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.20 cal 55 gr Berger in a neck down .223 WSSM

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 8:02 am
by Varoum
Considering this for hunting coyotes. Care to comment? Barrel life is short OK! Around 1,000 rounds but 3,900 FPS at 1 000yds 1523FPS 283energy -200in

Looking for a coyote rifle long range from 400y to 1000y. Thanks!

Re: .20 cal 55 gr Berger in a neck down .223 WSSM

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 10:42 am
by Fred_C_Dobbs
If you're set on a .20, I think the .20BR is a better option. It's a wildcat of the 6mm Norma BR which, along with its wildcats, is dominating 600 yard benchrest. You can coax just about anything based on the 6BR into being hyper-accurate. You might want to check out the Varmint Hunters dot Com forum. A bunch of the guys who post there are heavily into the 6BR and its kin, and there are more guys there busting prairie dogs at 1000+ yards than any other forum I'm aware of.

OTOH, the whole family of WSSMs tend to be a little fussy. Most can produce respectable accuracy but the cartridge just doesn't have the 6BR's history of success. The WSSM is a 'maybe' but a 6BR is a virtual certainty.

My whitetail and coyote rifle is a .243 WSSM, and I used up a lot of the OE's barrel life just working up the first decent loads. When that barrel is done in, I intend replacing it with a 6mm Dasher, which essentially is a 6BR but with 40-degree shoulder (essentially a 6BR Ackley Improved). I'm expecting the potential loss in MV to be slight but the gain in potential accuracy to be significant.

Re: .20 cal 55 gr Berger in a neck down .223 WSSM

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:52 pm
by ryutzy
I second what Fred C Dobbs said. If you are not stuck on 20 cal, I would would move up to something in the 6MM family. I am going to recieve my custom 6MM AI in about 3 weeks and I'll report on it's 1000 yard performance in the future. Tommy Shurley is doing my build and it's supposed to be a 1000 yard performer.

Re: .20 cal 55 gr Berger in a neck down .223 WSSM

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 10:34 pm
by Varoum
Thanks guys,

I did moved to the 6mm bullets, better BC. Like 6XC, 6mmAR, 6mmAR Turbo, 6BR and other wildcats. I have a preference for short cases.