Martini 20-222Rimmed

[Gunnie]

G'day Folks,

did a search on here for info re the 20-222Rimmed but didn't find too much. So thought I'd post a new topic and see what info I can shake loose.

I'm in the beginning throes of a new custom project. It'll be a Martini Cadet action set up with a 24-26" barrel of 1:9 twist in a Douglas style #5 profile. It'll be chambered for 20-222Rimmed as I don't have anything in this calibre and am curious to see how it'll perform. Besides which it's getting rather costly to load for the bigger cals here in Australia.

I've got the action, have sourced a few hundred Bertram 222Rimmed cases and a set of 204 Ruger dies. So now just need to see the 'smith to organsie a barrel and finalise the plan.

Before that, I was hoping the collective here would be willing to proffer some info/advice/knowledge as to the better twist rate and barrel length for this project.

Look forward to hearing from you folks. Cheers

[17VLD]

20’s are a lot of fun.The closest thing I have to your project is a 20 Duster,which of course is the rimless 222 necked to 20 with a 40 degree shoulder.I built mine with a 11 twist Pac-Nor barrel to handle up to and all of the 39-40 class of bullets.I have shot pd’s out to 576 yards with no problem.I am curious what bullets you will be using down under.Good luck with your project.
Cheers
Matt

[chuckshooter]

I built a rimmed vartarg on a martini, using starline DW360 brass formed down with redding dies. shoots better than I can. 32gr vmax,, 20gr of 2200, somewhere in the 3800 fps. I personally did not want to go any bigger as pressure and ejection are always an issue. I thought of using the 222r brass, sizing it down to vartarg but the starline 360 brass was cheap, readily available and the right length when done sizing I also have two martini's in 20 killer bee which I love and think it is the perfect round for the martini. and of course I did have to bush the firing pin hole. I do love my martini's, I have two more ready to become my next best rifle..

[BG17]

Sounds like a interesting project were are you getting the reamer ?
Where are you located in Australia?
If you are looking for a stock for your Martini Cameron Hatcher in Victoria has both right & left handed patterns and can cut them in any grade timber.

[GLWenzl]

Cool project, I like it!

The 20 vt sounds great also. I didn’t realize that the 360 DW brass would come out just right on the VT. I was sick can I come up a little short on the 22 Jet case. But I might be getting that mixed up with the 17 WS case I also have been recently making out of the 360 DW. It’s basically a rimmed 17 Javelina approved. I bought 1000 rounds each of the 357 max brass and the 360 DW brass that covers all my rimmed case needs

Dies would factor into it if I was doing it.

Can’t wait to read about some progress reports

[Gunnie]

Thanks folks.

I'd planned on making this a straightforward, simple and cost/process efficient build. I wanted to keep costs down and limit the amount of work involved in case prep/form etc as well.

So with this build I'll get Alan Swan, local 'smith & dam good with Martini custom jobs, to run a 204Ruger reamer in until it's at 222Rimmed length. This will give a shorter neck and different shoulder angle to the original Bertram brass. As for the dies all Alan has to do is shorten the 204R dies to match the chamber. He was the one who actually suggested the wildcat to me during a chat a few years back.

I'd got my hands on a Cadet action and an Afghannie ME large frame action and was talking to him about what to do with them. I love 25cal and was looking at a 25-35 26" octagonal barrel but when I looked into dies, cases (biggest issue) the costs & availability put me off. So Alan suggested the 20-222R. He also recommended that I avoid any high pressure cartridges for the ME due to the dubious quality of the steel. So we think 22LR will suffice there!

As for the 20-222R (which some tell me it isn't because the parent case will be changed too much for it to be called a 20-222R) All I need to do is shorten the necks and run the case in the 204Short FLS die, load and final fireform - job done!

Have already spoken to Cam re the Martini stocks. Now that he has the final tooling needed he will be pushing these out the door in the coming weeks. So I'll be going with his Monte Carlo (ex Jeff Slee pattern) for the 20-222R and the English pattern for the ME 22LR.

Projectile wise, I can get Hornady 32gn Z-Max here for $90/500. I use the 17cal variants for my 17A-H and they perform well, so the same ones in 20cal should do.

As for powder I have mainly Aussie powders to choose from, namely AR2205, AR2207 or the BenchMark variants.


Should be a bit of fun.

[Branxhunter]

G'day Gunnie.

Should be a ripper of a project. Looking forward to seeing how this project progresses

I have a .20-222 in an L461 that wears a Cam Hatcher stock, and AR2207 and BM1 have proven to give fantastic speeds and accuracy with 32gn z-maxes. My chosen load uses BM1.

Marcus

[ray h]

Gunnie running the standard reamer in short is good idea but you'll still have the overly long throat on the factory reamer. You might want to see what his reamer has.

[moorepower]

Sounds like a nice project. I would agree on watching the freebore. What velocity are you expecting with the 32's? I love the Martini actions. I wish I had got one or two when they were a reasonable price back in the 80's.

[Gunnie]

Originally Posted by ray h

Gunnie running the standard reamer in short is good idea but you'll still have the overly long throat on the factory reamer. You might want to see what his reamer has.

Not 100% sure what reamer the 'smith has. He was the one who suggested this wildcat for my Cadet project. So I believe he has some experience with it, but I'll find out today when I call him.

Velocity wise, don't really know! Expect that I'll be using AR2207, local Aussie powder, and the 32gn pills. I won't push the velocity envelope due to the weak caming action of the extractor but would expect I should be up in the mid 3000's without too much hassle.