Well hello all,

Yes I found my way here. Takes me a while to find my way around in cyber space.

I have two 20's, a 20t-n-t and a Tact20. Built the 20t-n-t first and befor it was complete started the Tact20. I love them both. Been shooting the 33grn v-max for coyotes and am very happy. I was also worried about pelt damage, not a problem..... I did have some messy stuff happen when I was shooting the Berger 36grn, although very accurite they made a mess out of a yote, but I went to the 33grn v-max and things have been real good since.

Thats my 2 cents

Smote the Yote
Slydog

NW67 re: I got my barrel about a month ago the barrel is a stainless perm.xx out the door was $307.00.I did the action work my self. I think what is published is a little hot at least for my gun. the gun shoots 33 v-max in the 3's or 4's.I only have a couple hundred rounds threw the gun so it is hard to tell about the barrel but the action is holding up.

Scramjet: does that mean you have your own set of reamers for the tac20?? Can anyone shooting this round comment on barrel life ? Either what its doing to your gun, or what 4300 fps could do to barrel life.??

NW67 no I don't have a reamer douglas finishes the barrel so all you have to do is measure the headspace and maybe trim a little off the shoulder.If you think that 4300 fps isn't hard on barrels then buy a 220 swift and run 40's at 4300 and see how long the barrel lasts.(4000 rounds if your lucky). there are other bullets like the 40 lucas that will not run as fast. if you need a reamer midway has them for 80.00.

I finally got a chance to shoot the Tromix Tact20 AR-15 and it did pretty good even with the wind blowing a bit. The best group was .31" for five shots at 100 yards. Posted up a bunch of 3/8" and 1/2" groups as well. Nothing much went over that. I only shot the Bergers and Hornday bullets though. I just got some Schroeder, Unmussig, and Badger Ridge bullets in the door, and the Lucas bullets should be here any day. I'll see how those fare next week.

Tony Rumore
Tromix Corp

[ 02-13-2003, 00:38: Message edited by: Tony Rumore ]

I don't have a Tac20 yet, and since I've gotten away from #'s of coyotes/season, I probably won't get one built, but i do know Greg Tannel personally, and he's built several guns for a friend + i. He is coyote hunting crazy, and before he started using the 20 on coyotes, he was using .22-284 on them. As regards the big 20, he told me that @ 4300 f.p.s. the Hornady will sometimes blow up on impact, but @ around 4200 it is a fur hunters dream. This type of performance mirrors my .22-250AI with 40 gr. bullets--one of the best fur hunting combinations i ever used, but i was able to get 4350 f.p.s. with rare surface blows from the Nosler. I was killing 40-70 coyotes/season and until i jumped onto the .17 Rem./30 gr wagon, it was my staple fur gun. From what I've heard/read about the Tac20, I believe it is right up there with the performance level of the .17's and hotshot .22's (with 40 gr. bullets) on coyote fur. But I bet it's going to be harder to get it to work well on the lighter-skinned furbearers.

P.S. Greg is a busy guy, and getting busier, but if you call him and mention that you're a coyote hunter, he'll bend your ear for awhile. That's for sure.

Guys I'm a numbers guy, am at the 131 mark now with all but 20 kills with the tact20. The other 20 were killed with the 17HMR in backyards and barnyards. My longest shot was 398 yards and it was a perty sight.
At first I had some pelt damage [Berger 36grn]and 4350fps. slowed them down to 4150 and things got better but still had one blow up every now and then. Went to the 33grn v-max and 4200fps and have not messed up 1 pelt since.
the tact20 is in my mind the very best coyote caliber made. I have had some pressure problems with the 20tnt. it seemes to be VERY pressure sensitive and now it has bent an extractor in my Sako L-461. May just punch it out to tact20 and call it good.
My season runs from June to June and I'm hopeing to break 170 but things are slowin down real fast and I'm haveing to work harder than normal this year. Last year I killed 139 but only hunted till Feb. 10th [sholder surgery] and did'nt start hunting coyotes till Oct.2002.
I've been testing the Lucas40's at 4045fps after molly and they are real accurate and the 6 coyotes that have fallen to them went down hard w/ only one exit[54 yards]. will try slowing it down to around 3950fps and see what happens then. I do like the Lucas 40 grn bullets.
I will start testing the Badger ridge bullets late this next week. 34.5's and 38 grainers, hope they shoot as good as they look.

