First of all let me thank all of you who have helped me through this "gotta have one crisis"! Pop, Lofter, GHD, Swede44Mag and all the others - thank you!

My 204 adventure started Saturday morning (yesterday June 19th) when one of the VarmintSons hit a boulder with our riding lawn mower! The blades were so irrepairably bent they had to be replaced! The nearest blades were in Butte, Montana (130 miles round trip). So I grab my neighbor who also needs to go to the "big city" and away we go.

We do our shopping and still have an hour or so to check the sport shops. We buy all kinds of stuff, ammo, powder, primers, fly tying materials, targets and other stuff hard to find in my town. At the last place we stop they have a brand new Ruger 77 V/T in caliber 204 Ruger! I look it over and luckily the shop is busy and the owner is busy with customers and not noticing how thorough a going over I am giving this Ruger Varminter. The tag price is $684.00 and I am not to impressed with that. The proprietor and I get in a discussion of how it galls us that the manufacturers bring out these nifty new items and then "gouge" us "gun nuts"! I mention how I had been seeing the Ruger 77 V/T's in the last year for way less than $684.00! He agrees and springs a cash price on me that really got me going! I asked him to check and repeat the price 3 times. My partner and I and a couple of customers could not believe the price he quotes! Hence my asking him 3 times to make sure of his price. And he was. I left with the Rifle grinning from ear to ear!

In a way I am happy to go with the Ruger as they had the chutzpah to come up with this cartridge and bring it out in so many models! Good for them!

When I got home I began lapping the Ruger rings! Now I have seen some bad Ruger rings in the way of needing lapping and taking a long time to lap but these were THE worst Ruger rings I had ever seen! I lapped on them for a full hour! My wrists and arms were aching when I finally got 50% coverage on the rear ring! I swapped a Sightron 6x24x44mm scope onto it from another Rifle and proceeded to bore sight it! Or at least I tried to bore sight it! No spud small enough to fit in the 20 caliber barrel! Oh well I would bore sight it at a distant light shining across my field. Well that was a half assed situation with mixed results.

I then checked my cleaning rods and the only one I had that would fit in the 20 caliber barrel was a 17 caliber rod. And of course the 17 caliber bore brushes would not suffice for cleaning and barrel breakin! Damn and the wind in the mornings has been calm this week.

I have 2 boxes of the Hornady factory 32 gr. ammo for barrel breakin and obtaining brass for handloading.

I got up at 6:00 AM today (Sunday June 20th) and headed for the range. Dead calm!

I re-bore sighted the Rifle and then took my first shot with the 204! The Ruger has a military style (old Sako style) two stage trigger and that took some getting used to! The first shot hit the target about 4 inches from the red dot aiming point. I tried cleaning with the 17 caliber stuff and about all I could do was patch the barrel! Damn and my wind flags show dead calm. I fire another shot and it is 1/4" away from the first! An Antelope that had been bedded behind the 300 yard target butts prances away from my position.

I make the adjustments with the Sightrons 1/8" clicks. Then I fire some more and try and clean some more. I give up on cleaning (barrel breakin) altogether. I decide to fire ten more shots and call it a day until I can get some proper cleaning gear!

The next 5 shots at 100 yards went into a pleasing .612" group. Then the next five I fire at "Prairie Dog speed" (about 3 minutes for the five). This group with one called muff measures .841".

I am really happy with the results and have 15 fireformed cases to do handloads with. I hurry home for Fathers Day brunch with the VarmintFamily.

The Ruger is very pleasing to me. The bolt is somewhat sticky and grindy and the trigger on ocassion has a tiny bit of creep but all in all I am happy as a clam. Recoil is very mild. The fit and form of the stock is quite pleasing and rides my bag set up on my Hart rest really well!

The barrel crown looks nice (under magnification) and the barrel seems even and smooth to the patches I pushed down it. No pressure signs on the brass at all and the firing pin is dead center in the primer.

The Ruger surprised me in that I was throwing shells into the breech as a test and they loaded equally as smoothly and reliably from various positions in the breech as from the magazine! Good for Ruger.

What dispersion there was in the groups was more vertical than horizontal or random. I know how to fix those things if they persist.

The Rifle really looked nice with the Sightron scope mounted on it.

All in all I am a happy camper and Prairie Dogs (about 40 of'em!) had better beware! I am on the loose here real soon with my new rig!

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

Hey nice report. I will be curiouse to hear what kind of velocity you get out of your new little baby. Keep us posted with your findings, i love it.

Hvyw8t: I will save a couple of factory cartridges for when I get to have time for chronographing or maybe I will just buy another box of factory ammo later. As there is no brass available now just the 222 Mag stuff.
Right now I am reading fast and furious on loads and pressures in the 204. I am not interested in hotrodding it at all just a good peppy load that is accurate and safe.
Any suggestions out there? I did read somewhere that someone got over 4,300 FPS with handloads and no pressure signs. But the cretin would not publish the load (other than 32 gr. bullets) as he was worried about liability. It was in a magazine article that got online. Anyway I would be happy with 4,150 FPS and an accurate load. I just have a feeling I will be able to get under 1/2 MOA accuracy here real soon!
I just got back from town and it appears that I will need to travel to a "big city" or buy online a 20 caliber rod, brushes and a jag.
One of the sacrifices I need make to live here in paradise I guess.
I read one report somewhere online that a guy was getting 4,087 FPS ten feet in front of his muzzle with the factory ammo. He did not say what length barrel he had but that is somewhat slower than the factory figures of 4,250! I have somewhere in my chronograph notes the formuula for figuring muzzle velocity from various distances in front of the muzzle where the middle of ones chronograph sits. I am guessing his muzzle velocity with that factory ammo is around 4,120 FPS. And who knows if his chronograph is perking along OK.
Yep I will let you know my readings when obtained.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VarmintGuy--I purchased a .20 caliber Bore Tech rod, Bore Tech patch jag and some .20 caliber brushes. I bought them directly from Bore Tech. Yes, I know, you pay an arm and a leg when you buy from them, but I couldn't find them anywhere else on the Internet. Anyway, the rod, etc. arrive and I inserted the patch jag into the end of the rod. Hmmmm, that's strange, the rod diameter is WAAAAAY bigger than the portion of the jag that sits at the end of the rod!!! Here's a photo of the way it looks with some diameter measurements posted to give you and idea how ridiculous this setup really is.



I sent a copy of this photo to Bore Tech along with some measurements taken farther up the rod. The diameter of the rod is only 0.009" smaller than the inside diameter of the bore. When I placed a patch on the jag and gently started it into my bore guide, I could feel the exposed rod tip hit the lands on the rifle. I had to push the rod out the end of the barrel to remove the patch from the jag and as the rod went down the bore I was certain I could feel the rod "grinding" against the inside of the barrel. I have NEVER had that happen with any other rod I have used. When I pulled the rod back out the breech, there was a patch of the rod coating missing at the end. I wonder what rod they really sent me? Is this a .224 caliber rod or some production mistake or what?

Anyway, I did e-mail this information and photo to them on June 12, 2004, at 10:06 p.m. and I have not heard one word boo from them. I asked that they send the correct diameter rod, or refund my money for the rod and a good portion of the shipping charges. The shipping charges they assessed are ludicrous--I paid $22.30 for shipping, packaging and handling. Oh, I did order the 16 oz. container of their Eliminator bore cleaner. Hopefully, that will work better than the rod. Maybe I am expecting too much

I recently sent for and received information for Pro-Shot on their .17-.20 caliber rod, .20 caliber jag and thier .20 caliber nylon brushes. I will be contacting them and sending for Pro-Shot products to use in my .204 Ruger caliber Savage rifle.

In the meantime, I am using my .17 caliber Bore Tech rod and jag. One has to be super careful with the spindly .17 caliber rod, but I have not had a problem yet!!!

SilverFox: Thank you very much for that heads up on the Bore-Tech stuff!
Yes there was a way bad oversight in the engineering of that rod and and/or its jag! That is a good way to begin wrecking customers barrels!
I called Russ Haydons Shooters supply early this morning and they are out of 20 caliber rods for 3 weeks when the next shipment is due! Yikes!
OK I appreciate your time and the wonderful photo and explanation you have provided! Thanks again. But can I ask one more question of you!
My situation in brief is this. I want to breakin in my 204 barrel with the shoot and clean method. And I have a 17 caliber rod and jags from Dewey and Pro-Shot respectively. How can I scrub the bore with no 20 caliber brush that will fit in the Dewey rod? The 17 caliber Dewey rod will not allow a 22 caliber brush to be screwed into it.
I can see loading up the 17 caliber jag with a 22 caliber patch and using Shooters Choice on the patch but I wonder if this will accomplish the barrel breakin that I am trying for?
Any thoughts on this or suggestions?
Thanks again for the photo and the explanation of your problem. I appreciate it.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VG, I got a 20 caliber DEWEY rod from Lock Stock and barrel and also some Pro-Shot 20 caliber brushes that fit the DEWEY rod. Try them! As far as the velocity on the factory 32 stuff, I got an average of 4148 from the 10 or 12 I choronied while breaking in and my 32 grain handloads that I'm using is giving me 4089 and that's just fine until I do some more testing! GHD PS: I'm glad you got your rifle!! Next time you are waiting for another rifle, have the kid run over some more rocks!!!

