Well my new Ruger 77 V/T in caliber 204 Ruger has now been "blooded" in the Varmint Fields! I just returned from a Varmint mini-Safari that lasted only two days.

The trip was somewhat hastily planned and was mostly an excuse to get into a new corner of Montana (to me) and shoot some Varmints and drop off a recently taxidermied Whitetail Buck mount with a friend of mine (Jack). He shot the Buck last fall here in Montana and had it mounted in my home town. He came out from Washington to Montana for some Varminting and R&R. It would save him about 200 miles of driving and thus save him more time for Varminting. So we met in that remote little corner of Montana where we intended to Hunt.

My 204 Ruger got its "cherry" broken in a remote and gorgeous valley full of purple, yellow and red wild flowers! The valley had a creek running down the middle of it and was just full of Antelope and some Mule Deer. This spot was so beautiful and serene I almost hated to set up on the Ground Squirrels that flitted in amongst the flowers, grass and Sagebrush.

I did anyway.

The first shot at a Varmint with the 204 was on a plump Ground Squirrel at 175 yards or so. My Ruger has a Sightron 6x24 variable power scope on it. The wind was puffing pretty well at the time and I held just on the upwind edge of the standing Varmint. At the shot I saw said Varmint fly sideways and I was sure I hit him. I had blinked at the shot and did not see bullet impact. I shot a couple more Gophers before venturing forth to photograph the initial success. I eventually found the first Gopher and he was the only one still in one piece. He had been struck on that upwind edge of his chest (where I was aiming) and flung sideways several feet. I posed the Varmint with my Rifle and a brilliant bunch of purple flowers in the back ground. Should be a good photo once developed (yeah I know I need to get into the 21st century with a computer friendly cammera!).

The Hunt and the visiting with my old friend and Hunting buddy went well. He was continuing on into Prairie Dog country but I had an appointment at home that prompted my return.

I was really impressed with the 204 in the field. Simply put - "speed kills"! Speed does a couple preferable things to a bullet for a Varmint Hunter! The more speed a bullet has the more immune it is to the wind (less time of flight and less time for the wind to move it out of the intended flight path/direction) and the flatter it will fly (less time for gravity to bend its trajectory!).

I shot my Lilja barrelled Ruger 10/22 in 22 LR and my Ruger 77/17V in 17 HMR mostly on the Hunt and tried to save the limited 204 Ruger ammo I have for an upcoming Prairie Dog Safari I have planned.

What a great Hunt this one was even though my part of it was somewhat short.

The Ground Squirrels will be going into their summer hibernation in about 14 days and will not be seen again until early next spring. So I was happy I made the drive and learned some new and remote valleys and fields.

I found some beautiful agate rocks and some denderite laden chirt type rocks for my rock collection (wife torture method #126!).

My friend had his Ruger #1-VSS along in caliber 204 Ruger also. It is just a beautiful Rifle as it is fitted with a Leupold 6x18 variable scope. He prefers the Hornady 40 gr. bullets in his handloads while I was shooting the Berger 35 gr. (non-MEF) bullets in mine. Its the second Safari for his Rifle and he knows how well the 204 performs in the field! He has concerns about barrel life and I guess we will find out in due course.

Other equipment along that performed extremely well was a set of Motorola Walkabout (vibrating for call notification!) radios, Leica 800 Laser Rangefinder, Nikon 20x Earth & Sky spotting scope, Bausch & Lomb 9x35 Zephyr binoculars (made in Rochester, New York!), Dog-Gone-Good window mount style sand bag for shooting out the window of the VarmintMobile, "Terminator" swiveling shooting bench (manufactured by my friend Jack), 17 caliber Bore Snake (for quick field cleaning of the 17 HMR and the 204 Rugers), Dog-Gone-Good large size "X" style field sand bags and good beveridge coolers (daytime temps in excess of 80 degrees!).

Aahhh....! Montana!

