20 cal varmint rifle

User00003

Well-Known Member
Gents,

which 20cal cf would you recommend (and more importantly, why!!), for shooting rabbits, crows, rooks, fox at 100 - 300 yds? I'm looking for something which will keep a fast flat trajectory, explode on impact, cheap and easy to reload. I'll probably complement with a varmint xmas-tree style reticle in something like 10x40 or go rangefinder + ballistic turret - not sure yet.

Also, for 20 cal cf's, would you still go with something like a 26" Varmint barrel and ensure good bedding, etc. or is it such a small calibre that you don't need to worry much about the usual 'accuracy dependant variables' that we normally discuss for stalking and/or target rifles in the larger calibres?

my thoughts are between:

.204
.222
.223
.220 Swift

Initially, I'm drawn to the Swift, but not sure...


many thanks for your input.

Edit: ps. or should I just use the .243, get moderated, and use some light 50g bullets?
 
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The vartarg 20 is supposed to be the kiddie ! Or what about the .221 fireball ?
 
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When you say 20 cal, do you mean 20 cal, cos you then list a selection of 22s.

And... if you're shooting in Scotland's central belt you may have noticed we now have loads of wind farms, there's a reason for that :D

A .204" at 300 yds on live quarry in our climate...? I wouldn't worry about the quality of the action bedding, you're going to drift off target a lot of the time anyway no matter how much you spend.

Get a .223rem and keep your shots down to about 250yds max on live quarry unless you can dope the wind very well (or there is none where you shoot).And... If you really want to shoot fox and vermin... and include bunnies in the mix... I'd have a .22 hornet and keep my shots down to deer stalking range. Good discipline.
 
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This topic has been round a bit and it always kicks up the same stuff. I would have thought that the thing to do was find a way to shoot them. When you have I would be suprised if the .204 had not left a big big smile on your face.

Having said that 55gs in a .243 will do the trick nicely.
 
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.243 with 50 or 55 gr bullets is going to be flatter and faster than any of the smaller calibres, and will certainly demonstrate the downrange performance to take anything from rats to the biggest fox.
 
PKL go with your instincts and get a 220 Swift. It is the best of the best for what you want. My latest swift is a Remington VSSF, shoots 40 gn. Noslers at 4450fps into half inch groups, and before anyone tells you that the barrel will melt I will quote from the Hodgdon manual.' The 220 Swift is the grand-daddy of all varmint cartridges. In modern rifles it is fast and accurate and, to some degree, hard on barrels. Nonetheless, it still shoots with the best of them. Not bad for a highly criticized cartridge that made its debut in 1935 when few shooters would even consider the possibility that a factory 22 calibre cartridge could compete with any of the finely tuned wildcats.
To mitigate barrel erosion, modern steel has pretty much controlled the problem, but it pays to refrain from long strings of sustained fire and to clean the barrel frequently.
A Remington 40x test rifle managed to keep 25 shot aggregates in less than .270 inch, and 5 shot groups after 3000 rounds ( yes 3000 ) held in .344 inch. So much for short barrel life.'
You may gather that I am a bit of a fan ( I have owned four ). Read what P.O. Ackley has to say about the Swift. Ian Carmichael in The Accurate Riflle says, 'The most accurate rifle out of the box I ever owned was a Ruger 77 in 220 Swift'
So there, all you 22/250 owners, blow your hands off as you like you are only in second place.
Do you think that may have started something??????
All the best.
 
PLK
i recently got a .204 Ruger and Its the funnest thing in the world to shoot , went out this afternoon got a nice this yrs vixen . she was hit at about 140m with a chest shot she just collapsed did not twitch . Two crows both at about 110m , then I spied a bunny at a good 300m I did not have the RF so guesstimated the range . aimed for his head and let rip the impact was instant through the upper shoulder/neck . the best bit is there is no recoil a little bit of a crack but what do you expect with just shy of 4000 fps this is with a 22" barrel also cheap to reload

damage to rabbit and crows is what you expect, no exit on the fox .