VarmintGuy, shoot me your address via private message and I'll get a .20 cal brush in the mail tomorrow, the brush is Pro-Shot. All I use is a .17 cal Dewey .20 cal Pro-Shot brushs and a .17 cal jag with 1 1/8 inch patchs, works fine. Buy several of the rods cause try as a guy will he's still gonna bend em.

Also "Lock Stock & Barrel" has the .20 cal stuff, as well as "The Woodchuck Den Inc" in Baltic Ohio, "Shooter Oasis" also stocks a lot of sub-caliber products and is the cheapest I've found on Bergers.

but in a real pinch, if you have a .22 caliber brush you want to run down your .204 caliber barrel (possibility it might get stuck????) and you have the correct die set, you could cut threads on that brush that would fit your Dewey rod. Not the best way, but possibly a quick way to get a brush to fit your rod.



I just measured the OD of my Bore Tech rod I bought for my 22-250 and it measures 0.199" at the tip and pretty much the same all the way down the rod. That is a 0.025" difference in diameters and my .20 caliber rod from Bore Tech is only 0.009" smaller in diameter than my bore. Something is rotten here and it isn't me



I sent them the same e-mail again today to see if I could jerk their chain and get some action of some kind. I may wind up making a phone call. I have a call into Pro-Shot and I think I'll get their .17 to .20 caliber rod, jag, and nylon brushes if they have them in stock. I'll take a look at Lock, Stock, & Barrel and some of the others too. I am planning on hitting the range tomorrow morning (make that this morning). I received my new scope today and it is mounted and ready to go.

Hello VarmintGuy
What are you going to do with the Remington 223 ?
I have been looking for a 20" PSS LTR Remington
but have not found one.
Your 223 fits right in there with what I am looking for?
Thanks Lightning93

Montdoug: Thank you very much for the generous offer and the advice! I will of course repay you in kind at the first possible instance! 1 1/8" patches have been noted! Thanks again as I am in a bind here! I have not tried Lock Stock and Barrel but I did try Woodchuck Den and for some reason I did not see anything there! Thanks again for the help out of this situation.
My address is:
Dale Gibbons
505 Skyline Drive
Dillon, Montana
59725

Lightning93: I think I better keep it and buy another scope for it once I am out of the poor house again. I will keep you in mind if I decide to sell it. I have seen a lot of the Remington 700 PPS's lately both the long and short versions but they seem to all be in 308 caliber!
By the way I have a Remington 700 PSS that I got new in 1990. It simply was the most accurate out of the box Rifle I have ever owned! And believe me I have bought a lot of new Rifles. It came out of the box shooting 5 shot groups (this was before barrel breakin was in vogue) at 100 yards that were just amazing. I hope when you find one that it will be as accurate as mine! I am always doing Gunshows and Gunshops in my travels and I will keep an eye out for a short PSS for you. I am doing a show this weekend as a matter of fact.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

No biggie. I can only imagine the dilemma, set there and look at it or shoot it and break it in wrong. Shooters hell! It's in the mail. With any luck you'll get it tomarrow.

SilverFox: I think I will go look up the Lock, Stock & Barrel folks online right now. Montdoug has been so kind as to send me a 20 caliber brush and that will be half of my battle won. I will get a 20 caliber rod headed this way ASAP from someone. The Midway folks do not have 20 caliber rods listed in their online catalog.
Which scope do you now have on your 204?
More later
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VarmintGuy, I ran it out to Belgrade. They sort their mail in Butte and I'll be amazed if it doesn't show in up Dillon Wed. Keep us posted on the velocities.

Montdoug: Gee you didn't need to do that! Thanks again!

I just came up for a break from my reloading room and I had some revelations down there.

I used my wonderful Sinclair bullet setaing depth gauge to assemble a test round for my new 204 Ruger.

Keeping with Ruger "tradition" the throat is long in this Rifle.

According to my use of the Sinclair tool and my meausrements of the factory ammunition (Hornady 32 gr. V-Max loads) the factory loaded bullet had to jump AT LEAST .178"! Thats nearly 2/10's of an inch! I am happy I got as good groups as I have so far.

