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  #1  
Old 01-22-2020, 05:20 PM
barretcreek barretcreek is offline
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Default .17 or .20?

Early M7 .223 needs to go to work. Thinking a walking varminter, 24" or 26" with about .625 or so muzzle. Higher BC bullets than what H,S,&N offer.

What twists and calibers do you suggest? Coyote, fox and bobcat are the prey.
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Old 01-22-2020, 05:37 PM
HillbillySniper HillbillySniper is offline
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I would do a 20 TAC for a repeater or a 20 Vartarg for a single shot
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Old 01-22-2020, 05:47 PM
Daryl Daryl is offline
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The specifically the larger critters on a walk around gun, the .20 VarTarg sounds like a solid win to me.
10" twist for the heavier bullets, I'd expect.
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Old 01-22-2020, 07:35 PM
B23 B23 is offline
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I like my 17's but like the 20's a little better, so for me it would be between a 20-222 and 20 Practical AKA 20-223. If you already have a bunch of 223 brass the 20 Practical would be a natural for you and if you reload and you've been using a bushing 223 die, you won't even need to get a new set of dies, just a new bushing.

If you want to shoot factory ammo, 204 Ruger would be a great option. Something off of the 222 or 223 size cases will feed smooth as silk for you too.

For a 20 cal build I'd use an 11 twist barrel and for the needs you described, I'd consider 22-24in. tube as my max length instead of a 26.
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Old 01-22-2020, 07:41 PM
DAA DAA is offline
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9 twist .17-204.

Good coyote bullet in .204 with higher than off the shelf BC is even harder to come by than .172 30s.

- DAA
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Old 01-22-2020, 08:58 PM
Mark D Mark D is offline
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Go watch DAA video 17 Predator !!!!
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  #7  
Old 01-22-2020, 09:51 PM
Oso Polaris Oso Polaris is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by barretcreek View Post
Early M7 .223 needs to go to work. Thinking a walking varminter, 24" or 26" with about .625 or so muzzle. Higher BC bullets than what H,S,&N offer.

What twists and calibers do you suggest? Coyote, fox and bobcat are the prey.
What distances are the shots... 18"-20" is great walk-around barrel. Go longer if you need to squeeze every ounce of velocity.

16" AR15s have made us have to rethink the pragmatic balance of carry-ability vs. maximum velocity. Under 600 yards there is no reasonable gain for anything over 20" other than you just like the aesthetics or balance. My opinion is different for a bench gun.
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Old 01-22-2020, 11:17 PM
Bayou City Boy Bayou City Boy is offline
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If you're looking at coyote, fox and bobcat, I would definitely recommend a 17 caliber over a 20 for several reasons.

For one, there are better available factory and custom bullets in 17 caliber versus 20 caliber, as DAA stated. Second, the 17 will in most cases be better adapted to fox and bobcat in terms of being pelt friendly as long as you stay away from bone. Any bullet that hits bone on either one of them is not going to simply pencil through and leave no pelt damage.

I hand swage my own 20 caliber bullets and I have found one that I like for coyotes, simply because its accurate and more fur friendly than any of the off the shelf factory 20 caliber bullets. They are all designed for quick expansion on much smaller critters, even though a lot of folks use the factory 20's on the critters you're looking at.

All that said, I'm planning to make a coyote excursion up north very soon and I'm taking an 8" twist 22-250 and a 22-6MM both loaded to max velocity with 62 grain BTHP bullets that tip a coyotes over quickly as one of my choices for coyotes. But I'll also have a 17 Remington and a 20 Tactical along too.

I guess what I'm saying is that there is more than one way to skin a cat....or a coyote, or a fox.....and never use a knife.
Whether you choose a 17 or a 20 caliber, I wouldn't go any longer than a 22" barrel on a bolt action rifle. A longer barrel is not nearly as handy to operate and the added velocity is lost in the bushes about 98% of the time at typical hunting ranges.

-BCB
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Last edited by Bayou City Boy; 01-22-2020 at 11:27 PM.
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