Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Reloading for the 204 Ruger

Novel concept........

My 204 is CZ 527 american and with a 32gr vmax in front of a still load of RL10X 5 shots are touching at 100 yards. It also shoots 35gr Bergers pretty well with Benchmark.

my cooper shoots lights out with 4895 and 40 gr vmax 748 also

Reloader 10X and TAC are my two favorite powders over 39 gr Sierra Blitz Kings, which have the best BC of the 40 gr and under bullets.. I've had three .204s and the combo was the best in all them. I load long, but they would not work in your CZ magazine (2.39" OAL). 32 gr SBK work very well and 35 gr Berger are a great coyote bullet but give up BC and performance for rodent shooting way out there.

My CZ 527 (in 223 Remington) had similar bedding/metal fit issues as what FredWillis describes. Mine had a (gorgeous!) walnut stock.

My 204 is a Ruger Predator, and my brother has its twin; we got them just a few days apart from the same place. They're both shooting extremely well with 748 and CFE223 (which we sometimes call 748-Improved). We both shoot Varmint Nightmares, which are 34 grains, but both rifles shot Hornady factory 40-grain ammo very well.

I have a Ruger Ultra Lite in 204...

that barrel will shoot the 40 V Max just as well as the 32 VMax...

no idea of the twist, but it is what the factory chambered it in..

Since the 204 has been out long enough to see what it would do, I suggest that the rifle companies might have changed the twist just a tad.

When I bought mine over 4 years ago, the reports of 1-12 that shot 40 Vmax was quite scarce. The 39 Sierra was an exception if it did not shoot well. The difference being the 40 Vmax was too long for the twist of 1-12.

As has been written, not all 1-12 twist barrels are exactly 1-12. So a little tweeking might just stabilize the longer bullets. My 20 Tac barrel was ordered with 1-10 and really does a good job with the 40's.

In order to solve the problem, the manufacturers should go to 1-11.

Len,

I am looking at a 20 cal barrel for a 20 Tactical.. I'll probably shoot the lighter bullets in it... but will make sure to go with the 1 in 11, or the 1 in 10 twist, just to be sure I can use the 40s if the need arises...

Thanks for the tip...

anyone ever tried a case full of H 380 with the 204?

noticed that load data was around using BLC 2 in the 204, with a charge of 30 grains... since I have a lot of H 380 that isn't getting used, and having great luck with accuracy with it in the 223.. thought I'd give it a whirl with the 32 grain Nosler Varmaggeddon bullets..

Seafire
As a point of information, the 20 tac seems to shoot the two powders I have loaded for it well. I happened upon some great prices on 2200 powder have shot it in the 204 with 34 gr. Noslers, same in the 20 Tac with 32's. Also used it in the 223 with 40 gr. Vmax. Benchmark has been my best powder for the 50 gr. 223 and the 40 in the 20 tac, both vmax bullets.

Good luck with your venture.

Went with a Pac Nor 11 twist on my 20 Tactical. Shoots everything well, including the 40gr VMax, which is what I wanted to shoot. The Sierra 39gr Blitzkings go into 1 ragged hole so that is what I shoot most over a load of Reloader 10X.

I had one of those kevlar CZ's in 204 and it was the most accurate factory rifle I ever owned. So I did the only logical thing, and sold it! Still kick myself for that one. Mine shot everything well.

Couple of questions for those loading 35gr Bergers:

- do you typically seat to the lands or mag length? I'm finding my rifle as a good amount of free bore and loading .010 off the lands does not allow cartridges to fit within the magazine.

- min and max loads for H4895 would be very helpful

Thanks in advance,

Not the 35 Bergers, but I was at the range today, and doing so testing with H 4895...

I hate H4895, because I find it inconsistent when you modify the charge even a little at times....

However if someone wants some fast velocity ( at least according to some online reload data I copied) and some darn good accuracy, 29 grains of H 4895 and a 32 V Max gave me a small little group at 100 yds...

just to add for anyone who is loading for a 204, try anyone else's brass before spending money on Hornady Brass,...

I have had nothing but trouble and hassles with the batch I have had... tons of neck splits, primer pockets out of shape... the list goes on...

having used some Remington and Winchester brass given to me in small quantities, they have proven far and above Hornady's... I am really disappointed in Hornady's lack of Q/C on them..

