Should I try the 32 grain SBKs?

[Va varminter]

Right now I shoot the 39 grain SBKs. Mostly they group in the low .2s and best to date is .114. I can't get Hornady 32 grainers to shoot that good. Would the 32 SBKs similar to the Hornadys? Has anyone shot both to compare the two?

[OHVarminter]

You can try them, but I would ask why. Other than velocity, I don't see where it will improve much over a .114.

Neither my Cooper or my CZ like the 32's as much as the 35's and 39's.

The Hornady's have not shot well and I find much bigger variations in weight from bullet to bullet (32's and 40's) than I do with the Sierra or Berger bullets.

Good luck.

[Va varminter]

That's kind of it. I was just looking for something a little faster. There are some guys here that shoot both(32and39). But I don't want to waste money and time if they aren't as accurate as the 39 grainers.

[Silverfox]

Va varminter--The only way you'll know how the 32 gr. Sierras shoot in your rifle is to try them. I have to agree with OHVarminter. I cannot see any reason to waste powder, primers and barrel life on the 32 gr. pills when the 39 grainers shoot so good for you. I have shot both of these bullets and found that the 39 gr. bullet is far superior to the 32 gr. pill in wind deflection. In a 10 mph side wind at 100 yards the 32 gr. bullets were deflecting 1.0" and the 39 gr. bullets 0.8". At 150 yards the 32 gr. deflected 2.3" and the 39 gr. only 1.7", while at 200 yards the 32 gr. bullet deflected 4.1" and the 39 gr. bulle only 3.1". The spread in deflection keeps getting bigger as you move on down range. If you are shooting at the head of a prairie dog peeking out of his mound, those tenths of an inch in wind deflection become mighty important as to whether you get a hit or a miss.

My 32 gr. Sierra load gave me a muzzle velocity of 4,003 fps and my 39 gr. Sierra load gave me a muzzle velocity of 3,873 fps. I sighted both loads in so they were 1.1" high at 100 yards which put them both dead on at 235 yards. While both bullets gave me pretty much the same trajectory out to 235 yards, the 32 gr. bullet started dropping a little bit more than the 39 grainer as the distance got longer. At 300 yards the 32 grainer dropped 3.2" and the 39 grainer only 2.9". At 350 yards it was a 7.1" drop for the 32 gr. bullet and a 6.4" drop for the 39 gr. bullet.

[Rambler]

Thats a good report there Silverfox, I should have known you had it figured out Thanks for the report, great info.,Thanks Rambler.

[Keith in Ga]

The 32 gr v-max don't shoot very well in either of my Coopers. But the 32 gr Blitzking shoots great in both guns. I developed a load for the 39 BK for one rifle that shoots great too, but I was a little disappointed in the "splat" factor on prairie dogs. I may have to experiment on a little hotter load, but I'm afraid my accuracy may suffer. I don't load to max, due to the volume of shooting. I want the Coopers to last as long as possible. I will experiment with some more loads when the weather gets better.
In summary, not all guns like a particular bullet, only way to find out for sure....shoot!

[Silverfox]

Va varminter-- and anyone else interested in the 32 gr. Sierra BlitzKings, here's some of my reloading information. As usual, start well below my listed loads and work your way up in very small increments weight-wise--like maybe .2 of a grain at a time.

My rifle I used for these tests is a Savage 12VLP with the AccuTrigger in .204 ruger. I was able to work up some extremely accurate loads using H4198, Benchmark, and H4895. Brass I used in most of the tests was WW and the primers I used were Remington 7½.

After a lot of testing and shooting prairie dogs, I was finding many of my 32 gr. Sierra bullets were not making it to their target. I had many bullets going through the paper sideways at 100 yards, even though I had thoroughly cleaned my barrel of all copper and carbon (I had a bore scope to verify that my barrel was pristine clean). The magic velocity at which these 32 gr. Sierra BKs seemed to begin to turn sideways was right around the 3,850 fps mark. The sad thing was that at the velocity or lower, the accuracy level was not acceptable to me. All the groups pictured below were shot off a concrete bench at a distance of 100 yards to the target. I usually use a rabbit-eared rear bag and my Harris swivel bipod for the front rest.

I have not done a lot of searching for H4198 reloading data for the .204 Ruger so if you plan on using that powder you may want to check with Hodgdon to see what their recommended starting and maximum loads might be. The load I wound up using was 22.9 gr. of H4198. Sierra does not have a charge recommendation for H4198, but they do list IMR 4198 and the max load for that powder with the 32 gr. Sierra BK is 23.5 gr. The 22.9 gr. load gave me a tad over 3,900 fps at about 12' from the muzzle, but bullets would tip sideways once in awhile. I had many 3-shot groups in the low .2s. Here's a couple groups using the H4198 powder.



Benchmark was another powder that worked extremely well with these bullets. Different sources list 27.9 and 28.0 gr. as the max loads. My magic accuracy load was 27.7 gr. of Benchmark. Again, I used WW brass and Remington 7½ primers. The muzzle velocity with this load was 4,003 fps. Here again, although this was my most accurate load, I had bullets tumbling before they got to their intended victims.



Here's a BM load of 27.7 gr. shot using Hornady brass.



With H4895, again, I found a very accurate load at 28. 5 gr. and another at 29.0 gr. with WW brass and Remington 7½ primers. The 28.5 gr. load was giving me around 4,000 fps at the muzzle and the 29.0 gr. load muzzle velocity was about 4,125 fps, but bullets were tumbling fairly frequently for both loads. The 29.0 gr. load is what Hodgdon lists as max for the 32 gr. Hornady V-Max, but it is 1.3 gr. OVER THE MAX LOAD LISTED by Sierra.



I still think shooters who shoot a colony rodents and the like at distances in excess of 200 yards are better off with a bit heavier bullet that has a high BC. I realize your starting velocity is a bit slower with the heavier bullets, but the lower amount of wind deflection will make hitting the target a little bit easier. When you get much beyond 200 yards, I am of the opinion that the heavier bullets are best choice.