Ruger announced that it will be producing rifles cambered in its new ".204 ruger". The new cartrige is based on the .222 Rem. necked down to .20 Cal. Benifits are said to be "higher velocity than 22-250 & 220 swift, but uses less powder so no loss of barrel life." Here's the link:

http://www.ruger-firearms.com/Firearms/News-11-06-2003.html

But why?

The proliferation of cartridges is nothing new . Looking at my Cartridges of the World there are 25 cartridges for black powder in 40 caiber alone ! Each company wanted their own cartridge. I'm not impressed , my most used are oldies 45-70, 30-06, 6.5x55. The 204 ? big deal. It can all be done with the 222, 223, 22-250.

$950 for a #1? ....Cause God knows I would not buy a 77!

Because Hornady has the market cornered on the 17 HMR. I would say this venture by Ruger does not have Bill's blessing.

Why does everyone have to reinvent the wheel. Bring back the 218 Bee. Instead of some high speed small bore.

"muzzle velocity of 4,225 feet per second."

And I haven't even SEEN one yet.

Better yet, why not? Sounds like fun to me! Sure it's a little duplicative, but many cartridges are. Doesn't stop folks from killin' stuff with 'em, does it?

If new cartridges bring new shooters, I am all for it. However, nothing "new" in terms of ballistic spectrum is covered here.

I have a Tactical .20 that should be the ballistic twin to this round. I get 4,250ish out of a 33 grain V Max with a ballistic coeffecient close to .200. 2 inches high at 100 is just above dead on at 300 and 7.5 low at 400. my rifle is a trued Rem varmint synthetic barreled and chambered by by Pac-Nor with their 26 inch 3 groove stainless fluted.(cleans like a dream)I had a Kepplinger single set trigger that breaks at 2lb unset for cold finger on coyotes, and 3 oz set for p-dogs and the bench. I get that 4,250 using 24.2 grains of H4198, thats 289 rounds to a pound of powder(CHEAP CHEAP!). This rifle can be aimed point blank at a coyote to to about 375 yards. Off the bench it shoots 5 shot 100 yard groups solidly in the .2's and .3's (No Bull!). Now that's the straight scoop from a guy who has one, not negative old wives tales from guys who've never seen one. If it catches your intrest look into it, cause your obviously the type that doesn't believe every good thing worth having had already been created in the 20's. If it don't blow your hair back that's fine too cause this is a free country and everyone gets an opinion Model T's were neat, so's the .25-20 they just aren't my choice. But as a guy who's dedicated to small calibers and shoots em I truly hope those of you who are negitively inclined towards em will show enough class to restrict your comments to things you have personal hands on experience with and not clutter up valid disscussions with regurgiated gun rag garbage or somthing you heard from your uncle Willy back in the 60's. Like everything out there small calibers aren't perfect and I'm personally intrested as I'm sure are others in experiences real shooters have had both good and bad, my only hope is the butt setting nay sayers don't try and impress everyone with their knowlege when all the really have is unfounded opinions. If a guy says his .17 Mach IV eats throats or fouls excessively (cause mine doesn't)I'm curious how'd he break it in, and how many 1000 rounds went down the tube before the throat moved how many thousands? There are a lot of very experienced small caliber guys out there and I hope they share their wealth of information so we can all learn something. So far my personal experience with small cal's is that being small tiny changes make big differences, however if I do my part this is the most rewarding reloading and shooting I've done since I started reloading in the 60's.---Shoot Safe---montdoug

I was of the opinion that this round was to be based on the .222Rem. Mag. case, not the .222Rem. Does anyone know for certain? The wind will probably blow this little sucker all over hells half acre. That's been my experience with my .17Rem. It's a fun cartridge to own, and will teach you the real meaning of humility. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Doug........well said.

Cal......if you've a 9" twist, try Kindler's 30gr. Gold bullet. You'll find out otherwise.

Friend Of The 17....and 20
Kevin Gullette

Hehe, i posted about that on bsb several weeks ago. I didnt know exactly what it was, except it was called the .204 Ruger. It pays to live in Newport eh?

NH_Hunter

Doug Amen to that........one of the things that realy drives me batty is the no experience bookworms that write as if they knew something.

By the way I get 4400 from my 55 out of my 6/06 can I play too ????? I mean that is a small gun right-I mean I love to shoot chucks with my 7 Mashburn and my 340 Grins....

