204Ruger

Hello All.

I am a 19 year old looking to purchase a gun in .204 or build one myself, whichever one is more sustainable economically and time-wise. This cartridge fulfills absolutely everything I'd ever need it to do, mainly for coyote and other critters out west here. My main questions are 1. if there is a factory rifle that's under 1000 and serviceable enough, what would it be? 2. How do you build your own rifle or modify an existing one to fit this cartridge? and 3. In terms of reloading, would a 40 gr. shoot well out of a 1:12 twist or should I stick to smaller grain weights? Thank you gentlemen for your years of diligence and experience with this medium, and thank you again for allowing me a platform to ask you all silly questions.

Sincerely,
Big Al

First off Al, welcome aboard the site. Good bunch of guys and gals here, with a lot of helpful information..
To begin in short replies to your questions. The 40 grain bullet in the majority of the 1/12 twist bores are borderline in grouping. Servable, but not as accurate as a 1/11 twist. For the 1/12 up to about the 39 SBK's work the best.
Out of the box rifles under 1000 if you include a scope would probably be in the CZ, Tika, Remington, Savage lineup. Google around a check it out or if you have a good gun store, local or box i.e. Sportsman Warehouse go in and talk with an informed sales person.
To build one, up now days, a good donor action from Remington, Savage and a few others can be built by you and a few tools with aid from a mentor, at your age, with a pre-fit barrel, from several makers. Those can also be googled up and read about.
The 204 Ruger cartridge is a very good one and does very nicely out to around 400-500 yds for various critters.
A couple others on the site will chime in, I am sure and can offer good info and even one or two may go into deeper detail than I did.
Keep us posted on your path and future rifle, target/load findings and photo's. We do enjoy photo's of rifles and critters taken.

Big Al, welcome to the forum.

There is no real answer to your question. You'll have to do some research as to what is available vs what you can afford. I'd offer a suggestion.....look at the members who've posted here for years and look at what 204's they use. Each member usually lists the rifle they use, many post pics of them also. That would narrow your search and give you some ideas to work on. You've got beaucoup options, many under a grand, but also consider the cost of the scope, mounts and reloading dies and components if you handload, which is the only way you'll ever realize the full potential of the caliber.

Some of my 204's I use here for our local varmints....rock chucks, ground squirrels and a few coyotes:

Cooper M21 Montana Varminter 204:



Kimber 84M Varmint 204:



Remington M00 Stainless Varmint with Pac-Nor 11T (shoots all 40gr bullets very well)



Sako M75 Varmint 204:



There's many more choices, this is just my battery. Keep in mind that almost all factory 204's feature a 1/12 twist that will not properly stabilize bullets of 40grs. The Sierra 39gr BK is one that most 12 twist rifles shoot well though. Once you decide and have one home, come back and show us what you ended up with. Good luck with the quest, as being only 19 yrs old gives you an entire lifetime of "rifle fun" ahead!

Thank you both for your recommendations! I took a look around and found a nice CZ 457 in .204 which I'm quite partial to, but I also have a few Ruger American gen II's in the sportsman's near me for just shy of 600, as well as a Ruger hawkeye for just over 1000. Any particular reason why Ruger actions are or aren't preferred? This as well as a savage 110 for 800, which is looking pretty attractive too! I didn't expect this many options, but truthfully im ignorant to precise rifle action assemblies and the like, so I am a fairly uninformed buyer .

Well I am not going to bad mouth Ruger. They are a decent rifle. But I have Rem, CZ and Savage actions in 204R cartridge and prefer them over the Ruger, especially if you ever work with a pre-fit or even new installed barrel. They just work better in my opinion in the long haul.
That CZ you mention and even the Savage 110 would serve you well, in starting up. And as Rick mentioned, you being a young 19 yr old, you have a lot of time to learn and play around.
Just pull up info from past posts on the 204R and what most seem to use and go from there. Just watch your wallet, as the old rabbit hole can really grow. Just work slow, easy and enjoy what you get. And again keep us posted, with follow up info and photos.

I bought my first .204. It is a Ruger American Gen 2. It works fine. Ruger advertises a 1/12 twist. Barrel is 20 inches in my case. This is the standard model. Zeroed at 36 yards and got a .75 inch group with Hornady 32 grain rounds. Checked POI at 100 meters and got a one inch group about 3 inches above POA.

Big Al,

When I started down the 204 Ruger path my 1st introduction was with a CZ527. With the set trigger and light round with laser like accuracy I was hooked. Several months later I had the opportunity to purchase one except it was the American model vice the Varmint. Same on everything except the American had a sporter barrel. Unlike my Remington 700's in 204, it does shoot the 40 grain Hornady bullets quite well. Basically, all I had to do was add a scope [it came with the rings] and develop a load. It shoots a .3 x .3" group @ 200 yards with the Sierra 39grain BK.

I'm not familiar with the CZ457 but if its anything like the CZ527 you won't go wrong with it.

Jim

I have zero CZ’s nothing against them as I used them for initial tryout of several cartridges. I went to Savage actions for %80 of my varmint rigs.

Ya want on the cheap and good. Used 110 or other model savage, I don’t care for the cheaped up axis and others. 223 are cheap and plentiful, barrel off, order a 1-11” twist match from Shilen, install and your done. My new one is running 39-40 grain bullets around 3/4”@200m when I do my job.

Hello Everyone!

After some major life events and a lot of consideration, I have decided that for my use case as well as for my level of marksmanship that I am going to purchase one of the new T/C encores this summer in most likely .223 or .308 and get a match grade machine 1/11 23" .204 barrel, due to one of the previous forum posts I've seen where one gentleman tested proper length and twist rate. The total build will most likely have a vortex diamondback 4-16x42 scope on her with some nice Warne or keystone rings. Thank you all for your assistance, your generosity, and your wisdom in this matter, and hopefully soon I'll be a proud owner of a rifle in a proper caliber!

Sincerely,
Big Al