty quick with my 223AI. But that is not where this caliber shines, double the distance and that 20-250 would put a hurt on the 223AI.
 
Chad
there are a couple guys on Suebier running 20 250's Im shooting the 55 Bergers in my 20br around 3655 fps with a 9 twist 26" Pacnor I don't think you will need a 8.
I was not reel impressed with the 55 Berger on groundhogs past 400 yrds but I did bang flop a coyote at 300 with no exit home and .20 entry it should be good on fur
 
Chad I've got a buddy that shoots it with the 40gr Berger and said it can be nasty on coyotes. Flat as ol heck but maybe not the right bullet.
I had my Ruger VT up to 3950fps with the 40gr Berger and shooting excellent with no pressure signs but traded her off last week. Even at those speeds a slight breeze sets her sideways. My 80gr VLD's at 3350fps are wind cutters for sure.
I'd personally opt for shooting the 50 or 55grainers in .20-250 over the 40gr bullets at light speed but it's windy as old heck here next to the ocean.
 
Chad,
My buddy and I have two 8 twist barrels coming real soon. I'll let you know how things work out. Hoping for 3700 fps from the 55 Berger. On paper, the heavier 20 cal bullet performance is almost too good to believe. Out to 400 yards the data indicates it out performs my 243AI, 3850 fps, 65 gr Berger in just about every category except initial muzzle velocity. After 400 yards the differences just get greater. At 600 yards the 20 cal has 6 less come up cliks, 117 more energy ft. lbs. and more than 1 ft. less drift in a 10 mph cross wind.
 
Well it is done now but I am not going to Illinois for a couple weeks. My brother has it shootin 3/8" at 100 with the 55gr Bergers at 3750fps. Cant wait to get my hands on this one.
 
Interesting thread. As stated DAA's article is a good read. He is very knowledgeable.

Thought i'd give a bit of input. I have not had a 20-250, will probably build one or a 20-250AI sometime. I have had one that is ballistically similar though. A 20 Dasher is what I had. Can imagine it would perform much the same as a 20-250.

My rifle was built on a BAT SV single shot action with a 26" 9 twist Lilja.

Here's what I found in my developing some loads for it.

40 grain Berger's top load produced 4290 fps safely

50 grain Berger's at 4059fps

55 grain Berger's at 3760 fps

these loads were with H414

Very cool little cartridge and rifle.

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By dasher20 at 2012-05-04

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By dasher20 at 2012-05-04

Here are some Berger bullets for a look see.
From left to right are 55gr, 50 gr, 40 gr, 35gr and 30 gr.
also from left to right is the 22-250, 20 Dasher, And 20 BR.
The 20-250 should be a shooter. May even out do the Dasher.
Do not know how fur and throat friendly it will be.
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By dasher20 at 2012-05-04
 
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