Shooters' Feature Articles—Precision Shooting, January 1997

Believe it or not the 20 caliber has been hanging around since the turn of the century. It emerges every couple of decades like a cicada after a long nap, then seems to quietly fade away again. This time though, I plan to get it off the launch pad and keep it orbiting for many years to come!

Interesting enough, like the 17 caliber, P.O. Ackley was playing around with the 20 caliber in the midtolate forties. Other famous 17 wildcatters like Charles Landis and Charles Stocking were also pretty involved with the 20 caliber, enough so as to design several cartridges and manufacture custom bullets. P.O. Ackley wrote about them in his famous loading book and chambered rifles for customers as well. It seemed to fade away during the fifties and resurfaced in the late 60's. Popular 20 caliber wildcats of that time included the basic 20/222,20/223 and the 20/222 Magnum with bullets ranging from 40 to 50 grains and talk of even heavier ones. Douglas Barrels in Charleston, West Virginia began making button barrels in the mid 50's and continued through the 60's. Then, as before, the 20 caliber for some strange reason faded into the sunset.

Two Terrific Twenties! the 20 VarTarg & 20 VarTarg Turbo.

My interest in the twenty caliber spawned a couple of years ago when Bob Simonson of Simonson Tool & Engineering Co. (Famous precision bullet die manufacturers) sent me a handful of bench rest quality 20 caliber bullets to evaluate. Then a few months later Michael Worth contacted me on various 17 caliber projects and introduced me to a handful of really neat 20 caliber wildcats they had been playing with for a number of years. Michael and his two good friends, Delmar Bishop and George Bowerman, are diehard precision shooters, wildcatters, bench resters and hobby bullet makers. Michael is kind of the group leader, he loves to experiment with informal bench rest and loves the sub calibers and varmint shooting. Delmar is the real serious bench rest shooter of the bunch and is a good one at that. He is responsible for making all the bench rest quality 36 grain 20 caliber bullets that I had the opportunity to test (more about that later). George has retired from active bench rest shooting, but in his day he was also quite good, and according to Michael could still hold his own today. George loves varmint hunting, is an active experimenter and the real technician of the group. Why am I introducing you to these three musketeers? Simply put, they have all worked very hard to bring the 20 caliber to life again, and I feel they deserve a solid pat on the back! (Which is rare these days!).

The 20 VarTarg & 20 VarTarg Turbo will prove to be outstanding Varmint and Target cartridges!

Michael was intrigued with the idea of a cartridge that would shoot a bullet heavier than the .17's, but lighter than .22's and just as fast. He also looked upon the 20 caliber as a real challenge and learning experience, because 20 caliber barrels, bullets, loading and cleaning equipment were definitely not the norm in the shooting industry. It took Michael a while to get everything together and because of one thing or another he temporarily lost interest and everything was a standstill. Then in the winter of '94, his 20 caliber interest perked up again and by May of '95 he had a complete rifle built and ready to shoot. He also had a 20 caliber barrel fitted and chambered for Delmar Bishop. Michael chose the full length PPC case with the standard 30 degree shoulder for his first 20 caliber cartridge and named it the 20 W.B.B. for Worth, Bishop and Bowerman. Michael tested his own 36 grain bullets made in Simonson dies.

The 20 Vartarg & 20 VarTarg Turbo were designed by the author.

He feels bullets for the 20 caliber should be in the range of 32 to 38 grains with which I wholeheartedly agree. Michael told me he was interested in something between the 17 and 22 caliber bullet weights and that is just what a 36 grain 20 caliber bullet is. Michael worked up some very accurate loads in the 20 W.B.B. with Hodgdon 322, Hodgdon 335, Hodgdon 4895 and Accurate Arms 2460 powders. Velocity ranged from 3766 f.p.s. to slightly over 4,000 f.p.s. All in all, Michael felt the 20 W.B.B. project was very successful and exceeded his expectations both on the bench and in the varmint fields. He and his son, Eric, love to shoot it for its light recoil. In fact, Eric now has taken claim to it!

Michael and crew has also designed two other 20 caliber cartridges which are the 20 Waldog (a shortened PPC and a 20/222 Mag. Improved40 degree shoulder). Both have proven extremely accurate as well.

A handful of outstanding 20 caliber cartridges! The 20 VarTarg, 20 VarTarg Turbo, 20 Waldog, 20 PPC and the 20/222 Magnum Improved.

With all these 20 caliber goodies in front of me, I just couldn't resist it any longer. So I decided, as normal for me, to dive in head first. Like Michael, I needed a barrel, so I contacted several barrel makers. Ron Pence, of Pence Precision Barrels, who had made several barrels for Michael was booked for quite a few months. So I ordered one from him immediately and contacted several other barrel makers as well. I called Tim Gardner at Douglas Barrels, Inc. and told him I would like to order a 20 caliber barrel. Tim said, "Todd, you never cease to surprise me. Are you crazy?" I said, "No, your ad states 'all calibers up to 458"' and at that point I wasn't sure if Tim had hung up or fell off his chair. Tim finally answered and said, "No, we do not make 20 caliber barrels." I then asked him, "Please, go back in your tool room and see if you still have the tools to make them, because you made them in the 60's." Tim answered, "We did? Let me look into it". A few minutes later, he returned to the phone and said, "You are right, we did make them, but Dad thinks he gave the tooling away." Tim said he would order the new tools to make the 20 caliber barrels and call me when he had some prototypes made.
In the meantime, I sent Tim a few simple 36 grain 20 caliber bullets for him to take a look at. After he received them, he called and expressed the opinion of how nice the bullets were and suggested we neck up the 17 Remington to 20 caliber with no other changes.

