Was just wondering how popular is this caliber over in Australia? Is it cacthing on over their, for foxes?

Mik,

I don,t have one myself but the local gunstore in my area stocks the 204 in both Ruger and Czs and I know he is selling quite a few.

I am sure someone with a 204 will pop up shortly.

Its got to be good on foxes, varmints etc.

its a bit of a new and gretaest cartdridge that hasnt seen much action in oz as yet, I will stick with my .223 !!!!

Beefa

They're around. I know of one bloke with one, but I haven't seen one at the range yet.

The largest gunshop in my home city doesn't stock any of the rifles, ammo, or components. I asked about it, and they said they'd had virtually no interest expressed in it.

I'm pretty sure that Aussies aren't as easily sucked in by advertising hype...

Response I get when asking questions is 'what exactly does it do, that other cartridges don't?... strangely enough, these comments mirror my own feelings...

If you want to know more about this caliber, have a look at this site, completely dedicated to the .204 ruger.
www.204ruger.com
I have had one fore 6 months now and find it deadly

Mik,

thanks for the link, but I'm stuffed if I can work out what a 204 will do that a 17 won't do better on foxes (less pelt damage, not that it matters with skin prices these days), or a 223 will do better on bigger game...

204 sounds to me like a great idea looking for an application...

You talk of bigger game with the .223, well
I shoot feral goats from time to time and they dont get back up after the shot .
Using the winchester 34 grain hallow points for better penatretion, works wonders.
It has good knock down power.

quote:

Originally posted by rugeruser:

thanks for the link, but I'm stuffed if I can work out what a 204 will do that a 17 won't do better on foxes (less pelt damage, not that it matters with skin prices these days), or a 223 will do better on bigger game...

Except sell another few hundred or more rifles.

Unless you use a .204, you wont know and cant really say
The .223 will allways be around, the .204 can do everything a .223 can do, but at a longer range with greater knock down power, from what i have experinced with .204
I havent used a .223, but a freind in scotland, use to have one for roe deer. A lot of the deer ran off a long way before droping dead, when shot in the chest. This ment some of them could not be found
He now uses a 6.5x55 for all deer, they dont get back up
For foxes up to 300yds plus, they are ideal.
Feral goats up to 250yds, stone dead

quote:

feral goats up to 250yds, stone dead

Using a 34 gr bullet ??????

I shot a fair few hundred goats with a .222 and it killed well enough but never consistently "stone dead". All the .204 is doing is putting out a lighter, probably more fragile bullet out at higher velocity.

Now when I switched to a .30-06 or 6.5mm they certainly killed feral goats "stone dead".

Like I said, thats my experience so far
Aim for the heart at long range, the brain at close and stone dead is your result
The .204 is a hard hitting fact
Like it or not

If you check ANY balistic information...you will find that a .223 has more hitting power at longer ranges than the 204. I heavy bullet going slower...slows down at a slower rate and retains more energy when it gets there. Thats why a .223 has more energy at 500 meters with a 50gr projectile compared with a 35gr projectile with a lot more starting velosity. A 204 may shoot flatter just like the .17m2...but a standard .22 has twice the hitting power at 150 meters than a .17m2.
Conclusion...there is nothing the 204 can do that a .223,22-250, .243, or a .220 swift cant do better. There is nothing a .17m2 can do that a .22 cant do. I shoot small game out to 150 meters with a .22lr and if I need to go further I get the .223.
If you look at all the new fandangled calibres that have come out in the last few years..you will find an old one that will do it as well or better. EG .300RUM came out 2002?....300 Weatherby mag has been around for years...etc etc.

None of these new calibers are designed to kill anything more dead than an old caliber - they are , however , all designed to sell more rifles. End of story , nothing more , nothing less.Sales , not better guns or faster bullets .

I have a Hornet , a 223 , a 220 Swift and a bunch of bigger calibers , dont see myself with anything smaller ever...

C,mon guys why don't we just ban anything that shoots that new fangled smokeless powder eh ?
There's a place for a cartridge with Swift trajectory and .223 barrel life / recoil / muzzle blast as is amply demonstrated by the number of .204's being sold and the rave reviews that it gets from practically everyone that has tried it . I'd love to have one to fill the gap between my .22LR and heavy barreled .243 Ackley .
BTW as far as retained energy goes if you use an external ballistics program to compare a 50gn Nosler BT (B.C. .238) out of a .223 at 3470 FPS with a 40 gn V Max (B.C. .255) out of a .204 at 4000 FPS you will find that at 500 metres the .204 has 28% more energy than the .223 (380 foot/pounds vs 296) . I'm not going to argue with anyone who wants to start comparing retained energy of 80gn VLD's out of the .223 with the .204 as we all know the .223 will win hands down (albeit with a rainbow-like trajectory).

Thanks Bushchook for suporting the .204 .
I was not running any of the other calibers down,
Eg, .223, .22-250, ect.
I was just telling everyone my own experience of this wonderfull caliber.
I live in Ireland where .223s are very hard to licence, due to our crazy mixes up firearms laws
So the next best thing my firearms dealer recomended was the .204.
I was a bit coutious at first as it was a new caliber, but now that I have had the .204 for 6 months, I love it and am not botherd about a .223 ect.
It works for me, anything iv squeezed the triger on has DROPED STONE DEAD
You have to try something before you condem it to the trash
Cheers.

I wasnt condemning any caliber , just stating the situation as it applies to my situation .

I have used a .17 rimfire a couple of times , and would try a .204 if the opportunity arose , but dont see a need for owning one . In your situation it meets your needs and is more readily available than other calibres.

Locally , our gundealer has sold several .204's and has more on order , so people are using it here , I just dont know who they are yet...

Got any pictures of your hunting success with the new rifle ?

quote:

Originally posted by Mik:
I live in Ireland where .223s are very hard to licence, due to our crazy mixes up firearms laws

Sounds a good reason to have one.

Muzza,
I am in the prosses of waiting for cash to get a digital camera. I have some money coming my way as Im budgeting at the moment, what with family expenses ect.
As soon as I get one, I will be posting pics.