This is topic Any Feedback on the .204 Ruger in forum Firearms forum at The New Huntmastersbbs!.
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Posted by AllPredatorCalls.com (Member # 347) on June 21, 2004, 04:57 PM:
Gents & Ladies,
Finally pulled the triger so to speak on on another rifle purchase. Went down to our local gunshop (Murphys in Tucson AZ) and ordered a Remington 700ADL in .204 Ruger .. was told no more than a 2 week delivery wait.. I was going to break down and buy a Ruger but last night when i saw on the Remington website that they were offering them I was pushed over the edge... Anyway, any feed back from .204 shooters? what kind of fps with the 32& 40 grn bullets are you getting, how about fur damage (or lack of) reports.
Good hunting,
AP
Posted by Cal Taylor (Member # 199) on June 21, 2004, 07:30 PM:
Kinda wondering that myself. I have an AR that I would like to re-barrel to .204.
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on June 22, 2004, 05:33 AM:
I can't speak directly to the .204, haven't even held one of those. But I've been shooting a .20BR a lot lately, and have shot a couple .20 Tactical's (very similar capacity to the .204).
Handloading, you ought to get about 4200 fps, or a bit more with the 32's, and about 3800 with the 40's. I'm running about 300 fps faster than that with the BR. Actually, I've got one load that has the 32's doing 4600.
The .204 might be pretty good on fur with bullets other than the Vmax. My experience shooting smaller varmints with the Vmax has me thinking they are going to be poor for fur. And my friend Blaine Eddy made up a .20 caliber years ago in his search for the perfect fur cartridge and he says it wasn't near fur freindly enough to suit him - that was after shooting quite a number of coyotes with it. Really comes down to the bullet, in my opinion. There's getting to be more of a selection, could easy be one of them is a good fur bullet. Hell, I could even be wrong about the Vmax's. I haven't shot any coyotes with them yet. But anything that spreads a jack rabbit around that thin...
- DAA
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on June 23, 2004, 10:35 AM:
I agree, Dave. Seems like it always comes down to the bullet.
So, my take on it is to have some sort of happy medium between velocity, bullet weight, and jacket construction. In simple terms; is the 300 Winchester Magnum "better" than a 308 Winchester, or does the venerable 30'06 do a fair job of covering all the bases? All what bases, you may ask, and that's a fair question.
Normally, you want a bullet to blow a hole in the animal, but then; some want death with minimum destruction.
The job of hitting the target is made easier by increasing case volume and jacking the velocity. Or, by necking the case, from 30 to 270, or 22 to 20 caliber.
Considering the wide range of possibilities, at least where I hunt, I need a flat shooting cartridge to hit what I'm aiming at. That's pretty much a given, when hunting predators.
Lot's of places, they are faced with nothing but chip shots, so the smaller cases and lighter bullets show much better consistancy, from shot to shot.
Personally, I'm a real hard sell, on any bullet, of any diameter, that weighs less than 55 grains. From either the minimum damage, or the knock 'em flat, point of view. If the subject is coyote.
However, the twenty caliber solution bears looking into. It fits into a nitch, as the 30'06 might, in my imperfect example, above. As usual, the problem is finding the proper bullet.
Good hunting. LB
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on June 23, 2004, 11:32 AM:
One thing I think the .204 is going to be very good at, is being easy to make hits with. The trajectory and wind drift numbers for it are impressive. I keep reading comments on the internet about how wind sensitive it's going to be, but these comments are simply not true. It's a lot better in the wind than a .223, and no worse than a .22-250 - a little better, or a little worse depending on which loads are being compared. Combined with very slight recoil and somewhat milder muzzle blast, it ought to be a very shooter friendly chambering.
As I've already mentioned, I've been shooting a larger capacity .204 lately, and I'm just all kinds of impressed how easy it is to shoot well.
Coyote performance, I just don't know. The energy is certainly there. How well it gets work done on coyote flesh, I've yet to see for myself. I'd start with a Berger 35 or 40 gr. bullet though, rather than a Vmax.
Definitely, I agree that the .20 caliber fills a niche, or a void, depending on how you choose to look at it. The gap between the .17 and .22 is a BIG one. If you ignore the .19, anyway (not to dis the .19, but it just hasn't got the industry support that the .20 is now enjoying).
- DAA
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