Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 204 Ruger with 1 in 12 twist

Hello to the group, hope all are well-

I am looking at a Ruger Hawkeye Varmint Target in 204 Ruger. The Ruger website indicates this rifle has a 1 in 12 rate of twist. I perused the Midway USA website to get an idea of available factory loads for this round and observed 19 loads. 10 of them were 32gr, 6 were 40gr, one 45gr, one 35gr, and one 24gr.

My question is, for any of you that own this particular rifle, would you by chance save me some time and money in suggesting what bullet weight has been consistently better in this make and model, in 204? Normally with a new caliber I buy a quantity of different loads/weights and try them all. Once one presents itself as the best, or at least consistency in different loads of the same weight, I narrow them down from there.

I do realize that the highest levels of accuracy still (and always will) come from hand-loading, and while I have nothing but respect and admiration for hand-loading and hand-loaders themselves, I will never do it. I don't even shoot as much as I would like, so I know I will never make/take the time to get involved in hand-loading.

That being said, any thoughts on factory loads over the matter of favored bullet weights in this make model and caliber? Thanks to all for thoughts and tips:)

SonnDogg: I am currently shooting 7 (seven) Varmint Rifles in caliber 204 Ruger.
ALL of them (including the three Rugers I own) shoot the wonderful Hornady 32 grain V-Max factory bullets extremely well!
Be sure to try this wonderful factory cartridge - I am sure you won't be disappointed.
I handload for all my 204's but used the Hornady factory ammo to obtain brass in the early years and it shot so well I laid in a supply of Hornady 32 grain factory ammo and shoot it when I get a new 204 Rifle and want some fire formed brass to load devlopment and for barrel "break-in".
Best of luck with your new Rifle.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I hand loaded it when I had one...

but the 24 grain NTX was my preferred one....

shooting little sage rats it is pretty fast and accurate... and is lead free, so its the size of a 32 grainer...

I no longer have a 204, as I went with the 20 Practical instead, which is strictly a handloading proposition... but I'll be loading the 24 NTX in that one also...

Go with the lighter bullets some 12 twists won't stabilize the 40 grainers. Seems people have better luck with the 39gr. Sierra in 12 twists.

my first two 20 cal barrels were the 204R...

Pac Nor 12 twist/3 groove.......never an issue running

40 gr V max....these same two barrels are now 20 Vartarg (Fireball)

and 20 Practical...still shooting 40 V max...no issues even with

the slower Vartarg @ 3550 fps @ 6000' elevation..the Practical

will duplicate or even exceed the 204R velocities...and of course

there are never no 'dry spells' for brass.....my 20-222 had a

previous chamber of 20BR...9 twist/3 groove...for 55 Bergers....have

no fear of the 12 twist......12T Vartarg in pic..on dog duty...

SonnDog,

I've owned several .204's,all with the standard 1-12 twist, and have had great results from all with plastic-tipped bullets from 24 to 40 grains, at elevations as low as under 2200 feet in eastern Montana. But these days I mainly stick to 40-grainers, since they drift noticeably less in the wind than anything lighter.

This is not correct. The **Hornady** 40 won't always shoot well in a 1-12" twist. I've never NOT had the Nosler 40 grain shoot in a 1-12" twist. The weight doesn't really matter, it's bullet length that matters and there's a lot of difference in length within any given weight. The Hornady bullet has a pretty exaggerated boat tail, which is why it's BC is higher, but that makes it longer, too.

My first PacNor 1-12" twist barrel wouldn't shoot the 40 grain Hornadys well. The current one, also a 1-12" twist PacNor, shoots them around half inch.

You are, however, right in that the 39 grain Sierras tend to shoot very well. Same situation .. they have a much less pronounced boat tail and are shorter like the 40 grain Nosler.

I have a box of the 39 grain TNTs .. haven't gotten around to trying them. The 45 grain Hornady shoots real well in my guns. Being a flat based bullet, it's short for its weight.

I haven't tried the 32 grain Sierra in my gun. Both the 32 grain Nosler and 32 grain VMAX shoot very well.

Tom

I have owned two Remington XR-100 in 204 (1st one was Stolen) The 1st rifle would shoot the 40 V-Max/39 Sierra's so close to that you had to measure the groups to tell the difference.
The one I presently own shoots as well as the Original rifle with the 39 Sierra's BUT the 40 V-Max groups are almost DOUBLE the size

Good Luck

Jim

Mule Deer: From Hornady's own website I garnered the following trajectory and wind drift information on the 32 grain Hornady factory ammo versus the 40 grain Hornady factory ammo.

The drop and wind drift are measured at my elevation in a 10 m.ph. cross wind at 400 yards (a distance within which 98% of all shots at Varmints are taken IME and observations of others).

32 grain Hornady 4,225 F.P.S. .210 B.C. Drop -13.2" Drift 14.1"
40 grain Hornady 3,900 F.P.S. .275 B.C. Drop -14.3" Drift 11.3"

