Well, I finally quit dragging my feet, loaded up a bunch of test loads for my Savage .204 Ruger and headed out to the range around 5:30 p.m. today. Instead of loading up 3 to 5 casings with the same charge, I loaded up 4 to 5 casings for each of 3 different powders for the 32 gr. V-Max and did the same thing for the 40 gr. V-Max. My powder charges increased by varying amounts, but went from as little as a 0.2 gr. increase all the way up to as much as a 0.5 gr. increment. When it comes to safety, I generally try to play it on the very safe side.

The powders I used were Alliant Reloder 10X, Hodgdon's BL-C(2), and Winchester 748. My rifle had approximately 110 shells fired in it prior to tonight's testing. I used Remington 7 1/2 primers, used once fired factory casings all trimmed to 1.8425". All these casings had the primer pocket depth uniformed with a Sinclair tool, the flash hole was deburred, necks were sized with a Redding Type S neck sizer die with a 0.024" bushing. I sized the necks down about 0.155" from the top of the case mouth and didn't seat my bullets any deeper than that. I believe the case neck from the mouth to where the shoulder begins is approximately 0.200". I have listed the OCL at the top of each chart. I use a Stoney Point case gauge and comparator to determine how far away the bullet is from the lands.

I am going to post two photos here, that list the Round #, Powder Charge and Velocity for each powder. The 32 gr. V-Max loads will be first. Under each chart, you will see a picture of the target I shot with those rounds and each bullet hole is numbered to correspond to the shot numbers listed in the chart. Let's see if this photo is large enough so you can ascertain what I did.



Here are the loads and targets for the 40 gr. V-Max test firings.



At first glance, it doesn't look like I'll be able to use the same powder for both the 32 gr. and 40 gr. bullets. With my .17 Remington I have some different weight bullets that I can use the same powder for and I don't have to adjust my scope but just a smidgen to use two different weight bullets.

The two groups with BL-C(2) were fairly decent when you consider the fact that each bullet was pushed by a different weight charge. The 32 gr. 5-shot group measures 0.6875" center-to-center and the 40 gr. 5-shot group measures 0.9375" center-to-center. The 5-shot group with 40 gr. bullets and Winchest 748 measures 0.875".

None of these loads showed any signs of being even mildly warm, so I think I can increase the powder charge a wee bit for all three powders with both bullet weights and still be in the "safe" zone. I know that the .204 Ruger casing has a bit more capacity than the Tactical 20 and I assume that is one reason I didn't get 4,255 fps from the 26.5 gr. load of Reloader 10X with the 32 gr. bullet like Todd Kindler did in his article in the Summer 2004 edition of Small Caliber News on pages 47-48. But, I did get 4,103 fps with that load. He also listed that he achieved 4,000 fps with 25.9 gr. of Reloder 10X pushing the 40 gr. V-Max bullet. I was real close at 3,969 fps.

I'll load up a few more once-fire casings and head out to the range one of these next few days.

Silverfox...

Thanks so much for your report.

I just bought a Savage 12FV in 204 and so far it seems to want to shoot very well with factory 32 gr. loads. I managed a couple of better than 1/2" 3-shot groups at the range from a rest.

I' looking forward to reloading for this round so your well-done tests are really appreciated. Nice work.

Thanks again.

Silverfox: Like Roger I want to thank you for your efforts and posting on the various loads you tried in your 204!
I am copying them for my loading log notes. It was interesting your BL-C2 loads using the 40 gr. bullet as the powder charge and velocity increased the bullet impact actually went lower! You would think with the additional velocity the bullets would fly flatter and hit the target at higher and higher points of impact! But no I guess it all depends on the barrel vibrations (oscillations?) as to where that bullet is going as it leaves the muzzle!
What Silverfox may I ask were you trying to do or ascertain by shooting all different powder charges in a string into one group?
I want to add this to the discussion on the 204's. I was at an event the other night that had lots of Gunshop owners and salesmen and a factory rep for the T/C Company. Anyway the factory speeds of the 32 gr. Hornady 204 factory ammo was brought up for discussion and how the factory velocities with that weight bullet were very hard for handloaders to achieve! Not one, but TWO of the folks in attendance there had "inside information" (heard rumors?) that the powder loads Hornady is using have not ONE but TWO types of powder in the same cartridge! A duplex load then! I have no knowledge what so ever in this regard and took it in and mulled it over. The discussion continued in that the factory has been keeping the load under wraps as best they can so as to keep us "all thumbs" type handloaders from harming themselves or their Rifles!
I don't know!
Has anyone else heard anything along these lines as to how the Hornady folks can come up with 4,225 F.P.S. in their 32 gr. factory cartridge and all the published data seems to be running at or under 4,100 F.P.S.?
Also Silverfox what scope do you have on your Savage and are those partially visble squares in your target reproductions 1" squares or some other measurement?
Thanks again for the posting.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VarmintGuy-- You are very welcome and I am glad the information might be useful to you. There were actually some loads where I increased the charge and the velocity decreased! A couple of the loads were several grains apart in charge weight and yielded almost identical velocty, but the bullets hit quite a ways apart!!! Strange things sometimes happen when I have a rifle in my hands

