Well I took the big ($$$$) plunge today and have a new Cooper Montana Varmiter on the way. Excited w/ the new caliber and my first Cooper. Hope the trigger will adjust to 1 lb. or less and still be safe.. Any experience with the 204 cal. or Coopers in general much apprec. thanx. Doc Stone

I'll bet you can put all of the experienced .204 shooter in America on a couple of Greyhounds, but on the other hand, You will not be disappointed in your rifle choice. Cooper is top notch all the way and they shoot! Best deal in the country for a production rifle IMO.

I think ground hog devestation and POP have some experience w/ ruger 204's. HELP GUYS.. also any good loads?? what dies do you have?? I,m thinking Redding bushing, body and competition seater set, but much $$ what the HE11?? GOT TO HAVE A FEW TOYS , RIGHT, THANX, DOC STONE

voldoc, You're going to like the 204 and you're going to like the Cooper!!! As far as loads go, I've only had it for a few weeks so I haven't done a lot of testing but I have done enough to know that my Savage VLP likes 28.3 grains of H4895, Fed 205Match primer, 32 grain VMax with COL of 2.355. Velocity is 4089 and groups in the .3's at 100. Longest I've shot a varmint so far with it has been 323 yards on a groundhog. Mine doesn't seem to like the 40 grain VMaxs! Not the factory or the 3 or 4 loads I've tested in it! I've used Varget in testing and it was ok but the H4895 load was more consistent. I'll get around to doing some testing with Reloader 10 and Benchmark soon I hope. Between corn planting, trying to make hay between rain, the 3 day varmint video excursion of Thurs, Friday and today with the "Point Blank at Long Range" guys, time has been scarce! I've formed a few cases from 222Mag brass(I shoot one of them also) and if you try it, set the resizing die as normal then back it off 1/2-3/4 turns and use a fairly stiff load with the bullet seated as close to or just touching the lands. You will definitely need to trim after this......it stretches a bit but neck thickness doesn't appear to be a problem. My dies are regular RCBS FL dies but as soon as LEE makes a collet die for it, I'll get one! Hope this helps! Check out the pics of it's kills over at "wildcatshooting.com". GHD

GHD, I thought about the Savage also the Ruger but the Cooper bug has been biting me for a while so did two itches at once. Ruger 204 and Cooper. Give me a link to your 204 kill pics. Looked but would not find them. Do you guys use hold over ala mildots, TDS reticle or click 'em up and down. I'm new to this game and plan on putting a Swarovski 6-18x50mm on the Cooper 204 when I get it later this week.It has the TDS reticle similar to a mildot system. Advise me about the method used on say 300-400 yd. shots. Hope I am not being a pain.. thanx, Doc Stone

Doc, I don't know what to give you as far as a "link" but if you go to www.wildcatshooting.com and look up my persoanl gallery(groundhog devastation) you should be able to veiw all the pics there. As far as glass and reticles go, I've got a NIKON 6.5-20x44 with target turrets on the 204 and I "click" that one. The 6mm has a 6x24 Bushnell Elite with mildot reticle and out to 400 the dots are right for it's load but after that I "click" it also. Hopefully sometime in the next 2 weeks, I'll get some "bench time" with the 204 and ring it out a bit more!!! I guess I'll just have to do the Reloader 10 and BENCHMARK tests from scratch!!! As there is no data anywhere for those two but I'm guessing they will be super powders in that case!!! Also I intend to do a more extensive VARGET test on this one!!! VARGET has a hard time finding a varmint caliber it won't work in!!! For that matter, VARGET has a hard time finding a chambering it won't work in all the way up to the 300SAUM!!!! Try the websites again and if you can't see the pics, send me an email and I'll send them to you! If you go to the site and look up "varmint hunting" thread and search for a post titled "DRT defined" you'll see some of the results! There is also somewhere there another post titled "DRT has been defined! This is TERMINAL!!!" Also go to www.groovebullets.com and see if you can see the pics there! Later, Charlie (GHD)

Coopers are the shit!! Dan Cooper is coming to Charlotte next month, and I'll get to meet the Master!!...sakofan..Congrats!!

Thanx Sakofan'
I got to shoot the first few groups w/ the Cooper 204 yesterday. I was shooting factory (Horn.) 32 gr. V-max load. They all wanted to go into one hole except for the human error(me).. I have some once fired brass to work w/ now so on with the quest.. Cooper is the $HITT>> Doc

doc, have you tried any of the Cooper ammo?? I was curious how it shot..sakofan..

Sako,
No I haven't but thanks for the thought. I'll check it out and see if any is available. I'll keep you posted. Doc Stone