Favorite Loads

[futuretrades]

When shooting for groups or load workup, I always use either a permanent bench or I have a portable bench also. I use a Sinclair economy adjustable front rest, and a rear sand bag with bunny ears. The front rest is set to the width of the fore end of my 204 and the for end is tight in the rest. I was told by a bench shooter to set the front rest just in front of the chamber on the rifle, so that is where i set my rest. Don't know if that makes a big difference, as most shooters have their own opinion on this. I think the main thing is being consistent with your set up, every time you get set up for any target work, or load work up.
Also be aware of your breathing and trigger squeeze and head placement on the stock. also your follow thru. try to repeat each one the same for every shot down range. what ever you choose, you need to be comfortable and consistent.
(JMHO)

[FireBallGuy]

My VSF likes 30.1 grains of BL-C2 and a 32 grain nosler ballistic tip, sub half inch groups and fast!! Seated way out of coarse.

[FireBallGuy]

Sorry, forgot the details: Remington VSF, winchester brass, Federal 205M primer, COL 2.325".

[Jim White]

When shooting for groups or load workup, I always use either a permanent bench or I have a portable bench also. I use a Sinclair economy adjustable front rest, and a rear sand bag with bunny ears. The front rest is set to the width of the fore end of my 204 and the for end is tight in the rest. I was told by a bench shooter to set the front rest just in front of the chamber on the rifle, so that is where i set my rest. Don't know if that makes a big difference, as most shooters have their own opinion on this. I think the main thing is being consistent with your set up, every time you get set up for any target work, or load work up.
Also be aware of your breathing and trigger squeeze and head placement on the stock. also your follow thru. try to repeat each one the same for every shot down range. what ever you choose, you need to be comfortable and consistent.
(JMHO)

futuretrades;

You've added some good information. I would also add too;

- Make sure you're comfortable with your sitting position at the bench. While it may sound looney, a NPA still needs to be established because I'm trying to stack the rounds on top of each other. .008" at the muzzle is 1 MOA down range. When you're struggling, the chance of success is not very good.

- Make sure the scope has ZERO parallax and make sure the reticle is focused and sharp. If not, adjust accordingly. If you can't adjust the parallax out or adjust the focus, take a good hard look at the scope. On this line, if your scope has no parallax adjustments its probably a good hunch as the distance increases parallax will rare its ugly head. Its my understanding non A/O or S/F scopes are set to be parallax free at 150 yards or so, but do check with the scope manufacturer.

- Make sure the rifle barrel and scope are-not making contact with your rest/bag or what have you.

- Don't stare at the cross hairs (you’re focusing on the cross hairs (not the target)…right?) to long. In fact, you're first look is probably your best look. When you're staring through the cross hairs make sure your eye relief is consistent from shot-to-shot. Also, make sure the rifle is-not canted, especially (if you're like me) if your scope is adjusted to strike away from the aiming point. I do this so my aiming point is-not skewed because of bullet holes (the trade off is, rifle cant can skew the group…).

- If you can’t get a round off in a reasonable amount of time (make sure you are breathing) unload, pick a new round that hasn’t warmed up by staying in a chamber too long and try again.

- Stay hydrated, you’re eyes are one of the 1st organs to feel the effects of dehydration.

- Be aware of barrel mirage. It too can play tricks with your groupings.

- Count all fliers unless you’re absolutely sure you can explain them. If you don’t, you’re only fooling yourself.

Bout’ all I can think off for now.

[richness]

Rifle : Howa 1500 with Border Archer 23" Sendero profile w/ DM80
Timney trigger
Hogue stock
IOR 4-28x56 scope on 1piece EGW picattiny rail

favourite load:
Full-length sized Nosler Custom brass, trimmed to 1.832". BR4 primer
28.2gr Reloder 15. 39gr SBK @ 1.890" to the ogive (which is jumped 40thou)
Easy inch at 300y and 1.4" @ 400y

Benchmark just as good a powder. FPS unknown but bullet drops equate to about 3500fps which is fine by me

[BabaOriley]

With my load development done now that winter has set in here, I'll post the best result of this summers testing. I'm sure glad I found Ramshot TAC powder. It works great in my AR. The loads below are all capable of half MOA accuracy in my rifle. I hope they provide someone else a good starting point, because I think I loaded/fired over 400 rounds to find these.

[OldTurtle]

Thanks for posting your work ups.... I'm about ready to switch my Savage out to a 1/10 twist barrel and get the chamber cut to handle the 50gr Bergers... just for a little more usable bullet weight...

It's now equipped with a 'sporter weight' barrel and I thing I'm going to go up to a medium weight contour...or a bull barrel that has been fluted, but still stay in the 22"-23" length...

[BabaOriley]

Thanks for posting your work ups.... I'm about ready to switch my Savage out to a 1/10 twist barrel and get the chamber cut to handle the 50gr Bergers... just for a little more usable bullet weight...

It's now equipped with a 'sporter weight' barrel and I thing I'm going to go up to a medium weight contour...or a bull barrel that has been fluted, but still stay in the 22"-23" length...

