Why is the .20 popular for those in the know?

[rcarlisle]

I have only shot other people's .20 cals, never having one myself, and I think it is about the best airgun caliber you can really have. Not something you find out in the wild on too many PCP airguns, but I have it in my mind that my next airgun WILL be a .20 cal. Probably something vintage, but I am hoping rumors of a Theoben reboot might provide the right amount of motivation for another purchase.

 

[Treefrog]

I think that at the time that RB was promoting the .20 it did occupy a sweet spot in between the .177 and the .22. It was an era when virtually all of the high end guns were spring or gas ram powered and the power levels of those were a few foot pounds less than they are today. In the 12-24 fpe range it probably is the best all around caliber.

It was RB that pushed me over the edge on the .20. Then Crosman came out with the cardboard box Premier pellets in 5mm and that sealed the deal. I found it ironic that none of my rifles preferred Beeman pellets. The Premiers were alway much more accurate.

I've always considered the .20 to be a good compromise. Much like the .40 is between the 9mm and .45.

J~

 

[WoodWelder]

When one has a .177 or .22 or .25 or .30 in just about every type of fine rifle imaginable there is no logical reason not to procure at least one .20 in a special unregulated non-electronic rifle, with the Harper patent valve and traditional chrome bolt action with fine walnut and steel like the Daystate Huntsman Regal. Matches up hand in glove with my Cooper .204 Ruger Prairie Dog getter.

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Beautiful rifle!
I want! LOL

 

[luckybuckeye]

I’m not trying to open a can of worms but my Weihrauch hw50 .22 only likes one lead pellet. I would love to have 4 lead pellets to choose from like the .20

 

[boscoebrea]

Yes, we are promoting the .20. Mr.Beeman was the first and I still have the Beeman catalog in which he wrote the article.
What I wish is that the air gun manufacturers would produce more air guns in that caliber.
I know that HW did a run of the HW50 on the.20, I think that there had to be a certain number of people that had to guarantee to buy before HW would make them,I think it was 50?
Again as far as pellet choice,it is like this, you do not need a lot of choices, it is not that picky, and as far as not being able to find .20 pellets.
Great quote," Seek and you shall find".
So thanks for your opinions and hopefully we can get more choices of that caliber.

 

[Sawney Bean]

It was RB that pushed me over the edge on the .20. Then Crosman came out with the cardboard box Premier pellets in 5mm and that sealed the deal. I found it ironic that none of my rifles preferred Beeman pellets. The Premiers were alway much more accurate.

I've always considered the .20 to be a good compromise. Much like the .40 is between the 9mm and .45.

J~

That’s exactly how I see it too. There’s nothing inherently better or worse about it other than price, availability and pellet choice unless you set the parameters such that you make it either better or worse. In a gun designed to shoot at 6 fpe it would be at a disadvantage to the .177 and in a gun designed to shoot at 100 fpe it would be at a disadvantage to the larger calibers. Shooting at 20 fpe the .20 is pretty darn ideal.

 

[dv8eod]

The most to the point answer I can come up with, "for those of us in the know" is, we bothered to actually go out and find or build our .20s to see if all of the statements spread around were bullpoop or not. That is how we got to be "in the know," so to speak.
Apparently, we discovered we like the performance of the caliber, the fact we can spend more time shooting and less time "testing," the older guns were built like tanks, and the few new guns made bring higher pressures to find the sweet spot quicker.
We have also discovered 80% of the statements made about the caliber are worthless. It's been demonstrated hands-on that they are accurate with pellets as far as we would normally be and for some shooters, slugs at 100yds+. Pellets aren't as hard to find as they like to let on. Most are just too lazy to put in the effort to look. Even worse, they just parrot whatever they've read as that takes no effort at all.
The complaint of no new guns being made, I actually agree with to a certain extent. The last few that I have seen were never offered here in the states, I'm looking at you HW. I really wanted the HW110, but AOA said they weren't getting them, so I went with Edgun and have been quite happy since.
The alternative of just rebarreling a gun is now more accessible thanks to 3D printers and hobby machines. Another plus is most replacements are made by LW, bringing the odds of getting a bad one down significantly.

