204 Ruger and the 40 gr Hornady

H

hounddawg

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Anyone loading these with Ramshot TAC ? I ordered a box today just to try out in my .204 which has 26 inch 1 - 11 twist barrel, non factory varmit profile. The gun loves 39 SBK's but I shoot a lot of 34 Dogtowns for practice. The price point of the Hornadys is about halfway between those 2. Not that .204 is a expensive round anyway.

So does anyone have pet loads for it with in RL 10x, TAC, Win 748, or Varget ? Out of those 4 so far my gun likes the RL10 best in 32, 34 and 39 grain

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Tagged for interest. Working on a 204 myself.
Click to expand...

it will probably be a couple of weeks before I start testing the 40 grainers. I am working on a .308 tactical build for 600 yards right now but here is what I had on DVD from when I was doing load workups for the .204 with the RL 10 a few years back. The TAC and Varget data disappeared when my laptop bit the big one. The gun is a Stevens 200 action rescued from a pawn shop then put in a Choate stock, added a Timney trigger and Criterion 26 inch SS 1 - 11 with a varmint taper. It shoots consistent .5 groups out to 200 and if it is a calm or on the rare day when my wind/mirage skill is working can go out to 300 and shoot sub MOA.

Currently the action and barrel are on a MDT LSS chassis and the .308 is in the Choate, I have not shot it since changing stocks

As usual the disclaimer to start with the powder manufacturers load data and the minimum charge.


http://imgur.com/a/qV3vj

sorry about the dupe images, this was my first time using this photo hosting service

Range report Jan 01 2013 60F 0 wind @ 100 yards

All Groups measured Center to Center rounded to nearest tenth

Target A all 39 Gr Sierra's

1) 3 fowlers
2) 23.7 RL10x 2.280 OAL 3650 FPS SD 29 FPS .5 group
2A) 23.7 RL10x 2.275 OAL 3650 FPS SD 17 FPS 3 shots .3 group
3) 23.7 RL10x 2.275 OAL 3650 FPS SD 15 FPS .5 group

Target B

1) 5 cold bore shot 39 Sierra 23.7 2.260 OAL
2) 39 gr 23.7 RL10x 2.260 OAL 3650 FPS SD26 FPS .7 group

cleaned rifle

4) 5 cold bore clean bore shot 39 Sierra .75 group

34 grain dogtowns seated to 2.00 OAL which is .35 off lands

5) 22.0 RL10x 2.00 OAL 3637 FPS SD 65 FPS .6 group
6) 22.5 RL10x 2.00 OAL 3721 FPS SD 18FPS 2 inch group with one a inch to the right and another 2 inches low
7) 22.7 RL10x 2.00 OAL 3735 FPS SD 22 FPS .5 group
9) 23.0 RL10x 2.00 OAL 3754 FPS SD 34 FPS .5 group 4 were in .2 range with one flyer


Target C

1) cold bore shot
2) 23.2 RL10x 2.00 OAL 3757 FPS SD 88 FPS .8 group
3) 23.4 RL10x 2.00 OAL 3764 FPS SD 94 FPS .9 group
4) 23.6 RL10x 2.00 OAL 3774 FPS SD22 FPS .7 group
5) 23.8 RL10X 2.00 OAL 3842 FPS SD85 FPS 1.0 group
6) 24.0 RL10x 2.00 OAL 3875 FPS SD 22 FPS .3 group
7) 24.2 RL10z 2.00 OAL 3878 FPS SD 22 FPS .8 FPS


bolt seemed sticky around 23.6 and up but no pressure signs on primers. All primers were CCI 450 small rifle magnums. Gun seems to like jump of .35 off lands
 
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I have a friend that shoots the 40 Vmax. I'm pretty sure his life goal is to kill as many coyotes as he can before he dies. He travels from one end of the country to the other to enter tourneys. I'm not sure what powders he's using but I think he had varget out last time I was visiting. I watched him shoot about an inch at 300 yards with them though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yesterday I finally got around to doing a rough workup on these. Not the best of conditions but considering this is a training rifle for my F class shooting for me that is OK. I will probably be switching to this bullet and doing a fine tuning on the load weight as soon as I shoot up my supply of 39 grain Sierras. At that time I will also get some chrony data

Wind was from behind at appx 5 - 10 mph quartering from right to left, at times coming from 6 o'clock to around 3 o'clock. All shooting was 100 yards from prone with a bipod and no rear bag. Normally I would shoot load workups off a bench with a front rest with a rear bag but this stock does not play well with front rests so I decided to shoot it just as I would my .308 in a match.

I used the 10th Hornady handbook for my load weights which has a low of 23.2 and a high of 25.8 grains for TAC. As I said this is a rough workup just to find nodes. I found 2. One about 24.4 to 24.6 the other at 25.0 to 25.5 . I think the horizontal stringing and flyers can be blamed more on my wind skills and shooting techniques than the bullet/load.

here is a pic of my range log with a photo of the 3rd target. Measurements are not center to center and just measured with a small ruler. As I said this is just a rough workup and overall I am happy since this barrel did not care for TAC with 32 and 39 SMK's or the 34 grain dogtowns. I am confident that with a proper workup I could get down to the .25 range shooting from a rest. Not bad for a bullet I can get for about 15 cents per

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1...8y5rHVjwYMsO-Cxqdo1IosaPRj92ij7w=w612-h792-no
 
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I thank the good Lord for you guys who load for the .204...the brass is about the only way to continue feeding a .222 Magnum...easy too...lube it up, run it through a .222 Magnum sizer, check the new shoulder conforms to head space requirements and you're good to go. Thanks guys....you've kept this old Sako in the game for another 25 years!...Rod BTW, that's a 220 yard target shot off my porch rail...

 
That .222 takes me back, my Uncle Bill put many a groundhog to rest with his . Mauser action , re barreled and fit into a beautiful walnut monte carlo stock. I still remember the day he let me shoot it, it was the first 'high power" rifle I ever shot and the first gun ever with a scope. I would bet a fair sum his great grand kids are still killing varmints with that gun

Beautiful gun BTW and a nice group
 
Thanks, Hound, for the compliment...I'd have liked to meet your Uncle Bill...sounds like a kindred spirit.

Got my start on 'chucks in W. NY., marching along the dairy farm lanes with .222 and some early Sierra bullets...got $.50 a tail for them and the farmers would offer to buy me bullets to keep their herds out of the holes in the pastures.

BTW, keep loading for that .204, I'd hate to run out of the easily usable brass and your business keeps 'em making it! Best Regards, Rod
 
don't think you want any of my old stuff. I reluctantly threw about 25 Rem 260's in the trash today because the primer cups were leaking.

Still wondering if the cost will be worth finding a load for these Hornady's or not. Used to say if it works don't mess with it. I get decent sub MOA 5 shot groups at 200 using the 39's and RL 10.

BTW my son in law is going back to upper western NY in about 6 years when he gets out of the service. I will re barrel the 204 with a 24 inch Varmint taper by that time. The bull barrel is not field friendly :) Might even make it a triple deuce just for the heck of it. I am not much of a hunter these days , but he could have some fun with it
 
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