Ughhh... stab me in the heart man... I go and buy a 16 to be just like you, and you go changing yours up. ?????

I've gazed on all the ways to customize a Savage already, and my 16 isn't even gonna be here until tomorrow. !!! I guess at this point I hope it can function as the cheap, light, beater rifle I bought it to be. Going to try and keep it a "cheap Savage" if it shoots. I hope it doesn't shoot bad in general and make me do all the customizations to bring it up to "pretty" rifle standards.

Are you going to get a new stock too?

You have a 25 too don't you? Are you talking about that one?

[richness]

Rifle : Howa 1500 with Border Archer 23" Sendero profile w/ DM80
Timney trigger
Hogue stock
IOR 4-28x56 scope on 1piece EGW picattiny rail

favourite load:
Full-length sized Nosler Custom brass, trimmed to 1.832". BR4 primer
28.2gr Reloder 15. 39gr SBK @ 1.890" to the ogive (which is jumped 40thou)
Easy inch at 300y and 1.4" @ 400y

Benchmark just as good a powder. FPS unknown but bullet drops equate to about 3500fps which is fine by me

Since this previous post, i've bought a Chrony and am delighted to report that the above load is giving me 3750fps (4paces from muzzle)
That out of a 23" barrel so don't be worried that RL15 is too slow, guys

[si-snipe]

Only been reloading since October but this is what i have found so far:

Bullet - 39g Blitzking
Powder - 29.7g of BL-C(2)
Brass - FL resized WW case
Primer - Rem 7 1/2 primer
OAL - 2.305"
Rifle - Howa Varmint Supreme (standard except trigger refined)
Group size average (3 shot) - 0.20" at 110yds

[MDHogHunter]

I've worked up some loads with my Remington Model 7 .204 using H4895 and Reloader 10x, I couldn't get anything under 1" MOA with 35 Bergers. 39 Sierras were even worse, some loads the gun absolutely hated, others around 1.5" MOA.

So far the winner is a 32gr. Sierra BK with 26.1gr of Reloader 10x. COL 2.250 with a Remington 7 1/2 BR primer. It shoots sub 1/2" MOA.

Hoping this post can help anybody with a Model 7. It seems the gun is hard to find the right load.

I am going to try some BL-C(2) here soon and see if I can find anything with the 35 Bergers or 39Sierras.

[Quoddy]

So far the winner is a 32gr. Sierra BK with 26.1gr of Reloader 10x. COL 2.250 with a Remington 7 1/2 BR primer. It shoots sub 1/2" MOA.

This is almost the identical setup that a long time Cooper .204 shooter that I know uses. The only variation is that he uses 26.5gr of 10x. Don't know what brass you're using, but he uses Winchester.

[Fred_C_Dobbs]

I'm loading 26.1gr of RL-10x and 30.6gr of BL-C2, shooting 32-gr WS2-coated Nolsers and using BR-4 primers in my 26" Savage 12 VL. These two loads are virtual ballistic twins and both consistently shoot under 1/2" @100 yards. I had one 3-shot miracle group @200 with the RL-10X that measured 0.375" overall, less than 0.1 MoA. I've got Hornady brass, Winchester brass and R-P brass that I kept to reload after shooting up some factory ammo. I try not to mix them in a given session but on the whole, my Savage just don't much care which I'm using. My COL is a magazine-limited 2.34".

As a side note, after I'd dialed in both these these loads using the ladder method, I came across Optimum Barrel Time. I hunted up a pal who had a copy of QuickLoad, which is a key component of OBT. I plugged in the details of my two ladder-developed .204 loads and they matched OBT's predictions to a tenth of a grain of powder. I'm using OBT now on a .243 WSSM to see if it's really that effective or if the two .204 loads was a fluke but I can't keep a chrono running long enough to get reliable range data.

[wtdew]

Can't say that I have a favorite load as yet. Still looking. My real question is I see so few rifles made by Ruger in this list. I bought a Ruger Hawkeye because they came out with it in a left handed version. I just hope I get the results that many of you have. Will say this about the new LC6 trigger. If you didn't know that stands for "Light, Crisp and Six Pounds."

The trigger is a bit heavy and I don't know if there is any point in working on it (someone else) as I don't do triggers, or just a replacement for it. Any thoughts on that?

[bow shot]

For Savage 12 VLP
.204 Ruger

Bullet: 32 gr Hornady VMax or Sierra Blitz King
Powder: 26.8 gr Benchmark
Brass: Federal
Brass trim: 1.837" +/- .001"
Primer: Federal 205M
COAL: apx 2.334"
Size: Lee collet neck sized
Seated: Wilson seating die, stem adjusted @ 1.7000"
TIR: (@ case side of bullet olgive) <0.002"

Best 3 shot yields so far:
VMax: 0.24" @100y, 1.0"@300y.

Blitz Kings (with untrimmed Nosler brass): 0.3" @100y (26.8, 27.6 gr Benchmark), 1.7" @ 400y (27.6 gr Benchmark)