My handloaded test cartridge has the Hornady 32 gr. V-Max seated so far out in the case that I am worried it is not enough for it to travel and bounce around and remain in the case! Even at that with this test cartridge the bullet will have to jump .018" to get to the rifling. Oh well. Excessive bullet jump does not always mean poor accuracy.

Like I said in another posting I will be surprised if I do not achieve accuracy under 1/2 M.O.A. with my handloads based on what it has done with the factory ammo!

Maybe I should go find some 40 gr. V-Max bullets somewhere and they should seat deep enough to remain stable when in pockets or in cases being transported!

Its always something!

Thanks again Montdoug for the extra effort - I will make it up to you!

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

Unfortunately when Hornady dropped the 33 for the 32 the shape changed. The 32 is sleeker but has less bearing surface, the 33 has a much longer shank and faster ogive. The 32 picked up a bit of BC but most everyone seems to feel the 33 was more accurate. If you ever run across any of the 33's pick up all you can get your hands on. I bought 5,000 and I'd buy another 10,000 if I could find em.
Berger makes 30's 35's and 40's (as well as 50's that need a 1 in 9) the 35's are longer and have quite a bit of shank, might be worth a try. I'd shot both the 35's and 40's in my Tact.20 and they shoot very well.
What powder are you starting with? I've never loaded the .204 yet but I'd be real surprised if Benchmark didn't make it stand up and sing. I disected a factory round and found 30 grains even of a powder that looks exactly like H335. Keep us posted.

VG,

Just want to say congratulations on the 204!! I know everything will work out fine because I can hear the little varmints moaning even where I am at.

pdhntr

Montdoug: I am up in the air as to where to start loading for this new cartridge.

I have some H335 and will check into verifying what loads I might use with that powder also.

That Berger 35 gr. bullet sure interests me. I am doing some travelling soon and will keep an eye out for them.

I have had some off line E-mails suggesting W748 and I have one pound of that now.

The test round I made up is void of powder it does have Federal 205M primers in it as a primer is needed for the Sinclair seating depth tool to work. Damn I just thought of something I will bet that test round will not work down into the magazine. I better go check that.

Pdhntr1: Thanks for the confidence in my situation - I am sometimes impatient!

More later

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

Yikes! Back to the drawing board! My test load is way to long for the Ruger 77 V/T's magazine! The handload is to long for the magazine well by just about exactly the length of the red polymer tip on the end of the 32 gr. V-Max bullet!

It looks like if I want a repeater 204 I am going to have to find a load that does not mind bullets jumping about .150" before encountering the rifling!

Yiiieeee - carrrumbaaa! As Pepe Lopez the Mexican cartoon mouse character would exclaim!

Hmmm.... I am in deep consternation here.

I do feel lucky though.

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

Hodgdon.com has load data, if possible I'd try and stick with one of their "Extreme" powders. H335 is a good powder but it sure spikes pressure in the heat, I've popped a few primers with it in my .17 MachIV while shooting p-dogs at 90 with a well tested loads shot at 75. Maybe not so critical in a .20 though.
Good luck with the length issue, you could always get a blind magazine follower and shoot single.

VG, If you remember my earlier posts about testing, it took a 2.405 to touch the rifleing in my Savage VLP in 204! Factory 32's are 2.245!! Pretty darn close to your .178 jump! The factories did in the .6's but the handloads did in the .3's! And MD, I'll bet you are right on the BENCHMARK deal! Whenever I get enough time, I'm going to work up some BenchMark loads and some RELOADER 10 loads for the 204!! Right now the 28.5 grains of H4895 with the 32 grainers (COL of 2.352,4089fps) seems to be smoking the chucks pretty good! It got a couple more at 220 yards today and there is no question when the hammer falls! You see the "death spray" due to the lack of recoil and sheer speed of the darn thing!! "More fun than eatin beans!!!" I'm going to shoot it at 1000 yards tomorrow at Williamsport, "Just for the devilment of it" as grandpa use to say! Never know!!! GHD

