A buddy of mine approached me for some help with his .204. He just bought a Kimber 84M fluted stainless and mounted a Nikon Monarch scope on it, he really wants this to be a shooter so wants some help finding an accurate starting load that we can fine tune to his rifle to be a great shooter.
I have lots of loading experience with many cartridges but all .223 and up, I've never messed with a .204 and don't know where to begin and I am pressed for time meaning I can't spend days and days of my time working a load up I have too many other commitments.
What powder do some show a preference for?
What bullet weights do these things prefer?
Any .204 shooters out there to lead me down the right path?
Thanks in advance

These are the loads that I use in both of my 204's (they are savages). every gun is different, so ALWAYS start below and work your way up.

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.

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 have shot the exact same Kimber your friend has for two years now. It shoots ok with 40 grain bullets. Shoots poorly with any bullets heavier then 40 grains.

The best load I have found and now stick with is: 32gr Blitz Kings, Fed Match primers, 26.5 grains of R10X, COAL 2.250. Work up to this load it is right there at max. I had an average of 4066 Ft/sec with 10 shots and an extreme spread of 6 ft/sec. It shoots 1/4 inch @ 100 all day.

Caution this load is hard on pelts. I don't skin these Arizona desert dogs so it does not bother me much. It really splats the PD’s.