SmallCaliberCentral

I run a Leupold 6.5-20x on my .204 as the .204 will work out past 500 yards and these tired eyes need the magnification! Gary.

Captqc wrote:I run a Leupold 6.5-20x on my .204 as the .204 will work out past 500 yards and these tired eyes need the magnification! Gary.

Check the new Leupold VX3 8.5-25x50. Even on 25 power they're pretty sharp.

Jim

I found this site because I now have a 204 Ruger (sort of) as my new barrel is in the mail for my H&R Handi Rifle. I kicked it around long enough and got the barrel from another forum board member at GBO. I was looking for more on site 204 Ruger shooters, and so I found this site and it looks pretty good.

I hope I can contribute as well as learn more from you all.

Welcome aboard JB. There is a wealth of info out here with more than just the 204 stuff. Enjoy the site, and oh yeah, we really like pics.

Hello everybody. name is carlos and live in Lakewood, CO. well I have had my Rem VLS in 204 for 2 yrs now just sitting in my safe unfired. Sort of hard around here to find a free range, and don't feel like paying $350 + a year do join a club. lets see the closest i came to shooting my 204 was when i was doing some load testing for my 30-06. but after shooting in 20mph winds i packed i in and headed back the 100 miles to my house. man was i pissed when i got there. so i put my 204 back in my safe and now i am considering selling it and getting a Savage LRPV. I really like the way they look. well i will try to post more on this sight , but for now i also belong to 24hr campfire, long range hunting, predator masters and snipers hide.

Hi, my name is Sam and I live in Perth WA (that's Western Australia, not Washington). Have been reading this forum for ages and have got a lot of great info out of it. Bit of background below, and I look forward to contributing something soon.

After a childhood spent shooting rabbits on our farm with an old Stirling .22, I started long range target shooting. Then the .204 came out and I wanted one. Badly. Unfortunately I couldn't afford a varmint rifle until early 2009. But it was worth the wait.

I eventually decided on the Tikka T3 Varmint (over a Weatherby) and scoped it with a Bushnell 4200 6-24 x40 Mil Dot. What a rifle!

I used the ladder method to work up some loads using 40 g V-max projies and AR2206H. I haven't bothered to try fine tuning the loads because this load grouped under 0.5". I have shrunk the groups down below 0.4" by improving my rest and bench shooting skills. I get the feeling that it is me stopping the groups from shrinking, not the rifle or load!

I only shoot rabbits, foxes and cats on farms in the WA wheatbelt. Being a greenie, I don't shoot roo's for sport and I don't think 40 gr projies are big enough to humanely take roo's anyway.

I love my .204 and the way it just reaches out and touches anything I point it at! I love being able to see where the projie hits through the scope and I love that emphatic THWOCK sound.

But that is probably why we are all here...

Welcome aboard Sam! It appears you're quite qualified to reside here with the likes of the rest of us rifle loonies.

Just be forewarned that the .204 is habit forming and can be contageous. I've got three now, and said "one would be enough"......

On your comment about being a 'greenie' and not shooting roo's......I've often wondered about the humane effect of such a large animal being smacked with such a light high speed bullet such as a 40gr .204. Seems like a more suitable caliber would be "deer calibers", but then again, I'm only working with animal vs. bullet weight, and I've never been to your wonderful country, so have no real opinion, just questions.

In any event, welcome to the forum!

I am relatively new to the site, and so far im very impressed with the amount of knowledge of the members on this forum...it seems we all tend to share the .204 addiction.

Im a freshman at UNC Chapel Hill in North Carolina. If you havent ever heard of the university we were NCAA national champions in basketball last year as of right now im a pre-pharmacy major but this might change due to my newly learned hate of chemistry

im actually the only one in my family who is really into guns and shooting, so i've always had to figure out everything myself, but its nice in that its fostered this sort of independence when it comes to me and my rifles. as for my rifles, .204 is the largest thing i own...theres just something unparalleled about small bore rifles, im not sure if its the small amount of recoil or being able to see your shots through the scope, but they are undoubtedly the funnest calibers to shoot.

Rick in Oregon wrote:On your comment about being a 'greenie' and not shooting roo's......I've often wondered about the humane effect of such a large animal being smacked with such a light high speed bullet such as a 40gr .204. Seems like a more suitable caliber would be "deer calibers", but then again, I'm only working with animal vs. bullet weight, and I've never been to your wonderful country, so have no real opinion, just questions.

Thanks Rick.

I'll save the details of why I call myself a greenie and still love varminting for later... But on the topic of .204 vs kangaroos, all the bullets currently available for the .204 (except maybe some bergers?) are designed to rapidly and explosively expand on impact and roos (especially larger males) are extremely muscular animals. I firmly believe that no pain should be caused to an animal when I shoot it, and I don't think I could achieve that with anything other than a head shot.

Headshots are the usual method of shooting roos because they usually sit quite happily in a spotlight and look at you (this is how professional kangaroo meat "harvesting" works), but if your shot drops slightly low and hits the muzzle area I don't think the light 20 cal projies will get through and drop the animal.

I have seen 22-250 and .223 (with more heavily constructed bullets) work well on roos and I would suggest that people save the varmint/predator calibre for varmints and predators. The kangaroo is after all Australia's largest native herbivore. We even call the females does and the males bucks, so use a small deer calibre.

A couple more reasons not to shoot roos for sport (vs professional meat harvesting or culling to reduce numbers, because roos can really breed!)

-It is illegal without a permit from a government department (in WA at least)
-The females usually have a joey in the pouch, and it will die of starvation/dehydration without mum
-Roos have a place in Australia. Rabbits, foxes, cats, deer, pigs, goats, camels, and countless other ferals don't. When we run out of ferals, then we can hunt the natives for sport.

Well, you really got me wound up Rick! I would be happy to discuss this with anyone, there may be a professional roo shooter on the forum that would like to tell me a thing or two.

I love the look of this prairie dog thing you guys do with the benches, multiple rifles etc. What a way to spend an afternoon. How many months of the year can you do that?

Cheers

Howdy Folks! I am known as TONK and love to shoot guns and hunt birds with our dogs! Some call me an Ozark Country Boy at heart, even though I now have a gray of gray hair on my head. I never thought much about all these new calibers that have hit the market, until I took the pluge after viewing several young men at our gunclub shoot their .204 cal Ruger rifles.

Why I shot a 1/2 inch group the first time I tried with an other fella's rifle. I was hooked to say the least. So I just figured this would be the best place to find out more about Ruger's and this new .204 caliber. Thanks a bunch for this sight, I really appreciate all the knowledge on this board.

Howdy, TONK We've got a pretty friendly bunch here, helpful in most every way. If you need something, or wanna know something, just holler loud.

You wouldn't warm yourself at the campfire, would ya? I answer as ratsmacker over there..........

Ratsmacker thank you kindly sir! Yep, I do get a bit chilled when that sun starts down and won't be bashful about getting close to the campfire. Now ifin you got a jug of that Kentuck Shine handy, I might even be coaxed in dancin some too by golly.

TONK, depending on what part of the Ozarks you call home we may be neighbors. Welcome to the forum.

What kind of bird hunting do you like to do?

Hi, I'm new to the site. I have been visiting as a guest for a couple of months to see what was soooo special about this wicked little round. Well I the plunge and became a memeber. It seems like everyone on here are some awesome group of shooters. I currently don't own a 204 but it is in the process. As for the rifles I do own, I have a savage 10fp 308 and a savage 11 243 (my current yote rig). I'm glad to be a member of the site.

Hello all. I have been lurking and reading all the old post to see how the folks get along here, and I have to say this is a great bunch of people. The knowledge is shared freely.
I have been away from rifles for a while and just getting back in. I have a CZ 527 Varmint 204 on order. I have a Ruger in 22 Hornet, a rem. 788 in 22-250 and Ruger 10/22. I just joined a outdoor range in Sandusky, Ohio and can't wait for the weather to get a little better so I can get back into some rifle shooting. For the last couple of years I have been at a indoor range and all pistol shooting. I hope soon day to have enough knowledge to share but for now all I will have will be questions.