Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Loads for 40 gr Nosler BT .204

1deuce: Among my "small army" of 204 shooting Varminting buddies the 32 gr. crowd vs. the 39 & 40 gr. crowd NEVER quit arguing the attributes of the two individual schools of thought (32 gr. vs 40 gr.!).
I simply refer anyone interested in comparing the two bullet sizes to page 85 of the 2,007 Remington catalog. Lines 5 & 6 of the Centerfire Rifle Ballistics chart shows that the 32 gr. Accu-Tip flies flatter than the 40 gr. Accu-Tip right out to 500 yards! Then at 500 yards the 40 gr. is only 0.80" flatter of trajectory than the 32 gr.!
That boils down to "no difference" in my mind out to 500 yards.
Thats as far as I care to test my 204's.
Now on to "goo factor" between the 32 gr. Sierras and the 35 gr. Bergers!
On the Prairie Dog size Varmints they are quite similar with the slight edge of "goo-iness" going to the 32 Sierras.
On Rock Chucks, Badgers and Coyote sized Varmints I can not remember discerning a difference in wound sizes between the 32 gr. Sierras and the 35 gr. Bergers.
BOTH bullets have my confidence and I have used them pretty extensively for 2 years now.
I did use a lot of the Hornady 40 gr. factory loaded ammunition (and the 32's!) when my first 3 Rifles (and the 204 itself) were new on the market - and I had no qualms about them, either accuracy or lethality wise. I did notice a "slight" increase in reoil from next to next to nothing up to next to nothing when using the 32's as opposed to the 40's. Neither disrupted the sight picture of my heavy Varminters enough to make me lose the sight picture at the shot though.
When shooting Rock Chucks off of rocks I have been able to achieve "lift off" only with carefully aiming at the junction of Rock Chuck vitals with the rock when using the 204's. Then said "lift off" achieves about half the flight time (height?) of my 220 Swifts. I lose the sight picture with the 220 Swifts and 55 gr. bullets but when I reacquire it the Chucks are still up in the air! I am certain hang time with the 55 gr. 220 Swift bullets is at least twice as long as with my 204's and 32/35 grainers!
This for thought though - I heat a 220 Swift barrel to the point I do not want to shoot it until it cools off in about 6, 7 or 8 moderately slow paced shots at Colony Varmints. I get to the same barrel heat in about 20 shots with a 204.
Gotta love the 204!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I've got a 700 rebarrelled with a 24" PacNor tube, 1-12" twist, HS Precision stock ... sort of like a slightly shorter VSSF.

When I shoot the 40 grain Nosler, I use 27.5 grains of Varget, Federal 205M primers, and WW cases. That's one of my gun's better loads. Mostly all I've used it on is western Oregon digger squirrels. It's pretty vicious.

Most often I use 32 grain VMAX because my gun shoots them with H335 and I can get away without having to weigh charges. My measure will once in a while throw load 2 full grains off with cylindrical powders ... scary.

Tom

To get an idea of the splash effect of a bullet , I shoot at a sheet of 18 to 22 gauge sheet metal (roofing tin) with a sheet of cardboard a couple of feet behind it. The tin seems to appproximate a coyote skin over a bone and the cardboard records the fragmentation of the bullet. When shooting the sbk 39grain the cardboard shows almost complete fragmentation.