.20 cal. VS .30 cal. at 130 yards
- Thread starter davelarson
- Start date
.20 versus .30 you say? I'm your huckleberry!
I did just this at the XFT this past weekend, shooting the .20 Heavies at long range against mostly larger calibers. I've been impressed with them at home, in general long range shooting and also with the BCs they're capable of, but I was pleasantly surprised to shoot a 36/48. The winner was of course a .30, shooting a 39/48. But to hang with the leaders at 1/3 the fpe....I was quite proud of the little orphan caliber .20.
https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/xtreme-field-target-feb-2022-match-report/
I did just this at the XFT this past weekend, shooting the .20 Heavies at long range against mostly larger calibers. I've been impressed with them at home, in general long range shooting and also with the BCs they're capable of, but I was pleasantly surprised to shoot a 36/48. The winner was of course a .30, shooting a 39/48. But to hang with the leaders at 1/3 the fpe....I was quite proud of the little orphan caliber .20.
https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/xtreme-field-target-feb-2022-match-report/
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Damn good shooting Cole, and yes, the FPE was less, but the BC of your .20 Heavy is pretty much the same as the .30 Exact. So same drop for equivalent speed and same wind drift. Those .20 Heavy are impressive!
In fact, the pellet manufacturer JSB lists the .20 Heavy as 0.047 and the .30 Exact as 0.042, so…..
In fact, the pellet manufacturer JSB lists the .20 Heavy as 0.047 and the .30 Exact as 0.042, so…..
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I never shot a 20 cal , except of you count the sheriden when I was a teen I think it was called a blue streak >??? nice groups I like smaller bores my self LOU
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Yeah, I've been extolling the virtues of the .20 Heavy for a good while now, just finally worked up the courage to compete with them. Highest I've personally measured them at was 0.049 but also as low as 0.043. Atmospheric conditions I suppose.
Strange thing is that Peykan made it sound like he wasn't needing to hold outside the kill zone with the .30s but I was dang sure holding outside with my .20s. Sometimes a few inches worth Just another anecdotal example of the BC being a pretty good predictor of wind resistance and long range precision, but isn't perfect as it doesn't tell the entire story.
All that having been said, the .22/25.4gr MRDs get pushed less in the same wind.
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It is a blast to have em pile up Mike! But now I want to try 200 yards and beyond like you guys are doing with the slugs. This .30 Crown was converted into a high power .20 caliber by AZ, it was going to be shooting the heavies at about 970.
Allen said the Crown would produce plenty of power for the project and he was going to do one for himself as well.
But unfortunately the two LW barrels I ordered and had sent to him were imperfect and both of them were causing a small flutter in the pellet flight. They would only produce a 3/4 inch group at 60 yards, and that’s with Allen shooting. So we gave up on the idea of the hot .20 and Allen put a FX Superior .22 barrel on his Crown and sold it to someone, some lucky someone, because he said it was incredibly accurate. Since I had just ordered a RedWolf .22 HP, I decided to have him leave it as a .30, and he added a hammer weight that brought the power up to 78 fpe!
And while it hogs the air it is really accurate and a pleasure to shoot. Here’s my best yesterday at 100 yards. What I don’t understand is that I seem to be able to get good groups at 130 yards, but they don’t improve much, or at all at 100 yards! Maybe it means that I’ll shine at 300 yards lol! Don’t I wish!
Allen said the Crown would produce plenty of power for the project and he was going to do one for himself as well.
But unfortunately the two LW barrels I ordered and had sent to him were imperfect and both of them were causing a small flutter in the pellet flight. They would only produce a 3/4 inch group at 60 yards, and that’s with Allen shooting. So we gave up on the idea of the hot .20 and Allen put a FX Superior .22 barrel on his Crown and sold it to someone, some lucky someone, because he said it was incredibly accurate. Since I had just ordered a RedWolf .22 HP, I decided to have him leave it as a .30, and he added a hammer weight that brought the power up to 78 fpe!
And while it hogs the air it is really accurate and a pleasure to shoot. Here’s my best yesterday at 100 yards. What I don’t understand is that I seem to be able to get good groups at 130 yards, but they don’t improve much, or at all at 100 yards! Maybe it means that I’ll shine at 300 yards lol! Don’t I wish!
