Forming 20 Practical Brass

IAyoteHNTR

New member
Who's got a 20 Practical and how are you personally forming your brass? I just ordered a new 20 Practical upper from R Johnson and wanted to get a head start on forming brass for it. I think I want to form at least 250-300 pcs for it to start with while I have the time during lay-off from work.

I went on the suggestions from a couple different sites/forums and just ordered a set of Redding type "S" dies with the competition seater die and ordered an extra .204 decapping rod Redding Decapping Rod #1031 - Midway so I'm assuming I can just unscrew the decapping pin off of the .223 die and use it on this .204 decapping rod in it's place in the .223 die? I also got .233 and .225 titanium nitride bushings to be able to step down the brass in 2 stages for forming and wondered if someone out there is doing the exact same thing and wondered how it's turning out for you? According to what I've found on the net I can just use the .223 competition seater die to seat with.

Thanks.

Trevor
 
I am not doing this....yet. But that seems exactly how I planned to do it.

After you get a loaded round built, you should be able fine tune the neck tension. The consensus is .002 of neck tension. Measure a loaded round, bush to .002 less than that.

I'm fairly certain the 223 seating stem will need to be swapped. Not for sure, though.

 
I dont load for .20 Prac but do load for 17-204 and 20-250 I do the exact same thing and also use the 204 and 22-250 seating die
 
Last edited:
You should be good to go however, it doesnt look like the decapping rod you ordered is the type s version. Redding told m the threads are different on the s dies.
 
No need to swap out the seating stem. But I agree with midwest you need to call redding because I did the same as you and ordered that stem that you ordered trevor and it will not work for the S dies. I had to order the decaping rod from sinclair. The redding #14206 is good to go. Give some benchmark and 26gr barnes a try for pd's and 35gr bergers for yotes. Both are great.
 
Last edited:
You might also need a .228 bushing depending on what brass you are using. I had some lc brass that if I didn't run them through the 228 bushing I would get a doughnut right at the bottom of the neck and they would not chamber in my ar.
 
Originally Posted By: midwestpredatorYou should be good to go however, it doesnt look like the decapping rod you ordered is the type s version. Redding told m the threads are different on the s dies.
^^This is true, I failed to mention it on the other forum.
 
Ok, thanks for the help guys. I see a couple of you are on the other forums as well. I put the question out there on the other sites as well to try and get all the responses I could and I truly appreciate your guys help a bunch.
thumbup1.gif
 
Originally Posted By: FurhunterYou will be able to go from 22 cal to 20 cal in one step without any problems.

I hope that's the way it works out but just in case I wanted to be able to try it in 2 steps just in case I had issues with trying it in just one step. I've noticed different brass acts in different ways and I might have issues with one type but not another, I guess I'll know in time.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: midwestpredatorYou should be good to go however, it doesnt look like the decapping rod you ordered is the type s version. Redding told m the threads are different on the s dies.

I called Redding this morning and yes, I ordered the wrong decapping rod. I needed Redding #14206 and Sinclair had them in stock so I have one on the way now. Not sure it's even worth my time trying to return the other one. Maybe I'll see if someone needs a spare decapping rod for their 17 or 20 cal Redding dies I guess. It was only $11.79 so I'm not out enough to worry about.
tongue.gif
 
Originally Posted By: IAyoteHNTROriginally Posted By: midwestpredatorYou should be good to go however, it doesnt look like the decapping rod you ordered is the type s version. Redding told m the threads are different on the s dies.

I called Redding this morning and yes, I ordered the wrong decapping rod. I needed Redding #14206 and Sinclair had them in stock so I have one on the way now. Not sure it's even worth my time trying to return the other one. Maybe I'll see if someone needs a spare decapping rod for their 17 or 20 cal Redding dies I guess. It was only $11.79 so I'm not out enough to worry about.
tongue.gif


Send it back with that extra mid step bushing your not going to need!

Get your money back so you can spend it on bullets.
 
Originally Posted By: FurhunterOriginally Posted By: IAyoteHNTROriginally Posted By: midwestpredatorYou should be good to go however, it doesnt look like the decapping rod you ordered is the type s version. Redding told m the threads are different on the s dies.

I called Redding this morning and yes, I ordered the wrong decapping rod. I needed Redding #14206 and Sinclair had them in stock so I have one on the way now. Not sure it's even worth my time trying to return the other one. Maybe I'll see if someone needs a spare decapping rod for their 17 or 20 cal Redding dies I guess. It was only $11.79 so I'm not out enough to worry about.
tongue.gif


Send it back with that extra mid step bushing your not going to need!

Get your money back so you can spend it on bullets.


+1. If you do end up needing an intermediate step, try taking a standard 223 die and remove the expander and size the neck down that way first, then move to your final bushing. Ive done this to make my initial 20pcs of 17-223 brass and it works great.
 
.224 bullet to a .204 bullet.. The difference is only .020 so your only going to be moving the neck in by about the thickness of it, less actually if you want to split hairs but you get the idea.
 
I'll experiment with it. I have regular Series A Redding .223 dies right now. I have the .226 TiN Bushing on back order from Midway right now. I'm sure I'll figure out what will work best. I might screw up a couple cases but I'll have fun doing it.
thumbup.gif
 
Back
Top