What's your favouritest varmint round between 17 hornet, 204 ruger and 223?

hoytcanon said:
There are a lot of cartridges out there... when they intorduced the .204, I was busy playing with Hornets and PPC's, and when I tired of that, I reached into the back of the cabinet and pulled out the .223's and .22-250's again... somehow the .204 got lost in the shuffle.
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Around here, many guys that have tried the 204s ended up going back to 22-250s and 223s again. For one reason or another they just didn't care for the 204s.
 
Got Juice? said:
not graphic enough.... .40 grains of bullet with a ballistic tip smashing into a gopher at 4000 fps makes for a spectacular show. Pink mist, Viscera flying in one direction, and a sodden mop of fur flying in another direction.

The ability to call your shots over 600m is impressive on the whistlepigs, seeing the bullet trace, and the results? Priceless.
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I watched this video right before I feel asleep and I had a dream I was shooting gophers with a .204 and now I want one!!!!
 
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sharp shooter said:
I have a CZ 527 Varmint and it shoots many loads under half and inch. My hunting load is a 40gr V max that shoots .5" consistently at 100 yards traveling over 3900fps and the trigger is awesome after I adjusted it.
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I have two 527's in .223, a Lux and an FS... they are both nice rifles, but for the .204 Ruger, I will be looking for an M77.
 
Royzo said:
Around here, many guys that have tried the 204s ended up going back to 22-250s and 223s again. For one reason or another they just didn't care for the 204s.
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I don't think that I would load up the .204... I have rifles in .22-250, .22-6mm and .22 BR, so I think a .204 mild loaded with an SP would make a fine fox rifle. The season will be over before I get it together, so I will have the summer to work with it to get it ready... I can test bullets on groundhogs over the summer.
 
98ssuck said:
22 hornet if that's a option. It's hard to beat the economy of scale with .224 bullets and free .223 cases thou.
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If you are reloading anyways I agree with 98ssuck. the 22 Hornet is awesome.

Overall I have not shot the 17 but between 22 Hornet, .204 and .223 I would pick the 22 Hornet for reloading. As awesome as the .204 is when restricted to factory I would go with the .223 because of variety of factory loads and firearms.

.... just my opinion though.
 
Lol! Nice dream!! I once took care of a pest with the 204 and couldn't believe what a head shot between the eyes did with the 204 and a 40 grain nosler. I saw eyeballs fly in my scope soon as I pulled the trigger!! Lol.... This may sound retarded but has anybody tried turning fmj's into hollow points or ballistic tips? lol I thought about those cheap 223 bullets and drilling a tiny hole in it but I bet it's more work than it's worth lol!!
 
The .204 is a cool little round...... if I lived in gopher country, it may be a choice..... I really like the .22-250 as well..... I had one in a rem 700 and took a couple of wolves and lots of coyotes with it.....

For me personally, "varminting" means cheap and plentiful rounds...... so, with that in mind, I pick the .223.... brass is everywhere, billets are cheap and readily available, it's fun as heck to shoot and I have taken everything from muskrat to skunk and beaver right up to coyote with it......

It's also a super easy to reload cartridge that seems to me to like lots of different powders.....
 
Ya I dig the 22-250 for sure but poorer barrel life and the extra powder it needs turns me away. I need as affordable as possible as well. For an everything kind of round used for gophers and dogs I think 223 is hard to beat. Strictly gophers and tiny critters my pick would be 204 or 17 hornet. 204 has the trajectory of a 22-250 correct?
 
222 rem is a good caliber too. The ruger action is probably a bit larger than the 527 action eh? I think cz is still getting my vote. I absolutely like the ruger rotary mag tho!
 
I have not shot the 17 hornet but I did play with a 22 hornet years ago.
I think everyone needs two or three 204s to play with as well as a fast twist 223. A 35 gr Berger with a max load of either H4895 or XBR 8208 is a fantastic coyote load and I have sent many gopher flying into the air with a 40gr Vmax out of my 204s. I have shot both gophers and coyotes with my 223s but I still prefer the 204 more.
I have a Sako 85 varmint laminate in both 204 and 223 and love the set trigger when your trying to hit a small target way out there or shooting clover leaf holes off the bench. I will not hesitate to shoot coyotes out to 450+ yds with the 204s if there is no wind and I have been playing with the 223 out to 700 yds at steel. I'm hoping to get some time this summer to stretch the 223 out a bit further. I have a Cooper model 51 204 but have been using it primarily for gophers with the 40 gr Vmaxs. I also have 3 22-250s but frankly they don't get out of the safe too often these days.
Now you can see my point in having both but being an avid coyote hunter if I had to chose I would take the 204.
 
I fixed the 204 problem an hour ago... have an M77-R MKII walnut/blued on the way in... will see how it does.
 
You're the man Hoyt you don't F around eh :).

I have one of the first m77's in .204, at least it was the first one to an edmonton gun store I used to frequent. Came with a leupold vx I already mounted. $700 if I remember lol crazy what a few years will do. They're some of the nicest bolt guns going these days.
 
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