Match Grade Bullets for .204

[ehkempf]

Does anyone make a "Match" grade bullet for the .204? Would love to shoot this in our club shoots, but I am looking for a more consistant bullet.

Ed

[wirelessguy2005]

the closest thing to a match grade bullet in 20 caliber is going to be the Sierra 39 grain blitzking or the Custom 37 grain bullets we make.

[ryutzy]

As mentioned try Brads (CRT) bullets, Bergers, then Sierras.

[sakofan]

What distance are you planning to shoot ?
I know laurie holland in the UK done well in 100 yard competition with his 204 with the 40 grain bergers.
I am looking for a bullet for 300 yard competition myself.
My rifle has a 1/10 twist and I have tried 3 bullets so far.
the 39 sierra, the 40vmax, and the 50 berger.
All 3 shot well at 100 yards so now I have to try them at 300.

[ehkempf]

What distance are you planning to shoot ?
I know laurie holland in the UK done well in 100 yard competition with his 204 with the 40 grain bergers.
I am looking for a bullet for 300 yard competition myself.
My rifle has a 1/10 twist and I have tried 3 bullets so far.
the 39 sierra, the 40vmax, and the 50 berger.
All 3 shot well at 100 yards so now I have to try them at 300.

I shoot at Camillus, NY. They now have a factory hunter/varmint shoot on Wed. They use the IBS 200 score target setup at 100 yards. I have a Remington 700 VLS and a XR-100, neither will shoot the 40g V-Max. They both do well with the 39g Sierra BK. My experience with the Sierra BK's when compaired to the Sierra Matchking (in .22 cal), the Matchkings always do better. I was hoping for something along those lines only in a .204 design.

Ed

[Vartarg]

An interesting discussion.....

Just for the fun of it....even though we all know that BC isn't everything when it comes to velocity,accuracy or terminal impact on critters, here're the BCs for the weight of bullets under discussion, 39/40gr:

Berger 40gr: .225
Nosler 40gr BT: .239
CRT 40gr: .250
Hornady 40gr VMax: .275
Sierra 39gr BK: .287


I haven't tried the Berger 40's, but my .204's won"t stabilize the Nosler or Hornady bullets. I've bought 200 of Brad's CRT 37gr but haven't tried them in the .204......I'm definitely going to order some of his 40's to check them out.

Bur I"m still happy, because we've got the 39gr SBK's!!!

That's what I am shooting in one of our area 100-200-300 yard benchrest matches, and also know that they're a very effective on yotes and other critters.....

Best,

George

[jo191145]

I've never seen one lot of 39bk's that could outshoot any lot of 35 Bergers at close range.

[ehkempf]

I've never seen one lot of 39bk's that could outshoot any lot of 35 Bergers at close range.

Thanks, for that input. I will have to try the Berger 35g. I see that Berger also makes a 40g, any experience with them. If so, will they stablize in most 1-12 (my Rem's) unike the Hornadys.

Ed

[wirelessguy2005]

i have had the exact opposite experience. I do think Berger makes a good bullet, however i have never found them to out shoot the 39 SBK. That's just my 2 cents.

I've never seen one lot of 39bk's that could outshoot any lot of 35 Bergers at close range.

[Vartarg]

jo191145 said "...at close range."

[jo191145]

close range is typically known as 100-300 yds. I'll grant the low BC of the 35 Berg will allow the wind to play more havoc with them especially out at 300yds.
By the same token if your not paying attention to the wind your gonna lose anyway. Ever wonder why short range BR is dominated by low BC bullets and wind flags?

In 204R I used to shoot Savage barrels. Remington aren't much different if any. Getting any 40gn bullet to shoot well is a chore/luck of the draw. Even the 40 Berg which by the numbers should work well.
My most accurate load ever developed was in one particular Sav barrel (#3) that liked the 40's but sprayed anything lighter. Thats "obviously" the last five shots in load development at 200yds using the 40gn Berger and Benchmark. Needless to say I was pleased. Would have been pleased at 100yds. Won a few trophies in the next few months with ease. After returning home from an egg shoot with extra ammo that rifle fired 43 rds in rapid succession with no group being larger tha .25 moa @ 200yds. A screamer barrel/load combo. It took quite a bit of tweaking, luck and listening to that barrel to get there. Unfortunately the 26gn Varmint Grenades came out at that time. After load development with them and N-133 at hellacious speeds that particular barrel/ load combo never worked again.
Bergers can shoot if the shooter is willing to figure it out. How many short range BR shooters use Sierras?
My four other Sav barrels all shot the 35's almost as well. Whenever the groups failed to materilize it was'nt the Berger bullet I looked at first. history has taught me there was another issue to discover.
Keeping any factory barrel and factory chamber agging in that range is another story and a second full time job
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[bow shot]

