204Ruger

hello all this is my first post here i am wondering if any one has been able to get under 3200 fps with the 32gr vmax i recently purchased a ruger American i ordered brass dies and bullets i got some 39gr speer tnt 32gr vmax and 40gr vmax i started coyote hunting last year and took 6 coyotes with my 223 and one early this fall with my 17 wsm the ones shot with the 223 had huge holes i was not able to save any of the pelts each one was shot with a different bullet as i was trying to find a fur friendly bullet as for the one shot with the 17 and a 20 gr vmax from about 40 yards the entrance hole was about the size of a dine with no exit but even at that distance and a well placed shot it ran 75 yards before it dropped so i purchased the 204 with the hope of a fur friendly round with a bit more energy but quickly found it is just as bad as the 223 on fur at full velocity i got a baseball size hole with the speer tnt so i figure if i can slow the bullets down a bit it might work out any suggestions no offense to anyone but please dont recommend the berger bullets they are a little expensive and i think i would get the same results as the speer thanks for any help feel free to tell me im living in a dream

I may be way off base with this as I don't have any experience with it yet but I've read about the Barne's Varmint Grenades being fur friendly. It's a non-lead frangible copper bullet that's suppose to come apart upon entrance. I have several hundred in stock in preparation for Commiefornia's ban on lead bullets. Check them out on the various varmint shooting forums. Some believe there could be a problem using them with suppressors but that'll never be a concern for me as long as I remain a resident here.
As for slowing down the .204, I don't think you're going to see much of a change to the fur damage. About the slowest I've recorded my loads while staying within the min/max load charts is around 3400. Others may have different loads that are slower but with the powders I've tried that's what I get. I think your best bet is with a different bullet-just my 2 cents worth. Keep livin' the dream! Randy.

Im sure you can slow down the 32vmax but you could have done that with your .223, you are going to lose your laser-like trajectory which is really the only difference between the 204 and 223. I havent shot any yotes with the 35 bergers but thats the bullet everyone says is the best bet for holding together on coyote size game. The bergers are less than a dime a bullet more expensive, if you are using them to take fur that would be a non factor for me if they work better. My calling buddy uses a 40gr vmax a hot load in his 223, i chronied it around 3750. For some reason that load does not damage coyotes bad at all. Its dumped a pile of them and very few were bad exits. A lot of the time it fragments internally and no exit. If he hits a shoulder bone especially at an angle it does rip badly. If its behind shoulder where it brlongs it folds them up and minimal damage. If you want good trajectory, killing power, and minimal fur damage go to a .243 or .25-06 with some good hard bullets.

thanks for the replies i have tried the 40gr vmax in my 223 and had terrible accuracy even a key hole i did find a decent load for the for the 50 gr vmax and 15gr of 1680 that might get me around 2000 + fps at close range this might be ok but i would not feel comfortable shooting at a 100 yards or more the thought behind my question was if the 17 wsm at 3000 fps at the muzzle and the vmax did not break apart like it was designed to even going through a rib at that speed i would be able to get a little more penetration without it breaking apart on impact with a 32gr vmax at a lower speed i dont know why my experiences have resulted in fur destroying shots ive seen a lot of shots taken on youtube with a 22-250 with vmax hornady ammo and the fur looks perfectly fine with my limited but personal experience this has not been the case i think i will try the Varmint Grenades i guess i should have looked into bullet selection before thinking this was a magic fur friendly caliber i love the gun so it wont be going anywhere thanks again

https://www.hodgdon.com/wp-content/uplo ... -loads.pdf This is the Hodgdon page that shows how to download with H4895. I have used H4895 to download a whole handful of cartridges and it is very predictable. If you download it 20% you will real close to a 20% drop in speed. Hodgdon states that the lowest that you should go is 60% of max. Hodgdon's max for a 32vmax w/H4895 is 29grs. That works out to 17.6grs (29x.6) with a speed of about 2350fps. I never able to get small groups with the min. load so I would work up (60%-65%-70% and so on) till I got the speed and group that I wanted. I have also used Red Dot. If anyone is interested in more information on using it just reply and I will list the forum and page that has the write up. It is also very predictable and have used it on 10 to 12 cartridges from 221 to 9.3x62mm. My 20" 6TCU uses 10.4grs of Red Dot w/55Nos Varm HP @ 2320fps and 1/4" (50 yards).

thank you this is very interesting now if i can find some h4895 powder i will be set i would like to learn more about using pistol powder in rifle cartridges i have done a little testing but i force myself to stop because my Ruger American 223 brass does not show clear signs of over pressure on the brass using 28gr of alliant varmint and 55gr dogtown sp i have had a few bullets disintegrate before they hit the target on warm days the brass shows no signs of pressure no flat primers no cratering no marks on the brass at all midway states this bullet is good up to 4000 fps i know this load is over pressure but it shoots amazing out of this rifle i have only tried 1680 in my 204 ruger and had horrible results 3 inch groups at 100 yards i would like to test out unique or maybe some of the mag pistol powders i have on hand for 300 blk ive never been able to get my hands on red dot i do have
hodgdon universal
hodgdon cfe pistol
hodgdon h110
hodgdon lil gun
ramshot competition
ramshot enforcer
accurate no.5 &no.7
accurate 1680
alliant green dot
alliant unique
vitha vuori 3n38
vitha vuori n310
vitha vuori n110
if anyone has seen any loads for these for 204 i would be happy to see some info

i have a couple .204's and have been shooting then for a good number of years. i get the best accuracy from 39 grain sierra's or 32 grain of any stripe. the best powder i have found is either H-322 OR ALLIANT ar-comp. i recently put a 39 grain loaded with 25 grains of H-322 into a 4 shot group at 100 yards that you could completely hide with the open end of an '06 case. total outside to outside was .298. if you deduct the diameter of the bullet this makes a group of center to center of .094" my lifetime best group and i can tell you i have shot a few good groups but nothing like this. it is a very fast load. maybe the guy who said to shoot your coyotes a little farther back you might not get an exit wound.

The 32gr and 40gr are ballistic type meant to blow up the varmint like a bomb. Those can make a mess with splash damage or huge exits if it makes it that far.

Why not use the 45gr hornady. I've read that they do a full pass through with very little expansion. So you would have a tiny entrance and exit hole.

I just bought some but not shot any yet.

Coyotes with the 204R = Berger 35gr.

Any search on any forum will give that result as optimum, this one included.

Max load for H4895 is 29 grains with a 32 grain bullet. I just tried 21 grains (72% of max)
with 32 grain V-Max with great results. No idea what the velocity is but the load is much lighter than my 28.5 grain load of CFE223 with 40 grain Hornadys.