You've got a nice little forum here. I have referenced it a few times over the years, but never took the opportunity to post. I've been shooting and reloading the 204 ruger for about 6 years now. I don't punch paper much, but enjoy hunting prairie dogs. My first 204 was the H&R handi rifle that shot OK, but I could never get the accuracy I wanted. About 3 years ago I sold it and bought a used savage 16 off of Gunbroker. I was thrilled to find it had never really been shot, the crown was mint condition. The H&R liked berger 30g bullets and I ended up stocking up on them as they were clearanced out, so I've been shooting them since I bought a 1000 bullets. My go to load is
Win 204 Ruger Brass
Win SR Primer
28.5g H4895
30g Berger
OAL 2.260
Chrono 4060 fps
I get around .3" groups on good days, .5" groups on bad days at 100 yards. I'm pretty happy with the groups considering this a a stock factory rifle. Here is my setup (shown with a custom 243 win). These dogs were taken from about 220 to 345 yards with the savage 204. That little berger does a pretty good job of breaking up on impact.
I hunt southeastern Utah. Here are some more pics of what the 243 win with a 70g Nosler BT at 3450fps will do. These prairie dogs are on public land and it is common to not get any shots under 300 yards some days especially spring or later in the fall. On this hunt, I shot dogs at 430, 470 and my personal best at 540. I love what the 243 win does to the dogs, I prefer to hunt with the 204, but just don't have the accuracy now past about 400 yards.
