Another Long Range Varmint round

[diamonddave2]

I love the accuracy of my 204 Ruger in my AR15. It has a Shilen barrel. What I don't like are the feeding problems in the AR platform. You shouldn't have that problem in your bolt gun. I'd change to 20 Tactical for another auto loader build with a slightly faster twist to better handle 40 grain bullets. Mine does well with them and that will help in the barrel wear. You also might see if your barrel is really clean and not fouled.

 

[Tidus56]

I think a 6BR would be worth a hard look. You'll get good barrel life, good BC bullets and good velocity. That's the route I think i will go with my next varmint rifle.

 

[PatriotHenry]

Without going too far in to the wildcat realm, does anyone have any experience with the 22 Dasher? Looks like there is already 6 Dasher brass and I can drive 80gr bullets well over the 3000fps mark.

Look at the 224 Valkyrie

 

[30BR]

You could always try having the 204 setback and recrowned... you might get another 2 years out of it...

 

[John Klingenberg]

I have a 6mm Grendel AR with a 20" barrel that runs 87s at 2920, 95s at 2830, and 105s at 2700 with 27-28 grains of powder at AR Pressures. Would love to see what it would do in a 26" bolt gun. The 6 ARC is very similar with about 1.5 Grains water less capacity. MDT makes 224 Valkyrie mags in AICS short action pattern that allow a coal of 2.55 I believe.

Grendel in a bolt gun is a whole nother critter. I also absolutely love my .224 Valkyrie! It's stupid accurate in my bolt gun but it seems to be finicky. Took a while to find magic. The ARC sounds interesting but I have a BR already. The 22 Nosler sounds awesome in a bolt gun but until someone else picks it up I wont chamber for it.

 

[skipglo]

I have one of those Cabela's specials, a Savage model 10 chambered in .204 Ruger that I have since put in a chasis system that accepts AICs pattern magazines. The rifle is probably the most accurate factory rifle i have even seen or shot, and it saddens me to say that after roughly 2000 rounds and 3 years of varmint shooting I am noticing a steep decline in accuracy. It went from making tiny, .1"-.2" groups to breaking the 1" mark and I believe it is time for a new barrel.

While I enjoyed the 20 cal life, I am the proud owner of an AR that shows great promise in accuracy and will fill that void for inside 400 yards as long as the government doesn't force me to have an unfortunate boating accident.

I am looking in the realm of a faster .223 cal or possibly a 6mm chambering that isn't quite the barrel scorcher as the .22-250 but something still very capable out to 800+ yards. I like the idea of the 22 Nosler in a bolt gun to run heavier bullets but am wondering what everyone else is running for their long range, ground dwelling rodent rifles.

I think you are safe from the boating accident....unless you plan to be out there looking for MIGRATING SWIMMING PRAIRIE DOGS....but I hear that only happens once every 2000 years or so! ( Mind you....there are floods so shoot em off a roof....leave the boat on the trailer)

 

[North Idaho Hunter]

Plain vanilla 223 with 8 twist. or if your feeling frisky a 223 ackley.

No bolt head change, EASY to obtain brass even in this pandemic.

Easy to obtain prefits - winner to me!

 

[257WTBY]

22 Creedmoor gets my vote I just had one built and its a laser on coyotes. Im running 60 gr partitions and it stacks them on top of each other. There are so many great rounds in the 17-6mm range that it all comes down to personal preference and what you want out of the rifle - what ever you decide good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[YZ-80]

Kinda overkill, but I like my 6.5X47 with a 143 ELD-X. Not very cost effective hurling those pills at vermin but I don't miss much and it saves me the time and powder of developing a separate Varmint load, so I figure it's a wash.

 

[poacher222]

I have one of those Cabela's specials, a Savage model 10 chambered in .204 Ruger that I have since put in a chasis system that accepts AICs pattern magazines. The rifle is probably the most accurate factory rifle i have even seen or shot, and it saddens me to say that after roughly 2000 rounds and 3 years of varmint shooting I am noticing a steep decline in accuracy. It went from making tiny, .1"-.2" groups to breaking the 1" mark and I believe it is time for a new barrel.