 

[SteveP-52]

Beautiful rifle!
I want! LOL

Lots want, especially one in .20, but good luck finding one, then convincing the owner to actually sell it to you...lol.
If I could have one PCP in .20, the Huntsman Regal would be it. Just a huge shame Daystate stopped making them.
Pellets in .20? Granted it hinges on them being in stock but:
-Trenier Airguns for both weights of JSB
-PA has both kinds made by both H&N and JSB
-Utah Airguns has the JSB 13.73's and H&N Baracudas
-AoA H&N, JSB and the rebranded versions from Daystate and Weihrauch
There are others, just takes a little surfing to find the online retailers that sell them.
Would also be nice if the people at JTS actually listened to members of forums and added .20 cal and maybe even .25 to their springer lines. They want to say that new break barrel compares to an HW95/R9 for a lot less?? Back that up and make them in .20 along with some new pellets in the caliber.
Maybe if a few other companies saw they go for it to offer a new rifle or 2 in the caliber, they might decide they better to compete themselves.,

 

[Hw9720]

It's like Key Lime pie either you like it or you don't and I love all 3 of my slices, I mean .20's.

tim

 

[Motorhead]

Lots want, especially one in .20, but good luck finding one, then convincing the owner to actually sell it to you...lol.
If I could have one PCP in .20, the Huntsman Regal would be it. Just a huge shame Daystate stopped making them.
Pellets in .20? Granted it hinges on them being in stock but:
-Trenier Airguns for both weights of JSB
-PA has both kinds made by both H&N and JSB
-Utah Airguns has the JSB 13.73's and H&N Baracudas
-AoA H&N, JSB and the rebranded versions from Daystate and Weihrauch
There are others, just takes a little surfing to find the online retailers that sell them.
Would also be nice if the people at JTS actually listened to members of forums and added .20 cal and maybe even .25 to their springer lines. They want to say that new break barrel compares to an HW95/R9 for a lot less?? Back that up and make them in .20 along with some new pellets in the caliber.
Maybe if a few other companies saw they go for it to offer a new rifle or 2 in the caliber, they might decide they better to compete themselves.,

The two rifles & one pistol that get frequently shot ALL HAVE been rebarreled to the .20 calber. Only PCP owned that came in .20 from factory is the Edgun Leyla. The only high power .20 is a rebarreled Daystate AirWolf using a heliboard that will go from @ 6 fpe on low to @ 32fpe on high.

Only found need for 3 pellets for .20 cal uses .... The JSB 13.73 mostly, the 15.9's on occasion, with the rest being the H&N 11.4 FTT.
While I have H&N Barracuda and boxes of vintage Crosman 14.3 .... these just sit in storage for some other time & place.

 

[delooper]

This is the first time I've heard the word "popular" with ".20 cal" in a sentence without a negation in it.

I didn't know .20 cal existed until last year.

 

[Franklink]

The two rifles & one pistol that get frequently shot ALL HAVE been rebarreled to the .20 calber. Only PCP owned that came in .20 from factory is the Edgun Leyla. The only high power .20 is a rebarreled Daystate AirWolf using a heliboard that will go from @ 6 fpe on low to @ 32fpe on high.

Only found need for 3 pellets for .20 cal uses .... The JSB 13.73 mostly, the 15.9's on occasion, with the rest being the H&N 11.4 FTT.
While I have H&N Barracuda and boxes of vintage Crosman 14.3 .... these just sit in storage for some other time & place.

My two are also rebarreled into .20 from other calibers.

