Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints 204 help

Rem 700 24” 204 synthetic stock
Buddy put new scope on it today 50 yards 6”+ 3 shot group
This gun has never been accurate for him always factory ammo so he tried a different scope
Any thoughts ?

How does it shoot when you are behind the trigger?

If he's got it bagged good and he's getting those kind of groups at that range, then there might be something seriously wrong with the barrel.

shooting 32 grainers?

I have three R 700s in 204. All shoot easy sub 1” at 100 yds with 32 v max, Ballistic Tip or Blitz kings.
Maybe the scope rings or base is loose.
Terribly bad barrel
Maybe it’s the shooter

Let’s us know the resolution of this

Ive got one as well...it shoot easily like that..

I’ll find out the load and what bases and what scope he put o ig

There are a lot of 204's that don't shoot the 40 gr. VMax worth a darn. But 32's and 39's and 40 BT's seem to do fine in them....

Is the barrel free floating (Can you slide a piece of paper or a dollar bill between the stock and the barrel)?

Are the nuts for the scope all torqued down correctly?


Is the action torqued to the correct specs to the stock?

Have you tried different ammo to see if the barrel "likes" a different weight//brand of bullet?

Lots of options to sort out but that seems like a pretty large group for an overall accurate round...

This is where I would start.

Check to see if the front base screw is bottomed out on the barrel threads.

My initial thoughts as well.

Try the 32 grain variety of ammo if he is shooting the 40s right now.

I have the same rifle, shoots Hornady 32’s 1/2”, 40’s it turns into a sprayer.

Ok so they are 40 gr he going to try a buddy’s 32 gr
They are tumbling too is that normal for the 40

Can’t remember the twist but ya, they’re too slow for 40’s

The 40gr; Hornady is too long for a "nominal" 12 twist, which may, or may NOT, be actually 1-12" twist. I have an early Savage barrel that is more like 13.25" twist. It shoots the shorter 39gr. Sierra or Nosler pretty well, but scatters the 40s like a shotgun. If you look over on 204ruger.com, there's a photo of the 39 Sierra, 40gr. Nosler, and 40gr. Hornady, and looking at the boattails of the bullets, you can see that the boattail of the Hornady is MUCH longer than the other two, making the bullet too long for a "nominal" twisted barrel.
On a real 1-12" twist, the Hornady is barely stable, and usually shoots pretty good.
I just don't use the Hornadys, and usually stick with the 32s and 34HPs from Midsouth, They are fun for short range and called coyotes.

Mine shoots the 40 VMAX extremely well. It's a standard 1-12'' twist.

35 grain Bergers

Can be if the 12 twist is a little slow and not a true 12 twist.

My Montana shoots the 40’s just fine and the killing difference on coyotes between the 35 grain and 40 grain Berger would make me put a barrel on the gun that would shoot 40’s.

The 32 and 39 grain bullets just don’t work nearly as well on coyotes.

That is a mighty doggone accurate bullet from my CZ in 204 Ruger.