i have been working with several powders for a few months trying to get a kimber 84M in 204 ruger to shoot those little guys, and after the BEST results being about 2 inches. i was looking through the manuals again and just happened to fall upon the 204 data again. had some RE 15 sitting on the shelf for lighter bullets in a rifle similar to an STA. why not? through it in, 2nd load in the work up was under an inch, and those were in .5 gr increments. pretty much magic pixie dust for that bullet. thoughts?
I'd say you're lucky to get that bullet to shoot, period. That's a very long bullet for most barrels, a large percentage of rifles simply won't shoot them at all.
A 1-12" barrel (most factory pipes) are only "nominally" 1-12", a lot of them are more loose than that (1-12.25+) as per a lot of guys on .204ruger.com. They switched to the Sierra 39s which seem to be more tolerant of the "looseness" in the barrels (it's a good bit shorter than the 40 Hornady).
What velocity are you getting with 15? That will help a little in making a loose 12 shoot the longer slugs........
You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.
i am not sure on vel right yet, i had been so discouraged with them that i didnt bother bringing along the chrono(since, after all, what does speed matter if you can't hit [bleep]?). we were out just to blast some in-animate targets with the mini 14 and a couple diff pistols. gonna work up in 1/10 grain inc.s this time 3 on either side of that second load and see if i can squeeze it down any further, and this time use the chrono.
The Nosler 40 is somewhere in between the Hornady 40 and the Sierra 39, you might try a box of them to see how your rifle reacts to the slightly shorter bullet. The BC is close enough not to matter much, so you won't give up much if anything, and you might gain quite a bit in accuracy. I do a poll on that forum about once a year, and so far, the 39 Sierra wins every time, by about 50% compared to ALL other bullets combined. Neither of my .204s really likes heavier bullets, but I can get "useable" results with the Sierra 39 and a stiff charge of H-4895 (which is very similar to R-15, come to think of it), nothing spectacular, but about 5/8" or thereabouts.
About the only thing I use my .204s for, are prairie dogs, so I just use the 32s and plan my shots carefully. Anything will kill a PD, they aren't tough. I don't mind the shorter ranges, I can't shoot well enough for those 500 yard shots anyhow.
Go to www.204ruger.com and check out the stickies there. On one page, I made a photo of the three longer bullets, Sierra, Nosler and Hornady, the pic is posted there, and you can see that the Hornady has a much longer boattail than the other two, enough to change the bearing area of the bullet, so it pretty likely that switching to one of the other bullets should help your rifle handle them better. I wouldn't get stuck on one bullet, especially if that bullet isn't working out for you. I hope this helps a little. I hail to Glenn Asher over there, if you register. I'd say I'm a moderator, but we don't have to moderate those guys, they are all pretty well-behaved.
You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.
Aw hell, I ain't stealin' the pic, it was mine to begin with. Click on the attachment, the photo tells all. Note the very long boattail on the center bullet (Hornady) versus the other two, that makes the bullet perhaps too long for most "nominally" 1-12" twist tubes.
You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.
i would love to not be "stuck" on one bullet. but i made the mistake of just buying a 250 ct box and now i gotta do SOMETHING with them. 4895 was one of the ones that i tried. anyhow, if i could get them to crow killing accuracy, i would load them and shoot them shorter range and at bigger vermin like 'yotes until they are gone, then go to the 32, and 39 gr bullets. a moderate dose of R15 seems to do okay under the 40's. we'll see in the next week or so, I'm in no hurry, not a lot of critters runnin' loose at this time. i also shoot the 26 gr BVG out of it with pretty decent accuracy, better than the organic factor can manage anyway.
When I built my first one (rebarrelled a Savage with a factory tube), the only bullets available locally were Hornady 40s. That barrel doesn't like them at all, and I was fit to be tied, not knowing any different. I finally found some 32s, and the rifle loved 'em. Ate 'em up like candy. Later on, one of the guys on .204ruger.com told me about the 39s, and that was that.
