204 Hornady factory ammo
Which has proved most accurate in your rifle?
32 gr VMax or 40 gr VMax?
APB
11 April 2007, 08:36
ColtchrisIn my Encore, 40 gr. is terrible! 32 gr. factory shoots well (0.5 to 0.8"). All my handloads with 32 gr. V-Max. and 32 gr. & 39 gr. Sierra Blitzkings shoot excellent (0.34 to 0.8").
11 April 2007, 23:59
BuliwyfMy Savage LRPV shoots both into .5 groups at 100 yds regularly. I'm leaning towards the 32 grain V-Max.
I am going to try the Seirra 39 grain.
12 April 2007, 01:12
groundhog devastationI have put together several .204's all either Remington or Savages and ALL have preferred the 32 grain factory of=ver the 40 grain factory loadings. And ALL have been made to be spectacular using the 39 grain Sierras! I shoot the 39 grain Sierras pretty much exclusivly in my Savage VLP. Chronographing 100 of the Hornady 32 grain factory loads yielded an average velocity of 4146fps from the Savage and the same rifle averaged exactly the advertised 4225fps when I put 20 Remington factory 32 grain loads thru it. I've only heard of one .204 that the guy preferred the 40 grain Hornady load and that was one of the special run Model 7 synthetics. I also had one of them and it shot the 40 grain load ok but not nearly as good as it did the 32 factory loads. GHD
12 April 2007, 03:49
uplandrI have a CZ 527 Varmint that loves the Hornady 32 grain load. 100yds= sub-half inch groups. Amazing accuracy for an inexpensive rifle.
13 April 2007, 01:41
Chuck WhiteIn my Encore, the Hornady 32 grain V-Max will easily shoot 3/8 inch groups!
The Hornady 40 grainers aren't worth bringing home. I shot a whole box of them at one target and they printed about a 6 inch group. The kicker, all of them keyholed.
GHD
Thanks for the insight.
I have an XR100 which really likes the Federal 39 Blitz and am having trouble sourcing factory ammo in NZ in a couple of weeks. Hornady available there.
What are your favourite handload recipes?
APB
13 April 2007, 12:19
Gube204The 32 gr are very accurate in my VLP. The best I could do with the Hornady 40 gr was between .8 and about 1 1/2". The V-max 40's gave me lots of flyers. The 39 gr sierras and the 40 gr noslers do very fine with RL-10X and H-4895. Stange thing is the Hornady 45 gr soft points were also very accurate. I contribute this mostly due to the fact that the OAL of the 45 gr is less than the 40 gr V-max.
13 April 2007, 16:27
groundhog devastationAPB, 27.5 grains of Accurate 2520 and the 39 grain Sierras has been the most consistent load I've tried across the board in the .204's I've loaded and developed for. 28-28.3 grains of Accurate 2230 and the 32 grain VMax's or the 32 grain Sierras has been good in at least 4 of the rifles also. GHD