204Ruger

Bloc.. Do not feel bad at all about the twist on barrels. Over the last year or so many of us have come too find that the slower twists that the companies use, were just not right for what and how we are shooting and the various calibers we are using now. Especially in the 224, 20 & 17. Like you said, we live and learn. But then again that is what makes our hobby interesting. By the way not a thing wrong with just sticking to the 39 BK's and Bergers 35, they both work great. Bill K

Bill, About twists. I treat rifles, and their twists, as they shoot. Whatever the twist of a barrel, I still need to find it's limit and sweet spot. (Years ago, I had a 6mm Rem built with a 12 twist specifically to shoot light (=short) bullets very fast. It did that very well and shot all bullets up to and including the 87gr Hornady well to my satisfaction. But I got key-holing with anything heavier (=longer) than the Hornady. I was surprised that the 87 shot. But delighted.)

About the loads that already shoot well in my rifle. Once I get an acceptably accurate load (as in for what I want to shoot), I'm pretty happy. I then have 2 things: a useful load to hunt with (in this case, ground squirrels) plus a benchmark to which I can compare the other loads I play with. Experimenting with different loads in a rifle of proven accuracy is one of life's great pleasures! At least to me.

Sounds about like myself and my shooting buddy. We both seemed to play with various loads, even when we had one or two that shot accurately and did the job on our ground squirrel/varmint shooting.
Now we both seem to have settled into the pattern, if we find that works, really well, we lock onto it and just stay with it. I know I like to play around with loads, but have started to try and keep it simple, accurate and safe. Bill K

Brian, when you tested these loads were they all tested in one shooting session or over several outings? I'm curious for a couple of reasons;

a. I see several different powders in the list and when switching powders some will take several shots to settle down unless the firearm is cleaned and re-seasoned for the powder/bullet combo you're testing.

b. How warm was the barrel? I hot chamber can change the characteristics of a load in pretty short order on a case like a 204 because it such a small case, and; it doesn't take too much heat to generate heat waves that can ever so slightly distort your picture even though you may not notice it.

Hi Jim,

Thanks for responding.

I’m going to extend my tests of 32 Noslers since I didn't give them a fair shake, but I’m pretty sure my rifle just doesn’t like the 32 VMax. It does seem to like the 35 Berger and 39 Sierra BK. I’m also set to try 40 VMax, 40 Nosler BT and 40 Bergers.

In checking my records, as of now, I’ve tested loads at 4 different range sessions: Aug. 30, Sep. 14, Sep 28 and Oct. 12.

About heat effects. I pace my shots, usually ~30 seconds between them and only one 5 shot group at a time. I usually take 3 rifles to the range and always shoot at least 2 taking turns with them. And I shoot with a friend. We shoot in turn-about, spotting for one another. All in all, there’s plenty of time for the barrels to cool and I avoid shooting with a hot barrel (except when shooting ground squirrels ).

Beyond that, some of my best groups were shot last, after having shot loads that grouped poorly. So any affect of either heat (too hot a barrel or heat-wave interference in sighting) or not acclimating the barrel to different propellants, seem unlikely to have influenced these results.

I can’t see anything in my results that would suggest that shifting loads affects outcome: some of my best groups occurred after shooting loads of different propellants and bullets. My raw data are below.

I’ll round my measurements to 2 decimal places and I shot all groups at 100 yds. All are 5 shot groups, except 1.

Aug 30:
32 VMax, 28 H4895; (3 rds only) 0.41 in
35 Berger, 22.2 IMR4198; 0.59 in
32 VMax,27.2 Benchmark; 1.40 in
35 Berger, 24.5 Benchmark; 0.71 in

Sep 14:
32 VMax, 22.5 IMR4198; 1.11 in
32 Nos BT, 23.2 LT32; 1.05
32 VMax, 23.2 LT32; 1.07 in
32 VMax, 27.5 H4895; 1.48 in

Sep 28:
32 VMax 28.1 H4895; 1.15 in (too hot for my liking)
32 VMax 27.5 H4895; 1.27 in
39 Speer 26 H4895; 1.21 in
39 Sierra BK, 26 H4895; 0.85 in
39 Sierra BK, 27.5 Varget; 0.455 in
35 Berger, 28.5 Varger; 1.31 in
35 Berger, 22 IMR4198; 0.34 in

12 Oct:
39 Sierra BK, 21.5 IMR4198; 1.12 in
39 Sierra BK, 21.5 LT32; 1.27 in
39 Sierra BK, 25.2 Benchmark; 0.51 in
39 Sierra BK; 26.7 IMR4064; 0.59 in

Again, thanks for the suggestions. I had not thought of a rifle needing to settle in after changing propellants . . . I just keep learning.