Michael Worth and his group created the 20 Waldog, 20 PPC, and 20/222 Magnum Improved.

He said that he was going to order a reamer immediately for it. I told him I would expand some 17 Remingtons, since I already had the 20 caliber expanders in stock and would seat some bullets to give him something to look at. So another 20 caliber was born, and I would like to take the liberty and name it for Tim and myself (if that is OK with you, Tim; he is quite an easy going guy). The new 20 Remington design will be called "20 T & T" for Tim Gardner and Todd Kindler's new creation! ! !

Next I sent a few sample 36 grain 20 caliber bullets to Walt Berger of Berger Bullets, Ltd., and asked him if he would please consider making them. Walt called and asked me, "How many customers are out there?" I answered, "right now... none. However if you give me a couple years, I think you may be surprised." Walt then committed to making the bullets; that is the type of guy he is. Precision shooters are very fortunate to have friends like Tim Gardner and Walt Berger who will try something off the wall and as unusual as the 20 caliber. The precision bench rest grade 36 grain bullets may still be a little ways off while the tooling is being made, but it shouldn't be too much longer.

I approached several cleaning equipment suppliers with hopes of quality 20 caliber cleaning rods, brushes and patches. This time around, I wasn't as fortunate as with the barrels and bullets. Finally with some arm twisting and a commitment to purchase a rather large quantity through The Woodchuck Den, Inc. a deal was made. The brushes are available now and the top quality rods should be available soon. (The new 20 caliber rods should work very well in 22 rimfires with the right adapter).

I designed two 20 caliber cartridges; the 20 VarTarg® and 20 VarTarg® Turbo. I used my Nesika Bay action glued into Six Enterprises bench rest stock. It has a Jewell trigger set at 2 ounces and a Weaver 36 power scope in Kelbly rings. The rifle weighs exactly 10 1/2 pounds with either test barrel. Master accuracy gunsmith, Ken Klienendorst did all the barrel fitting and precision reloading dies. (Jon Morrison, President of L.E. Wilson supplied the prototype 20 VarTarg® and 20 VarTarg® Turbo die blanks). Ken's work is always top notch and when it arrives it always works. Many times he dropped what he was doing on a very short notice to build these two prototype twenties for testing.

To borrow a quote from P.O. Ackley regarding the 17 Mach IV, "This has probably the ideal maximum capacity for the .17 bore." Which also fits the 20 VarTarg® (20 VT) to a tee. The 20 VarTarg® proved to be a big surprise in the accuracy and velocity departments. It's a tack driver and maximum velocity range topped 3800 f.p.s. out of a 22 inch Pence barrel! However, there were also several bench rest powders that maxed out at the more conventional bench rest velocities. The 20 VarTarg® is small in size, a rather conservative design, but big on performance and simply an efficiency expert with big bench rest hopes and quite adequate for long range varmint shooting as well.

The 20 VarTarg®Turbo (20 VTT) is based on the necked down and improved 222 Remington cartridge. I designed it primarily for long range varmint shooting, but after testing I now have second thoughts. In the velocity department it came close to 4000 f.p.s. Ievel with superb accuracy. The prototype 1 in 12 twist Douglas barrels proved extremely accurate, so much so that I'm not too sure it wouldn't be a surprise at the 200/300 yard bench rest matches with a slightly reduced load. If you are looking for a superbly accurate, low recoil, long range varmint cartridge with bench rest accuracy, the 20 VarTarg® Turbo will not disappoint you. (Information and reloading dies for the 20 VarTarg® and 20 VarTarg®Turbo are available from The Woodchuck Den, Inc. See advertisement in Precision Shooting).

Custom 10.5 lb bench rest rifle with Nesika Bay action used for testing the 20 VarTarg & 20 VarTarg Turbo.

The superb accuracy that Michael, Delmar, George and I have been able to get from the 20 caliber has been just outstanding. Velocity with the 20 caliber leans more towards the fast moving seventeen. Recoil from the 20 caliber with those neat little 36 grain bullets is actually quite light, again not too far from the seventeen caliber.

From all the positive test results, I really feel the 20 caliber has a very bright future. The large gap between the 17 and 22 caliber will be permanently filled this time around. Once serious precision shooters get a test of the "Terrific Twenty" with its light recoil, flat trajectory and superb accuracy at long ranges, they will be hooked!

It takes a lot of hard work and some serious money to bring something new like this on the scene and there is a fine group of guys that deserve a big "Thank You" from all of us who will enjoy it for years to come. Thanks to Walt Berger (Berger Bullets, Ltd.), Delmar Bishop, George Bowerman, Dave Brennan, (Precision Shooting), George Dewey (J. Dewey Mfg., Co.), Tim Gardner (Douglas Barrels, Inc.), Dan Green (Forgreen's Tool Mfg., Inc.), Dennis Hrusosky, Ken Klienendorst, Ken Markle (K & M), Jon Morrison (L.E. Wilson, Inc.), Ron Pence (Pence Precision Barrels), Pat Ryan (Reading Reloading Equipment), Tom Thomas (The Outdoorsman), and Michael Worth.

(Information for 20 caliber accessories:)

See advertisement index of Precision Shooting Magazine or for further information contact author.

Addendum:

Just as I was hnishing this article Dan Cooper of Cooper Arms contacted me and said that they are planning a run of 20 VarTarg® and 20 VarTarg®Turbo's this spring. Anyone interested should contact The Outdoorsman in Kingsley, PA (717) 222-3390.

PRECISION SHOOTING - January, 1997