This just in... Ruger plans to introduce new cartridge in the spring of 04 around march. Called the 204 Ruger. With the same case head and overall length dimensions as the .222 Rem mag but necked down further to propel a 20 cal 32 grn V-max to about 4225 fps. They plan to introduce the round in 5 rifles in cluding 2 #1 models. Oh yeah.

Sweet!

It sounds interesting to me.
It has been a factoid that any rifle that propells a bullet 4,000 fps will have a very short barrel life. I do hope Ruger can over come the barrel erosion problem.

Overbore cartridges tend to have shorter throat lives, but high efficiency ones (17 Mach IV, maybe this new Ruger cartridge), do not suffer from this near as much. Less powder to light off, I suppose.

As the chamber and bore get smaller, it's practical to have relatively much more steel around them. That quickly soaks up heat. The heat-radiating surface area around the outside of the barrel is also proportionately much greater in relation to the heat-absorbing surface inside with a small caliber and heavy barrel.

I have to yawn about this. Doesn't sound like a cartridge that will really have anything to offer beyond 100 yds or so. After that most of the popular varmit cartridges out perform it in either velocity, energy, trajectory, wind drift or all the above.

But it should eat barrels good!

Sorry to be the voice of doom.

I have a Tactical .20, ballistically identical to what the new Ruger should do. I shoot a 33 grain Hornady V Max at 4,250ish. Pecos45, look at a ballistic coeffecient of .200 running 4,250 fps, 2inches high at 100 is dead on at 300 and 7.5 low at 400, at 300 yards in reasonable conditions my .20 shoots 1.5 inch groups.(that's not an exageration). Now go look at a .22-250 shooting a 55 grain Ballistic Tips at 3,600 fps. Would you call a .22-250 a 100 yard rifle? As you'll see the .20 shoots considerably flatter. Madison, 4,000 fps automatically eating barrels is not a factoid, it's an old wives tale promoted by guy's that haven't shot small calibers and read to many magazines. Mulerider is exactly right overbore rounds like .257 Weatherbys eat bores, but even then only if you cook em. Heat eats bores, shooting a barrel so hot you can't hold it eats bores even in tame stuff such as a .223. If the shooter does his part very effecient rounds like a .17 Mach IV or Tactical .20 are not barrel burners, my Tact.20 gets 4,250 with 24.2 grains of H4198, my .17 Mach IV gets 4,150 with 19.7 grain H335, very very effecient. I sure don't want to flame anyone out, but having spent some time with the small stuff I discovered that all the horror stories getting passed around about small speedy stuff is getting spread by guys that ain't shot em. Honest"THEY ARE A RIOT!".

My hats off to Ruger and Hornady, I think the .17 HMR opened some eyes and they were smart enough to see it.How many guys you see shoot a .17 HMR for a season and then say they hate it? I'm willing to bet a bundle some of the voices of doom are going to sing a different tune the first time they vaporize a prairie dog at 350 yards, or aim point blank at a coyote out to about 400. I once heard a guy say " The proof of ignorance is in contempt prior to investigation ". As a dedicated small caliber shooter and varmint hunter I'd sure hate to see a neat caliber hurt by someone that has no experience with it. I've been shooting long enough to see some really neat calibers dropped cause bad press by writers stopped guys from buying them, only to shoot em and find out the writers are full of bat guano and obviously didn't know what they were talking about. Ever hear how Hornets are inaccurate and throw flyers? Ever shoot a 1730 Anschutz Hornet?- they shoot bug holes! Sorry if I over responded, I sure don't want to step on toes, it's just that I've been hoping for a long time someone would standardize more of the sub-caliber wildcats and I sure hope their supported in this endeavor . Trust me, "Try one you'll like it!".---Shoot Safe---montdoug

Having just gotten into a .22-250 less than 3 months ago I won't be rushing out to buy one, but I think it's a neat development.

wow, I just can't wait

just use a 22-250

My only complaint would be they didn't base the new cartridge off the .223 case so a guy could use all that cheap brass , but I can see Hornadays point , I'm sure they would like to sell cases.........

Some of you folks aren't seeing the beauty of this cartridge.......bettering Swift performance while likely only using around 25 gr of powder......along with extreme safety from richotets around settled areas and livestock . I think it will sell well .

Ruger and Hornady might have used the 222 Rem Mag case instead of the 223 Rem case so as to avoid accidently inserting a 204 Ruger into the ubiquitous 223 Rem rifle.

One might then say that the 204 Ruger cartridge could be accidently inserted into the 222 Rem Mag rifle, but the 222 Rem Mag rifles are much rarer and their owners might be a little more wary than some 223 Rem rifle users. Think all 222 Rem Mags are bolt guns, while the very common 223 Rem semi-autos might not handle a mistaken surprise as well.

Have seen one other post on the 204 Ruger which said that it would be based on the original 222 Remington, not the 222 Remington Magnum. Haven't thought through those issues yet. Have no independent information as to which parent case will be used.

As one who shoots the 20 Tactical, the 222 Rem, the 222 Rem Mag, the 223 Rem, and a score of other varmint cartridges, look forward to yet another varmint cartridge.

But still looking for the left-hand factory rifle in 219 Donaldson Wasp. Already got the single-shot one.

Hammer

[ 11-10-2003, 04:51: Message edited by: Hammer ]

One other issue is that new handloaders necking down 223 Rem brass to 204 Ruger might not know to turn down the necks which would thicken when sized down that much. The too thick necks on the necked-down brass could cause some real pressure problems.

Hammer

[ 11-10-2003, 04:30: Message edited by: Hammer ]

Good, another source of brass for the 6 X 47. - Dan

Terrific! As a .222Rem.Mag. owner who's been worried about my source of brass drying up,
I welcome this new caliber. As the owner of a .17Rem. I can't get too excited. These little suckers get blown to all hell and back in the slightest win. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal