Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 204 Ruger experiences

Gang,
A friend of mine won a M77TGT 204 back in 2005 at DU. Four years later we still haven't put it on meat, after two barrels and a custom chamber rework.
So I have a couple questions to you who have 204s.
What brand?
What sort of accuracy?
What are your loaded lengths?
Done anything special to the gun?
Any issues?

Have a 77 VT and a Vanguard varmint special

About as good as I can hold for 5 shots , 1/2 moa for each or so

just short enough to work thru the magazine

Nope on the Ruger , adjusted the Vanguard trigger

Nope

Kimber 84M Varmint
1/2 for five, an occasional 1/4
Don't recall, in my ledger
Nope; feeding it Nozzy, Hornady or Norma cases gives you more 1/4s without sorting.
No issues.

I had bad luck with my Remington LVSF 204.I then ordered a three groove Lilja barrel and a complete smithing job by Clay Spencer. Reloader 10X and 35 Bergers groups in the .3's on a regular basis.

The 204 likes a little jump before hitting the lands.

These were it's first customers last March. Bang-flop and a little tail quiver.

I've got a Tikka Varmint Stainless in 204 -

Recoil is so light I watch my impacts all the time, accurate a a Tikka, and I like seirra 39 grain pills.

Spot

Where are you at on throat contact and loaded length, Spot? You too, Wade...

700 LVSF rebarreled to a 700 VSSF type setup with an HS Precision stock and PacNor barrel. Low .3s with Sierra 39s and 27 grains of Varget. OAL = 2.350 .. had to seat 'em out a bit. I'm using the same OAL and a half grain more Varget with the 40 grain Nosler for .375 to .4 inchs for 5 shots.

I've had 2 other .204s prior to this build-up, one a 14" contender barrel, the other a 700 ADL. Neither shot well.

I had one of the gray metal / laminated stocked Ruger 77 target/varmint rifles in .25-'06. That was a real booger to get to shoot. There were a lot of bedding issues ... high spots, low spots, etc. Even after I glass bedded the action, it was still inconsistent day to day. I finally got pissed off at it and took an impact driver to the front stock screw. Once I torqued it down like that, the gun shot a lot better. All that really means is there were still some unresolved bedding issues I abused into submission.

Tom

My first 204 Ruger was a T/C Encore with a heavy barrel. It could not shoot anything smaller than 1� groups no matter what I did. Then I bought a Kimber Varmint in 204 and it consistently shot �� groups right out of the box. The T/C sat in the gun room and was eventually sold. My loads for the Kimber are:
32-grain V-Max (moly), 26.5 grains of H335, Winchester cases, WSR primers, 2.350� OAL, 4000fps
40-grain V-Max (moly), 26.5 grains of H335, Winchester cases, WSR primers, 2.380� OAL, 3800fps
40-grain V-Max (moly), 24.9 grains of RL 10X, Winchester cases, WSR primers, 2.380� OAL, 3800fps

A few weeks ago I went on a 3-day prairie dog shoot in north-central Montana and took the Kimber. 300 yard shots are so very easy with this rifle. I do have to pace myself though to keep the barrel cool. I want to keep this accuracy for a long time.

I took the 204 out last night and I'm just snarling. Basically a "final shoot" --
Fired four different loads, three "old" and one current. The current load, virgin brass, is in the .8s and .9s and the cases come out every which way but straight. In general, these are all seated about 5 thou off a short custom throat.
None of the loads fire to the same point of aim, in fact, we are talking two to three inches away from each other at 100.
The "old" loads are all sorted brass, whatever fireformed on center with about half rejected.
One 39BK load shot a .513, which included the fifth shot off the paper. Shot a couple others, in the .6s, right? So, to finish off, I shot three rounds of another old load on 32 BKs. Those were way off the other way...I don't know for sure, but it looks like all three shots went into the same hole for a .071. At least two DID go in the hole....I hate this rifle.

I have two heavy barrel savages that shoot quite well. One is a VLP and the other is a BTVSS. These are the loads I use for them.

35 bergers, 25.5 gr of RL-10X and 26.8 gr of benchmark
40 bergers and 40 V-max, 24.5 gr RL-10X and 25.5 gr of H-4895
39 sierra BK and 40 gr Nosler , 25 gr RL-10X and 27.5 gr of H-4895
32 V-max and 32 gr nosler, 26 gr RL-10X and 27 gr H-322 and Benchmark
26 gr varmint grenade, 26.3 gr RL-10X and 23.3 gr H-4198
45 gr hornady sp, 24.3 gr RL 10X

All of these loads will generally print out 1/2" groups or better out of both of my savage 204's.
These loads may not work in your gun so REMEMBER to start below these and work your way up at approx .2 to .3 gr at a time.

For yotes your best bet is to use the 35 and 40 gr bergers or the 45 gr Hornady sp's.
Wildcat makes a 38 gr hollow point that should be excellent for yotes as well. I am hoping to have some test loads of these soon and will probably be using them this season.

The ballistic tips will work for yotes as well, but if you hit bone they may splash and can produce some very large holes. My favorite for prairie doggin and other small critters is the 39 gr sierra BK. Has a high B.C., good mist and lift action, and best of all is the "giggle" factor of seeing your hits through the scope.

There are no factory loadings for bergers or wildcats in Canada. The Hornady SP's are available as factory made bullets and most 204's shoot them okay as their overall length is shorter than the 40 gr V-max.
Ideally you will want to re-load to get the most out of your 204 for accuracy and once you do you'll find it very addictive.

I did purchase another 204 a couple of weeks ago. A T3 lite, grey laminate, with the stainless barrel. I wanted a lighter carry rifle for yotes. Just waiting to put some glass on it. This one will probably be dedicated with the 35 & 40 bergers, the hornady 45 gr sp's and the 38 gr wildcats for yotes. Of course it will have to "tag along" out into the p-dog fields in order to help keep the other two 204's barrels cool. You just can't have to many barrels out in a rich target environment.

I had a 204 if that says anything. I hated it and it didn't shoot worth a hoot. My 223 would shoot the eyes right out of the 204. HAPPY HUNTING

So Skinner , you are saying after TWO custom barrels , the 77 won't shoot ?
Hard to figure....


By the way , both my guns are pretty nuts on with about any reasonable load . With the Ruger I switch from 32 gr Sierra or Nosler to the 39 Sierra or 40 V-Max in the field all the time without re-sighting .

SD, what are your load lengths and jump? I have been loading to 5 thousandths, which initially was 2.407 with 39 BKs and nothing else would reach; now with the new throat and smaller neck (.230) both the 32 and 39 BKs are touching at 2.285 and seated to 2.279.
The barrels are both factory. The first would not shoot worth beans, the second was only a tenth better, then I had it customized on the back end but not customized enough. An expensive mistake.
I am going to try to buy a threaded but unchambered barrel from Ruger and cut it the way I think it should be cut. This SHOULD be a great rifle. It is properly bedded and lapped, slicked. It is physically easy to shoot, but it is not a shooter.

As a for instance , my OAL with the 40 gr V-max is 2.30 . It has the usual 204 freebore , it would take well over 2.4 to be near touching the lands .


A thought , how tight do you make the middle floorplate screw ?

Don't hate the cartridge, hate the gun?

You might be right Greg, but I still wouldn't trade my 223 for any 204 as of yet. Maybe a custom sometime would be nice and see just what they will do. HAPPY HUNTING

Most of the guys on .204ruger.com have found their rifles like a jump, big or small, to the rifling. Some have built custom BR-grade rifles and still found the same thing. You DO have to seat the bullets as straight as possible for best results, too. It can be a pain in the neck to get there, but the results are usually worth it. FWIW, most guys are seating to a length of, or near 2.26", something in that range, and even with factory rifles, are very happy with their groups. Most of us are using Savage rifles, though it shouldn't make much difference.

Overall, Rugers have been pretty problematic for accuracy when chambered in .204, and we have no idea why. Remingtons often cause fits, too. Most Savage shooters seem satisfied with their rifles.

I bought a Contender .204 barrel, I have never had such an easy to load for round, it seems to shoot everything I have loaded for it under an inch and a few much better. Settled on the Berger 35 gr. at 2.260" lots of jump, but it works!

So they ALL have that dang long throat, eh?
I WISH I could load these things straight, it shoots good fireformed brass reasonably well. If I could have virgin cases blow out straight, instead of banana, that would make a world of difference. Having a chamber that was five thousandths smaller in the base region would be nice, too.
But yeah, I'd not give up my 223s to get a 204. No way.

The Kimber has a VERY short throat, no bad chamber either and a tube that has yet to be cleaned after 500 rounds....

I'd take a 204 over a 223; then again, I have no affection for the 223, more the two carts it supposedly replaced (grins)