While I enjoyed the 20 cal life, I am the proud owner of an AR that shows great promise in accuracy and will fill that void for inside 400 yards as long as the government doesn't force me to have an unfortunate boating accident.

I am looking in the realm of a faster .223 cal or possibly a 6mm chambering that isn't quite the barrel scorcher as the .22-250 but something still very capable out to 800+ yards. I like the idea of the 22 Nosler in a bolt gun to run heavier bullets but am wondering what everyone else is running for their long range, ground dwelling rodent rifles.

Everyone seems to have a different idea. If I'm not mistaken, the .204 was directly derived from the .222 Remington Magnum by necking it down. To make things easier and to prolong barrel life, a new barrel chambered for the old .222 mag and speeding up the twist slightly to stabilize heavier bullets would be an easy swap. And, no changes to the bolt or the magazine needed, just a barrel. Plus give you great ballistics for rodents of all sizes including a few of the howling kind! Shoot straight and enjoy.

 

[lisasman]

22 Creedmoor running Berger 85.5gr or Hornsby 88 ELDM, 1:8 twist barrel.

 

[skookum]

Everyone seems to have a different idea. If I'm not mistaken, the .204 was directly derived from the .222 Remington Magnum by necking it down. To make things easier and to prolong barrel life, a new barrel chambered for the old .222 mag and speeding up the twist slightly to stabilize heavier bullets would be an easy swap. And, no changes to the bolt or the magazine needed, just a barrel. Plus give you great ballistics for rodents of all sizes including a few of the howling kind! Shoot straight and enjoy.

I have actually started looking in to this. I think I can just neck up .204 brass and I'd be good to go. Its shame this round has disappeared because I think it has roughly the same case capacity as the Valkryie. Its a bolt gun so I dont see much reason to go with the Valkyrie given that its designed to fit bigger bullets in a standard Magazine.
I think I might start with having a smith cut a new chamber and crown and try to get one more season out it but I am definitely taking a hard look at either a 22 dasher or 6 Dasher at this point.

 

[skookum]

I love the accuracy of my 204 Ruger in my AR15. It has a Shilen barrel. What I don't like are the feeding problems in the AR platform. You shouldn't have that problem in your bolt gun. I'd change to 20 Tactical for another auto loader build with a slightly faster twist to better handle 40 grain bullets. Mine does well with them and that will help in the barrel wear. You also might see if your barrel is really clean and not fouled.

It has about 20 rounds down the barrel since I did a very thorough cleaning and its already fouling. Some barrels, especially factory foul easy but I have gone hundreds of rounds without losing accuracy in this rifle. I think its just giving up on me.

 

[lgwatson]

I have one of those Cabela's specials, a Savage model 10 chambered in .204 Ruger that I have since put in a chasis system that accepts AICs pattern magazines. The rifle is probably the most accurate factory rifle i have even seen or shot, and it saddens me to say that after roughly 2000 rounds and 3 years of varmint shooting I am noticing a steep decline in accuracy. It went from making tiny, .1"-.2" groups to breaking the 1" mark and I believe it is time for a new barrel.

While I enjoyed the 20 cal life, I am the proud owner of an AR that shows great promise in accuracy and will fill that void for inside 400 yards as long as the government doesn't force me to have an unfortunate boating accident.

I am looking in the realm of a faster .223 cal or possibly a 6mm chambering that isn't quite the barrel scorcher as the .22-250 but something still very capable out to 800+ yards. I like the idea of the 22 Nosler in a bolt gun to run heavier bullets but am wondering what everyone else is running for their long range, ground dwelling rodent rifles.

If you reload look at the 6-6.5X47 Lapua. Not a barrel burner. Just a little less powder capacity than the 6mm Creedmoor.