Those bullets damned near ruined me on the .204s forever, but I'm glad I stuck it out. It's been a lot of fun since then. I'd think about setting those bullet aside as trading material, and not wasting the time with them, though.
You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.
I do appreciate the advice, however I just cannot walk away from them. i did the loading portion of the 1/10 gr increment surrounding that 27 grain load that shot the best. i would be ecstatic to get them to 1/2. at that point i would do as i said and just shoot them at the larger vermin (which a heavier bullet would be better for anyway right?) if not i will pawn the rest off on the 1st dude i meet with a 10" twisted AR15 upper
The poll just asks "What's your favorite bullet for the .204?"
Hands down, the better bullet for coyotes has been, without question, the 35 Berger HP. All of the poly-tipped bullets have "issues" with bullet splash, bar none. No one has complained about the Bergers working on coyotes, not that I've read, anyhow. A buddy in Illinois often proves them wrong with the 39 Sierra, but there are still complaints from others about it being too tender for coyotes.
Keep in mind that the .204 was built for prairie dog and groundhog shooting, so most of the bullets are built for those critters. Personally, my best 39 Sierra loads were with H-4895, and Varget, but it seems most guys like Re-10X a lot, I'd suspect that 4895 and Re-10X are the most popular powders for that bullet. Some guys like 748, too. We have a "stickie" thread on favorite loads in the 'Reloading the .204' section of the forum. I'll just refer you to that thread, because I might miss something, it's better to get that info from the users themselves. Best of luck to you.
You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.
If you've got some Benchmark, now's the time to try it. Most guys seem to like about 26.5gr. I use more than that in my rifles. If Benchmark doesn't get it, try the 4895. Varget usually provides good accuracy, but it's awfully slow in the .204 case.
Seat the bullet at the same depth as factory ammo. The .204 doesn't seem to suffer with the long bullet jump that other cartridges do. I seat mine out as far as the magazine allows, but that's pretty close to factory length.
You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.
I'm another person who hasn't gotten particularly good accuracy out of the 40 grain Hornady. It starts to shoot better just as the loads are hot enough to pierce primers. I've got a 1-12" twist and I don't think it's quite fast enough for that bullet.
I've had really good luck with 39 grain Sierras and 40 grain Noslers with 27 to 27.5 grains of Varget.
I've also had really good luck with the 32 grain bullets from Nosler and Hornady with H335.
Tom
Anyone who thinks there's two sides to everything hasn't met a M�bius strip.
mine is a 1-12 and the more accurate of the loads i was getting was a mid-range load. 27 grains of Re15. like we all know though, the rifle wants what it wants.
My 204 had a long barrel, and 10 twist, so it may not be apples and apples. I ran a load of 27.4 gr of varget, IIRC, over BR4's, with much success. I also had good luck with Benchmark, and RL10. It would shoot just about anything, including all the 40 gr bullets I tried, and 32's, oh, and the 39 SBK's as well.
RugerDude: Have you tried the 32 grain bullets for your Kimber?I went through the 32 or 40 grain "question" in the 204 a long ago, myself. I simplylooked at the Remington Arms Catalog and noticed in their Rifle Centerfire Ballistics charts that the 32 grain bullet shoots flatter out TO 500 yards than does their 40 grain offering!!! I now shoot 32 grain bullets in all 5 of my Varminters in caliber 204 Ruger! At ranges of 500 yards AND UNDER is the distance at which 99.9% of ALL Varmints are KILLED and flatter is better when it comes to Varminting - is it not? Be sure to try the 32 grainers in your Rifle. And, by the way, the most accurate bullet in all five of my 204 Varminters was the Berger 35 grainers! They are simply to hard to find and to expensive when they are found to run in my higher volume Varminters. Be sure to try those bullets as well. I have not tried RL 15 as yet but its in my loading log book as a suggestion now. Enjoy your 204! Hold into the wind VarmintGuy PS: Be sure to keep an eye out for turdlike people as when you step on them they make a bit of a mess!
i have not tried the 32's but at this point those coupled with the RL 15 look to be a match maid in heaven. i have used 4895 and H322 both with great success under the 26's i will have to take a look at them.