"GET TO THE HILL"

Dogz

[ 11-11-2003, 06:42: Message edited by: Mark R Dobrenski ]

7-30 Waters,
It is highly unlikely that it does have Bill's blessing seeing as how he has been dead for the better part of a year now!

Mark at 4,400fps your definately a player,but if I'm not mistaken that round comes real close to being overbore and just might heat up a bit on a p-dog town, wad'da ya think?. Maybe next spring we'll go make some chucks life miserable. I got a spot about 10 minutes from B-grade. We'll see if a rock chuck can tell the difference between a hyper-sonic 6MM and a dinky little .20.

Jim, I was wondering if any one else caught that, besides as shrewd a business man as ole Bill was I'm guessing he might think the .204 was money in the bank.---Shoot Safe---montdoug

[ 11-11-2003, 09:00: Message edited by: montdoug ]

Mtdoug-naw it isn't overbore-now my 6/378 is beginning to apporach the realm of over bore.....grins--

Gotta head to work stop in when you're in the area.

"GET TO THE HILL"

Dogz

I like the concept of the new chambering and would certainly like to try one (although not in a Ruger. Ruger builds a "kit" from which a rifle can be made, and I'm just not willing to spend the time and money to remanufacture one of their products.)

My big hesitancy with this caliber is the choices of bullets, not that Hornady's aren't good bullets, but individual rifles can be picky. Is there any other manufacturer besides Hornady making or that has plans to make a .204 bullet?

Go to www.saubier.com. Its a web site dedicated to small caliber shooting. There are almost a half dozen twenty caliber bullet manufacturers out there right now. Berger alone makes four different bullet weights for the twenty. There is a guy named Lucas making three or four different weights and styles. Don Unmussig makes several different bullets. There is Hornady and a guy named Schroeder. I cannot remember all the names of bullet makers out there.

Jordan

My feeling is this new caliber may deliver on the promise the seventeens offered, low noise and recoil , little danger of ricochet , little pelt damge , lazer like trajectory , etc. , without the excessive fouling often seen in factory .17 barrels. Maybe the bore on the twenty will be just big enough to overcome this problem , maybe not. Time will tell.....

I'm betting the initial run of Rugers will be very accurate ; the barrels being produced on brand new tooling .........

[ 11-11-2003, 19:22: Message edited by: sdgunslinger ]

Question:
Is the .204 the same diameter as the old 5mm?

If I remember right, the old 5mm Remington was devistating on woodchucks, etc! Remember, the 5mm Rem was a rim fire, so, the .204 should be real deadly on them!

Well the name isn't beautiful! 204 Ruger doesn't sounds good. 200 Ruger, 20-222 Ruger, 20 Ruger Express or 5mm Ruger all sounds better in my ears!

Chuck
It is the same dia. as the 5mm Rem, at least bullet size. Some guys have said their 5mm bore ran .2035 or something of that nature. I have one of the Rem 5mm rifles with the centerfire conversion and shoot the Hornady 33 gr 20 cal bullet in it just fine. Something in their ballistic development must have lead to the 32 grain bullet for the Ruger. Curious.

But but where the heck is a picture of one?

I think this is what it is going to look like more or less...

web page

Well Mark, it seems that you didnt believe me, well, here is my proof, http://www.baitshopboyz.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1927&PN=1
i hope that is enough.

NH_Hunter

NH--were you thinking I didn't believe you?

"GET TO THE HILL"

Dogz

That is really what it was sounding like.

NH_Hunter

NH-I meant nothing to the sort, I have zero doubt about the new from Ruger. I was actually talking about something completely different-sorry if it made you take offense-but rest assured it had nothing to do with you.

"GET TO THE HILL"

Dogz

Yeah right, an accurate out of the box Ruger? I'm not holding my breath.

Whatever the case may be on accuracy, it sounds like a great excuse to buy "another gun!" You gotta like that anyway...

Better yet! Pick your favorite action, have it trued, get a barrel maker to chamber and install your choice of barrel. Always worth more then a ruger wal-mart gun.

I just got my copy of "Shooting Times", Jamison did an article on the new .204 Ruger. What do ya know, Triple duce mag improved with a short neck and the shoulders blown out! It was a prototype and he was only getting 4,150ish but it seemed to shoot well for a factory rifle with factory ammo. With the capacity he talks about a reloader ought to be able to get 4,350ish pretty easy. Bodes well for the sub-calibers.

That Shooting Times article did it for me.

Even though I'm not really a Ruger MKII fan, one of those heavy barrelled 77's will probably be making its way here shortly.

What about dies and stuff?

R-WEST