Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Best powder for the .204 Ruger???

What would you consider to be the best all-around powder for the .204 Ruger?

Benchmark.

H4895 and W748 are suppose to be two good ones. I have both but haven't loaded any yet. Still working on the 100 rounds of factory ammo i bought with the rifle. I have some IMR3031 also that i will try. This is with 32 gr. Hornady bullets.

H 4198 or H 322 get used in mine for velocity....

for volume shooting...Blue Dot or SR 4759...

Depends on the bullet choice. H4895 for the 39 grain blitzking..........a little faster powder for the 32 grain, H322 or H335.

TAC is also a good one, for any bullet weight from 26-40.

I was fortunate enough to get speed and accuracy from my load of H4895 and 39 gr. Sierras. BenchMark gets the nod for 35 gr Bergers, mainly because I have ran out of H4895; but it is still a good load.

my experience is much more limited with the 204, vs the 223... but what I have experienced, is like the 223, its really hard to find a powder that isn't very accurate in it.. and plenty of those in the fast to mid burn range give darn good velocity if desired...

like the 223, it isn't overly finicky...

Had good results with Varget under the 39 Blitz Kings, although dropping the sticks down the hole is a little annoying.

not thru a 4 inch tube....

Well put, Seafire.

I have 2# of CFE223.... how will this do for me?

I have tried it with 35 gr Bergers and it did quite well; a little under .75" IIRC with just 5 rounds. If I didn't already have the BenchMark load figured out , I probably would explore loading the CFE a bit more. I say go for it.

My best groups have been with Varget and 39s/40s. With 32s I run H335. If I had to settle for one or the other it'd be Varget.

Tom

Mailmanmark: Five of my six 204 Ruger Varminters prefer H 4895 and the sixth REALLY likes Varget!
I am shooting 32 grain bullets in all my 204's nowadays.
IF... you are going to be using 32 grain bullets or the wonderful 35 grain Bergers then be sure to try H 4895.
Best of luck to you.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Interesting. I'm getting rid of my 32 grain bullets and moving to the 39 grain Sierra for sheer accuracy and the 40 grain Hornady for BC in the wind. For little fast stuff I'm heading back towards the .17 Remington.

I'm not doing the volume varmint shooting I did a few years ago. Burnout. I'm approaching it now from the teeny big game perspective. More hunting less shooting.

I've been having good accuracy with 8208xbr and 32gr blitz kings. No idea on velocity as my crony is dead.

RL 10 w/39 BKs.

H322 with a 39r Blitzking

I am using 28gr of 8208 also but with 35gr Bergers. Your reloading setup looks a little dusty.