Groundhog devastation: Thanks for the reminder I am copying your info now.
Good luck at the 1,000 yard shoot! I am looking up Williamsport now in my atlas!
Yes jumping bullets do not always an inaccurate load make!
I wonder what is going on in the heads of the folks that are setting up these dimensions back at the factories?
Hmmm.... maybe worries about pressures or something? I see on the Hodgdons site that the pressures are pretty high for many powders even at velocities way below factory numbers?
Again hmmmm.....
Thanks again for the load suggestions and reminder.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VarGuy and GHD.
Got my new Cooper 204 last Fri. so haven't had much time yet for load development. GHD has given me some good load data as a reference starting pt. The OAL to touch lands in my Cooper is 2.395" so the jump w/ factory is .150"(factory 2.245"). My first groups w/ factory 32 grs. was 6's to 7's and like you I only have a 17 cal. rod, w/ 17 jag, patches and Butch's boreshine. I sure hope this will suffice for break'in as, I have no access to 20cal stuff w/o mail order. The brushes are nylon?? Do you all think the patches w/ butch's will be ok alone as I've shot 40 rounds now that way?? The velocity in the 24" barrel w/ fact. 32's is 4,100fps(ish) and my first handloads are mild 3,950fps(ish)(Benchmark 28.0grs. and H335 28.0 grs.). I plan on shooting some hotter loads today,if rain stops. I have a swarovski 6-18-50mm mounted and I like the TDS reticle but need practical experience w/ using it.. I am new to this varmit shooting but love it so far. I've got my 700 carbon barrel 22-250 shootin' good now, 52 gr. Speer HPBT match at 3768fps in the 4's consistently. I really appreciate VG and GHD helping me w/ advise and you guys are always willing to give long and thoughtful posts, I know everyone feels the same. I don't have to worry about OAL in the Cooper as its the single shot advantage . The first handloads were 2.390" OAL about .005 off the lands. I will experiment w/ that as time allows. Keep the good posts coming.. thanx, Doc Stone PS- The trigger on the Cooper is awesome. I set it to break (clean and like glass) @ 15ozs. and safe.

VarmintGuy
That is ok, I would do the same as it did shoot well
Thanks for looking when you go to the shows.
Lightning93

204 Afficanado's: I had to go back to Butte today to get some building supplies. While there one of the sport shops had just gotten in some Hornady 204 Ruger ammnunition loaded with the 40 gr. V-Max bullets. The Hornady ammo has a ballistic chart on the back of each box of ammo the 40 gr. bullets actually shoot virtually as flat as the 32 gr. bullets out to 400 yards and then at 500 yards the 40 gr. bullets are flatter shooting!
I will attempt to render the two charts here:

32 gr. 4,225 FPS 100 yds = + 0.6"
200 yds = 0.0
300 yds = - 4.1"
400 yds = - 13.1"
500 yds = - 29.0"

40 gr. 3,900 FPS 100 yds = + 0.7"
200 yds = 0.0
300 yds = - 4.3"
400 yds = - 13.2"
500 yds = - 28.1"

I hope that comes through in a readable format.
In addition the 40 gr. Hornady ammo was $1.00 cheaper than the 32 gr. ammo at that store (Bob Wards Sporting Goods).
The 40 gr. ammo was $13.99 (no tax) and the 32 gr. ammo was $14.99! I did buy some 32 gr. ammo in Missoula, Montana a couple weeks back on sale for $12.99.
Later tonight I will measure and compare the overall lengths of the two different factory cartridges and fill you all in. The 40 gr. bullets look short also!
I also bought a box of 20 caliber Hornady 40 V-Max bullets for future handloading.

Voldoc2: I wish you continued success with the Cooper! I bet that is a sweet machine. Especially with that 15 ounce trigger! I may get out to shoot the new Hornady 40 gr. bullets tomorrow. I am waiting for the brush Montdoug is sending thisaway! Nothing in the mail today. Pony Express would have been here by now MD!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Got to shoot some today between rain showers.First up trying to establish some velocity parameters with different powders.
#1-H-322-went up to 30.0 grs.,32 gr.V-MAX bullet with a velocity of 4,357fps, but the extraction was too sticky w/ cratered primers.. accuracy so-so 8's and 9's
#2-H-335-30.0grs gave 4,100 ish w/ accuracy 5's
#3-IMR-4895- 30.0grs., 3975fps, but great accuracy, 3's and best group to date w/ rifle. (.234" 5shotgroup),will try to get velocity up there tomorrow in 4100fps+ range.
#4- Factory 32 gr.V_MAX load, 4,067fps out of my 24" tube.
#4b-H-Benchmark- 30.0grs., 4,100fps ish., accuracy, 7's' primers begin to crater but easy extraction
#5-All loads -Horn. once fired brass, FL(partial)sized, Fed 205M,32gr.V-MAX, 2.350" OAL(this is about .045" off the lands)
Keep the info coming and maybe between us we can find the "MAGIC BULLET" Doc Stone

VarmintGuy-- the scope I put on my rifle is the Leupold VX-III 6.5-20x40mm long range with the side focus. I had the rifle to the range on Tuesday and I really like the scope, except I can't use and higher power settings at 25 yards and get it in focus.