 

[JimD]

I think some of the attractiveness of the 20s is the exclusivity. They are more rare (my only one is an old blue streak). I also think some of the attractiveness is the 20 fpe limit of U. S. hunter field target. 20fpe is a little high to be comfortably reached with a 177 unless yours happens to like 13+ grain pellets. With 10 grain you would be over 900 fps. Not usually recommended for optimal accuracy. 20 fpe is low for a 22 so the trajectory will be worse. Probably have to be under 800 fps unless your gun really likes a 22 pellet on the light end. But at least with the lighter 20 caliber pellets (i.e. 13+ grains) you can push them a little over 800 fps and be below the fpe limit. Reasonable trajectory and safe from instability even if it gets windy. If the limit was lower it would shift things towards the 177 and a higher limit would shift things to the 22. But a 20 fpe limit seems pretty optimal for a 20 caliber.

 

[bucketboy]

Robert Beeman was a huge proponent of the diameter and thought it was the best ballistically in airguns, back when I started reading and learning about "good" airguns in the late '70s. I don't know or remember if he was just talking about in his, and Theoben's, new (at the time) gas ram guns, or others as well. I do know that in the years since, there has always been a group of people in the know, about how good it is, that have kept it going. It's puzzling that it never gained more traction. With forums like this one, and the internet, maybe now is its time to rise.

Talking of Theoben, the factory was fairly local to me and I used to visit regularly, I got a phone call one morning and was informed that they were about to release a .20. I jumped onto my motorcycle and raced over to Theoben factory to pick one up, it might not be the first made but I was told it’s the first they sold., still going strong nearly 30 years later

 

[boscoebrea]

When you re-barreled your air rifles to .20, are there different types of barrels to use, in other words, say you are using the Lother barrels can you pick different twists or poly barrels, also would it be better to use an LW barrel or try getting a factory barrel? I think I will try to look that up, nonetheless Thank you all for so much great information and opinions.

 

[Franklink]

When you re-barreled your air rifles to .20, are there different types of barrels to use, in other words, say you are using the Lother barrels can you pick different twists or poly barrels, also would it be better to use an LW barrel or try getting a factory barrel? I think I will try to look that up, nonetheless Thank you all for so much great information and opinions.

Last time I was on Lothar's website, they only offered the .20 as their standard twist rate and standard 12 land and groove rifling (no polygonal). And I believe there was only choked, no choke-free option.

Neither of my two .20s were ever offered as a factory option, so a machined barrel was the only way to get there.

 

[RM100GUY]

As JimD said...The exclusively...Just something a little different and a little (a lot these days) harder to find and aquire. I can't say enough about my Huntsman Regal .20...It's the whole package, Absolutely beautiful stock...as new condition and as accurate as I am any given day...I have mine "idled down" to 19fpe around 800fps and blows away .177's in any kind of wind...note the groups shot on same da

y with a nasty L to R breeze. Started the shoot with a full fill 250b and a clean barrel...benched at 30yards, shot 30 pellets (13.73s) first group than immediately shot 20 more for second group...I was astonished how well the .20 held firm in the wind...compair the .177 Huntsman group for comparison. I shoot a LOT of groups with lot of different air guns but I remember this one. I did a post some months ago laminating the fact these .20 Huntsmans are "extinct"...I regret not ponying up for one of the commemorative Genus Huntsmans that came in .20 cal....Not much out there that I would trade for my Huntsman Regal .20...Maybe a Theoben SLR88 sporter in comparable condition...yeah right...lol.

 

[SteveP-52]

For those saying .20 pellets are hard to find, took maybe 5 minutes to find these and of all places, Hatsan USA, who also has a 20% discount currently in effect for H&N pellets. The code is HN20.

HatsanUSAH&N Field Target Trophy

Extremely accurate pellet for long ranges. Aerodynamic design for high impact and penetration. Tightest shot groups. Lowest rate of lead fouling and consistent shot spreads thanks to special alloy …

hatsanairgunsusa.com

Actually just ordered 4 tins of the .20 cal FTT's and 4 tins of the Baracuda 15's.
Shipping was free and an added bonus

 

[JimD]

That Huntsman is a beautiful gun that shoots as good as it looks!

 

[RM100GUY]

That Huntsman is a beautiful gun that shoots as good as it looks!

That was a "bad" day...you ought to see it on a good day! It is a special one...Thanks!