JeffreyL 4450fps now thats fast
 
you cant beat a .20tac 23.5grn of powder pushing a 39grn blitzking at 4000fps does all that griffshrek says , and much more , 200 yard crows no sweat 300 yard foxes not a problem
 
.243 with 50 or 55 gr bullets is going to be flatter and faster than any of the smaller calibres, and will certainly demonstrate the downrange performance to take anything from rats to the biggest fox.

your find the bc of a 55 grain 243 bullet is poor compared to a 20 calibre bullet. so there isnt as much in it as you may think
 
i had a 20tac for a while and liked it alot.

That's interesting. Me... I keep the good ones.

... and mine's a .223rem with bbl twist = 1: 7.5" andlength 27.5". Good to 300m if the wind is tolerable, on fox and feathered vermin, silly on bunnies though, total destruction not much left for the pot. I currently use 68grain, .224", Hornady BTHP match bullets with a launch velocity of just under 3100fps and a B.C. of .355

The 75 grain A max shoots a little flatter beyond 300m and I have been known to use it to good effect too.
 
it was a 26" heavy barreled rem..... Perfect for where i used to shoot but not at all practical for carrying around as i have to on my new permission, so its been replaced with a light 17 Rem.
 
PKL go with your instincts and get a 220 Swift. It is the best of the best for what you want. My latest swift is a Remington VSSF, shoots 40 gn. Noslers at 4450fps into half inch groups, and before anyone tells you that the barrel will melt I will quote from the Hodgdon manual.' The 220 Swift is the grand-daddy of all varmint cartridges. In modern rifles it is fast and accurate and, to some degree, hard on barrels. Nonetheless, it still shoots with the best of them. Not bad for a highly criticized cartridge that made its debut in 1935 when few shooters would even consider the possibility that a factory 22 calibre cartridge could compete with any of the finely tuned wildcats.
To mitigate barrel erosion, modern steel has pretty much controlled the problem, but it pays to refrain from long strings of sustained fire and to clean the barrel frequently.
A Remington 40x test rifle managed to keep 25 shot aggregates in less than .270 inch, and 5 shot groups after 3000 rounds ( yes 3000 ) held in .344 inch. So much for short barrel life.'
You may gather that I am a bit of a fan ( I have owned four ). Read what P.O. Ackley has to say about the Swift. Ian Carmichael in The Accurate Riflle says, 'The most accurate rifle out of the box I ever owned was a Ruger 77 in 220 Swift'
So there, all you 22/250 owners, blow your hands off as you like you are only in second place.
Do you think that may have started something??????
All the best.

.22-250, far easier to get a hold of factory rounds in my area than a 220 swift if you don't load, no feeding problems with the .22-250 cartridge unlike the 220's sticky out rim thing that's going on, and as has been mentioned already, those light varmint bullets will perform accurately in windless conditions out to 300yds. Windless night for lamping foxes? I may not even bother going out.

The fastest I can find for a 40grn from a 220 and a 26'' barrel is 4300fps. The .22-250 is trailing miles and miles behind at 4100fps (yeh, right...). Oh, the .22-250 does all this with about 2grns less powder.

Move up to 55grn bullets which is what I used out of the 4 rifles I owned in .22-250, and the 220 is pushing 3800fps, the .22-250, 3700fps.

And to top it all off, Lapua brass is available in .22-250.

Is the .22-250 really still in second place for the sake of 100-200fps at speeds around 4000fps? I don't think so... ;)
 
a 243 has better down range performace than the little bullets and it is flat with 50-60 grns ideal for crows and rabbits or why not a 6x47 lapua it does everything a 243 can but more accuaracy
 
a 243 has better down range performace than the little bullets and it is flat with 50-60 grns ideal for crows and rabbits or why not a 6x47 lapua it does everything a 243 can but more accuaracy

WHY do you need down range performance when shooting crows and rabbits ??

My .17 fireball disembowels rabbits and crows at 300m not tried live game any further, but easily reaches 600m as i have ranged and spotted splashes.
 
wind drift m8 the reason why we miss,shot rabbits at over 1k with my 243 ackley
bigger bullets always out shoot small bullets in the wind
 
Awsome shooting ! 2003 1000m world record was only a 5" group . If you normally shoot rabbits at that range, i suppose we will be reading about your selection to the london games.
 
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