Gube: I TOTALLY agree with you!
I have been so amazed and have become so enthralled and impressed with the 204 Ruger and its outstanding performance and wonderful qualities that I now have and shoot 4 of them!

Stormbringer: I have 4 Varminters in caliber 204 Ruger and I know MANY shooters who have them (one of my friends has 6 of them now!) and none of them have mentioned any "rapid" barrel wear or sudden and "to soon" losses in accuracy.
Indeed one of the MANY reasons I adore the 204 Ruger cartridge is because in relation to its speed, performance and outstanding trajectory vs. barrel heating - this cartridge produces the least barrel heat of ANY comparable "traditional" caliber (22-250, 220 Swift, 240 Weatherby etc etc etc!) I know of.
Granted ONE of the reasons I own 4 Rifles in caliber 204 Ruger is exactly so I can spread the shooting around and "save" their wonderfully accurate barrels for as long as possible!
In Colony Varmint situations I simply "trade Rifles" when a barrel starts to warm up.
You may have heard this "rumor" as I don't hear everything - but I do read "a lot" and I have not "read" anywhere that the 204 Ruger is a barrel burner - I am sure I would have remembered that.
I can not state for certain that the 204 Ruger is NOT a "barrel burner" because I do not have a large number of rounds down ANY of my barrels as yet.
But I do have a Siebert Bore Inspection Tool and it gives me a good look at the leades of the rifling in my 204 barrels and I see no significant or unusual wear as yet in any of them.
I tend to hesitate to go along with your poting in this regard.
I will get back to you in a couple of years with more definitive first hand observations on the 204 Ruger and barrel wear.
Long live the 204 Ruger!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy