SmallCaliberCentral

Hotshot, I've been married for 31 years so I know what you mean! My wife doesn't look at this site either but once in a while she is lurking close by when I'm on-line and there is the danger of a chance encounter My wife remembers bone head things I've said and done back to before we were married and I can't remember what I had for breakfast so I try hard to keep my mouth shut these days Gary
p.s. waiting on that picture of the boat!

I get 0.5 of an inch 100 yard five shot groups with a Ruger 77 T V Gray rifle with a Leupold 6-18 x scope w/AO. The 32 Gr V-Max bullet B.C. 0.210 at a muzzle velocity of 3,900 ft/sec is sited in at 200 yards. I entered the data into a ballistics program and got the following. At 300 Yds the bullet would be 4.6 inches low and with a 10 HPH cross wind the bullet drift would be 9.0 inches. At 375 Yds the bullet would be 11.4 inches low with a 10 MPH cross wind would be 14.8 inches. One of the biggest prairie dog I have measured was 13 inches long from head to rump and was about 3.5 inches wide. At 400 yards with a 10 MPH cross wind I can miss more p dogs and am happy with a 50 % hit ratio. The 204 rifle is a fun one to shoot but a 600 yard rifle it is not. Take a look at Hornadys new 6.5 Creedmore(sp?) round with and accurate target rifle and scope with hand loads tuned to the rifle...Good Luck..

varminter: Getting back to your original question.....as you like the .243 Win, have you considered one in that caliber OR the .243 Ackley Improved? I shoot the Improved version as a bench rifle, and the standard one for coyotes. My Improved rifle has a Holland Quick Discharge brake on it, and with it, I can see bullet holes appear in a paper target, or see every PD or rat launch through the scope, meaning the recoil is so minimal, that it feels like shooting a .22 Magnum, but LOUD!

Now, my bench rifle weighs 12 lbs, so it is NOT something that would be suitable for wifey, and if you put a brake on any rifle, full ear protection would be mandatory. You should always wear it when shooting anyway, but it becomes a full-on necessity when a brake is in the picture. I mention the caliber, as you'd have the extended range you seem to feel you need for your chucks, and have plenty of "whomp" at that range too. Mine is a 10 twist, and I usually shoot Nosler 70gr BT's, but it also shoots the 90's and 100 grainers just dandy.

Here's my bench gun with the mentioned brake:



Closer view (ugly, but highly effective, and the only brake I'll ever own):



Hey Hotshot good advice, and I'd like to see that boat too....... Speaking of wives and the forum, mine never reads it, but I get comments like "are you STILL on the forum with your little buddies"....... They just don't understand. It's a guy-thing.

varminter wrote:Hey thanks hotshot It's my take too that a 1:12 twist won't work with heavier bullets. It seems that the 204 isn't a LOOOONG range cal. Guess I'l stick with my .243 win.

Actually I'm looking for a cal. for the wife that can do what
a .243 can do with less recoil. Any thoughts?

Why not get her a 1/9 or 1/10 twist .204 and use the 50 grain Bergers. I use these in my 1/9 twist Dtech AR and it shoots great out to 600 yds. I even tried it on the 600 yd targets, shooting prone. On one of the fairly calm days at the range it shot 200 out of a possible 200, shooting at a 6in. bull target. When I shot it at PD's it did pretty good even with me shooting it.

Jimmy

Last year a friend and I were shooting at rockchucks in an alfalfa field at 600 to 700 yards with our 204s. No matter how much elevation we gave it, the bullets fell short. We could see the dust kick up where they hit. It was our impression that after velocity dips below a certain speed, the bullets begin wobbling, which rapidly results in velocity loss, and eventually tumbling.

Has anyone else had a similar experience at long range?

steve,

I haven't mastered the 500-600 range yet with 20 cal bullets so I haven't tried farther ranges. If you told me you were shooting 32 gr bullets at less than max velocities I wouldn't argue, but 39 or 40 gr at close to 4000fps should make it to the ball park of a 650 yard target. They might not be stable enough to provide good groups, but I'm sure the bullets would get there. Some things an old guy like me just has to see to believe.

Hotshot,
You may very well be right. However, it seemed odd to us that all shots continued to fall short, even as we added and added elevation. I was shooting factory 40 grainers and my partner was shooting 32s.

Finally, my partner got his 6mm Remington in a Ruger varmint barrel out, and while I spotted, he finally got one on the third shot, and the lasered range was 654 yards.

That's good shootin' with that 6mm. I have rifles that get pd's that far, too. But they are not 20 cal.
Hang up the 204's at 550 and bring more ammo for the 6mm and problem solved.

stevecrea wrote:Hotshot,
You may very well be right. However, it seemed odd to us that all shots continued to fall short, even as we added and added elevation. I was shooting factory 40 grainers and my partner was shooting 32s.

Finally, my partner got his 6mm Remington in a Ruger varmint barrel out, and while I spotted, he finally got one on the third shot, and the lasered range was 654 yards.

You need heavy, but more importantly higher BC bullets to reach out that far. Once they slow down the game is over. I am bringing my 6BR for the longer shots when I go to Co. in June.

Jimmy

stevecrea wrote:It was our impression that after velocity dips below a certain speed, the bullets begin wobbling, which rapidly results in velocity loss, and eventually tumbling.

as explained to me by a bench shooter and smith that i know, "when velocity drops below the speed of sound, 1100 fps, causes a bullet or any object, with a muzzle velocity above the speed of sound, breaks thru a barrier that causes the instability." with respect to bullet weight, lighter bullets will tend to lose velocity faster than a heavier bullet, and drop really fast.

Using Hornady's Ballistics calculator online, and comparing a hot 6mm such as the 240 Weatherby with the 204, and assuming a 32 grain with a ballistic coefficient of .210 for the 204, and a 100 grain with a ballistic coefficient of .400 for the 240, at 300 yards the velocities are almost identical, even though the 240 started at only 3400 fps versus 4200 for the 204. From that point on, the 240's velocity edge increases as the range increases. Obviously, this is due to the higher ballistic coefficient. At 600 yards, the 240 velocity is 2040, versus 1561 for the 204.

I love the 204, but for ranges beyond 350 yards, I would prefer more metal in the air. As velocity decreases at long range, I would expect accuracy to deteriorate.

Does anyone have any impressions or practical experience at long ranges?

Futuretrades,
I have also heard that when a bullet drops below the speed of sound that it creates instability. Looking at the long range ballistics results using the Hornady Ballistics Calculator, the 32 grain 204 at 4200 fps at the muzzle drops to about 1100 fps at 800 yards. However, I wonder if the small pills lose stability somewhat before they drop to that speed.

Does anyone have experience with the 204 at ultra long ranges?