More later

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

Just returned from a long days shopping trip to Idaho Falls, Idaho. I did all the Gunshops and Sporting Goods stores there. I saw several more Remington 700 VLS's in caliber 204 Ruger. I nearly bought one that was tag priced at $550.00! In todays market I think this is a pretty good buy for what this Rifle is. I inquired of the owner of "Ski's" Sporting Goods that had this Rifle and why it was priced from $99.00 to $49.00 less than at other shops and he slowly alluded to this Rifle coming around late in the season and Varminters may be concentrating on other Game and Rifles for the late summer and fall. I bought two boxes of 204 ammo from him for $14.00 each. I now have 120 (well 119!) pieces of brass and loaded ammo.
If I had a touch more mad money and I could have beat them out of the 6% sales tax there in Idaho I would have added that nice Rifle to my Varmint arsenal.
I did buy several items I needed that are not available here in my small town, like, Bench Rest targets, a Patch Hawg cleaning aid, a Hunters brand pistol carrying case for my Smith & Wesson 17 HMR revolver and scope and some VihtaVourhi N133 powder (yeah try and find that in SW Montana!).
Again NO ONE has any idea when Hornady (or anyone else) may come out with 204 Ruger brass! Oh well!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I would like to get my hands on a Ruger no.1 in .204 "myownself" one day.They seem like some of the more accurate No1's to be made recently..

I have a question VG,where are you located in SW Montana? The Bitterroot Valley? I ask because I have friends all over that state.I spent a fair amount of time up in Kalispell doing business and got to travel over a lot of the state.I miss it.

I knew several folks from the Darby area and used to love going to gunshops in Misoula(Sportsman's and Axmen's) as well as seeing my freind Dan at Ronan Sports and Western.It's been over five years now since I have been up that way.I need to make a trip up there soon..

VG, Thanks for your repeated updates on your ".204 outings". For those of you looking for ammunition, Midway has three boxes of the .32 gr and four boxes of the .40 gr. I had been trying to purchase .204 from Hornady directly. Last week they called me and indicated they would not accept retail orders and were cancelling my order. The woman indicated they hope to fill retail orders by July, 2005. We might be lucky to get new brass by 2006.



Additionally, Hornady emailed me the following:



The demand for these rounds has been much greater than we ever anticipated. At this time, we will not be shipping any 204 Ruger ammunition to our retail customers; we will be shipping it solely to our distributors. We will be canceling the orders we have in-house now but hope to be able to serve our retail customers directly by mid-2005. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you. I have listed a number of mail-order places for you to call. For those of you who had the 40gr 204 ordered, call The Shooting Shop at 931-503-0771. They informed us they had "plenty on the shelf ready to ship".



Lock Stock & Barrel 800-228-7925

Midway USA 800-243-3220

Cabela's 800-237-4444

Graf & Sons 800-531-2666

Natchez Shooters Supply 800-251-7839

Bass Pro 800-227-7776

Williams Shooters Supply 217-222-4195

Appleland Sports Supply 608-735-4470

Bertrand's Sports Shop 920-432-1296

Rusk Gun Shop 608-274-8740

Crow Shooting Supply 641-322-5821

Bill Hicks, Inc. 763-476-6200

Ammocraft 612-933-3993

Dale's Fish n' Fun 785-475-2201

Simmon's Gun Specialties 913-592-3939



Again, we apologize for any inconvenience.



Kathy McHale, Customer Service

Hornady Mfg.

I posted quite some time back that it would be well into 2005 before .204 brass would be available.
My solution was and is to buy .222 Remington Mag brass and fire form your own (way easy). Two fold resolution, one you get brass now, two the necks will be a bit tighter in the factory chamber.
I don't even have the rifle yet but when it gets here I'm ready. In the mean time I'm playing with my Tactical .20 and as others are finding out with the .204 the .20 caliber might just be the best p-dog, gopher caliber ever!!! Even on chucks a 40 grain V-Max at 3,900fps will do the damn-damn on em, at 400 yards it'll flip em and empty em!!!

VG- JUST WANTED TO ASK IF YOU WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE HEAT THE BARREL IS SUBJECT TO ON IN THE 204? I SMACK ALOT OF DOGS ON THE REZ WITH A RUGER 223 TARGET, THE 204 IS FRESH TO FAMILY. THE REASON WHY I ASK IS DURING A SIGHT-IN SHOOT I THOUGHT THE BARREL WAS JUST TOO HOT.