PhotoBucket, my photo hosting site is down right now, but when it comes back online, I'll post a photo of my new shooting rig. I did a very brief barrel break in on Tuesday and fired a total of 19 Hornady 32 gr. V-Max factory loads. I also fire formed 5 of my test casings I had set up with Remington 222 Magnum brass. I use 27.0 gr. of H4895, Rem 7 1/2 primers, and 40 gr. V-Max bullets. The casings formed just fine. These fire formed casings are longer than the once fired .204 Ruger brass. I don't have a case trimmer for the .204 Ruger so I won't be doing any reloading until I get the cases all trimmed to a uniform length. I also had problems getting my Sinclair primer pocket depth uniformer tool in the primer. The tool would get in a bind and stick part way into the pocket. It took my about 45 minutes to uniform 19 primer pockets. The flash holes are pretty shakey too. Lots of junk around the hole and the flash holes look smaller than the flash holes on my 222 Mag casings and smaller than on my .17 Remington brass. I'm not sure I would recommend anyone buy the .204 Ruger brass if it is going to be that tough to work with. I have 15 boxes of the 32 gr. stuff and wondering if it is all going to be this tough to work with. Has anyone else tried uniforming the primer pocket depth and had problems? What about flash holes. Any observations there?



I forgot, I called Pro-Shot and left a message for them on Tuesday. They called me back today and I ordered a .20 caliber rod, jag, and a dozen nylon bore brushes.



VarmintGuy, on those 40 gr. V-Max bullets, they are boat tail bullets so the bearing surface doesn't start right at the bottom, hence they have to be seated a little deeper than if they were flat base bullets. I forget what the length of them is, but I can seat the 40 gr. V-Max so they touch the lands, but I can't do that with the 32 gr. bullets.

SilverFox: Thanks for the range testing results and data - it is all copied and in my loading log for quick reference.

I have only used my primer pocket uniformer on one piece of brass so far - my O.A.L test loaded cartridge. I will pay more attention when I do some more of them next week!

Keep us posted with any info. I may shoot in the morning if there is no wind. All I will be shooting is some of the 40 gr. Hornady factory ammo. Need more brass for handloads. And I need to break in the barrel as best as I can.

That brings up another question for me. I wonder if the 204 Ruger body taper is the same, similar or close enough to a 222 Magnum that I can us my Wilson case trimmer with a 222 Remington Magnum case holder to trim with. I am so tired tonight I will wait til tomorrow to try it out. I will let you know.

Thanks again for the info, forming loads and stuff.

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

MontDoug: I am so mad!
I got up out of bed just now and its midnight! The VarmintWife came into the bedroom where I was just dozing off after reading the new issue of Varmint Hunters Magazine that came in the mail yesterday. The VarmintWife says "oh I guess there was a package for you"! She had been quizzed if any package had come for me today and true enough there was no package but there was a nice plump envelope containing the 20 caliber bore brush you so kindly sent to me. After I write this posting I will go down into my Gun room and scrub my 204's barrel! And if it is calm in the morning I will head out to my range and break in my barrel properly!
Thank you again!
You went way out of your way to help me out of a tight spot and I appreciate it and look forward to returning the favor.
Judging though from all your postings you are a sharp guy and may never get into a bind like I find myself in so often due to poor planning.
Thanks again Doug. If the VarmintWife had not mistaken that envelope for some of her work mail I would have that Ruger cleaned right now and loaded into the VarmintMobile waiting for the range session tomorrow!
Sleep depravation - its just mind over matter!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Voldoc2: Thanks for all the great loading data!
Man those loads using the H-335 and IMR 4895 are doing well! I will be putting those at the top of my list of loads to try!
Congratulations by the way on that .234" group! That is super! Good for you and your Rifle.
That would be "magic" enough for me!
Gotta get downstairs and clean my new Rifle (thanks to Montdoug sending me a 20 caliber bore brush!).
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VarmintGuy-- The Wilson caseholder for .222 Remington Magnum brass should work just fine for the .204 Ruger brass. The only thing that I can see a difference in between the two casings is the shoulder angle on the .204 Ruger is 30� and the shoulder is also pushed out closer to the case mouth, which gives you about 2 grains more powder capacity than the parent case and I'm told it also gives you about 3 grains more capacity than the .223 Remington cases.

