Making 20 Tac Brass

The 20 Tactical was developed by Todd Kindler of the Woodchuck Den as a long range varmint cartridge. The fact that the case is derived from the .223 Rem is what attracted me to this cartridge. The 20 Tac design utilizes a 30 degree shoulder and somewhat less body taper than the .223. Empty .223 brass is probably as common as empty 22 long rifle and modifying this case to 20 Tac couldn't be easier.

I started by acquiring a set of 20 Tactical dies to begin the process of necking down 223 cases to .204. I found 2 brands available, Hornady New Dimension and Redding. I chose the Hornady because the sizer button on the full length sizing die is an elliptical design that appears to be easier on the neck of the brass when it's withdrawn from the case. I find these neck sizing buttons to be the genesis of lot of neck alignment problems. When this button is retracted from the case neck, if the inside of the neck is not clean and well lubed, the neck can be distorted because it is not supported at all when the button is pulled back through.

The photo above shows some sized cases with an unsized .223 case front and center.


I began by applying lube to a neck brush and lubing the inside of the case necks being careful not to get any lube on the outside of the neck or shoulder as this will cause lube dents on the shoulder of the case. I also applied a smear of lube on the bottom 3rd of the case body. The lube I use is a wire pulling lube that is available in most home supply stores. It is an inexpensive($5/qt.), paraffin based lube that drys to a white powder which is easily removed.


I worked in 100 case batches. After the cases had been deprimed and necked down, I uniformed the primer pockets using a Possum Hollow primer pocket uniformer tool. The next step was to clean the cases to like new condition. For this, I use a ultrasonic cleaner with a solution made using the "clean and shiny" recipe found in an article at 6mmBR.com. Following the directions in this article I ended up with brass that was immaculately clean.  I then tumbled the brass.  Now the brass was ready for the next step in the process which is to anneal the case necks.

                                                        Clean cases ready to be annealed.

Most handloaders view annealing as a "black art". While I agree the notion of annealing sometimes expensive brass can be intimidating, the benefits of annealing are almost instantly apparent in accuracy and case life.
Annealing the case necks is a necessary step in forming new cases as it will help the case fireform completely on the first firing in your chamber. Periodic annealing thereafter should be a part of your brass management regime to keep the necks of your brass from work hardening during the firing/sizing cycle and to insure that your brass maintains a consistent neck tension on the bullet.


As stated earlier, I begin the process with sized, clean, brass. The method I use is an electric screwdriver and a 10mm deep walled socket for 223 size cases and a 12mm deep walled socket for .473" size cases. The sockets are used as a heat sink to keep the heat from migrating to the web of the brass case. I adjust the flame of my propane torch to produce a 1" inner blue cone and spin my cases about 1/4" away from this inner blue cone. I am careful to orient the brass slightly upward and towards the flame focusing only on the neck of the case. After spinning the case for approx. 8 sec. the color of the neck will begin to exhibit a very dull red glow. This is an indication that the case has been annealed. At this point, I just invert the end of the screwdriver to drop the case in an old coffee can and the process starts again with another case. While this process sounds tedious, it goes surprisingly fast and the benefits are immeasurable.

                                                         Annealed cases, ready to load.

Now the cases are ready for load work up and final fireforming.  After fireforming the loads will begin to show their full potential.

New Cooper M21 20 Tactical

The genesis of this rifle began in July 2007 in a hotel room in Hamilton, MT. My son John Jr. and I had traveled to Montana to participate in the annual Cooper One Shot competition. At this shoot he and I were would be competing with a pair of Cooper rifles, I with a M22 in 6mmBR and Jr. with a M21 223 Ackley Improved.We happened to be visiting with friends and fellow competitors Paul Cooper, his son Max, Jerry Russell(Sundog Firearms, and LeRoy and Connie Barry(Canyon Creek Custom Gunstocks). At the time, the wait for a custom rifle from Cooper was anywhere from 12 to 18 months. LeRoy said that if I wanted a Cooper rifle, that he could provide one in a fraction of that time with all of the options I wanted. I knew that LeRoy did great riflestocks but I didn't know he was set up to do the gunsmithing work that I had envisioned for my next rifle.
Fast forward to the 2009 Cooper One Shot competition. My youngest son Dan and I competed. All of a sudden, I could see I was going to need another rifle for any upcoming events when both of my sons would attend. It was at this shoot that LeRoy and I began seriously talking about a new rifle and how it would be configured.
The first step was to acquire a rifle. This would be easy except for deciding what chambering. I found a M21 Varminter with a grey laminate stock with a 26" barrel in 20 Tactical at First Stop Guns. That was easy. I received the rifle in mid November. I would be able to play with the rifle until January when I would have to ship it off to Canyon Creek to be make over. The first step would be to acquire some brass and begin working up some loads.
The 20 Tactical cartridge or "TACT20" was developed by Todd Kindler who has pioneered a number of 20 caliber cartridges over the years The cartridge itself is a .223 Rem. case necked down to 20 caliber with a 30 degree shoulder with slightly less body taper than the .223. Because of Todd's urging and the popularity of the 20 calibers, a number of manufacturers are offering quality bullets in this caliber.The first thing I needed to do was form some brass so I could begin working up a load. I bought a set of Hornady New Dimension dies in 20 Tactical and began necking down some .223 brass I had on hand. I especially liked using the Hornady sizing die to neck down these cases to .204. These dies have an elliptical sizing button that is as easy on the necks coming out as going in. I used DB wire pulling lubricant to lube my cases, being careful to only lube the inside of the case necks and the case body just above the web. You can see what a good job was done on these case necks.





As one would expect, while fireforming brass, accuracy was sporadic. Groups were inside an inch at 100 yards but the true test of this rifle's potential would be with fully formed brass.
Time was getting short as the rifle was due to be shipped to LeRoy in Montana in January.
The bullet I selected to start development on the load would be Hornady's 32 gr. Vmax .204. The powders would vary but the one powder I was keying on was Alliant Reloder 10X. Preliminary loads were giving me velocities in the 4100 fps range. Accuracy was outstanding as you can see by the last target I shot before the rifle was boxed up and sent to Montana.

This story will continue when I get the rifle back from Montana with a complete facelift. With the help of LeRoy and Connie I will be able to show the the work they did to make my rifle extraordinary. The motto at Canyon Creek is "Life is too short to own an ugly rifle". This rifle will surely live up to that motto, I'm sure of it.