The .20 Satan continues to
amaze me with its long range accuracy and lethality on crows despite
the inevitable throat erosion due to the high intensity loading.
Introduction
The .20 Satan continues to
amaze me with its long range accuracy and lethality on crows despite
the inevitable throat erosion due to the high intensity loading.
So the next step was to
slow things down a little and achieve the same or better down range
ballistics but achieve it with higher and heavier BC bullets, not
sheer speed. This would hopefully mean less barrel wear and so I
upgraded .20 Satan route by expanding the case to accept .224
bullets.
Originally I went the fast
twist heaviest bullets possible such as Sierras and Berger`s 90
grainers but having used the .22 Satan over the years I have also
found great results with lighter bullets for small deer use.
Case spec
I originally used the 6x47
Swiss Match (SM) brass for the .20 Satan and now the .22 Satan but
Lapua later produced their new 6.5x47 case which is not the same
dimensionally as the SM, the Lapua has a shorter neck but longer
body. However the Lapua does have a small rifle primer pocket whereas
the SM brass has a large primer pocket. Wishing to utilise both brass
types for testing I had Steve Bowers make me a forming die that would
form either brass type straight down to .22x47 Satan dimensions, this
only really involved a neck swage for the SM cases but a shoulder
bump and neck reduction for the Lapua brass. Having run through the
form die I trimmed to 1.8435 length which was 25 thou shorter than
the chamber dimensions of 1.8460 inch, a little short but safe. Water
capacity is then 46.5 grains for the SM case and 46.12 grains for the
Lapua brass, the Lapua brass is heavier and has slightly thicker
walls. After deburring inside and out with a Wilson deburrer the SM
brass was ready to take bullet heads, the Lapua still needed a slight
neck reduction to provide adequate neck tension. This was utilised
with a custom Wilson die that Steve made with the chamber reamer and
utilising differing neck bushes. To resize, the SM cases using a
0.250 neck bush and the Lapua a 0.252 bush to give adequate neck
tension and clearance with the neck chamber dimensions of 0.254
inches.
To fire form the brass. I
used a load of 34 grains RL19 under a 69 gr Hornady Match bullet that
I had plenty spare of all ignited with a Federal 210 large or 205
small rifle primer dependent on case used.
Gun spec
My test rifle, an RPA
Quadlite has a switch barrel system utilising a Ken Farrell barrel
vise from Sinclair’s and an RPA rear entry action wrench. This
system made changing barrels and thus testing new wildcat calibres a
chinch.
I wanted as long as
practical barrel length so settled on a Pac-Nor stainless match grade
28 inch tube overall with a 5/8 inch thread cut and 11 degree crown.
Rifling twist was a little more difficult, to stabilise 75 – 80
grain projectiles a 1 in 8 twist would be fine but bullets with the
90 grain weight are long bullets and 1 in 7 or 1 in 6.5 are better. I
stuck to 1 in 8 inch as I did not want pressure issues and crossed my
fingers.
I designed the case/reamer
on QuickLOAD
ballistics program and Dave Kiff from Pacific Tool and Gauge made the
reamer to have a short throat for a 75 grain grain A-Max bullet but
when the heavier 90 grain Sierras and Berger`s are loaded they would
not encroach too much into the powder case capacity and as the throat
wore I could chase it up the barrel!!!
Load up
Powder choice of RL 17, 19
and H4831SC would seem logical and Quick Load confirmed this also.
I started with the H4831SC
and RL19 powders and when a bullet choice with these powders was
established I would look see with a few alternative loads with the
faster RL17 for tasters.
| Powder |
Powder Weight
grains |
Bullet
Weight |
Velocity
fps |
Energy
Ft/lbs |
| H4831SC | 35.0 | 80gr A-Max | 2783 | 1376 |
| 36.0 | 2908 | 1502 | ||
| 37.0 | 2945 | 1541 | ||
| 37.5 | 3003 | 1602 | ||
| 39.0 | 3142 | 1754 | ||
40.0
|
3190 | 1808 | ||
| 41.0 | 3327 | 1967 | ||
41.5
|
3340 | 1902 | ||
| H4831SC | 36.0 | 90 gr Sierra Match king | 2870 | 1647 |
| 36.5 | 2924 | 1709 | ||
| 37.0 | 2957 | 1748 | ||
| 38.0 | 3037 | 1844 | ||
| 39.0 | 3055 | 1866 |
Finer Tickle up
| Powder | Powder Weight | Case | Bullet Weight |
Velocity
fps |
Energy ft/lbs |
100
Yard
Group |
| H4831SC | 40.5 | Swiss Match (SM) | 80gr Sierra Match King | 3370 | 2018 | 0.35 |
| Lapua | 3369 | 2017 | 0.55 | |||
| RL19 | 38.0 | SM | 80 gr Sierra M.King | 3346 | 1989 | 0.5 |
| 39.25 | SM | 3414 | 2071 | 0.45 | ||
36.75
Mild load |
SM | 3040 | 1642 | 0.35 | ||
| RL19 | 35.5 | SM | 90gr Sierra Match King | 3040 | 1847 | 0.25 |
| H4831SC | 36.5 | SM | 90gr Berger VLD | 3046 | 1855 | 0.25-0.35 |
Lighter Deer legal
bullets
| Powder | Powder weight | Bullet | Case | Velocity | Energy ft/lbs | Accuracy |
| H4831SC | 43.5gr |
60gr
Nosler Partition |
SM | 3618 | 1744 | 0.30 |
| 41.5gr |
75 gr Swift
Scirocco |
SM | 3336 | 1853 | 0.45 | |
| 42.0gr | Barnes 70gr TSX | Lapua | 3467 | 1868 | 0.55 | |
| RL19 | 42.0gr |
75 gr Swift
Scirocco |
SM | 3493 | 2032 | 0.40 |
| 42.5gr |
Sierra
65gr Game King |
SM | 3631 | 1903 | 0.35 | |
| RL17 | 42.0gr |
Hornady
60gr V-Max |
Lapua | 3785 | 1908 | 0.55 |
Field Results
The 80-grain A-Maxes and a
load of 40 grain H4831SC with a Federal 210 primer with a SM case and
an OAL of 2.5635 which shot consistent 0.35 100 yard groups at a
velocity of 3190fps. Switching to the 80 grain Sierra Match Kings
these preferred an OAL of 2.6045 with a 40.5 grain H4831SC powder
charge and yielded cloverleaf 0.35 or less groups.
