Wow 204 Ruger!

[trg42wraglefragle]

The other day at work I was so incredibly busy that I was looking at what would be a good load for my 223, I was quite intrigued by the 40gr bullets you can get.
I thought that they must be almost as good as a 204 Ruger with 40gr bullets, boy was I wrong.
The 40gr had such a flat trajectory, but what I couldn't get over was the wind bucking, it had better wind bucking than even the Hornady 75gr 223 projectiles out to 750yards!

And the Berger 55gr bullets were just astounding!
By much calculations at 800yrds the 75gr 223 has 70.98 inches of wind drift with a 10mph wind and the 55gr 204 has 57.83!
And both with a 300yards zero, the 223 has 176.46 inches of drop at 800yards and the 204 has 122.8!

Why are they so much better than 223? Apart from hitting power?
It seems the 20cal rounds have a much higher BC in comparison to bullet weight.

How many people here think 204 Ruger is the bees knees?
I was thinking of getting a heavy barreled 223 for small varmint (we don;t have any yote or anything in my country) but now Im having second thoughts to the 204 Ruger.

Anyone own both and can confirm or dismiss what im working out?

 

[Dave R]

It seems the 20cal rounds have a much higher BC in comparison to bullet weight.

And there's your answer. And it has higher velocity for the same weight bullet, no?

 

[Art Eatman]

As well as BC, the .204 starts out much faster. No doubt they're excellent varmint cartridges.

However, if your shots are mostly inside of 300 yards, a .223 will do just as good a job. Last I saw, a dead critter would not have been even more dead from some other cartridge.

 

[kraigwy]

I have both. The problem I had with the Ruger 204 was that it took me a while to realize how flat it shoots. I would over shoot PDs. Couldn't figure it out. It's a lot flatter shooting then the Ballistic tables indicate. When I stopped trying to hold over and just aimed and shot I found the true value of this little sucker.

I don't know why people seem to think its not heavy enough for coyotes. I use the little 32 grn bullet and have shot several coyotes and never failed to kill them dead, (except if I missed because I over shot them).

That's not to say I'm giving up my 223s. I use the 223 to 250-300 and the 204 for past 300.

If I got to drive out to my PD Range, I'm taking more then one gun.

 

[taylorce1]

Why are they so much better than 223? Apart from hitting power?
It seems the 20cal rounds have a much higher BC in comparison to bullet weight.

It is pretty simple really. To get the same weight bullet say 40 grains you have to make the .204 bullet longer than the .223's. This is how you get a higher BC for similar bullet weights. So if a .204's 55 grain bullet has the same BC as a .223's 75 grain bullet, then speed is going to win out all the time. The .204 will be able to launch a bullet that weighs 30 grains less at a higher velocity giving it a much flatter trajectory. There is nothing too amazing about the whole thing.

Just realize that most factory twist barrels in the .204 probably will not stabalize the heavy bullets. I have a .204 that will not shoot 40 grain V-Max bullets, but drop down to the 32 grain and it is awesome. I see both cartridges as having a purpose, and will not be giving one up for the other anytime soon.

And it has higher velocity for the same weight bullet, no?

Not according to Federal, the 39 grain .204 bullet only has 50 fps on the .223 in 40 grains, 3750 vs. 3700. Usually the bullet of the same weight with a larger diameter will get down the barrel quicker. The reason for this is that the bullet of the larger diameter has less surface in contact with the barrel. The reason the .204 wins out still is that it has a very slight case capacity advantage over the .223 and burns just a little bit more powder.