40 Bergers always did well for me, both in a Savage VLP and a RRA AR15 Varmint. I always shoot bipod prone with a rear bunny bag, even in load development (yes I know that is considered not too smart...). In calm conditions, I could count on 1.5" 5-shot groups @ 300y, and bringing that down to 1" when i was shooting well.

Not sure if that's competition level accuracy, but that's what I get anyway. HTH

[Ohlsen]

I have a .20 Tac, I know it's not a .204 Ruger, it has a 1x11 twist Krieger barrel on it and it shoots itty-bitty groups. I did a little test with it using 39-40gr bullets. It grouped all of them pretty much the same. Be it the 40 Nos, 39 SBK, 40 Vmax or the 40 Berger.

Ole

[Tokimini]

i have had the exact opposite experience. I do think Berger makes a good bullet, however i have never found them to out shoot the 39 SBK. That's just my 2 cents.

I've never seen one lot of 39bk's that could outshoot any lot of 35 Bergers at close range.

I've had the same experience with Bergers Brad. I could never get the Bergers to group better than 39 SBKs or 40 Vmaxs, and they would always be 3 3/4" to the right of the SBKs & Vmaxes at 100 yds.

[Wrangler John]

Weird Willy, that's my other name, found that the .204 26 grain Barnes Varmint Grenade has delivered the smallest consistent groups with all twists and powders. It shoots .240" 10 shot groups (or smaller on days when my brain is working optimally) in a 1:12" twist, down to .206" 10 shot groups at 100 yards in a 1:8.5 twist. Paired with Rl-10x it works best, and all loads start off around 4,100 fps. Of all the rest, the Nosler 32 grain BT Lead Free shoots in the 2's (10 shots @ 100 yards) with the same 25.2 grains of Rl-10x (1:8.5" twist). None of the other bullets, Berger, Sierra, Hornady or any other lead core bullet approaches the accuracy of the compressed powdered metal core bullets in my rifles. I found this strange because the Varmint Grenades vary in length by a considerable amount, but it has no effect on group size in the field (it probably does but would require a laboratory setup to quantify). Not only that the lead free bullets seating depth require a jump to shoot small groups, a minimum of .020" but in the .204 Ruger it's more - much more.

Same with the 40 grain Nosler BT Lead Free .224" bullet in the .223 Remington (21.5 grains of Rl-10x) or the .22-250 Remington or Ackley (Varget).

Same result with the 50 grain .224" Varmint Grenade in the .22-250 Remington or Ackley. Just took the Remington 700 I built in .22-250 Ackley out for its first hunt, loaded with the 50 grain Varmint Grenade. Positively amazed! It was as if the Varmint Grenade was a squirrel seeking missile. The barrel is equipped with a muzzle brake, I could see every hit in all their splattering glory, and I never missed a single squirrel - oh wow!

Ditto with the 62 grain 6mm Varmint Grenade (1:8'' twist).

What does this mean? My conclusion is that it has something to do with the powdered metal core vs. the lead core. Those powdered metal cores are hard, like a stick of chalk, while the soft lead core is somewhat plastic at high velocity where the heat makes them even more prone to distortion. Then all of the lead free bullets are either hollow or open point designs or plastic tipped. Soft point bullets may introduce another variable.

Moral of Weird Willy's story: Try a few lead free offerings in your load development mix. If you have a 1:12" or 1:11" twist barrel the lightest bullets will work best, otherwise the heavier and longer bullets will require much faster twists. If I were going to shoot a club match I'd use my .204 Ruger with my everyday varmint load. Although the 15 pound rifle may not make weight.