I am stuck for case trimming. I have a Forester case trimmer that I use strictly for my .17 Remington brass and I also have a Wilson case trimmer. I wasn't fast enough on the draw to figure out I would need a case holder for the .204 Ruger brass. So, now I sit with 5 fire formed .222 Mag casings and 19 once fired Ruger brass and no case trimmer. I am going to use my new K & M neck turner on all my .204 brass, whether it is the factory Hornady stuff or the .222 Mag fire formed casings, but I want to get them all the same length first. Do you know of any online shooting supply store that has the .222 Mag Wilson case holder in stock???? I imagine the shipping and handling will cost more than the holder, but that's life.

Here's a pic of my new rifle at the range last Tuesday. The reason the barrel seems to be pointed at the ground is that I had it set up to shoot the 25 yard target to get the scope adjusted and on the paper.

Silverfox: I just tried a fired and then re-sized 204 Ruger case in my Wilson case trimmer 222 Remington Magnum case holder. And it fits perfectly. I am planning on doing some travel soon and will check hither and yon for another Wilson case holder for you. Yes I will bet the shipping will be about as much as the tool itself! If you get in a bind and can not come up with one I will ship you mine next week (ala Montdoug - thanks again Doug for the 20 caliber brush!) and you can use it! I plan on buying a few more boxes of factory ammo and will use that and then reload a time or two before I need the case holder myself. Let me know if I can ship it to you. It might cost $3.00 or $4.00 to ship but thats the price of living in the "burbs"!

Also great photo of your Rifle! The Savage folks I am happy to see are making much more attractive (to me) Rifles these days. Good for them.

I buy my Wilson gear from Russ Haydons Shooters Supply and they have a toll free number.

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

Great posts, fellow 204 afficianados! I hope everybody like theirs as much as I like the Savage VLP! It's such a fun little varmint rifle! I wanted to shoot it at 1000 yards last nite at Williamsport, but that will have to wait for some Burris rings with the inserts or a Leupold LR base(that could be ahile) to get the scope out to a thousand! Anyway, one other thing I noticed about the factory 204 brass......flash holes could be severely off center....as in far enough it would be a chore to get the flash hole deburring tool lined up in them(if I had a 20 caliber pilot for my deburring tool!!!!) I've never seen a flash hole as far off center as a couple of them were! Did y'all notice that? GHD

Groundhog devastation: The dang Montana wind and then lightning kept me from shooting my new 204 today. This has been by far the windiest winter, spring and now few days of summer I have seen here in my 6 years here.

Oh well.

No I have not had a chance yet to chamfer any flash-holes as yet. I have one dummy cartridge put together and 14 more once fired but still unsized cases. I will get at them soon and let you know. I am sure if yours are out of sync then all will be. Unless they corrected the problem somehow after your ammo was made. I will let you know.

Has anyone fired the factory 40 gr. ammo as yet? If so how did it shoot for you?

More later

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

Groundhog Devastation--I have 19 once fired Hornady casings and all the flash holes were centered as far as I could tell. The flash holes, however, were a bit smaller than the ones on my .17 Remington brass and my Remington 222 Magnum brass.

As I mentioned in another post, the primer pocket diameter is so small that I have trouble getting my Sinclair primer pocket uniformer in there. It binds something fierce.

Another thing about those primer pockets--I used my .17 caliber pilot and my Forester case trimmer to trim the 19 once fired casings to the same length. It worked pretty good, but I'm going to order a Wilson case holder for the .222 Mag brass. Anyway, when I finished deburring and chamfering the case mouths I plunked a bunch of primers in my Lee hand priming tool and started seating primers. I could feel that the primers were taking lots of "extra" effort to seat, so my conclusion that the primer pocket holes are smaller than I'm used to seeing proved to be 100% correct. None of the primers were crushed, but you have to wonder what the end result is on the inside of the primer if the primer walls are being pushed inward?!?!?

VarmintGuy--Thanks a bunch for the offer of loaning your Wilson case holder to me. I really appreciate your generosity. I'm going to order one of my own via the Internet tonight. I won't have any time the rest of this week and the first couple of days next week to do any shooting, so by Tuesday or Wednesday next week, I think I can probably get one delivered to me.