Remember these measurements are at 400 yards (1,200') distance.
So the 32 grain shooter has 1.1" less trajectory to adjust for and 2.8" more wind drift to adjust for.
In other words at 400 yards there is not a lot of difference in the two in total compensation (less than 1.7" total compensation) the 204 shooter needs to adjust for.
If one knows to adjust for a particular drift at a particular distance then all they have to do is adjust - whether is 1.1" less drop with the 32 grainers or for 2.8" more wind drift.
I prefer the 32 grainers these days (Sierras by the way) but again I am not just impressed but amazed at the accuracy of the Hornady 32 grain factory ammunition in all of my 204's.
Long live the 204 Ruger!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Hippy: Sorry to hear of your loss of the XR-100!
I love those Rifles and own 5 XR-100's including 3 in caliber 204 Ruger.
I have a lifetime supply of these fine guns in 204 and actually plan to bequeath one each to my 3 sons when the time comes.
I bought all of my XR-100's through F.F.L. dealers so I hope I do not have your missing XR-100 in my collection if you would like to forward me your missing XR-100's serial number I will double check.
By coincidence a young man my middle son went to school with had an XR-100 in 204 Ruger stolen from him year before last along with its Zeiss scope. He was a Bakken oil range worker and it was stolen from his truck.
Sad that this thievery goes on!
I hope you enjoy your new XR-100 as much as I enjoy mine.
You make a good point - EACH Rifle is an individual and no telling the preferences or accuracy from one Rifle to another even though they may be the same brand and model!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VarmintGuy,

Extend your ballistic tables to 500 yards and you'll find there's no difference in "flatness", but even more difference in wind-drift. I usually use my .204 at ranges from 300 yards to around 450-500, depending on the wind, and yes, there is a definite advantage to 40's.


At closer ranges I use much smaller rounds, these days usually one of the Hornet-based rounds, from the .17 Hornady to the .22 K-Hornet. But even when I've used the .204 for ALL prairie dog shooting, I much preferred 40's at ranges beyond 300, because of wind-drift. (Beyond 500 even more wind-resistant cartridges and, especially, bullets help considerably.)

Yeah, if the wind is STEADY holding off isn't a big deal. But in my experience it rarely is, and a bullet that resists wind more also reduces variations in drift due to variations in wind velocity and angle. If you actually tried 40's much at 300+ yards you'd realize this. It's not theoretical, but quite obvious to anybody who actually tries it. It was to me the first year the .204 appeared.

Mule Deer: As usual YOU are not telling me anything I don't already know!
And again, THE reason I relayed the pertinent information regarding wind drift and bullet drop at "400 yards" is because THAT is the distance within which the vast majority of bullets fired from 204 Rugers are used!
Sheesh!
And again, ALL Rifle bullets have trajectories and wind drift, DO THEY NOT!
The Rifleman must be aware of his bullets trajectory and wind drift and adjust accordingly when aiming.
And, alas, I have shot not only 40 grain bullets at "300 yards+" I have also used 39 and 35 grain bullets at many and varied ranges! And again you or I would not hit what we are intending if we did not adjust accordingly for whichever bullet we may be using.
That is just basic Riflemanship.
I stand by my original suggestion to the original poster to be sure to try the Hornady 32 grain V-Max bullets.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Horny 32 V's BC.... .210...keep inside of 300 yds..flat base

drops like a rock after that....

Horny 40 V's BC... .275...launched from a 20 Practical @ 3900.....

flies flat out to 600.....IF you miss....bullet will have gone over

your (dog) target...thats my field experience the last 10 yrs with

the 20 cal/40 V max.....there is seldom a day w/o any wind in the

p/dog arena....but the 40 V max does very well....watch you bullet's

dust & make your corrections......after some +20K rds from 20 cal's

in the field.....not on paper...you're over thinking it.......

VarmintGuy,

If you already knew all that, why do you act as if you're clueless?

Tikkanut's basic experience is also mine--and a lot of other 204 user's experience. Yet every time anybody brings up the 204, you keep insisting 32's are THE ANSWER. Sheesh!

That was rhetorical, right.....

Well, all my custom .204 Rugers have 1:9" twists, except one that uses a 1:8.5" twist for Berger 55 grain bullets (1:8" would have been better). The one other exception is a custom Shilen .204 Ruger barrel in 1:12" twist that shoots the 26 grain Barnes Varmint Grenade over 25.2 grains of Rl 10x using a Remington 7-1/2 BR Primer @ 4,085 fps into quarter-inch 10 shot groups.

I use 26 grain Barnes Varmint Grenades, 32 grain Nosler BT Lead Free, 24 grain Hornady NTX as lead free are required. My friend uses these lead free bullets exclusively now in .204, .224. and 6mm calibers as do I because of the superior accuracy, even though he can use lead core bullets in his state. They also hold together at 4,000+ fps velocity, until they hit something anyway.

It has long been my opinion that the 1:12" twist is too slow for maximum performance in the .204 Ruger. Hornady loads the 24 grain NTX in their Superperformance ammuntion, Nosler loads the 32 grain BT Lead Free in their Trophy Grade ammo, Winchester also loads a 32 grain lead free Ballistic Silvertip, but the Varmint Grenade and all the other standard bullets requires handloading.

A 1-12 may be marginal for a couple of the bullets you mention at your elevations, but I can assure you it is not in Montana, even at the lowest elevations of a little over 2000 feet above sea level in the eastern part of the state. Have used all the lead-free bullets you mention, plus the plastic-tipped 39 and 40 lead-cores, and they've grouped very well in all the 1-12 twist .204's I've used. My varminting buddies tend to prefer the 40 V-Max for all .204 shooting here, partly because it groups so well, and all their rifles have 1-12 barrels as well.

The JBM Ballistics bullet stability program, which unlike many twist programs accounts for plastic tips, indicates both the 32 Nosler Lead-Free and 40 V-Max are well-stabilized by a 1-12 twist in typical rodent-shooting conditions here.

Thanks so much to all of you kind gentlemen for your replies, I am pretty much sold on this rifle in this caliber. Accordingly, I will refer back to this thread when I have the rifle, and reread the info from there. Thanks again and happy shooting to all:)

I shoot 40 grain VMAX bullets in my 204 as does my PD shooting partner.

My 700 sps loves 32's, but hates 40's...