Reasonable factory.204 Ruger

[tikkat3270wsm]

i am wondering if one of the guru's on here can tell me what manufacture of a .204 Ruger they would purchase. Parameters are, 400-600 price,stainless heavy barrel.Have shot the caliber at 400 in a buddies gun, loved the light recoil and precision. Will be a while till my 270wsm build is done and want to get some trigger time on some whistle pigs this spring and summer.
Thanks in advance,
Craiggun)

 

[BrentM]

I have 2 savages and my buddy has a remington SPS. Both are nice but I prefer the savages. 1 is a stock 10 predator with 22" barrel. The other is a 110 22-250 that I installed a 26" stainless barrel on. I am still playing with this rifle as it is my first build but it is shooting .25 or less so far. The stocker shoots .25 or less as well. I have shot in the 1s with it if conditions are perfect and I do my job.

 

[RockZ]

I have had a couple of savage .204 Rutgers as well.
Had to sell one to my buddy it shot so well.
I still have a single shot savage 12fv and it shoots awesome.
I put it in a Boyd's thumb hole stock and had it bedded.
It shoots great!

 

[lewwetzel]

I have three .204s: Cooper, Remington, CZ. You'll find no stainless heavy barrel under $600, unless a Cabela's has a leftover Rem. stainless 700 SPS Varmint; you could buy a Howa barreled action heavy/stainless for about that, but even a Boyd's stock - if they make them to fit - would be at least $150 more.
A blued chrome-moly CZ 527 Varmint, plus the cost of rings; or a "regular" Remington SPS V, plus the probable cost of a decent stock later - is about as close as you'll get to 600 bucks. Savage might have something close, but it too wouldn't be both HB and stainless.

 

[tikkat3270wsm]

checked on gunbroker and there are a few CZ Varmint for 650. Will be keeping my eyes open

 

[BrentM]

If you want to talk about I will be selling my savage soon. The short action has about 50 rounds on it, barrel around 100. The only issue is the stock is a blind mag center feed and set up for the 22 250 right now. Action is black, stock is black, barrel is 26" fluted stainless. $500
I have a really nice choate stock with black and gray that will fit it. Never mounted and no bottom metal yet. $275.

 

[tikkat3270wsm]

ok Bret, I will PM you

 

[Jud96]

Get a Remington 700, any model with a heavy barrel will do, including the VLS, VTR, and SPS varmint. Have seen these rifles mentioned shoot excellent groups in .22-250 and the .204 would also shoot phenomenally well. If you can't get a Remington at a good price, then next should be a Savage. Good luck!

 

[Gunpoor]

I had a T/C Encore 26" Pro Hunter barrel for a while that would shoot 40 grain bullets very well, but others that had shorter barreled 204s said that they couldn't stabilize the 40 grain bullets. I don't know what manufacturers are putting 26" tubes on their rifles but I liked the heavier for caliber bullets in the 204. FWIW

 

[BrentM]

That is weird. My 22" savage loves 40s. These are 3 different tests with 40 gr vmax. It shoots factory ammo even better but speed speed is 200 fps slower.

 

[Trickymissfit]

the .204 Ruger doesn't need a barrel any longer than 24" when you look at the case volume. Even a 22" barrel is going to do just fine. I've seen a couple Mod. 12 Savages shoot low .20" five shot groups so often that it was boring! Never saw one shoot in the ones. On the otherhand I saw a .223 necked down to .204 shoot .180" groups and a .222 Remington necked down to .204 shoot just as good. Tobe exact maybe a little more consistent. The difference in velocity between all three was less than 150fps, and the shorter case shot better. I've also seen the PPC case necked down to 20 caliber along with (believe it or not) the 22-250! There were no serious gains in velocity, and the 250 case ate the barrel in less than 500 shots. I always thought the 20BR to be an interesting round, and it will do 4300fps with a 32 grain bullet
gary

 

[BrentM]

Interesting info.

That grouping target with the best group is 27.5 gr of 4064 at 3800. Factory ammo shot 1 large hole at 3650. Factory Hornady ammo uses 29 gr of superformance.

My current load for the 22" rifle is 24.7 grains of h4198 at 3790. My zero is 200 yards.
This load is a little less accurate but I wanted a temp stable powder.

 

[tikkat3270wsm]

this is great info guys! better than expected. Now , if I can take that savage off your hands Bret, i have a starting point

 

[BrentM]

My inbox was full so if sent me a response I have not received it yet. Sorry