Building a New Gun in 20 VarTarg

I’ve been hunting nearly exclusively with long barreled handguns chambered in rifle cartridges for many years. Those using such guns frequently refer to them as “specialty pistols.” I also like to go on prairie dog hunts. For a number of years my main prairie dog hunting handguns were the 22 BR and the 6 BR. Last year I added the 22 Nosler. A drawback of specialty pistols is muzzle blast as they use a lot of powder for relatively short barrels (most of mine are 14-16 inches long). I usually shoot >100 rounds/day on a pd hunt. During a day’s hunt, the muzzle blast adds up on both myself and other hunters. Since the 22 Nosler barrel is threaded, I started thinking of getting a suppressor. In addition, I also started thinking of a barrel using less powder so it would be more quiet. I settled on the 20 VarTarg. The VarTarg was developed to use on varmints and targets and uses a 20 caliber in 221 Remington Fireball brass. The 221 Fireball is the parent brass for the 300 Blackout. The VarTarg is a very efficient cartridge. Despite using much less powder, in a rifle the VarTarg it attains velocities within 200-300 fps of the 204 Hornady.

The project started with the action. I settled on an action I’ve never used, the Howa Model 1500 Mini-Action. The Mini-Action is a bolt action and is downsized for smaller rounds like the 223 Remington, 6.5 Grendel and 300 Blackout. It uses 5 or 10 round magazines. Since I wouldn’t need a rifle stock, I ordered a barreled action in 223 Remington from Brownell's. The wait was three months. I ordered a “Elf Owl” stock painted in Cerakote Coyote Tan from JTAC Industries to be my “handgun” stock. The “Elf Owl” is a metal, chassis type stock. It can also be fitted with a butt stock for use as a rifle. The wait was 2 ½ months. My plan was to remove the factory barrel and install a custom barrel using a barrel nut to set the headspace like used on Savage rifles. This system is referred to as a “Howage” barrel. McGowen Precision Barrels is one of the few who offers “Howage” barrels, so I bought a barrel and barrel nut from them. I previously built a 221 Fireball from a Stevens Model 200 rifle using a McGowen barrel and have been very pleased. The stainless steel barrel is 16” long and 0.8” wide at the threaded muzzle. The wait was two and one half months. The biggest impediment was getting the factory barrel off. I’d read on the internet that Howa barrels were frequently very difficult to remove and that happened to me. Luckily, I found a local gunsmith, Moody Custom Arms, who was up to the task. After offering to pay him with 1000 small rifle primers (so he could make some loads for his new 300 Blackout), he removed it in only one day. I rented the “Go” and “No Gauges” from 4D Reamer Rentals. Installation of the barrel went well. I moved a Burris 3-12X handgun scope from one of my other specialty pistols. I ran out of elevation adjustment so I had to buy a pair of Burris offset ring inserts in order to zero the gun.

After I had necked down the Lapua 221 Fireball brass to 20 caliber, I started on load development. I’ve been impressed with Hodgdon CFE BLK powder in my 221 Fireball so I used it with 26 gr Barnes Varmint Grenade and 32 gr Varmageddon plastic tipped bullets. I used LE Wilson hand die for bullet seating. This is the first time I’ve used Wilson dies and I’m impressed with them. I’m very happy to say I quickly found very accurate loads both bullets. It looks like it’s going to shoot average ½” groups at 100 yards when I do my part. I’ve not chronographed the loads yet, but I hope to get 3600 fps with the Barnes bullet and 3400 fps with the 32 gr bullet and The gun has no muzzle rise, minimal backwards recoil and a very mild report. I’m really looking forward to hunting with the gun on this year’s first pd hunt in a month. I also ordered a Silencerco 30 caliber “Harvester” suppressor the first week of November, but it hasn’t arrived yet. Hopefully I’ll get to use it this year on a pd hunt.

The factory barrel is finally off. The gunsmith gave me the pictured vice from his metal “junk” pile as it’s not good for removing factory barrels.


A nice day shooting.


Load development with Varmageddon bullet.


Load development with Barnes Varmint Grenade bullet.