SmallCaliberCentral

Looking for others experience, did i get an odd ball chamber ream or is this common in Savage rifles? I just measued that distance with a 32gr Vmax, (the barrel is 26" heavy or Sporter weight) and consistently got 2.412", that doesn't even leave a bullet dia in case neck, with my results and seating out to a bullets dia in the case that's a big .113" jump to the lands, so I'm dissapointed that i'm not going to get very close to lands as i fine tune a load.

Before you trade this rifle in on another, I think most 204 Ruger owners will tell you their factory chambers are cut so there is a whole lot of jump before the bullets hit the lands. I believe you will find a seating depth or two that will produce excellent accuracy. Just give it a chance.

Thank you and I will, I did notice on the forum that OAL'S weren't much longer than 2.3" so I though I'd better ask.

wait.... I intended to say thank you, I won't.

Silverfox is spot on. The 204, factory chamber is very long, to some seems way to long to get it to shoot worth a darn. This looong jump is where the 204 shines, compared to most calibers. My Howa in 204 has a jump, to the best estimate I am able to come up with, even with the proper tools, is around .125 with the 32 grain bullets. If I get to within.020 jump, I don't have enough bullet in the neck, to properly hold the bullet, and with a boat tail bullet such as the Vmax's, the bullet just falls out of the neck's. With the 39grSBK's it is a little different. I am able to reduce the bullet jump to around .070. And with lots of testing, shooting groups at 100 yards, I was able to reduce my groups down to 3/8 in@ 100 yds! Good enough to hit our beldings in the head at up to approximately 300 yards. I have some kills at over 600 yards, using my lazer range finder.

well good two experienced users, got to admit that the long action was unsettling as i've always heard short actions are usually the most accurate, neither my 22-250, 06, or .300 have anywhere close to that short of a chamber, well thanks maybe i will throw away the box.

I just got done measuring my Tikka T3 Hunter .204 and had pretty close to the same results. I used the Hornaday Straight OAL guage and bullet comparator. This is what I came up with;
1. Chamber to lands-2.1530
2. OAL case length-1.840
3. Bullet (Berger 35 gr. varminter) ogive to base-.288
4. Subtract .20 for seating depth-.088
5. OAL case to ogive-1.928
6. Bullet jump-.225!
I was really surprised to see it was that far out there but the gun seems to shoot pretty well with factory loads. Hoping to start reloading next week and wanted to see how close I could get the bullet to the lands but that's not looking doable. I'll play with seating depth some but won't be able to get it to tolerances I've seen listed here. Randy-formally of Oroville, now downtown Durham.

I'm waiting for the Ogive insert still so I don't have that, but yeah sounds like we're close. My 35gr Bergers are shorter than the 32gr Vmax's, but 40gr Vmax's are .117" longer than the 32gr Vmax so I'd be close if that was the eventual bullet I use. From previous responces a large jump doesn't seem to be a handicap. I put the first 10 through the barrel following a pretty strict barrel break-in procedure, should finish break-in next time at Larkin. Brooks-formally Siskiyou Co., now the brubs of Oroville.

If you're talking about the bushing for the .204, it's marked 14-20. I think I got the last one at Sportsman's last weekend. If you want to borrow it let me know. Randy.

Use 39 Gr SBK's with CBTO of 1.945 and .020 jump. My barrel is a MOD 11 trophy hunter with a light contour.

brooksb wrote: Brooks-formally Siskiyou Co.

Hey brooksb, what part of Siskiyou county you from? I have lived in Weed all my life, 64 Yrs.

Sooo that's why I couldn't find one when I went into Sportsman's WH, anyway thanks, I ordered one from Amazon should be here the 25th.

Thanks stu71, i noticed many in this forum are using that bullet.

futuretrades, I lived in Callahan, taught some fire classes at COS and some fire schools at the CDF station in Weed, I spent 43 years in fire management with the Forest Service.

Futuretrades, A good Belding spot at least until 2007 were the fields near the Junata Lake rd just before you get to the Ranger Station in McDol on HWY 96, there were always shooters on both sides of the road, we were told there were several other farmers who'd let you shoot their fields, but we just shot there, There were a couple of ranches further North where we shot Chucks on but they were connected with coworkers.

brooksb wrote: A good Belding spot at least until 2007 were the fields near the Junata Lake rd just before you get to the Ranger Station in McDol on HWY 96, there were always shooters on both sides of the road, we were told there were several other farmers who'd let you shoot their fields, but we just shot there,

I know where you are talking about, but I think you mean Hwy 97. Hwy 96 runs down the Klamath river, all the way to the coast.

I might give them a try this next spring, because all of my spots out of McDoel were poisened this past year and the beldings were purdy much wiped out. All the big ranches and most of the smaller ones too. I'm getting too old to keep looking for places to shoot. Real PIA!