204 testing

[BrentM]

I know it's not long range but man it sure is fun. The weather was not good for much shooting or testing today but I did get a chance to play with my little 204.

I have shot nothing but Hornady 40g, factory ammo so far. It will shoot .15 groups with it too, but it is a little slow. 3500 fps. What is interesting is the bullet is .170 0ff the lands!

I worked up some loads with .075 off the lands and worked up to pressure signs, back down, then shot some groups. This rifle seems to like it all. I shot at 200 for drop with the 4064 and it was 1.5 inches which is about 3600 fps.

 

[Outlaw6.0]

I really like my 204, I shoot it more than anything I have. For a "trainer" it's just about perfect. Cheap to shoot & more often than not, stupid accurate. You're right, it's not "long range" as the BC on pretty much all .20 cal bullets SUCKs. It will however, teach you to mind the wind


Good shooting BTW, give us some specs on your rifle.


t

 

[BrentM]

It is a savage model 110 predator. I have a leupold 4.5-14 x50 B&C reticle, Vari X3 on it. Rifle is stock. I had 140 thru it before yesterday. I probably put 30 more thru it as I tested the powder weights for pressure then shot for groups. I don't think this model has the accustock. I have not pulled it to see. It shoots so well I am affraid of screwing it up. LOL

With the factory ammo I had my reticle figured out with a 300 yard zero, I was good out to 500. I had not yet shot it past 500 for a group. It was shooting .75" groups at 300, 1.25" at 400, and 3" at 500 with little wind. I shot once at 500 in a 5 mph inconsistent wind and it opened up to 6". Definitely a fair weather rifle for longer shots. Ami loves the 204 though. She pounds rocks at 350 with it with uncanny accuracy.

Any suggestions for my next outing? Thinking I will stick these powders for now, since I have them. I think I need to stick with .075 or more on the seating depth as well. At .075 the bullet in the neck is about the same as the diameter. One thing I need to do and didn't, is weigh the brass and separate. I did't run these through the concentricity guage either. They are all once fired hornady brass from the factory ammo. I just ran them through a standard RCBS neck die. Didn't check tension.

 

[Outlaw6.0]

Mine is a Savage model 12 VLP (i think that's right). Mine is the non-accustock with a laminate wood stock. I have not reloaded for it yet as it shoots the factory stuff so well one of the only cartridges I actually buy factory ammo for. Interestingly enough, my 204 does not like the Hornady 40grn loads, it prefers the 32grainers by a large margin.

I'm sitting on somewhere north of 600pcs of 1x factory rounds I kept after some prairie dog outtings. I intend to load at some point, just not sure when.

Case weight, neck tension & concentricity will play out much better after 500yds I feel. Anything inside that will probably not show large results. Let us know if you find any better loads that what you've already got. Most folks are saying that they cannot reproduce the factory rated velocity. Interestingly enough, my 26" bbl never produced 4225 anyway


VihtaVuori shows N530 pusing a 40grn V-max over 4000 in a 24" bbl.... that could be a pretty dern good combo.


t

 

[BrentM]

Yeah well Hornady box says 3900 but I have no idea what they were smoking when they came up with that number. The chrono showed 3500 and DOPEing this rifle showed the same thing. Drop was way off the mark when I did all the tests.

The load of 4064 is .3 inches less drop at 200 and grouping fine. This particular load is faster and just as accurate from what I can see. However, I will test again at 200 and play around.

I do agree that Hornady factory is sweet in this rifle and if it had not gone up in price, or become hard to find, I would just keep shooting it. I like the fact I have some options now though. 4 loads, factor, super, 4064, 4895, all shoot the same spot within .5 of each other at shorter range. Good gopher, rabbit, and yotie poppers.

 

[Outlaw6.0]

Yeah well Hornady box says 3900 but I have no idea what they were smoking when they came up with that number. The chrono showed 3500 and DOPEing this rifle showed the same thing. Drop was way off the mark when I did all the tests.

The load of 4064 is .3 inches less drop at 200 and grouping fine. This particular load is faster and just as accurate from what I can see. However, I will test again at 200 and play around.

I do agree that Hornady factory is sweet in this rifle and if it had not gone up in price, or become hard to find, I would just keep shooting it. I like the fact I have some options now though. 4 loads, factor, super, 4064, 4895, all shoot the same spot within .5 of each other at shorter range. Good gopher, rabbit, and yotie poppers.

I hear that. The 40 grainers were a lot closer to the advertised velocity than the 32's were in my testing. There is still quite a good stock of .204 in my neck of the woods (thank god).


t

 

[BrentM]

I measured the POI on the target last night for drop at 200. All 3 loads shot very close at 100 yards to each other with a max spread of .5" vertical.

So with some basic Shooter Ap solutions the results show:

Super 1" = 3950 fps
4064 1.5" = 3650 fps
4895 2.0" = 3400 fps

 

[Outlaw6.0]

3950 with a 40 grainer is pretty respectable & to have it be the most accurate as well is just icing on the cake

I'd say that load warrants more testing, well done.


t

 

[BrentM]

I was thinking the same thing. Appreciate the input.

Factory ammo is showing to be .170 off the lands and I loaded these at .075. I have not tested any other seating depths yet.

I was thinking about going back to the 4064 and adding .5 grains to see if the pressure is still good. I actually never did run 4064 to a pressure node. However 4895 was ran at 27 grains and flattened/cratered the primer. I think I am done testing that powder.

I was thinking of testing both the super and 4064 again with deeper seating depths and see how it goes. Does that sound like a good plan?

 

[Outlaw6.0]

It can't hurt you. You get some more trigger time & you gain knowledge. The barrel life on the 204 is pretty good so I don't see any issues there either.

Why not? If you like to fiddle around (I know I do) I'd say do it. At least with the SuperFormance.

With a .20 cal pil, I wonder what the effects of bullets seating depth have in comparison to a big 7 or 30? See? Justification right there


t

 

[tinytree]

i recently got a ruger #1 in 204, and am really liking the cartridge! so much that i am doing a rem 700 already. i really wish reloading stuff would settle down and start to show back up in the real world. hornady is the only brass i have been able to find, and it doesn't seem like it is going to go more than 2 or 3 firings. i have also seen a lot of input about remington 7 1/2 primers not showing cratering as bad as the others (i have been using winchesters), but i haven't seen any since i bought the rifle!

 

[BrentM]

I bought 1000 fed 205, 210, and 215 primers. I won't shoot 1000 205's any time soon so I am good. Around here powder and bullets are the hard thing to find. Drives me crazy. I am pretty sure the store workers are hording it and calling their buddies. Saw a truck pull in last week and hazmat pallets were unloaded. Yet no supplies were available to the guy on the street. Hmmmm

 

[Outlaw6.0]

I bought 1000 fed 205, 210, and 215 primers. I won't shoot 1000 205's any time soon so I am good. Around here powder and bullets are the hard thing to find. Drives me crazy. I am pretty sure the store workers are hording it and calling their buddies. Saw a truck pull in last week and hazmat pallets were unloaded. Yet no supplies were available to the guy on the street. Hmmmm

Hmm, indeed. Go figure, 204 projectiles are quite abundant around here lol I've got about 600round of brass safed also.

I've got a dead ejector spring otherwise I'd probably be spending more time with the old girl... I get a little annoyed when it won't kick out a casing...


t

 

[BrentM]

I called around for Retumbo, Super, and bergers. Nothing. LOL same old story. Forget about 4831 or 4350 etc.

The only reason Retumbo is flying off the shelves is people had to try it. Now they seek it. Crap.