I got my 204 not to long after they introducded it, it's a savage 12 low profile. The 32gr and 40gr hornady factory ammo shot to the same point of impact at 100yds and didn't see much of a difference at longer ranges. As far a reloads go I have been having great success with hodgdon's BL-C(2) I'm using 30 grains with a 40gr vmax, and it shoots little tiny groups. I was even getting MOA accuracy out a 500yds with it a couple weeks ago (wind was almost non existant). That tiny bullet doesn't move my 12X12 steel plate much at that distance but it's still a blast to shoot.

Same results here

First off thank you to everyone who has posted. I've done a bit of work to my rifle in an attemp to shrink group size. First thing I did was order new action screws with hex heads ( JP Products for those who were wondering). Torques those bad boys down to 35 in-lbs.

Next task on the list was retorquing the scope and rings. I took the scope and bases off and reinstalled the screws using correct torque values. Everything seemed tight when I took it apart so I doubt the scope was the problem.

After reinstalling the scope the next thing to go was the bedding. Took me a couple of hours to chip away the bedding but I got everything out that needed to go. Haven't bedded the rifle just yet. I wanted to see how it shot without bedding

After all that the barrel got a good scrubbing. I let Hoppes Benchrest solvent sit in the bore for a few hours then run dry patches. This went on for about a week.

I bought several boxes of bullets: Nosler BT 40 gr, Hornady V-max 40 gr, Berger 40 gr and 35 gr. First out of the gate were the Nosler BT over varying charges of H4895. Charges ranged from 26.5 gr to 28.5 in 0.5 gr increments

At first I was pleased with the results. The first 5 groups were around MOA or less for a 5 shot group. On the 6th group things opened up and stayed that way. See below for groups:

First group out of a clean bore:


Second group:


Third group:


Fourth group:


Fifth group:


Sixth group. This is where things went south. Same load as group 5:


7, 8, 9, 10 groups:
[img]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d15/dye7barrel/7935f5fe2ae64e1999a4f557ac4d7a46_zps13c88a7e.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d15/dye7barrel/544d43e30dcc511e93ad18e27bc5d779_zps144e5b0e.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d15/dye7barrel/435fe44b864faf8ec19f0121b4bf683a_zps5c637708.jpg[/img]

Not sure what caused the rifle to open up after 25 shots. Note the two vastly different group sizes at 27.5 grains. Makes me think fowling is the issue. I think next step will be to load up 50 cartridges with same bullet and 27 grains of H4895 and shoot 10 5-shot groups and see if things open up a bit.

I did purchase this rifle used so round count is unknown. Hopefully previous owner did not burn the throat out. If rifle performs similar to yesterday and groups open up, I'll take it to a smith and see how the throat looks.

Here is a one stop shop picture of the groups. Lower right corner is the fowling group from my 280.



Orange dots are 1-inch.

Dye7

When I first read the initial post I overlooked the gun you were referring to. Who ever made the composite stocks for CZ, made them too short top to bottom. My experience has been with two others and they would shoot 40 grain bullets in the 223 very accurately. Others with more weight was terrible accuracy.

Here is what I suggest you do. Remove the bolt and see how tight the housing fits into the receiver There should be at least .100 of space between the bottom of the receiver and the housing.

What likely is happening, is the magazine is tightening in the receiver before the receiver is pulled down into the stock.

I used a belt sander and removed enough material from the top of the magazine housing to give me the .100 space.

PM me if you have any questions.

Ratsmacker: You are simply WRONG regarding MOST 204's not being able to shoot 40 grain bullets - but being wrong probably comes easy for a self described turd, I guess?
I have shot NUMEROUS groups (5 shots at 100 yards) in the low threes using 40 grain Hornady V-Max handloaded bullets in my various 204's - including several groups that turned out exceptionally well using the 40 grain V-Max FACTORY AMMUNITION!
In addition to my personal experiences many of my close friends (non of whom are self described turds - like yourself!) also get excellent accuracy in their 204's with 40 grain bullets.
In fact I know several Varmint Hunters who prefer the 40 grain bullets for their useage.
Other than yourself I have never heard anyone espouse an issue with lack of accuracy in a 204 when using 40 grain bullets?
Puzzling.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Maybe it's because we banned you from .204ruger.com before you had a chance to research other folks findings, knucklehead. I can well remember you carrying on for several postings about the virtues of using the 32Blitzkings, because you had such good luck with them. Forgotten that already, knucklehead? YOU were one of those ranting about the 40 VMax.

Is your mind slipping?