The main reason I did only one casing in each charge weight was because I have been doing LOTS of research on loads for the .204 Ruger. I have printed out hundreds of loads from the Internet. There don't seem to be any reloaders out there getting the same velocity (or even remotely the same velocity) as the next fellow using the same bullet and load. Mind you, I am also checking barrel length, temperature, etc. that reloaders report as well. That conflicting information is what caused me to want to find out for myself, what velocity various powder charges will produce in my rifle under my specific circumstances--overall casing length, neck diameter before and after seating the bullet, seating depth, primer, powder charge, barometric pressure, humidity and on and on into the night. I worked up the charges by small amounts so I can constantly check on primer condition and bolt lift after each shot. Some of the loads that have been listed have been several grains of powder over the maximum listed at the Hodgdon site.

I realize that one shot with a particular powder charge doesn't mean the velocity won't vary a bit when I put together 3 to 5 casings with the same load. I expect a little speed spread. However, like I said, I just wanted a ballpark figure for velocity with these powders and loads.

I am going to use this same process for my next range session. I will be increasing the charges a little bit with each powder and bullet weight. I am also going to load up a few test casings with H4895 and Varget for both the 32 gr. and 40 gr. bullets. I was going to use VVN540, but will hold off on that for the time being.

I will also try Reloder 10X, BL-C(2), and H4895 with the 35 gr. Berger FB HP bullet. I'll try four different powder charges for each of these 3 powders. I am pretty sure that the 35 gr. Berger bullet will be my coyote getter pill if I can find an accurate load that will push that 35 gr. bullet out there between 4,100 and 4,200 fps. I may even settle for 4,000 fps if the load is super accurate.

I had heard somewhere that same thing about a possibility that two powders had been mixed to get the Hornady factory load. I pulled the bullet from one of my 32 gr. loads so I could use the casing to make a modified case for my Stoney Point gauge. The powder looked like it could have been Winchester 748--it was a very small stranded powder. The charge weighed 30.2 gr. if I remember right. I don't think there are too many of us who would be foolish enough to mix two different powders on purpose.

The scope I have on my rifle is a Leupold VX-III 6.5-20x40mm long range with a wide duplex reticle and side focus. I did the shooting with the scope set at 20x.

The squares on the targets are 1" squares. When I scanned the targets and worked with them in PhotoShop and then inserted them into my Excel spreadsheet, I resized the photos a bit and some of the squares are just a little (like maybe 1/16") over or under 1" on the final scan. I wanted them to be as uniform as possible, but they are not exactly 1" like I would have preferred. I reworked a target I got from the Internet to make these for myself. I really like the orange dot in the center of the target. The sheets I use for targets have 3 orange bulls and one larger bull just above the orange ones. I have placed little tables below the targets where I list the date, powder mfg., type of powder, powder charge, bullet mfg., bullet type, and bullet weight. I usually shoot the targets and recored the data on a chronograph record sheet I made. I list the powder charge, velocity of each round, and point of impact on the target. Then when I come home from the range, I cut the target off the sheet and number the shot holes and tape that piece to the chronograph record sheet. I put all of these record sheets in a three-ring binder for later reference.
On my next trip to the range,

VG, I read or heard somewhere that the powder used is made by PRIMEX.......who the "h.e. double hockey sticks" is PRIMEX? During all my testing using the facory loads and on several different sessions, the factory 32's averaged 4149fps without much deviation from shot to shot or session to session......except that one round that went 4307!!!!!! Maybe it was on the bottom or the top of the canister and had a little too much of the "fast" powder in it!!! I do know that I'm a fan of the 204! Maybe not to the same degree as I'm a fan of the 17HMR. But it has promise! The 222MAG and 6x47 have been some of my favorites(still are) over the years and the 204 is just an extension of the family! GHD

Specially blended powders for specific ballistic applications have been used by ammo companies for several years.Hornady has used non canister powder blends AND special case charging techiques to get the terrific velocites in their "Light magnum" High velocity hunting cartridges.

I don't think they do this to keep handloaders in the dark,but they DO these things for sure to meet the velocity targets they set AND to keep the competition from duplicating their performance!

A Hodgdon engineer told me a few years ago that they had been working very closely with Hornady for several years on "special projects".

Remington must have used a "non canister" load in their PREMIER 180 graain loading for the 300SAUM!!!! 3184 fps average for 19 shots and hard bolt lift was the norm!!! I called them about it but you where that went!!! Their 165 grain loading averaged 3034fps!!! I guess that xtra was the "PREMEIUM"!!! I still say they screwed up by not releasing the SAUM's instead of the behemoth RUM's first!! A little off subject but couldn't help myself! GHD