39g Sierra's or 35g Berger ???

Share information about reloading the 204 Ruger.
mailmanmark
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Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 6:38 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: Savage Model 10

39g Sierra's or 35g Berger ???

Post by mailmanmark »

Out of these two, which do you think would hold together a little bit better than the other???
broper
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Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:12 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: Remington 700 sps
Location: Parma, Idaho

Re: 39g Sierra's or 35g Berger ???

Post by broper »

I've never used the 35 gr. Berger but have used the 39 gr. Sierra. Had a splash on a badger and he got away. I started using the 32 gr. Nosler Varmageddon and have had good results. Shot a big 30 lb. boar badger in the center of chest at about 200 yds. Dropped him right where was sitting, DRT. Just a small caliber size entrance and no exit. The Varmageddon is more accurate in my gun too. Shot a .169 group with it. Went to the Varmageddon on the advice of gun writer John Barsness. He said it has become his favorite coyote bullet in his .204. A good friend of mine had a splash on a coyote with the Sierra and it got away also. He went to the 35 grai Berger and had five one shot kills in a row on coyotes so, it has become his favorite for coyotes.
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RAMOS
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.204 Ruger Guns: Savage Model 12 FLV, Cooper M21
Location: Sherman County, Oregon

Re: 39g Sierra's or 35g Berger ???

Post by RAMOS »

I went from the 39gr SBK to the 35gr Berger somewhere around three years ago. The Berger is simply AWESOME for coyote, badger and such. Very rarely an exit and it basically turns the innards into a mushy mess! I have yet to have a runner...
Robbo
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Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2014 9:29 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: Sako 85 Blued Hunter with Set Trigger

Re: 39g Sierra's or 35g Berger ???

Post by Robbo »

Recently I have done some extensive testing on these two projectiles and the Berger is definitely the harder projectile. It needs a heavier target to fully open up where the SBK needs very little resistance to detonate.
toasty
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Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 3:01 pm
.204 Ruger Guns: Savage 16

Re: 39g Sierra's or 35g Berger ???

Post by toasty »

Robbo wrote:Recently I have done some extensive testing on these two projectiles and the Berger is definitely the harder projectile. It needs a heavier target to fully open up where the SBK needs very little resistance to detonate.
Agreed, I've shot both at prairie dogs and the 39sbk fragments completely with even the smallest pdog. The 35 berger fragments OK on the bigger dogs, but I've seen pass through on the smaller dogs with it.
tbates
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Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:22 am
.204 Ruger Guns: Ruger #1 Sporter

Re: 39g Sierra's or 35g Berger ???

Post by tbates »

I have shot 100s of prairie dogs with Sierra 39 gr BKs out of my Kimber 84M. It blows the crap out of them. Haven't shot the Bergers.
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