Brian

Some powders will follow others w/o accuracy issues but others won't. I have notes I've taken through the years on this issue but I can't lay my hands on it at the moment and besides, there's a lot of new powders in recent years that I haven't any idea about.

Jim,

I, for one, would welcome with open arms any data you have on, wrt accuracy (or any other shooting parameter), which propellants (or other components) affect accuracy by which prior propellants (or any other components).

I think that would be really, really useful information for those of us who are trying to work up good loads. When you track down your notes, perhaps you could start new thread.

Again, thanks for your thoughts.

wbr,

Brian

The data I have is primarily around HP competition from years back and it was for the most part;

- Varget
- H4895
- RL-15
- Vihtavouri N135, N140, N540
- H335
- W748

It's a good habit to get into to clean your tube in between powder changes and re-foul/re-season it.

WOW that may explain what happened the last time at the range I went from my load work-up with H4895 to my standard load with lighter bullets and BL-C (2) shots just didn't group nearly anywhere as good as usual, I wrote it off the shooting fatigue/loss of concentration

When working up a load, I think what I'll do is try to minimize the "Different Powder Degradation" effect by using a single powder per session and varying bullets and/or weights of propellant.

Not as good as cleaning between groups but certainly better than introducing DPD as a variable.

My name is Jim and I have lived in northeastern Pa. all of my life. I am 64 years old and just recently purchased my first .204 Rifle a Remington 700 SPS varmiter. I am having a problem with the cases being scratched when I chamber the rounds from the clip and it is a deep scratch the entire length of the case. Also it seems to require more effort than it should to push the round forward from the clip into the chamber. I was wondering if anyone else is having an issue with this. I have sent the rifle out for repair 3 times and they just sent me a new replacement rifle and it does the same thing. I have been reloading for 20+ years and have not seen this before. Don't get me wrong I love my other 700 BDL rifles but this is frustrating.

By "From the clip" Jim, do you mean, the magazine lips on the side ? If so I have read where others with this problem, on Rem and other magazine fed actions, smooth/file the edges ever so slow and easy till the spot that scratches the case stops doing so. You might play with that some or have a smith in your area check it out. Bill K

Bill K
Thank you for the suggestion to file the edges but with it being a brand new gun I didn't want to do anything to void the warranty and Remington has denied there is a problem. I don't feel that I should pay to have the defect corrected by a local gunsmith and after attempting to correct the problem through an authorized Remington repair shop I think that I will request a refund and possibly purchase the .204 from Savage. I purchased the rifle on 11/01/2017 and have only had it in my possession for about 3 weeks out of the 10 weeks. I wish Remington would at least develop a way to prevent this before shipping. I really did want that particular model.

Okay. A person must be happy with what they choose too do, for sure, and keep. Bill K

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum from Maryland and I entered the exciting world of the .204 Ruger not quite a year ago, when I got my Savage Predator Max 1 rifle. I was wanting a Sako Varmint Laminate but decided that for the money I'd have into the Sako alone, I could get the Savage, a decent optic and some sweet Redding competition dies. So that's what I did and I have no regrets! I have always been a big fan of the .22-250 (and still am) but the .204 has been much more pleasant to shoot. I've attached a picture of the rifle along with a Chuck I caught eating in one of my clover plots at 220 yards.

So far, I've been using a 39 grain Sierra Blitz King on 27.2 grains of Varget with great results. I may push the charge on this a little, as I see others are loading the Varget a bit hotter. I'm also experimenting with a 32 grain Nosler with some IMR 4198.

Anyway, I look forward to interacting on this Forum.

Best regards,

KetelOne