204 rifle cartridge

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greg burgess

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Hello to all the nutz's out there, and wondering if any one has ever heard of or shot a 204 cal rifle.
The rifle is single shot, break open action like a shot gun, has a 22 cal bullet and an amazing 4000ft/sec velocity.
 
Yep. The .204 Ruger. However, it's fairly new so finding brass and bullets(.20 calibre) may be difficult. Especially in smaller places. There's lots of load data and general info on it on-line though. Do a net search for it.
 
.204Ruger is an excellent Varmint caliber, shoots as straight as a laser when there's low or no wind.

Cons : Difficult to find, even more difficult to reload, eats up barrels fast.
 
It does not eat up barrels fast at all. About the same as a 223, and significantly longer than a 22-250. It's not difficult to find anymore, except maybe if you're looking for factory ammo. Brass and bullets are easy to come by, and there are about 8 or 9 different bullets out there, by all the major manufacturers.

The 204 is essentially the 22-250 - same or slightly better trajectory, and slightly less drift, with less noise, heat and recoil.

I just got my Remington back from a warantee repair, and shot a 5/8" 5-shot group with it. And that was just while I was sighting it in, I wasn't giving it cool-down time between shots, or really taking my time with it at all.
 
Well, on my ruger Varminter (which I bought the year .204 hit the shelves) ended up with serious throat erosion problems due to the 4000+ FPS velocity and high pressures, then I sold the rifle for about half it what it did cost me. That was about 1.5-2 years ago, and I had hard time finding factory ammo, let alone reloading components. Now, things may have radically changed in 2 years, barrel makers might have refined their construction to accomodate this caliber and enhance barrel's life. But I agree with you, it's way better than 22-250 and/or 220 Swift in terms of barrel life.

prosper said:
It does not eat up barrels fast at all. About the same as a 223, and significantly longer than a 22-250. It's not difficult to find anymore, except maybe if you're looking for factory ammo. Brass and bullets are easy to come by, and there are about 8 or 9 different bullets out there, by all the major manufacturers.

The 204 is essentially the 22-250 - same or slightly better trajectory, and slightly less drift, with less noise, heat and recoil.

I just got my Remington back from a warantee repair, and shot a 5/8" 5-shot group with it. And that was just while I was sighting it in, I wasn't giving it cool-down time between shots, or really taking my time with it at all.
Click to expand...
 
You shouldn't have had high pressure problems, this cartridge is factory-loaded to a max pressure of ~57,000psi, as opposed to the 65,000 from the 22-250.

Although I agree that using the 4200fps 32gr loads will probably erode faster than a 40gr loaded slightly mildly at ~3700
 
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