Mountdoug: Well that about does it! I think I will take your advise and get through this Prairie Dog summer season with what I have on hand and then this winter buy a large cache of Remington 222 Magnum brass ( I already have a lifetime supply of this but it is in the brass locker for my 6x47 and my 222 Magnums!). I will sort it by weight and keep the middle 300 or 400 pieces for my 204. I will sell the others and do what you suggest just fireform it and be done with it. I do not want to risk missing another Prairie Dog season and having just 80 cartridges for my 204!
I can live with the "wrong" headstamp easier than I can live with no brass!
Thanks Doug!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Rezdog: I also noticed this one warm afternoon at my range. I think I made a posting somewhere regarding the relatively few rounds shot but the barrel did, in my opinion, heat up more than I expected it would with this number of rounds. There are solutions to this heating (if its a fact?) in that one can keep (like you apparently have) another Rifle handy!
As for the reason to this perceived heat up I can only surmise (guess?) that it is the speed of the bullet or maybe the relativley high pressure attained with this round!
I do want to take care and baby my Rifle in the heat buildup situation though!
I am packed and ready to hit the road for PD country and will have the 204 along with my few handloads and some factory ammo. I will let you know if it "heats up" quicker in the field with other Rifles being fired right along side it.
I only use 28.0 grs. of powder in my handloads?
I want to take this opportunity to welcome you to "our Varminting forum" and wish you good luck with your 204!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Sharpsman: I live two miles outside the small town of Dillon, Montana. It is 130 miles of the most incredible scenery to drive to Darby, Montana from my place. I am about 3 valleys east of the Bitterroot Valley. My valley is at 5,300' elevation and the Bitterroot Valley is about 3,800' (south end) to 3,400' (north end) in elevation.
There is a very beautiful Ruger #1-B in 204 at the Bitterroot Trading Company in Hamilton, Montana. It has really nice wood. It was there about 3 weeks ago anyway and I nearly bought it a couple of times! Real nice wood maybe one of your friends can look at it for you if it is still there!
My friend Jacks 204 is a Ruger #1-V in Varmint weight stainless with gray laminated stock It really shoots well and I have talked to two other Varmint types at Gunshops that own this heavy barreled SS Model and they both were impressed with their accuracy so maybe yes these new Ruger #1's may be more prone to good accuracy than some from the last few decades?
Good luck if you try one I sure like the ballistics and the performance in the field so far with mine.
Yes Ronan Sports gets a lot of really great Varmint Rifles in there! I have not been there though for about 8 months as it is 300+ miles from me!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

John8061: Thank you for the updated information on the 204 ammo! And a welcome to you also here on the Varminting forum!

I appreciate your efforts in your posting. Like I recently posted I may just buy another big batch of 222 Remington Magnum brass and fireform it for my 204.

I fully expect to have the Remington 700 VLS in 204 Ruger added to my Varmint arsenal by next spring! I really like this caliber. Now I see what Montdoug and the other 20 caliber fans have been "going out of their way" to have guns made and buying all the custom gear for! The 20's really fly flat! And the minimal recoil is really a bonus to a Varminter in my opinion!

It sometimes pays to try something "new"!

I ran into two stores in Idaho Falls that were only selling ammunition (that they did not have in stock!) to people that bought Rifles from them!. Gee!

Again thanks to you and welcome aboard!

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

Montdog: I need an explanation of fireforming the 222 Rem mag brass to 204 ruger. Picked up 4 box 204 at gun show but in anticipation of the shortage of 204, I bought 500 new 222 Rem Mag brass this spring. VVCG is about ready to ship my SS Contender barrel in 204 and I would appreciate your directions. If you prefer to email me with the description, my email address is edelong1@cox.net
Thanks Ed

First I'd go brass psycho and segregate by weight in lots of 50, then I do the flash holes while it's still a .22 ( the flash hole reamer won't fit a .20) followed by uniforming the primer pockets. After the brass is ready I'd lube with Imperial size wax (not too much or you'll dent the shoulders) and using a .204 full size die backed way out I'd start sizing a little of the neck at a time until I could just get the bolt to close with a crush fit (where it takes a good snug push to close the bolt). There is going to be a bit of a ring or ridge around the base of the neck that's going to cause the crush fit, this is important cause that's where it's going to head space while it blows the shoulders forward.
In an empty case formed to .20 that way seat a bullet and mic it at the neck, mic a fired factory round at the case mouth and make sure your loaded case mic's at least .002 or .003 smaller than a fired case. I'm guessing going to a .222 mag case will tighten a factory neck by .003 or .004 which is great cause factory rifles usually leave .009 to .012 room for the neck. If there isn't at least a consistant .002 you need to turn the necks (that would surprise me a bunch).
At any rate after you've figured the proper length, size em and then I'd recommend anealing them (they form a lot better that way).
Load with a medium load and if possible seat the bullet into the lands by .005 or better. Go shoot 50 gophers and you have 50 formed cases.
It's the same process I use to form .223 to the Tactical .20 except the Tact.20 need form dies and Redding (my favorite standard die) says the .204 doesn't. Hope I din't confuse you, cause it's really not that tough, if you have further question let me know in fact if you try it and haven't done it before I'd be glad to shoot ya my phone number via e-mail and talk you through it.