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Hey Dave, that's interesting that AZ had the trouble with the .20 LW barrels b/c xsultimate wanted Martin (RAW) to build him a high power .20 for the Heavies and Martin told xsultimate the same thing that AZ told you, current .20 LW barrels are less than stellar.
I've tried the .20 Heavies from 860-970 and best BC and accuracy was in the 910-915 range, so there's really only so much power to be had there, and still keeping the amazing accuracy. @930+ they started throwing a random flyer and the flyer incidence only went up as the speed did.
Just out of curiosity, how fast were you shooting the 13.73gr .20s in your groups above? I can't remember if I've tried to push them fast to see how they behave. I've shot a bunch of them around 800fps though(about 20fpe) and they're really good there, from my gun.
Love your back yard mountain range by the way.
I've tried the .20 Heavies from 860-970 and best BC and accuracy was in the 910-915 range, so there's really only so much power to be had there, and still keeping the amazing accuracy. @930+ they started throwing a random flyer and the flyer incidence only went up as the speed did.
Just out of curiosity, how fast were you shooting the 13.73gr .20s in your groups above? I can't remember if I've tried to push them fast to see how they behave. I've shot a bunch of them around 800fps though(about 20fpe) and they're really good there, from my gun.
Love your back yard mountain range by the way.
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Yeah the .22 MRDs and .25 Heavies have about the best BC and wind resistance of common pellets. I was surprised by the .20 Heavy. I only mentioned it because a reader that didn’t know better might think you “gave up something” by shooting a .20 cal and in reality you were pretty much right up there with everyone else shooting .22, .25 and.30. Both Tony and Barb shoot .25 Heavy Mk2 from their Crowns and have done great in Jan and Feb XFT matches. Bobby and Sandy were shooting .22 MRDs, and like you mentioned, Peykan a .30 plus Centerguy shot .30 in November. You were right up there in score at the top with them… I don’t think the .20 Heavy is at any disadvantage compared to the other higher BC pellets. The shooter probably had something to do with it also!
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Yeah the .22 MRDs and .25 Heavies have about the best BC and wind resistance of common pellets. I was surprised by the .20 Heavy. I only mentioned it because a reader that didn’t know better might think you “gave up something” by shooting a .20 cal and in reality you were pretty much right up there with everyone else shooting .22, .25 and.30. Both Tony and Barb shoot .25 Heavy Mk2 from their Crowns and have done great in Jan and Feb XFT matches. Bobby and Sandy were shooting .22 MRDs, and like you mentioned, Peykan a .30 plus Centerguy shot .30 in November. You were right up there in score at the top with them… I don’t think the .20 Heavy is at any disadvantage compared to the other higher BC pellets. The shooter probably had something to do with it also!
They only weigh 16 grains Mike, roughly a third the weight of the .30s. The .20 Heavies only have about 17.5fpe left by the time they get to 100 yards. I don't have any ballistic info in my apps for .30 but I can bet that the 44 grains .30s are still carrying a bit more oomph than that at 100 yards. Just looking at fpe, a 44grainer would only be doing 425fps to have 17.5fpe. Despite the good BC of the .20 Heavy, and considering the huge discrepancy in energy levels, I was shocked by the final scores this past Sat.
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Franklink, I’m shooting the 13.73 pellets at about 860, the heavies are very good but there’s definitely some flyers at that speed.
AZ said they would need more speed to stay stable, but my rapid likes the 13.73 so much I can’t bring myself to change the way Allen has it set up. I’m afraid that I’d not get it back if I tried tuning it for heavies lol! I don’t have the confidence for that, I got lost trying to adjust the ball bering trigger on my Steyr lg 110, and AZ walked me through it on the phone to get it back lol! I’m really lucky to have a shooting range even if it’s uphill! You often have to take a break while wildlife passes through.
AZ said they would need more speed to stay stable, but my rapid likes the 13.73 so much I can’t bring myself to change the way Allen has it set up. I’m afraid that I’d not get it back if I tried tuning it for heavies lol! I don’t have the confidence for that, I got lost trying to adjust the ball bering trigger on my Steyr lg 110, and AZ walked me through it on the phone to get it back lol! I’m really lucky to have a shooting range even if it’s uphill! You often have to take a break while wildlife passes through.
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It depends on if you're using slugs or pellets if you're using pellets than the 30cal would be better but if you're using slugs than the 20 cal would be better
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