I had two choices of 90
grain bullets, the VLD Berger`s and the venerable Sierra Match kings.
Both these bullets exhibit high BC values, the Berger`s at 0.517 and
the Sierras at 0.504.
Using a load 36.5 grains
of H4831SC, SM cases, Federal 210 Primers and an overall length of
2.6240, 90gr Berger the accuracy was good at 0.25-0.35 inches at 100
yards.
Because the Sierras are
easily available I switched to the RL19 powder, with a load of 35.5
grain RL19 SM cases and an OAL of 2.5850 I achieved really consistent
10 –12 fps variation in velocities at the 3040 fps level. Accuracy
was great 0.35-inch groups were the norm with the occasional bug
hole, no need to mess around with that load.
Out of interest as stated
earlier, I wanted to see the difference in using SM cases and
reformed Lapua brass and their differing primer sizes. The reality
was there was little detectable difference.
Likewise if you want to
make your life really easy and avoid a few forming steps as with the
Satan brass dimensions then Dave Kiff has reamers for the .22-47
Lapua version (Satan Mk2) which will only need a neck reduction and
all the data from the .22 Satan will be relevant. I have reamers for
both but elected to stay with the original Mark 1 Satan version.
If speed was your aim then
the 75-grain A-Maxes would not disappoint with velocities reaching
over 3400 fps and for those of you who want a game bullet then the
60-grain Partitions were a real surprise.
Those little Partitions
shot out of that 28 inch tube at over 3618fps and generated
1744ft/lbs energy, but best of all the accuracy from those flat base
bullets consistently shot one hole groups, superb.
Equally the 75 grain Swift
Scirocco bullets with either H4831SC or RL19 powder gave great
velocities and solid accuracy for deer sized game.
The Sierra 65 gr Game King
I have used a lot in .222 and .223 for deer legal Scottish Roe or
Muntjac and in the .22 Satan it shot very well, best powder was RL19
again a good powder with 3631 fps for 1903 ft/lbs with 42.5 grs of
this powder. Hornadie`s light weight zipper of a 60gr V-Max and
shot best with the fastest RL17 powder a charge of 42.0gr gave 3785
fps , a nice fox load this one.
Trajectory
With a zero of 0.5 inch
high at 100 yards the high BC 90 grain Sierras at 3045 fps only
dropped –2.1 at 200 yds, -9.4 at 300 yards, -22.2 at 400 yards,
-40.1 at 500 yards and –67.8 at 600 yards. At 500 yards you only
have 16.1 inches wind drift in a 10-mph wind, which is all very
usable and why the heavier .22 bullets were chosen, correcting for
elevation is straight forward, it’s the wind that gets you all the
time. Stretching things a bit further and at 1000 yards you have a
26.3 MOA adjustment and only 77 inch wind drift in a 10 mph wind.
Those Swift Sirocco 75 grainers shot very well and I would zero at
200 yards so at 100 yds you are +0.7 inch up and only -4.5 inch down
at 300 yards and -13.7 inches low at 400 yards. Which matches up
nicely with my older Swarovski TDS reticule scope.
Conclusion
I am pleased with the .22
Satan round, the 90-gr bullet travelling at 3050 fps has good
trajectory characteristics and hopefully good barrel life. The real
surprise were those 60 gr Nosler Partition bullets that shot the
tight groups and for deer use, where legal, the Swift Scirocco 75
grain bullets makes the .22 Satan a dual role vermin and deer calibre
where legal.
Whether the .22 Satan is
any better than a fast twist .22-250 is academic really, it is just
nice some times to own something a little different. Dave Kiff has
all the reamers for the Satan range and the newer versions on the
slightly longer 6.5x47 Lapua case, so if you want a very efficient no
nonsense long ranger varmint or small species deer round then give
him a call.
Tel JMS Arms 01444 400126 /
07771 962121
Quickload and QuickTARGET
