Bullets for the 204 Ruger? - 04/16/10
To the 20 caliber reloader/shooters out there: I have experienced a problem with my 204 reloads using Sierra 39gr Blitzking bullets and I'm curious to find out if anyone else has had a similar problem and if so, any knowlege on the best or tougher bullet to use.
First, my load is 29.7gr BLC2 powder (published max is 30gr) with Remington 7 1/2 primers and the 39gr Blitzking bullet. I arrived at this load working up from a lower start point in 0.3gr increments and found that this load and my rifle (Remington 700 VS SF II) worked the best together. Total # of shots through this rifle is 1340 to date with probably 1100 of those being the above mentioned load. Cleaning of the barrel is performed after 20-40 shots using foaming bore cleaner, letting the foam have 15 or more minutes to work per can directions.
Now the problem - on occassion, the bullet when fired leaves a smoke trail, not a vapor trail, literally a smoke trail. The smoke trailed shots are not accurate. I placed a call to Sierra and made an inquiry and was told that what I was seeing in smoke was the vaporization of the lead from a cracked jacket. The most likely cause, I was told, was that my barrel was copper fouled or the barrel throat was rough or both. They recommended the use of Remington 40X bore cleaner to clear the fouling. Based upon this recomendation, I picked up the Rem 40X and gave the barrel a good scrubbing behind a double treatment of the foaming bore cleaner. I then took the rifle to my gunsmith and had him scope the bore to see the condition of the throat and barrel (wanted to clear my new found fears that my rifle was OK). He gave it a clean bill of health stating that it looked to be just now broken in well with the rifling starting immediately at the end of the neck. While at the gunsmith, he told me he had had a problem with some Sierra 55gr 22 cal bullets last year in his 22-250. He was getting complete disintegration of the bullets upon firing. He said he typically uses a different brand of bullet but with the shortage last year, tried out the Sierras that were available. This has me wondering if there is a problem with the Sierra varmit bullets?? What has your experience been out there????
I plan to shoot more of the Blitzkings with my clean barrel to see what I get, but I also think I will start working up some loads with other brands of bullets just in case the Sierra jackets are too thin. Would appreciate any imput on the different bullet brands that have performed well for others. I do want to stay with the 39-40gr bullet.
First, my load is 29.7gr BLC2 powder (published max is 30gr) with Remington 7 1/2 primers and the 39gr Blitzking bullet. I arrived at this load working up from a lower start point in 0.3gr increments and found that this load and my rifle (Remington 700 VS SF II) worked the best together. Total # of shots through this rifle is 1340 to date with probably 1100 of those being the above mentioned load. Cleaning of the barrel is performed after 20-40 shots using foaming bore cleaner, letting the foam have 15 or more minutes to work per can directions.
Now the problem - on occassion, the bullet when fired leaves a smoke trail, not a vapor trail, literally a smoke trail. The smoke trailed shots are not accurate. I placed a call to Sierra and made an inquiry and was told that what I was seeing in smoke was the vaporization of the lead from a cracked jacket. The most likely cause, I was told, was that my barrel was copper fouled or the barrel throat was rough or both. They recommended the use of Remington 40X bore cleaner to clear the fouling. Based upon this recomendation, I picked up the Rem 40X and gave the barrel a good scrubbing behind a double treatment of the foaming bore cleaner. I then took the rifle to my gunsmith and had him scope the bore to see the condition of the throat and barrel (wanted to clear my new found fears that my rifle was OK). He gave it a clean bill of health stating that it looked to be just now broken in well with the rifling starting immediately at the end of the neck. While at the gunsmith, he told me he had had a problem with some Sierra 55gr 22 cal bullets last year in his 22-250. He was getting complete disintegration of the bullets upon firing. He said he typically uses a different brand of bullet but with the shortage last year, tried out the Sierras that were available. This has me wondering if there is a problem with the Sierra varmit bullets?? What has your experience been out there????
I plan to shoot more of the Blitzkings with my clean barrel to see what I get, but I also think I will start working up some loads with other brands of bullets just in case the Sierra jackets are too thin. Would appreciate any imput on the different bullet brands that have performed well for others. I do want to stay with the 39-40gr bullet.