The area of the neck just below the little dark ring on the neck of the fire formed casing is approximately 0.002" larger than the rest of the neck. I have a K & M neck turner with the carbide mandrel and have turned several casings for "practice" and finally got my settings where I wanted them and turned 5 casings for test firing. Those casings with the turned necks were loaded with 29.0 gr. of Winchester 748 powder, Remington 7 1/2 primers and 32 gr. V-Max bullets seated to an OCL of 2.357". The 5-shot group was 0.888". However, the first 4 shots were made with no wind and when I pulled the trigger on shot #5, there was a left to right wind of about 8 to 10 mph. That shot hit to the right and slightly higher than the other 4 shots. The 4 previous shots measured 0.575" and shots 2, 3, and 4 measured 0.320". I loaded three once-fired factory casings with the same load, same seating depth, BUT with no neck turning, only neck sizing. There was very little to no wind while firing. The first shot was out of a freshly cleaned barrel and that bullet hit 0.3125" above the other two shots. Shots 2 and 3 were almost in the same hole. The 3-shot group measured 0.390" center-to-center on the widest two shots. If those 3 shots are any indication of the accuracy with reloads in the factory brass, I don't think I'll be messing with the neck turner on that brass. The neck thickness varies very slightly on the factory casings. Way less than on the .222 Mag casings.



I am looking forward to spending some range time with my Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger. I have some Win 748, BL-C(2), H4895, Varget, and Reloder 10X for my test powders. Todd Kindler is very high on Reloder 10X for the Tactical 20, and I hope it works well in my .204 Ruger.



What looks like a Good luck in your fire forming process. It looks like it may be 2006 before any Hornady .204 Ruger casings are going to be made available to reloaders.

Silverfox, Great pictures! Looks just like mine do! Now for a little tip on a darn 20 caliber trimmer pilot! Most of you have a 22 caliber pilot and most of your gunshops have them available on a routine basis(if not, the pilots are out there in cyberspace or mail order!!!)and if you are playing with the .204 about now go ahead and sacrifice your 22 caliber pilot! How do we do this? Simple!!! Most of you have a cordless drill (or the old fashioned "corded" ones. And most of you will probably have a Dremel tool or some other brand(CRAFTSMAN) tool with multiple functions. Chuck up your pilot in the drill. Put your "handy dandy" little grinding wheel on your Dremel(or other) and have them both running. Engage grinding wheel to pilot! Will take no more than 45 seconds to create a pilot measuring .198-.200 and then you can stop at the shop and get another pilot in .224!!! GHD

GHD--I am very fortunate in that I have a Wilson case trimmer. I ordered a Remington .222 Magnum case holder from Russ Haydon's Shooters Supply and it was in my hands about 3 days later. I also have a Forster case trimmer that I have set up for my .17 Remington, but couldn't find a pilot for it. If they ever come out with a .20 caliber pilot, I may just buy another Forster case trimmer and set it up to be used exclusively for the .204 Ruger. I like to use my Wilson trimmer for my 22-250 and the .243.

If you know any machinists, perhaps you could have them turn a .224 pilot down to the .20 caliber size for you. I think some people have just put the bigger pilot shaft into a mounted drill and used a file and emery cloth to turn it down. Sounds too complicated for me. I'd probably ruin three or four pilots before I got the right size.

Thanks Silverfox, a pictures worth a thousand words and that's a great photo. Guy's like you and GHD are gonna cost a lot a guy's on this site some bucks with all your great ideas and super info. This small caliber stuff is not only addicting, it's contagious, and I think you guy's just might be carriers!!!!
Keep up the good work!