Remington 204 not stablizing

[mooretitan]

I posted this in another forum and I am looking for any help that I can get

Let me introduce myself a little. I have been hunting pretty much my whole life and have been reloading since I was about 13 but have only really got seriuos about it the last year. I am pretty sure that I doing things prety well. I have worked up 3 rifles that are grouping really well. But i need some help with my 204

I got a new 700 vs sf II 1-12 twist last summer and have started playing around with reloading it. I was working up loads for some other rifles but now I am focusing on the 204.

Problem that I am having is that I live in CA and in the condor range so working up loads is a pain sometimes. Its seems that Hornady 30gr and Nosler 32 gr non leaded bullets are not stablizing and beacuse of that I just wasting time trying to get groups. Today I shot 29gr TAC, 28gr Benchmark and 28.5 gr Varget and all the bullets showed some wobble in the target. They wont go in straight. It looks like I have two touchers from one bullet hole. Wondering if anyone as has this problem or knows away to correct it. All groups were 5 shot groups.

I have shot factory 26gr Barners/Corbon and 32gr Remington/V-Max and the bullets are stable going in and good groups for factory stuff.

Thanks I could use the help.

[zx10mike]

i could only get varmint grenades 26grn to group .i found out that some barrells say 1 in 12 but they may be 1 in 12.5 ect i changed my barrel to a 1 in 11 and it groups the 40s a treat.i'm no expert but my thoughts run to twiwt rate but there are guys on here that will no for sure.good luck

[Wrangler John]

I posted this in another forum and I am looking for any help that I can get

Let me introduce myself a little. I have been hunting pretty much my whole life and have been reloading since I was about 13 but have only really got seriuos about it the last year. I am pretty sure that I doing things prety well. I have worked up 3 rifles that are grouping really well. But i need some help with my 204

I got a new 700 vs sf II 1-12 twist last summer and have started playing around with reloading it. I was working up loads for some other rifles but now I am focusing on the 204.

Problem that I am having is that I live in CA and in the condor range so working up loads is a pain sometimes. Its seems that Hornady 30gr and Nosler 32 gr non leaded bullets are not stablizing and beacuse of that I just wasting time trying to get groups. Today I shot 29gr TAC, 28gr Benchmark and 28.5 gr Varget and all the bullets showed some wobble in the target. They wont go in straight. It looks like I have two touchers from one bullet hole. Wondering if anyone as has this problem or knows away to correct it. All groups were 5 shot groups.

I have shot factory 26gr Barners/Corbon and 32gr Remington/V-Max and the bullets are stable going in and good groups for factory stuff.

Thanks I could use the help.

I too must use non-lead ammo. I did extensive work with the 26 grain Varmint Grenade in a Shilen 1:12" twist barrel. With 25.2 grains of Reloader 10x this little bullet shoots right at .25" for ten shots at 100 yards. Muzzle velocity is 4,110 fps average. Simply put this load is a phenomena, even when I think I missed - like last Thursday - I find splattered carcasses in the grass or stuffed down their holes.

I didn't have much luck with the 30 grain Hornady NTX at all until I swapped in a .204 Pac-Nor 1:8.5" twist barrel. Then it shot better, especially with 25.8 grains of Reloader 10x, and a single load of TAC. Although the accuracy was never as good as the 26 grain Varmint Grenade. The Varmint Grenade load mentioned above shot just as well, if not better than it did in the 1:12" twist although at 4,185 fps average.

Hornady also makes a 24 grain .204 NTX, I have four boxes on the shelf, but no time to try them out. I would suggest you try them instead of the 30 grain bullets. Nosler also makes a 32 grain BT Lead-Free but I would suspect the same problem would exist. Lead free bullets are longer than lead core bullets, this means they are functionally the same as heavier bullets, which require a faster twist to stabilize.

Seating depth is also critical, Varmint Grenades like to jump, so I seat them at the factory depth of 2.260". Try varying the seating depth to improve groups, but this will not stabilize marginally stable bullets. Low down is that 1:12" twist is a tad too slow for certain bullets, or some barrels are finicky about bullet length and weight. You won't loose anything shooting the Varmint Grenade or 24 grain Hornady - except lots of rats.

[mooretitan]

Thanks for the loading tip. I assumed that the twist rate was the problem. But wanted to double check, I also shoot a 22-250 and have had trouble getting really anything to shoot in the non lead. Best so far is about 5 shots covered with a quarter. My 243 shoots the 62gr vg under a dime.

Thanks again

[terrace]

I live in CA and in the condor range also
I have a cooper and a ruger in 204 neither seem to like the 32 gr. nossler 1"-1.5"
both shoot really well with 26gr.varmint grenades 27.5 gr benchmark
I bought the advertised 30 gr ntx which turned out to be 24gr. hornady told me they couldn't get the 30's to shoot .
my rifles both liked these with 28gr of benchmark