SmallCaliberCentral

Greetings everyone. I just registered on this forum to ask about optimal barrel length for .204 Ruger. I'm a seasoned prairie dog hunter and I'm looking to add a .204 Ruger to my arsenal. However, cash is a bit tight so I thought I would just get a .204 barrel for my Thompson Center Pro Hunter. My issue is that the Pro Hunter barrels are 28" (Thompson Center also offers an Encore barrel 26" that would fit my Pro Hunter). Most bolt action rifles chambered for .204 are 26" or less. Bullberry did a velocity test for .204 and found 23" is optimal http://www.bullberry.com/204Rugerdata.html. Having seen this data, it seems that a Pro Hunter barrel 28" would be way too long for optimal velocity... if you believe Bullberry. Does anyone on this forum know of any other .204 velocity test performed to determine optimal length? I'm not sure I trust Bullberry's results. Why would both the Ruger and Savage long range varmint rifles both have 26" barrels http://www.rifleshootermag.com/featured ... 04_022505/. You would think they were designed for optimal performance. To wrap this up... I just don't want to buy a 28" barrel and find out I'm degrading the performance of the round. Any help you guys could provide would be much appreciated! Many thanks. Keg250

First of all welcome to the forum!
I think that most people around here would say 24" is just about perfect but many of us have 26" barrels without any ill effect. I don't have any experience with 28". Some of the guys around here know a lot more than I do and I'm sure they will chime in soon enough.
Gary

Keg: I'm no expert on optimum barrel lengths for the 204, but will say that from all the guys shooting this caliber, I've never heard anyone complain about loss of performance regardless of what barrel length they're shooting.

Some guys have LW rifles with 20" barrels, some shooting the 26 & 28 inchers, and from what I gather, barrel length is and never has been an issue when you consider this is one of the fastest factory calibers going, so the varmint is dead before he knows it.

All three of my 204's wear 24" barrels, and velocities run from just over 4,100 fps with the various 32's, and right at 3,980 shooting the 39 SBK. I'd just get the barrel of choice for your single shot, shoot it, chrono it, and if you feel you're being short-changed for any reason, have your smith cut it back to 23" or 24" and chrono it again. If you do, let us know how it shakes out, as I know we'd all be interested to hear the before and after results. Your Pro Hunter with either a 23 or 24" barrel would sure make a dandy carry rifle too; nice and short, handy, and chambered for the 204, highly effective.

Good luck with the project, and welcome to the 204um!

Unfortunately, any test conducted only tests that barrel with the specific bullet, powder, and primer that was used for the test. Different powders react differently in terms of barrel length, same with bullets.

When you get to be my age light and handy is the name of the game. I no longer worry about the fps I may gain or lose frome barrel length as long as I can hit what I'm shooting at. Just my 2 cents worth. Dave

Thanks for all your comments guys. I've decided to buy the Encore barrel (26") not the Pro Hunter barrel (28"). Everything I hear in tests, says barrel length in the low to mid 20 inch range is the best for the .204... and, since Ruger and Savage both make a long distance .204 varmint rifles with 26" barrels I cannot make sense of buying a T/C 28" barrel. All Pro Hunter barrels are 28" so T/C does not match an optimal length with a specific caliber. For me, it is more important to have an appropriate length 26" Encore barrel than it is to buy the 28" fluted Pro Hunter barrel. The flutes and matching Pro Hunter engraving would be a nice detail but I won't sacrifice the slightest bit of performance for it. Happy new year everybody. Keg250 out.

Keg

If you can get an 11 or 10 twist maybe the longer barrel would yield an improvement. When the 40's are shooting good the slower powders like N-140 give good accuracy. Providing you can stuff enough in the case that is

My brother in law is a velocity nut thats all he thinks about, not me I am more concerned with accuracy. My Rem 700 SPS Varmint 204 even in my hands is a shooter. I may not cut rag holes all the time, but I seem to kill my share of varmints. Welcome to the forum and I think you made the right choice with the 26" barrel. I always ask my brother in law when we shoot, hea how fast was that one, did the pd get away....he get's pissed with me alot

You can get any barrel lenght you want from Green Mountain or SSK industries. Short, fat,fluted,octagon and on and on. I shoot an ultra light 77 with a 20 inch barrel . Well below sub MOA and fun to carry.

Just for S&G, I broke out my trusty hacksaw and shortened one of my barrels from 26" to 22". Shooting the same load( 32 Vmax /BL-C) it lost an average of 78 fps. A small increase in the charge got it back up to it's 396x velocity. Accuracy wise It was a little better, but that could have due to the new crown...dunno.

Bill

I just ordered a White Oak Armament AR-15 upper in .204, and I went with 20" fluted tube to cut weight. Looks like I won't be losing a whole lot to a 24" barrel.