VG, Yes, I tested some of the 40 grain factory loadings. Hard to get it down to acceptable group size in my Savage! It ran .8-1.2" during the same test sessions that the 32 factory was doing .6's. I also tested some handloads using the 40 grain VMaxs and results were less than pleasing with them also! I hope to get around to trying some more of the 40's soon but since the 32's are doing a good job on paper and also on groundhogs,probably ought to just stick with them! GHD

Yesterday got to shoot again. Cooper 204 is making me proud.
-With factory 32V-max consistently got tiny 3's and 4's groups(makes my handloads look bad) with velocity of 4.089fps. Killed a crow @ 265yds. first blood .-
-Worked up great load w/IMR-4895-31.0 grains-good groups w/ small SD,but this is all I can squeeze into the case and have to hassle to get this much in.shoots in the -5's,pressure good- velocity 4.127 out of 24" tube.
-Strangest thing-I talked to the reloading guy at Cooper(the shooter of those one hole groups included w/ every rifle) he said the one holer include w/ my rifle was 28.0 grs. H-335, 33gr. V-Max (They have some of the old ones on hand) and the OAL used was 2.245" which is I think the OAL of the factory 32 V-MAX load. My rifle touches the lands at 2.395 so that is .150" jump befor engagement of lands.
-My longer handloads so far with OAL's of 2.385" and 2.375" don't group nearly as well as the shorter ones tried in the 2.350" range and I haven't gone shorter yet but looks like that's where accuracy and velocity leads.
-31.5 grs. IMR- 4895 crammed and packed into case gave 4,264fps w/ no pressure signs but too much trouble to stuff a great # this way.
-H-322 29.0grs. gave 4,073fps(no pressure signs), 29.5 grs. gave 4,178fps no presure signs and great accuracy,4's(my best handload combo of speed and accuracy and ease of loading to date . OAL on this load was 2.360"-which is .035 off lands. plan on going shorter.
-I am using new set of Redding FL(set to partial resize) and std. seater die. May invest in Competition set later. Your thoughts and type dies you guys are using??
-Hope to reload today and shoot more this wk.end
-Hope this minutcia (sic) is not boring you guys stupid, as I am very interested in what you guys are posting..keep it up
- will post some pic of my rig this wkend.
-More later if OK
-thanx Doc Stone

204 Types: I just got home from a wind shortened range session with my Ruger 77 V/T 204.
Today I wanted to start testing the factory 40 gr. V-Max Hornady's. I was very happy with the results but did not get the wonderful accuracy that Voldoc 02 has been achieving. I was happy none the less. Due to a morning wind that started up at 0715 hrs. I was only able to shoot 10 shots for grouping.
Five shot groups at 100 yards and the Sightron scope set at full 24 power achieved these two groups: .788" and .530"!
Like I said I was plenty happy with those groups from factory ammo.
I got to my range at 0600 hrs. and as usual there were several Antelope in view. But there was one really nice Buck Antelope bedded not 50 yards from the 3 shooting benches! He watched me approach up the gated drive from the county road. My Chocolate Lab "Henry" was running up the drive from the gate. He was ahead of the VarmintMobile and once I got within 300 yards of the Antelope and saw him bedded there I began worrying Henry would head out after the Antelope. I quickly parked and got Henry's attention just as the Antelope stood up and "barked" at us! Henry came to full hair on end mode and stared at the Buck! I put Henry in the rig and began unloading the range gear. The Antelope backed off to about 70 yards and stood there broadside glaring at me. Occassionally he would snort/bark at me. Finally it came time to go downrange and put up my targets and range flags. The Lope just stared and I walked to within 40 yards of him. He had nice thick horns that turned in at the tops and I am sure he was 14 1/2" in length.
Finally it came time to start shooting at my BR type test targets and the Antelope did not run off like I expected he would. He just sauntered away to about 150 yards distant. The wind came up before I was really done and I went to retrieve my targets. Henry wanted to go and I did not have my leash but decided to let him come along. The Antelope really began snorting and flaring his rump patch as a warning to the other Antelope in the valley. Henry did not bolt after him which pleased me but he did growl a bit and lift his hackle hairs. I headed back to the bench area and low and behold the Buck Antelope started to follow us back! Once at the truck I sat down inside and tried to outwait the wind - no luck. But the Buck Antelope came and began feeding back in the exact spot he had been bedded when we arrived. The gunfire did not bother him like most of the other Antelope in the valley as they had moved over the ridges! Strange behavior for a mature Buck but he seemed to want to stay in that area for some reason.
Several times during my shooting as I was waiting for the wind to calm and the barrel to cool I sighted in on the Antelope. He was sure a beauty.
I wonder how the 40 gr. Hornady V-Max would perform lethality wise on an Antelope?
Maybe another session tomorrow.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VG, That 40VMax would probably perform similar to how a 17VMax from a 17HMR will perform on a whitetail from short range at that little dimple in the back of their head! At least that's what I hear! Would a 20 caliber be legal in your state? Here it's "larger than 23 caliber"....243 diameter and above....unless it's crop damage permits. GHD