I would reccomend the tact20 to anyone who wants fur. All the rest of my guns are covered in dust.. LOL
Night all
Slydog

Slydog:

Will the Lucas 40 grainers stabilize in a 12 twist barrel? I notice that Badger Ridge is recommending a 11.2 twist for their 40 grain spire point pill. According to their web site, Pac Nor does not make a 11 twist. Douglas goes as low as 10. Any recommendations for a versatile twist rate [ability to shoot a wide range of bullet weights] in a large case volume .20 cal. [eg., .20 PPC, or Tac .20]?

Thanks,

Jordan

Jordan,

I shoot Douglas xx ss 1/12 twist and have had no problems with every thing from 33grn V-max to the Lucas 40's and the Lucas 40's weigh on the avrage 40.5. I do think you will have to taylor your loads to your gun to get them to shoot the best but its doable.
I did have trouble with the Lucas 45 grainers, with stability and atribute that to twist rate. There is no question about quality with the Lucas bullets. To shoot the heavy weights you will need a 1/10 twist to stabilize, and then you will have trouble with lighter bullets.

For an all round gun I like the 1/12 twist rate. It alows you the versitility of shooting all but the heaviest of bullets offered today. As the 20 catches on I think we will see other bullets and more Barrel makers comming out with new offerings but for now I feel you'll be best served with a 1/12 twist rate BBL.

FYI, I did have to play with powder charges to gain the accuricy I was after. The 40's work well around the 3600fps mark. Yes I do want flat line shooting but I will not sacrifice accuracy to go fast. I'm likeing the 34.5 badger ridge bullets for performance but had to slow them down a little to get there. I'm still running them between 4000 and 4100fps and getting good results.
At this time I'm still shooting the 33v-max for coyote but I'm going to try the 34.5 BR bullets on coyotes this week, weather permitting. Will keep you posted.....

Smote the Yote
Slydog

[ 02-23-2003, 22:56: Message edited by: Slydog ]

Hey Jordan! How ya' been? I tested the Lucas bullets for Russ early on and they are shooting well for me. You may remember my Tac 20 has a 12 twist Pac-Nor and it shoots the Lucas 45 beautifully. I'm in Green River right now and don't have access to the bullets, but the 45 is over .100" longer than the 40, and if I recall longer than the Badger Ridge soft point. I'd probably stick with a 12" unless you want to shoot the new Berger 50 gr. boat tails coming out. Can't wait to see what they come up with, I hope they go with a 7 ogive and tight points on the lighter bullets to boost the BC as much as possible.

Slydog, how in the world do you get those speeds with your rifle? A 40 at over 4000 fps, wow. I ran the Lucas 45 up to 3700 and that was definitely a stout load. Be lucky to break 3900 with the 40, 'course I only run a 24" bbl. If you had trouble with the Lucas 45, I wonder if your barrel is really a 12 twist. I've seen and heard of several Douglas barrels that were a little off from their nominal twist rate. I just picked up a 17 cal 9 twist that actually measures out at 9.5 twist. Todd Kindler ordered a 6 twist 17 barrel and it's actually 6 3/4.......just a possibility. Great job on the coyotes, those are big numbers!

Dan C

Dan C,, this is repeted from the above paragraph but the 40's work the best at 3590fps.

"The 40's work well around the 3600fps mark."

The 34.5 badger ridge bullets will run in excess of 4000fps. The last 3 barrels that Tim at Douglas barrels sent to me have been right on the money and work very well. All 3 are 26" and #6taper. My guns are a little barrel heavy but thats the way I want them.

Dan I hope this clears things up a little, sorry if I did'nt make it clear the first time. Thanks for the complement about the coyote numbers.
I'm not hunting the next few days, because of a family funeral, I'm stuck in Modesto Ca. and will be here for the next few days clearing up family matters. Sorry its takeing me so long to respond to questions.

slydog

[ 02-25-2003, 09:47: Message edited by: Slydog ]