.204 Ruger Fans?

[clarkston_cz]

Anyone?

[lead foot]

So far, so so ... MOA, no more no less. 32 grain hornady factory load gives me MOA at 100 and 200 yards, haven't tried it at 300. 40 grain factory load gives me MOA at 100, 200, and 300 yards. My 2 best handloads give me MOA at 100 and 200, all I've shot 'em at. Both of those use the 40 grain VMAX.

I've not shot any varmints with the 32 grain load, only with the 40 grain load, and that was not real spectacular. It seems to grab critters and fling them, not blow them up. No red mist. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] However, they are rather dead.

I don't expect my gun will shoot any better than what it's shooting now regardless of what I do with loads. It has a long throat, I can't get anywhere near the rifling and still have the bullet in the case neck. I'm not sure the consistency of the VMAX bullets in .20 caliber is enough to reliably shoot better than MOA either. I'm also not real happy with the brass supply. I'd feel better if I could get bulk remington brass I didn't have to fire form from .222 magnum.

I plan to use it this winter as is and see if I can get into any coyotes or jackrabbits, then see how I feel about it. I might rebarrel it with a better barrel and see if I can get more accuracy or I might just go back to .223 or .17 Remington.