SmallCaliberCentral

I have seen all iron/steels rust including stainless steel parts on fly reels used in tropical super warm and humid salt water areas. You can almost see the rust forming on unprotected blued or even parkerized finishes in such condtitions. I like to use BoeShield - a spray containing wax and oils. B...

I think the .204 Ruger looks sort of like a scaled down mini .300 Win Mag without the belt. "Everybody" knows the .300 Win mag is "not a good cartridge" because of the short neck, belt, deeply seated bullets and excessive powder capacity. So how come .300 Win mags are so popular ...

I would expect that Hornady & Ruger wants to get max velocities out of the .204 Ruger to market & promote the cartridge. If I wanted to get max velocities from .204 factory ammo I would select the optimum powder for velocity (special brew) and make rifles/reamers with some "free bore&qu...

Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Find out what works well for others with similar rifles, bullets, primers, cases, and powders. From my readings here the Sierra BK bullets and Re10 powders appear to be popular. At times a load that might appear to not shoot so well might in fact be one of the best b...

I have a modest amount (several 1000's) of CCI 450's that I have been using with good results in my .223 with RS TAC powder. I plan to continue using these in my Mini 14 with TAC, 60 gr bullets, but also plan to try the 450's with IMR 8208 in the .204 Ruger. So far I have seen very little actual dif...

Pleased to see that 8208 XBR worked so well. I use 8208 XBR in my .22-.250 with 53 gr VMax bullets and hope to continue it with the .204 Ruger. I like 8208 XBR it is easy to throw uniform charges and if the claims for temperature uniformity are right it should be the choice for coyotes in frosty mor...

I too am a fan of Lee collet dies. I also like the Lee seater. Depending on the load used I full length size using a body die each 3-5 times. I also outside turn necks with a RCBS outside neck turner spinning the cases with part of a Redding case trimmer. When using factory cases with the Lee collet...

Free bore is somewhat of a controversial subject. Weatherby rifles were chambered with a good amount of free bore with the thought that allowing the bullet to get a running start to allow more pressure to develop enabled higher velocities to be attained. Apparently the current factory .204 Rugers ar...

I am Stef -- 72 yo guy -- retired technical -- background physics & math-- shot NRA hi power -- likes to take apart things and ask questions about how things work -- Viet Nam veteran Likes varmint rifles and rather spend a day taking 20 shots at varmints than one at some big game animal -- I eat...

My guess is... the difference is only .004 inches and the unfired case at the junction of the neck & shoulder may not be a real definite angle, or different angle and when the bolt (is it a bolt action?) is closed large forces are exerted on the case as it is shoved into the chamber -- like crus...

Most of my misses have been from shooting too high. I have a number of scopes that I use for varmint and target and since the adjustments are accurate, easily made and resetable on these scopes I zero in at 100 and then make additional adjustments as needed. I laser certain objects where my anticipa...

yes - after many kills and years of hunting chucks (rock chucks) I think that they either eat or dispose of the bodies of their fallen kind. After a good shoot that has left numerous dead chucks on rocks, infront of dens, and bare edges of alfafa fields in several hours or the next day all the dead ...

Apparently speed sells - like 4200 fps or the fastest loaded factory cartridge. I have 2 stainless super match PacNor barrels and like them very much. I have yet to load a .204 Ruger but I have been playing around with the "free bore" question for some time. I like to use long heavy bullet...

I like wood stocks and having being very responsive to authority will attempt to provide pics. Nothing like attacking a clubby chunk of walnut with chisels, files, scrapers, rasps, and finally sandpaper to come up with a 8) stock that you like using and that perfectly fits you and your needs. I just...

Among other targets, I shoot scrap mild steel discs about 4" diameter and 2-2.5" thick. I don't care about damaging them and I like to see what happens when different bullets hit at different velocities. Long 6.5 mm bullets seem to make as deep a crater as 150 to 165 .30's when shot at the...